For those who want to remember what was in the first book of the Brothers Karamazov chapter by chapter, what we discussed before reading the second book.
I want to share some background infos on Eastern Orthodoxy which I found helpful for my understanding of the the novel so far (I am not familiar with Eastern Christianity)
The Eastern Orthodox Church has a long tradition of intimate experience and inner stillness, in which contemplative prayer or the immersion in icons silences the mind to progress along the path to God.
In Orthodoxy the Bible and the texts of the Church Fathers play an important role in preaching and catechesis as well as the acceptance of emotion in the life of piety, which is also expressed in a stronger focus on mystical forms of prayer and meditation (prayer of the heart).
For the Orthodox Church, the nature of God is a profound mystery. Words cannot exhaust it, the intellect cannot force it into concepts and categories, logic cannot piece it together for human purposes. The reality of God is in darkness and eludes any rational grasp. It is the reality that Moses already experienced: Closeness and distance, mercy and aloofness, splendour and darkness, grace and mystery, presence and passing by at the same time.
Charismatic authorities such as Hermits and church fathers, who represent the church on a very individual level, are seen as images of divine perfection on which their authority is based. The task of these charismatic teachers is to help students not to think for themselves. That is why the teacher-student relationship is based on unconditional submission and radical obedience.
Literally translated, starez means ‘venerable old man’ and refers to the function of spiritual teacher and spiritual guide for novices and lay people. He has no administrative function within the monastery. He lived in the prayer of God's presence, simplicity of thought, incessant ascetic practice and the resulting mystical experiencen (charismatic approach to God). Under the guidance of a master, he gained experience in spiritual struggle. He practises the unceasing prayer to Jesus, and in the realisation of his heart he leads a life in Christ.
Eastern Orthodoxy consciously rejected enlightenment and intellectual concepts and by doing so rejected Western educational ideals.
Dostoevski, as a young man, was drawn to western ideas and later he embraced orthodox rituals, especially after his two years old son Aljosha died in 1878. He sought support by starez Amvrossij at the cloister Optina Pustyn, who asked Dostoevski if his wife by all means was a believer and when Doestevski affirmed, he blessed her and according to a letter by Anna Dostoevski “he spoke those words, which Starez Zosima addresses in the novel to the grieving mother” (Guski 2018).
German philosopher Jürgen Habermas describes in his book Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie. Band 1: Die okzidentale Konstellation von Glauben und Wissen; Band 2: Vernünftige Freiheit. Spuren des Diskurses über Glauben und Wissen (Suhrkamp, Berlin 2019) how the expansion of the Roman Empire’s led to the Latinization of the Western hemisphere which laid the ground for societal modernization and reforms from which later social, legal, cultural, philosophical, economic etc. progress and rationalism developed.
In contrast the Greek Empire wasn’t as successful as the Roman Empire in spreading its language as a common denominator (the question of language plays a role in the chiasm between the western and eastern orthodox church). Greek Orthodoxy didn’t embrace reforms and remained much more focused on preserving traditions. This led to some sort of a standstill and persistence, stressing the need for a right lifestyle and embracing mysticism.
Very impressive analysis of each character & their inter relationship,I was never a literature reader,this started late but I liked & read these books ,some more than once but couldn’t find any one to analyze & discuss until now,love reading all discussions,thanks.
Some terms and their etymology which I find helpful to better understand them in the context of part II. What I find interesting is that some of the English and German terms have common roots but do differ in use.
