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The Concept of Transandence

According to the Grand Inquisitor, majority of people are weak and are likened to sheep. Jesus gave it up all since he valued the freedom of faith above humanity happiness. As a result of this, the Catholic Church led by the Inquisitor reject Him. They believe that their faith is stronger than the ordinary people, and they attain a reward from God while the weak people exist for the sake. The weak cannot take the narrow road to heaven because they are afraid of freedom. (Reznor 117)

Fyodor Dostoevsky is a novelist who bases his writings on Christianity. He puts themes of Christianity using an anthropological format: evil and righteous, belief and unbelief, innocence and guilt, determinism and freedom, hate and love are taken to be problems encountered by humans. He is a great thinker and a manipulator of intense philosophical questions regarding the existence of God and man. Critics argue that to him, it was purely neurotic to occupy himself in finding answers to the unanswerable. He makes a strong case against Jesus citing that He cared less about the good of humanity and that He has no love for them as He claims.

In his book, Fyodor Dostoevsky depicts the grand inquisitor as an old, tall, and erect man almost in his ninety’s. The cardinal is the grand inquisitor. He burns people while the king, the cardinals, the knights, the court ladies and Seville population are all present.

So much power has been bestowed upon the cardinal such that he punishes those people who are against the Roman church through burning them in the fire. The people tremble at his mere sight and even kiss the ground that he treads. The grand inquisitor is particularly angered by the fact that another man is gaining more followers and popularity than him. This should not be the case because a cardinal is a human being just like any other. Taking another person’s life, because of defying the religion that one practises is not only criminal but also, a sin against God.

Every human being has a right to worship, belief, and become a member of any denomination and religious practices that suit them. The cardinal here takes the role of God because of being Gods vessel in spreading the word and transforming people’s life. They brainwash people and instil immense fear of the unknown in them. The people believe in whatever they are told and cannot be able to question the teachings and the law, however, distorted they are. The cardinals are the policy makers. They make laws that favour them and make them superior to the ordinary citizens. (Douglas 306)

People extremely love Him and recognise Him whenever even in the midst of the crowds. Moreover, His charisma makes crowds drown to Him, flock around Him, and follow Him. He heals people out of love and compassion and blesses them. The healing powers are spread all over His body and garments, and people are healed by a mere contact with Him. For instance, He restores sight to a man who has been blind since childhood. The people are quite sure of whom He is, and they weep and sing in His name. In addition to His many miracles, the people believe that He can raise the dead child. Unknowingly, He does this in the presence of the grand inquisitor, the cardinal himself. He is in the crowd watching the events. The whole act annoys him, and he orders Him to be arrested and taken away by his guards. People obey the inquisitor and submit to him in cowardliness. They tremble when he moves in between them, keep silence and away they lead him by laying their hands on him.

In this prose, Jesus returns to earth and performs many miracles among the sick, wounded and dying people in the city. With his procession and riding through town, the grand inquisitor notices him and ordered his minions to arrest him. He is taken to a dark dungeon. The inquisitor frequently reminds him that the additional message he is giving to humanity will encroach upon the freedom that He has given them. He further points out to Him that the freedom that his original message gave to humanity was a penalty. The church has the obligation to take away these freedoms from people.

He accuses Him of having left the world 15 centuries ago with the promise of returning with immense power and glory. His prophets had beseeched the people to prepare the way for the coming of Him. In His coming, He said, not even the angel in heaven knows the day or the hour except His father. Christians continue to wait tirelessly for His coming with the same faith that He will soon come.

The grand inquisitor believes that he knows what He was going to say and thus stops him from speaking. This happens when He fails to answer to the inquisitor, whether he is Thou. The inquisitor also goes on to say that He has no right to add anything to the old. He questions why His coming is hindering and that He did not know what is going to happen tomorrow. The grand inquisitor does not care whether He is Thou or not. He only knows that when tomorrow comes he will burn and condemn Him. This will also happen to those people who kissed His feet.

The grand inquisitor has been given too much power and control. In this case, he deems to know what an individual is thinking in his mind, to the extent of stopping him from uttering. He also states that Thou cannot add on to what He said earlier. No human being can tell what is going to happen days to come; it is only God who knows what is going to happen. Moreover, people do not have the ability to determine and distinguish who God is, and who is not God. However, people believe in God, his presence and doings that manifest his presence.

Consideration should be taken in that God gave priests, preachers, popes, and cardinals a gift of preaching. This should not be used by the same people negatively to put people under their control. These individuals have or possess that which He possesses. Therefore, there are many things that they cannot perform and do that He can without any problem and supervision. However, for them, they have to rely on Him and have faith for them to perform anything supernatural like healing a person. He will eventually come at his own time, and no individual whatsoever, knows the time and date.

