Dostoevsky's Russian God

Winston Churchill famously stated that Russia "is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." While reading Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and Demons, I arrived at the same conclusion, thoroughly perplexed by Dostoevsky's use of the phrase "Russian God." What does Dostoevsky's peculiar notion of Russian God mean? In Christendom, God is personal, loves all men, and sent his son to die not for the salvation of a singular nation but all mankind. Analysis of Dostoevsky's Demons and The Brothers Karamazov indicates that Dostoevsky's concept of Russian God is a uniquely Russian entity that diverges from biblically orthodox conceptions of God and faith. Underpinned by Russian nationalism, anti-Westernism, and Russian imperial doctrine, Dostoevsky's Russian God notion emphasizes tribalism over Christian theological orthodoxy and is a footnote in the long history of state manipulation of religion in Russia.