And I damit, I am struggling with understanding the elaborations on religion, belief, state and church jurisdiction in II.4-6
Glaube (believe)
The German word Glaube, from Middle High German gloube/geloube from Old High German gilouba and giloubo, comes from the verb glauben (in an earlier meaning ‘to approve’ from the basic meaning ‘to make something dear/confident’), which is a prefix verb with an ablaut to the related adjective lieb, both of which have their root in the Indo-European lub-/lewbʰ- (‘to desire’, ‘to love’, ‘to declare dear’, ‘to approve’, ‘to praise’ The word is used in the sense discussed here as a translation of the Greek noun πίστις pistis with the basic meaning ‘faithfulness, trust’. The corresponding verb is πιστεύω pisteúō ‘I am faithful, trust’ (πιστεύειν pisteúein, ‘to be faithful, to trust’). The original meaning was therefore: ‘I rely on ..., I bind my existence to ..., I am faithful to ...’. The word therefore refers to trust, obedience (compare: vow, betrothal), faithfulness. The phrase ‘believe in God’ was established by Martin Luther.
The Latin word credere (cf. credo and creditor) - from cor dare: ‘to give/give the heart’ - is directly related to the ancient Indian root sraddha- (‘to believe’) and is a very old (Indo-European) verbal compound. The components mean: ‘heart’ and ‘to set, place, lay’, together meaning ‘to set one's heart (on something)’. The indefinite ‘I do not know’, on the other hand, corresponds to the Latin word putare (‘believe that’).
In Hebrew there is the word aman: to attach oneself to something. The word aman with the spelling ‘Aleph-Mem-Nun’ is only translated as ‘believe’ in the stem modification of Hif'il (pronounced ‘hä'ämin’). This stem modification generally expresses a causative aspect of the basic meaning. The basic meaning, which also appears in the original Hebrew word amen (cf. also Arabic ‘Īmān’), is ‘firm’ or ‘unshakeable’, so the meaning in Hif'il is ‘to let someone be firm’.
The Arabic word Īmān is the verbal noun of the IV. form of the stem ʾ-m-n, which also expresses the concept of trust and security in other Semitic languages (see Amen), so it has a double meaning, namely ‘faith’ in the sense of ‘to believe in something’, but also ‘to protect, to secure’.
belief (n.)
late 12c., bileave, "confidence reposed in a person or thing; faith in a religion," replacing Old English geleafa "belief, faith," from West Germanic *ga-laubon "to hold dear, esteem, trust" (source also of Old Saxon gilobo, Middle Dutch gelove, Old High German giloubo, German Glaube), from *galaub- "dear, esteemed," from intensive prefix *ga- + PIE root *leubh- "to care, desire, love." The prefix in English was altered on analogy of the verb believe. The distinction of the final consonant from that of believe developed 15c.
The meaning "conviction of the truth of a proposition or alleged fact without knowledge" is by 1530s; it is also "sometimes used to include the absolute conviction or certainty which accompanies knowledge" [Century Dictionary]. From c. 1200 as "a creed, essential doctrines of a religion or church, things held to be true as a matter of religious doctrine;" the general sense of "that which is believed" is by 1714. Related: Beliefs.
Belief meant "trust in God," while faith meant "loyalty to a person based on promise or duty" (a sense preserved in keep one's faith, in good (or bad) faith, and in common usage of faithful, faithless, which contain no notion of divinity). But faith, as cognate of Latin fides, took on the religious sense beginning in 14c. translations, and belief had by 16c. become limited to "mental acceptance of something as true," from the religious use in the sense of "things held to be true as a matter of religious doctrine."
The meaning "be persuaded of the truth of" (a doctrine, system, religion, etc.) is from mid-13c.; the meaning "credit upon the grounds of authority or testimony without complete demonstration, accept as true" is from early 14c. The general sense of "be of the opinion, think" is from c. 1300. Related: Believed (formerly occasionally beleft); believing.
faith (n.) (translates into Glauben in German)
mid-13c., faith, feith, fei, fai "faithfulness to a trust or promise; loyalty to a person; honesty, truthfulness," from Anglo-French and Old French feid, foi "faith, belief, trust, confidence; pledge" (11c.), from Latin fides "trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence, belief," from root of fidere "to trust,"from PIE root *bheidh- "to trust, confide, persuade." For sense evolution, compare belief. It has been accommodated to other English abstract nouns in -th (truth, health, etc.).
