Though both underwent similar transformations of their hearts through their faith in Christ, Chateoubriand and Dostoevsky developed different Christian world-views. Chateaubriand developed a dualistic view of Christianity. The fallen world, which is ruled by Satan, remains separated from God's spiritual world, the kingdom of heaven. Thus life in this sinful world is utterly painful, despairing and meaningless. The ideals of Christianity, including love, peace and joy, will only be realized in heaven. Chateaubriand believed that "the Christian always looks upon himself as no more than a pilgrim travelling here below through a vale of tears and finding no repose till he reaches the tomb" (Chateaubriand, 1976, p.297). Only Christians can be hopeful that they will die soon and enter into heaven, where they will experience redemption and the eternal bliss of communing With God....
... At the end of his life Chateaubriand stated, "As it grew, my religious conviction has devoured my other convictions, (but) in this world there is no more believing Christian and no more doubting man than I" (ibid.)....
Chateaubriand grew up during the rise of religious doubt and atheism of the Enlightenment, as he described in Le Genie du Christianisme: "Religion was attacked with every kind of weapon, from the pamphlet to the folio, from the epigram to the sophism. No sooner did a religious book appear than the author was overwhelmed with ridicule, while works which Voltaire was the first to laugh at among his friends were extolled to the skies" (Chateaubriand, 1899, p.124). Many philosophes, such as Denis Diderot, Jean le Pond d'Alembert and Voltaire, were skeptical of the Christian faith because they believed it was based on superstition and irrationality. Enlightenment thinkers assumed that the problems of humanity and society could be solved simply through the application of laws and reforms based on human reason. Many during the "Age of Reason aspired to positivism and scientism, and not to faith in God, as the hope for humanity. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, angry revolutionaries destroyed stained glass windows, religious statues and entire cathedrals to make the statement that the Catholic Church must be extirpated since it represented the oppression and corruption of the fallen monarchy.
...Chateaubriand debated against the notion of the Enlightenment that humanity is by nature rational, as he said, "Man's heart is the toy of everything, and no one can tell what frivolous circumstance may cause its joys and its sorrows (Chateaubriand, 1899, p.124). He vehemently disagreed with the idea that rational reforms would solve humanity's problems because he saw the inhuman violence of the French Revolution, Chateaubriand believed it was his mission to show that Chris- tianity was a divinely inspired religion. He argued that the aesthetic beauty of Christianity including the mystical rituals and the ornate cathedrals proved that only God could have inspired Christianity. Through his writings Chateaubriand called France to return to its Christian faith, values and traditions.
Christianity in Literary Creation: Chateaubriand and Dostoevsky