dostoevesky

When I started out reading Crime and Punishment I honestly did not enjoy it, but the more we talk about it and the more I look at the work as a whole the more I have come to really appreciate it. After today's discussion I appreciate Dostoevsky's novel even more especially in taking a detailed look at the history and philosophy behind it. I remember learning about existentialism in tenth grade but I did not realize how significant it is in Crime and Punishment. I thought it was very interesting exploring how existentialism played a part in Dostoevsky's life and how it is embodied by the character Raskolnikov as the reader gets into his head to examine his motives and sees how his redemption came through his suffering.
Also, before I had never thought of the story as being the story of Lazarus, and I'm still not exactly sure how it is, but I thought that was interesting and something new to think over.
While reading the book I definitely felt drawn into Raskolnikov's mind and after finishing a reading session I would often feel unsettled like I had just commited his crime so when he said that we had all murdered- with our hatred and anger, it really struck me. That's why Raskolnikov's psychology drew me in, not only did Dostoevsky write it out well, but I could relate to it because I had actually commited his crime but with my thoughts and not with an axe.
I enjoyed this talk today becuase it gave me a bigger perspective on the novel and the important factors surrounding it from a very knowledgeable pastor's point of view.

Crime and Punishment

Raskolnikov finally comes to repentance the very end after he has a dream about destruction and he flings himself at Sonia's feet. Right after he remembers that he has not opened the Bible Sonia gave him, he does not open it but he asks himself if Sonia's convictions can become his. Prior to this he never really repents for what he did. When he first confesses to Sonia he tells her that he has "a bad heart" but "that's not the point". He admits that he is bad and later he admits that he was wrong, but he keeps rationalizing his actions and says "I've only killed a louse". The main reason for his public confession was for Sonia, he took her cross because he "wanted her tears" and to feel connected to a person. Sonia tells Raskolnikov to kiss the crossroads in the haymarket square and confess that he is a murderer, he is overcome with emotion and falls to the ground but when people begin to ridicule him he could not bring himself to say he is a murderer.

mere christianity

"For mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine. God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man. It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better but like turning a horse into a winged creature."