From early 14c. as "assent of the mind to the truth of a statement for which there is incomplete evidence," especially "belief in religious matters" (matched with hope and charity). Since mid-14c. in reference to the Christian church or religion; from late 14c. in reference to any religious persuasion.
And faith is neither the submission of the reason, nor is it the acceptance, simply and absolutely upon testimony, of what reason cannot reach. Faith is: the being able to cleave to a power of goodness appealing to our higher and real self, not to our lower and apparent self. [Matthew Arnold, "Literature & Dogma," 1873]
From late 14c. as "confidence in a person or thing with reference to truthfulness or reliability," also "fidelity of one spouse to another." Also in Middle English "a sworn oath," hence its frequent use in Middle English oaths and asseverations (par ma fay, mid-13c.; bi my fay, c. 1300).
Sünde (sin; German Wikipedia, transl. DeepL)
The German word Sünde (from Old High German sunta or suntea) has a common West Germanic root with words from other Germanic languages (English sin, Old Norwegian synd). The origin is not exactly clear. The word probably goes back, like Latin sunnia[1] (“distress of being” in the Lex Salica), as a participle meaning “that which exists” to the Indo-European root *es- (“to be”, Old High German sīn).[2] In German, “sin” was first used as a Christian term.
One popular etymological interpretation traces it back to the Germanic sund, because sund denotes a separation of two land masses (by a strait). However, it is argued that, on the contrary, sund refers to a strait, i.e. a connection, for example a strait. According to another explanation, however, the word can be derived from the Old Norse verb sundr. It means “to separate” or “to divide” (cf. German “(ab)sondern”,[3] modern Scandinavian sondre and Swedish sönder “broken”). A sund would therefore be a separation of land or a rift.
Sin
In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities.[1] Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, shameful, harmful, or alienating might be termed "sinful".[2]
Etymology
From Middle English sinne, synne, sunne, zen, from Old English synn ("sin"), from Proto-West Germanic *sunnju, from Proto-Germanic *sunjō ('truth', 'excuse') and *sundī, *sundijō ("sin"), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁s-ónt-ih₂, from *h₁sónts ("being, true", implying a verdict of "truly guilty" against an accusation or charge), from *h₁es- ("to be"); compare Old English sōþ ("true"; see sooth).
Guilt
The etymology of the word is obscure, and developed its modern spelling from the Old English form gylt "crime, sin, fault, fine, debt", which is possibly derived from Old English gieldan "to pay for, debt". Because it was used in the Lord's Prayer as the translation for the Latin debitum and also in Matthew xviii. 27, and gyltiȝ is used to render debet in Matthew xxiii. 18, it has been inferred to have had the primary sense of ‘debt’, though there is no real evidence for this.
Its development into a "sense of guilt" is first recorded in 1690 as a misuse of its original meaning. "Guilt by association" is first recorded in 1941.
Schuld (guilt; German Wikipedia, transl. DeepL)
Schuld f. 'obligation to pay, offense, wrongdoing, cause (of something bad), responsibility (for something)', ahd. sculd '(payment) obligation, offense, misdeed, penance, merit, cause' (8th century), mhd. schulde, schult, scholt, asächs. skuld, mnd. schult, mnl. scult, nl. schuld, aengl. scyld, anord. schwed. skuld (germ. *skuldi-) is an abstract formed with a ti-suffix to the preterite present tense treated under sollen (s. d.). Related are lit. skolà and kaltė͂ 'debt', apreuss. skallīsnan (accusative sing. fem.) 'duty'. Schuld first denotes an 'obligation or performance' incumbent on one, then specifically the 'obligation to pay money arising from a loan' and stands both for 'borrowed money to be repaid' and (from the creditor's point of view) for 'lent money, credit'. Already in Old High German Schuld (debt) (under ecclesiastical influence) takes on the meaning 'misdeed, offense, wrong committed' via 'obligation to repent'…
I want to share some background infos on Eastern Orthodoxy which I found helpful for my understanding of the the novel so far (I am not familiar with Eastern Christianity)
The Eastern Orthodox Church has a long tradition of intimate experience and inner stillness, in which contemplative prayer or the immersion in icons silences the mind to progress along the path to God.
