Lecture: Dostoyevsky or The Will to Believe
Lecture: Dostoyevsky or The Will to Believe
Speaker: Rolf Kronhagel, Schwerin
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), the great Russian poet, came from impoverished nobility. He was sentenced to death for his closeness to a socialist thinker, pardoned at the execution site and sent into exile. After this and the experiences of his subsequent military service, he returned as a convinced Christian and opponent of atheistic socialism.
This is reflected in his work, where he deals with existential questions with agonizing intensity. The lecture focuses on Dostoyevsky's struggle with the phenomena of atheism and nihilism. His thesis: "If there is no God, everything is permitted" was one that he explored more intensively than anyone else, thought through to the deepest depths and psychologically illuminated its consequences.
His literature is his examination of the question of whether God exists, whether everything is over with death and what consequences this has for life. The characters he created in the novels embody his struggle from different perspectives.
With his popular faith and religious mysticism, he became a leading figure of Pan-Slavism with a decidedly anti-Western attitude that still has an impact today.
When: May 11, 2026 - 6 p.m.
Where: in the auditorium of the Friderico-Francisceum Gymnasium
Admission: free, donations are requested