As Ivan puts it out that the most fundamental characteristics of Roman Catholicism is that people have no right to question and add anything said by the cardinals. They believe that all powers have been bestowed on the pope and thus he can do whatever and that he does not need to care at all. This should not be the case since each and every person has the freedom to choose on what to listen and adhere to without being forced to absorb that he does not want. Popes have not been bestowed with all the powers by God. They only have some moral virtues and gifts that He has bestowed in them because of their faith and desire to spread the gospel. They cannot raise people from the dead and even cure some chronic diseases such as HIV and AIDs. (Matlaw 24)

According to Dostoevsky, the grand inquisitor is only interested in ending idolatry by use of metaphysical force. He prefers to treat evil deeds with evil, tie human beings to immutable idols and especially preach to people the idolatrous conception of Christ. He accuses Christ of over estimating the nature of humans and not understanding that the impossible morality of love necessary results to a world of humiliation and masochism. In the inquisitor’s eyes, Christ’s errors were inexcusable since he had experienced adequate prior warnings. He compromised the happiness, stability and well being of humanity when he disdained the offers made to him by the devil in the wilderness. Together with his ilk, the inquisitor has taken up these offers to commit so many atrocities and inhumane deeds all in the name of Christ.

Dimitry is a sensualist with genuine sensitivity particularly to the suffering of the innocent people. He is uneducated and rough but has a sense of honour and pity. His sensuality has been transformed into new and spiritual form. It is a real conversion to universal humanism, the earth but not to the Christian God. In the Rebellion chapter, Ivan demonstrates that his resentful and angry approach is as a result of his own choice. The most important principal to humanity is the fact that God acknowledges our freedom of expression.

Several stories are related by Ivan that he has collected over the years. The stories are about children who have been murdered, abused or put into suffering. As a result of these occurrences, Ivan states that he would not heed to an invitation into Gods kingdom if He lets the children continue suffering. Children are deemed to be victims of circumstances. They have to pay for the since of the grownups. The grownups are said to have sinned by eating the forbidden apple. They know evil and righteous while children are angelic an innocent. Through this innocence, they are mostly found to be victims of suffering and mental abuse. Thus, children suffer due to the original sin.

Ivan argues that children should not suffer because of the sins their ancestor’s committed. He further relates this to those people who are innocent and do not suffer. According to him the children like the innocent people are not to suffer. It is even hard to understand how children are loved by the evil and most cruel people. This happens because of the disparity of age, and Ivan refers them as different creatures. This is because they are small in stature.

According to the author, men cannot love as Christ because we are not like him. We are not gods, but He is God. At times, many people suffer from different problems like diseases, disappointments and even lose of loved ones without close friends and individuals realising. When they realise, it is difficult for a person to admit that another individual is suffering. This is because the person cannot examine the mind of the suffering individual and exactly identify the problem. These individuals are two different people with different thinking. It is only God who can know what someone is suffering from. (Boyce 324)

In a case, which Ivan describe of Bulgaria, children and women suffer in the hands of the bureaucratic leaders. The crimes are committed by Circassians and Turks. Women and children suffer most since many of them are left without homes. The Turks and Circassians outrage children and women, burn villages, murder, and nail prisoners by their ears on fences. They are then left there till the next day when they are executed through hanging in the morning.

Bestial cruelty has most of the time been associated to beasts; however, in this case man has taken the place of beasts by being so artistically cruel to fellow human being. The beasts only kill to eat but would never think of torturing his victims. These heinous acts lead many children to mental abuse. Some are unable to deal with the shame while others may be strengthened by these ordeals. It is thus their innocence and charming characteristics that attract beings that are corrupt. This eventually destroys or disrupts their angelic and pure characters (de Jonge, 183).

In his book, Dostoevsky makes no attempt to avoid the consequences of human freedom or reason with them at all. As a result of presenting the freedom of human in this way, it is evident that mans freedom constitute the denial of God and the ground of evil. He was aware of the fact that real freedom is apostasy and real freedom.

In conclusion, Dostoevsky work explored deep into the mind of human in search for answers which were missing in a cruel world. He skilfully uses his characters in the book to enlighten his beliefs that had been formed through years of hard torture and joy. His characters include average citizens. They are outskirts figures of the representatives of the society that differ from their milieu. Through each of the characters who have their own values and action, he attempts to present himself, and this makes the book fascinating and more than an adventure story. These characters are portrayed in such a way that they opened societies to see inside the soul of a man that carried a lot of vengeance inside his heart, as well as maintain abundant love for mankind.

Ironically, Dostoevsky presents Alyosha as a young man that would encourage spiritualism and love to innocent children. These children were essential to revolutionize the inactive Russia into a global super power. Thirty years later, these children did indeed change Russia, not as lovers of spiritualism, but violent rebels in a revolution of communist. Their aim was to liberate peasants and labourers by use of theory, but in reality, they created a totalitarian nation more powerful than anyone could ever imagine.

References

De Jonge, Alex. Dostoevsky and the Age of Intensity. London: Secker & Warburg, 1975.
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. New York: W Norton and Company, 1976.

Gibson, A. Boyce. The Religion of Dostoevsky. London: SCM Press Ltd, 1973.

Dostoevesky, Fyodor Mikhailovich. The Brothers Karamazov. The Constance Garnett Translation revised by Ralph E. Matlaw. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 1976