In Orthodoxy the Bible and the texts of the Church Fathers play an important role in preaching and catechesis as well as the acceptance of emotion in the life of piety, which is also expressed in a stronger focus on mystical forms of prayer and meditation (prayer of the heart).
For the Orthodox Church, the nature of God is a profound mystery. Words cannot exhaust it, the intellect cannot force it into concepts and categories, logic cannot piece it together for human purposes. The reality of God is in darkness and eludes any rational grasp. It is the reality that Moses already experienced: Closeness and distance, mercy and aloofness, splendour and darkness, grace and mystery, presence and passing by at the same time.
Charismatic authorities such as Hermits and church fathers, who represent the church on a very individual level, are seen as images of divine perfection on which their authority is based. The task of these charismatic teachers is to help students not to think for themselves. That is why the teacher-student relationship is based on unconditional submission and radical obedience.
Literally translated, starez means ‘venerable old man’ and refers to the function of spiritual teacher and spiritual guide for novices and lay people. He has no administrative function within the monastery. He lived in the prayer of God's presence, simplicity of thought, incessant ascetic practice and the resulting mystical experiencen (charismatic approach to God). Under the guidance of a master, he gained experience in spiritual struggle. He practises the unceasing prayer to Jesus, and in the realisation of his heart he leads a life in Christ.
Eastern Orthodoxy consciously rejected enlightenment and intellectual concepts and by doing so rejected Western educational ideals.
Dostoevski, as a young man, was drawn to western ideas and later he embraced orthodox rituals, especially after his two years old son Aljosha died in 1878. He sought support by starez Amvrossij at the cloister Optina Pustyn, who asked Dostoevski if his wife by all means was a believer and when Doestevski affirmed, he blessed her and according to a letter by Anna Dostoevski “he spoke those words, which Starez Zosima addresses in the novel to the grieving mother” (Guski 2018).
German philosopher Jürgen Habermas describes in his book Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie. Band 1: Die okzidentale Konstellation von Glauben und Wissen; Band 2: Vernünftige Freiheit. Spuren des Diskurses über Glauben und Wissen (Suhrkamp, Berlin 2019) how the expansion of the Roman Empire’s led to the Latinization of the Western hemisphere which laid the ground for societal modernization and reforms from which later social, legal, cultural, philosophical, economic etc. progress and rationalism developed.
In contrast the Greek Empire wasn’t as successful as the Roman Empire in spreading its language as a common denominator (the question of language plays a role in the chiasm between the western and eastern orthodox church). Greek Orthodoxy didn’t embrace reforms and remained much more focused on preserving traditions. This led to some sort of a standstill and persistence, stressing the need for a right lifestyle and embracing mysticism.
Excellent! Thank you!
Super helpful and fills in a few blanks for me - thanks for all you do. I look forward to book 2!
Very impressive analysis of each character & their inter relationship,I was never a literature reader,this started late but I liked & read these books ,some more than once but couldn’t find any one to analyze & discuss until now,love reading all discussions,thanks.
Wonderful, thank you.
Thank you Dana! Your summaries are brilliant. 👌
Thank you so much, Dana, for this helpful summary!
These and all the others articles and materials are so helpful. Thank you. Enjoyed book 1. Looking forward to book 2.
This is very helpful!!
Some terms and their etymology which I find helpful to better understand them in the context of part II. What I find interesting is that some of the English and German terms have common roots but do differ in use.
