Russia’s Quest for the “Historical Jesus”: Tolstoy and Dostoevsky vs. Strauss

Abstract

The works of theologian David Friedrich Strauss are significant milestones in the development of an academic project known as the “Quest for the Historical Jesus”. As part of the Quest, various researchers tried to reconstruct the life, teachings, and personality of Jesus of Nazareth using historical and philological methods, that is, operating from the standpoint of strict positivism.

The purpose of this article is to show that the works of Strauss had a significant impact on the logic and evolution of the religious quests of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Tolstoy became acquainted with Strauss's ideas around the late 1870s, in a period of intensive intellectual search, which eventually led him to an acute religious crisis and rejection of the official church view on Christianity. The article shows that the writer was ultimately compelled to reject the ideas of Strauss and Renan. At the same time, some elements of Strauss's theory were so close to Tolstoy that these ideas had a definite influence on his basic religious conception.

Dostoevsky had the opportunity to become acquainted with the ideas of Strauss in the Petrashevsky Circle. This experience led to a deep life crisis on Dostoevsky's part, too. On the one hand, the writer had a negative view of ideas associated with the works of Strauss and Renan. On the other hand, all of Dostoevsky’s artistic work is directly related to his overcoming the influence of the “Strauss-Renan narrative”, which itself is evidence of the evolution of the writer’s views on faith and religion.