Comparison Of Dostoyevsky And Paul On The Problem Of Evil And Suffering

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Dostoyevsky and Paul on the Problem of Evil and Suffering
In 1880, Russian philosopher Fyodor Dostoyevsky published The Brothers Karamazov as a commentary on the ethical and religious dilemmas of his time. In this novel, we are introduced to Ivan and Alyosha, two brothers discussing the problem of evil and suffering. Ivan successfully shows this problem through the examples of children suffering during his time. In doing so, Ivan rejects Alyosha’s view of a just benevolent God by arguing that the suffering of children necessarily demonstrates the injustice of God by showing a contradiction between a God with an omnibenevolent nature and a God who allows tremendous suffering to guiltless children. Because of the necessary condition of the suffering