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The Gospel in Dostoyevsky: Selected from His Works

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The Soviet Union burned Bibles and banned their importation. Yet, possibly out of national pride, they never censored the work of this great Russian novelist. Luther once said that if the entire Bible were lost, except the Book of Romans, that it alone would be enough for salvation. Dostoyevesky takes us a step further: in a land where one could be born, grow up, and die at normal life expectancy, all under the aegeis of Communism, without ever seeing a Bible, could the message of the Gospel still be found? Of course, the author died decades before the Revolution of 1917, but his work answeres the question we pose in the affirmative. His works, excerpted for this book, contain what can only be described as lengthy homilies, clothed as literature. From the famous "Grand Inquisitor" from "The Brothers Karamatzov," to lesser-known passages from "The Idiot" and other works, each selection expounds on Christian doctrine. Strongly influenced by the Gospel of St. John, Dostoyevesky uses the resurrection of Lazarus, for example, as the basis of a conversation between a murderer and a prostitute in "Crime and Punishment." The eleventh chapter of John is included in near entirety, as one sufferer reads it to the other. Nearly all of the imagery here is Johnnine; perhaps Dostoyevesky was a visionary: Spengeler wrote that the next millenium of Russian histoty would belong to St. John. Al all events, this is a bedside companion that will provoke deep reflection in those who read it, and perhaps make them wonder, as I do, if Dostoyevesky's works weren't intended by a higher power to be a light in the darkest days of the Evil Empire. -Lloyd A. Conway

Here are the dark side of the human soul, with all its charm and idealism! The beauty of the female, the goodness of the idiot, the criminal who falls in love and punishes himself. Here are love stories that make you weep and laugh. You meet a noble thief, and get to know the insulted and the inhumiliated that suddenly seem to you to be the most loveable people in the world. The world of Dostoyevsky is full of love, children, women and... contradictions and conflicts.

There are two books that I know of that are truly great introductions to the Russian Classics. "Walk in the Light" compiles some of the best short stories from Tolstoy and "The Gospel in Dostoyevsky" collects important excerpts from Fyodor that stand on their own as readable stories. Both are great for discussion groups, or even out loud family reading.

While the Dostoyevski excerpts compiled in this collection stand on their own as meaningful and wonderfully readable short stories, they will also serve to awaken an interest in the more complete Russian classics.

These two words describe simply the book. However, for those "busy souls intimidated by the length of his great novels", I must say: "Buy his long great novels, particularly 'The Idiot' and 'Crime and Punishment'. It will only take you more time reading them but it will be worth it for sure. Believe me."