isaac-deutscher-the-prophet-armed-trotsky-1879-1921

THE PROPHET ARMED
wrote later, 'against Voltaire, Kant, and Darwin, led me into
a world of theological thoughts which I had never touched before
and I had never even distantly imagined in what fantastic,
pedantic, droll forms these thoughts poured out.' 'The research
on the devils, daemons, their princes, Satan himself and
the Kingdom of Darkness constantly amazed me .... The
copious descriptions ... of Paradise with details about its ...
internal lay-out ended on a melancholy note: "Exact directions
about the location of Paradise are not available"; and at dinner
and tea and during my walks I kept repeating this sentence: as
to the geographical location of Paradise precise directions are
lacking.'' Theological bickering with a bigoted jailor was his
favourite diversion. Rationalistic rejection ofreligion was, generally
speaking, characteristic of the educated Russian of this time,
whether he was Radical or Socialist or only moderately Liberal,
whether he came from a Greek Orthodox or a Jewish family.
In Bronstein's upbringing the Jewish creed had played no part
at all, and only in the prison did he acquaint himself with Greek
orthodoxy. Both the Jewish and the Greek orthodoxies were so
obscurantist and stubborn in their refusal to take notice of.any
new idea-they were in this respect far behind the Protestant
and even the Catholic Churches-that they violently repelled
the educated or even half-educated man. He coul