And I damit, I am struggling with understanding the elaborations on religion, belief, state and church jurisdiction in II.4-6
Glaube (believe)
The German word Glaube, from Middle High German gloube/geloube from Old High German gilouba and giloubo, comes from the verb glauben (in an earlier meaning ‘to approve’ from the basic meaning ‘to make something dear/confident’), which is a prefix verb with an ablaut to the related adjective lieb, both of which have their root in the Indo-European lub-/lewbʰ- (‘to desire’, ‘to love’, ‘to declare dear’, ‘to approve’, ‘to praise’ The word is used in the sense discussed here as a translation of the Greek noun πίστις pistis with the basic meaning ‘faithfulness, trust’. The corresponding verb is πιστεύω pisteúō ‘I am faithful, trust’ (πιστεύειν pisteúein, ‘to be faithful, to trust’). The original meaning was therefore: ‘I rely on ..., I bind my existence to ..., I am faithful to ...’. The word therefore refers to trust, obedience (compare: vow, betrothal), faithfulness. The phrase ‘believe in God’ was established by Martin Luther.
The Latin word credere (cf. credo and creditor) - from cor dare: ‘to give/give the heart’ - is directly related to the ancient Indian root sraddha- (‘to believe’) and is a very old (Indo-European) verbal compound. The components mean: ‘heart’ and ‘to set, place, lay’, together meaning ‘to set one's heart (on something)’. The indefinite ‘I do not know’, on the other hand, corresponds to the Latin word putare (‘believe that’).
In Hebrew there is the word aman: to attach oneself to something. The word aman with the spelling ‘Aleph-Mem-Nun’ is only translated as ‘believe’ in the stem modification of Hif'il (pronounced ‘hä'ämin’). This stem modification generally expresses a causative aspect of the basic meaning. The basic meaning, which also appears in the original Hebrew word amen (cf. also Arabic ‘Īmān’), is ‘firm’ or ‘unshakeable’, so the meaning in Hif'il is ‘to let someone be firm’.
The Arabic word Īmān is the verbal noun of the IV. form of the stem ʾ-m-n, which also expresses the concept of trust and security in other Semitic languages (see Amen), so it has a double meaning, namely ‘faith’ in the sense of ‘to believe in something’, but also ‘to protect, to secure’.
belief (n.)
late 12c., bileave, "confidence reposed in a person or thing; faith in a religion," replacing Old English geleafa "belief, faith," from West Germanic *ga-laubon "to hold dear, esteem, trust" (source also of Old Saxon gilobo, Middle Dutch gelove, Old High German giloubo, German Glaube), from *galaub- "dear, esteemed," from intensive prefix *ga- + PIE root *leubh- "to care, desire, love." The prefix in English was altered on analogy of the verb believe. The distinction of the final consonant from that of believe developed 15c.
The meaning "conviction of the truth of a proposition or alleged fact without knowledge" is by 1530s; it is also "sometimes used to include the absolute conviction or certainty which accompanies knowledge" [Century Dictionary]. From c. 1200 as "a creed, essential doctrines of a religion or church, things held to be true as a matter of religious doctrine;" the general sense of "that which is believed" is by 1714. Related: Beliefs.
Belief meant "trust in God," while faith meant "loyalty to a person based on promise or duty" (a sense preserved in keep one's faith, in good (or bad) faith, and in common usage of faithful, faithless, which contain no notion of divinity). But faith, as cognate of Latin fides, took on the religious sense beginning in 14c. translations, and belief had by 16c. become limited to "mental acceptance of something as true," from the religious use in the sense of "things held to be true as a matter of religious doctrine."
The meaning "be persuaded of the truth of" (a doctrine, system, religion, etc.) is from mid-13c.; the meaning "credit upon the grounds of authority or testimony without complete demonstration, accept as true" is from early 14c. The general sense of "be of the opinion, think" is from c. 1300. Related: Believed (formerly occasionally beleft); believing.
faith (n.) (translates into Glauben in German)
mid-13c., faith, feith, fei, fai "faithfulness to a trust or promise; loyalty to a person; honesty, truthfulness," from Anglo-French and Old French feid, foi "faith, belief, trust, confidence; pledge" (11c.), from Latin fides "trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence, belief," from root of fidere "to trust,"from PIE root *bheidh- "to trust, confide, persuade." For sense evolution, compare belief. It has been accommodated to other English abstract nouns in -th (truth, health, etc.).
