Customer Reviews

The Grand Inquisitor;

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While this story is truly an essential writing of Dostoevsky, it lacks the appropriate context to be read as sold in this copy. If you are interested in reading "The Grand Inquisitor" without reading the rest of The Brothers Karamazov, I would recommend the Guignon edition, sold for only a little more. This work includes the two chapters preceeding "The Grand Inquisitor" as well as what Dostoevsky intended as the refutation for this tale, "The Russian Monk," which follows this legend. Dostoevsky did not intend for this to be separated from the book as a whole, but I think it could be legitimately done when read with a little more context than is present in this copy. Additionally, this alternate edition includes a very complete introduction by Charles Guignon, which is much more informative than the brief one by Anne Fremantle provided in this copy.

It is important to remember that "The Grand Inquistor" was not Dostoevsky's final answer in The Brothers Karamazov. Reading this edition alone provides a flawed view of both Dostoevsky's writing and philosophy and The Brothers Karamazov.

I would recommend reading the book as a whole instead [and I particularly recommend the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation for that: it is much more accurate to the original Russian]. Or at a minimum, reading the other edition of this book. Either way, you will get a more complete glimpse to the genius of Dostoevsky, which this fails to provide.

The Grand Inquisitor is truly an essential read, but not in this presentation of it.

This is the best short piece I've ever read. This fictional dialogue between the head of the inquisition and Jesus is more than just a metaphorical commentary on the debate over whether or not humans willingly give up their existential freedom in order to avoid the sometimes awesome responsibility that accompanies it. Dostoyevsky's classic also serves as a powerful critique of institutional religion and, by implication, all institutions (gov't, education, corporations, welfare system, etc.) who offer "bread" in exchange for the sacrifice of free choice. A "must read" for educators, social scientists, politicians, organizational consultants, policymakers, and corporate executives.

The Grand Inquisitor argues that the coming of the Messiah during the Spanish Inquisition is a hindrance to the Catholic Church and to humanity as a whole. He explains, ?nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom.? The returning of the Messiah can only disrupt what the Catholic Church has done to rid humanity of this cursed freedom that God has bestowed upon humans. The Inquisitor goes on to list three temptations that the Catholic Church has remedied. ?The first temptation: the problem of bread.? The Inquisitor feels that it is better for the Church to give human society the gift of human bread -- declaring falsely that it is heavenly bread -- than it is for humans to take the actual heavenly bread. ?And we alone shall feed them in Thy name, declaring falsely that it is in Thy name. Oh, never never can they feed themselves without us.? ?The second temptation: the problem of conscience.? The Inquisitor says, ?Nothing is more seductive for man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering.? He proposes that the Church has successfully lifted this freedom and hence the suffering. ?The third temptation: the problem of unity? The Inquisitor goes on to say, ?But with us all will be happy and will no more rebel nor destroy one another as under Thy freedom.? The Church provides unity for the people. All of these temptations have been lifted from the human conscience by the church. ?We have corrected thy work and have founded it upon miracle, mystery and authority.? Thus, the Messiah has no duty coming back to this world and will be destroyed, as a heretic would be. This book gives many insights to human nature. It does not answer any questions, it simply asks the right questions. All who have at one time questioned human nature should read this novella.

I don't see how you can isolate "The Grand Inquisitor" chapter from the novel in which it is situated, The Brothers Karamazov. I think that knowing who is telling the story, who he is telling the story too, what the story means to each of these people, and what the consequences of what the Grand Inquisitor have to say, are ALL important; important because it is a great novel and important in understanding the grand inquisitor!!!!!!! My suggestion: Buy The Brothers Karamazov instead of this. It's excellent.

There are some books that everyone should read, and this is one of them. The idea was so fresh for its time and remains intriguing to this day. Whether or not it was Dostoevsky's intention to skewer the church, he certainly succeeded at doing so. He took the church's use of Jesus to achieve its ends to the next level by brilliantly constructing a tale that takes place during the Spanish Inquisition in which the church decides that a newly returned Jesus is wrongheaded and a hindrance to the church's power thirsty ways and condemns him to death. It's a brilliant work, full of truths, and excellent food for thought. I can't recommend this book enough.

