Is the analogy of THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV reasonable?
The claim that a great, well‑crafted and true‑to‑life novel is a valid analogy for the story of our Universe can clearly tell strongly against the atheistic case. It can be easily defended on biblical premises of course. First, both the novel and the cosmos come into being through the use of words (spoken, Gen.l.3; Ps.33.6,9; or written, Exod. 31.18; 1Cor.14.37). Second, like the divine Author, a human author fashions his novel as he wills: he transcends it. Yet he is immanent in it too; the story as it unfolds necessarily bears his imprint. His transcendence and immanence correspond in miniature to God’s. Third, living men and women have ‘free‑will’: they can influence current history as God’s fellow‑workers 26 or not. In a novel there is a similar thing. As Dorothy Sayers (herself a considerable author and playwright) remarked, “the free will of a genuinely created character has a certain reality, which the writer will defy at his peril”. If he does so, his narrative loses authentici