From early 14c. as "assent of the mind to the truth of a statement for which there is incomplete evidence," especially "belief in religious matters" (matched with hope and charity). Since mid-14c. in reference to the Christian church or religion; from late 14c. in reference to any religious persuasion.
And faith is neither the submission of the reason, nor is it the acceptance, simply and absolutely upon testimony, of what reason cannot reach. Faith is: the being able to cleave to a power of goodness appealing to our higher and real self, not to our lower and apparent self. [Matthew Arnold, "Literature & Dogma," 1873]
From late 14c. as "confidence in a person or thing with reference to truthfulness or reliability," also "fidelity of one spouse to another." Also in Middle English "a sworn oath," hence its frequent use in Middle English oaths and asseverations (par ma fay, mid-13c.; bi my fay, c. 1300).
Sünde (sin; German Wikipedia, transl. DeepL)
The German word Sünde (from Old High German sunta or suntea) has a common West Germanic root with words from other Germanic languages (English sin, Old Norwegian synd). The origin is not exactly clear. The word probably goes back, like Latin sunnia[1] (“distress of being” in the Lex Salica), as a participle meaning “that which exists” to the Indo-European root *es- (“to be”, Old High German sīn).[2] In German, “sin” was first used as a Christian term.
One popular etymological interpretation traces it back to the Germanic sund, because sund denotes a separation of two land masses (by a strait). However, it is argued that, on the contrary, sund refers to a strait, i.e. a connection, for example a strait. According to another explanation, however, the word can be derived from the Old Norse verb sundr. It means “to separate” or “to divide” (cf. German “(ab)sondern”,[3] modern Scandinavian sondre and Swedish sönder “broken”). A sund would therefore be a separation of land or a rift.
Sin
In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities.[1] Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, shameful, harmful, or alienating might be termed "sinful".[2]
Etymology
From Middle English sinne, synne, sunne, zen, from Old English synn ("sin"), from Proto-West Germanic *sunnju, from Proto-Germanic *sunjō ('truth', 'excuse') and *sundī, *sundijō ("sin"), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁s-ónt-ih₂, from *h₁sónts ("being, true", implying a verdict of "truly guilty" against an accusation or charge), from *h₁es- ("to be"); compare Old English sōþ ("true"; see sooth).
Guilt
The etymology of the word is obscure, and developed its modern spelling from the Old English form gylt "crime, sin, fault, fine, debt", which is possibly derived from Old English gieldan "to pay for, debt". Because it was used in the Lord's Prayer as the translation for the Latin debitum and also in Matthew xviii. 27, and gyltiȝ is used to render debet in Matthew xxiii. 18, it has been inferred to have had the primary sense of ‘debt’, though there is no real evidence for this.
Its development into a "sense of guilt" is first recorded in 1690 as a misuse of its original meaning. "Guilt by association" is first recorded in 1941.
Schuld (guilt; German Wikipedia, transl. DeepL)
Schuld f. 'obligation to pay, offense, wrongdoing, cause (of something bad), responsibility (for something)', ahd. sculd '(payment) obligation, offense, misdeed, penance, merit, cause' (8th century), mhd. schulde, schult, scholt, asächs. skuld, mnd. schult, mnl. scult, nl. schuld, aengl. scyld, anord. schwed. skuld (germ. *skuldi-) is an abstract formed with a ti-suffix to the preterite present tense treated under sollen (s. d.). Related are lit. skolà and kaltė͂ 'debt', apreuss. skallīsnan (accusative sing. fem.) 'duty'. Schuld first denotes an 'obligation or performance' incumbent on one, then specifically the 'obligation to pay money arising from a loan' and stands both for 'borrowed money to be repaid' and (from the creditor's point of view) for 'lent money, credit'. Already in Old High German Schuld (debt) (under ecclesiastical influence) takes on the meaning 'misdeed, offense, wrong committed' via 'obligation to repent'…