When I first went to Russia, I was told by a Russian friend that Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov" was required to understand the Russian. I read it and learned so much. I discovered in the chapter titled "The Grand Inquisitor," not only great writing, but as usual, a "third side" of the Russian coin that I always talk about. For if the author was giving Ivan, the narrator of this chapter, a tirade against the Catholic Church, which seems obvious as it was a tale set in the Spanish Inquisition. But it was and is something much greater than that. It was also a veiled attack on the autocracy of Czarist Russia and a prescient view of causes of the violent revolution that followed shortly after this was written. But even beyond that, it is a clever and grand statement for the silent omnipotence of the Christ.

In Ivan's story (he being an atheist) to his brother Alyosha (he being a wannabe priest) the Grand Inquisitor in Spain sees a returned Jesus walking out of a city having healed a girl. The Inquisitor orders Jesus arrested and then visits him in jail. The wizened Grand Inquisitor lectures the silent Jesus on the folly of freedom and individual choice and says to him, "There are three forces, the only forces that are able to conquer and hold captive forever the conscience of these weak rebels (the people) for their own happiness--these forces are: miracle, mystery, and authority." As the monologue continues, the whole rationale for an autocracy (be it religious or political) is explained. Also growingly obvious is the fact that Jesus, in his silence, is winning the argument. In the end, Jesus is set free.

My post-Soviet experience in living in Russia and doing business there I at times ran into this mentality: the idea that good, if any, will come from some unexpected outside source (miracle); that man is not ordained to be responsible for his own welfare and progress (mystery); and that guidance and protection come only from constant dependence on and obedience to someone else (authority). Today that situation is changing with the young, but it still pops up at times.

Yes, I agree with some of the other reviewers that in is better understood as part of the whole novel (hence the 4-stars.) But, it still has a stand-alone lesson to teach us all.

Frederick R. Andresen, Author, "Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia"

Dostoevsky does a wonderful job portraying a tainted church (Spanish Inquisition and the catholic) in an effort to prove how important a pure religion is as well as a pure government and other authoratative institutions. His depiction of man's self-induced hopelessness in the work is a call for man to empower himself through his faith, something the prisoners of the society under the Inquisition have not done. The final action between Christ and The Grand Inquisitor is not ambiguous, but in fact shows the man that God is all-encompassing and all-forgiving.

I loved the premise of the Grand Inquisitor. There is something all so curious about what Jesus was thinking during the Grand Inquisition. It is also interesting to see Dostoevsky's perspective of the church and human nature as they surrender their freedom to the church so easily. It is a very interesting read.

The 'Grand Inquisitor ' is the central chapter of Dostoevsky's great work , "The Brothers Karamazov". In it the brother of intellect Ivan tells a story to the saintly Karamazov brother, Alyosha. He tells of how Jesus came once to Spain in the time of the Inquistion .He tells how Jesus performed a series of miracles which caused the people to cry out for him. He tells how the 'Grand Inquisitor ' whose exposition fills a good share of the text, tells why Christ must be banished and the Grand Inquisitor must continue to rule. The essence of his message is that the people cannot endure freedom. They are not really able to bear responsibility for themselves and must be fed, spiritually protected by an authoritarian power, the Grand Inquisitor and the Church.
This assumption that the people cannot bear their own freedom seems to me very Russian. It is I think quite difficult for an American who supposes that freedom is natural and most desirable, to understand this.
Dostoevsky as usual in powerful, dramatic, psychologically penetrating prose creates in this work one of World Literature's great chapters.
A number of readers have rightly commented that it is preferable to read this chapter in the context of the whole novel. But it too can be read and understood on its own terms.
One more point which comes to mind is that here the Church is made to be the instrument of interfering with true freedom.

This is an extract from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazof. It is a great discussion of how the established church and religious might treat Jesus if he were to appear today. Everyone recognizes Jesus for who he is, but seem willing to execute him for a piece of bread. It is nice to have this classic separate from the entire text from which it came. This version works well on the Kindle. The actual "appearance" of Jesus does not begin until about 8% into the book, with the introductory lines from Ivan, "My poem is of the same character."