ABSTRACT
Mikhail Bulgakov`s novel The Master and Margarita highlights the conflict of different approaches to the problem of "historical Jesus". The novel of the Soviet writer and playwright, written as a part of the political and social context of Stalinism, is analyzed from the standpoint of the Christ figure approach as a historical character and is contemporized with publications on religious topics, through the prism of the historical evolution of Russian and Soviet society at the time of the novel`s writing. The separate segments of the analysis of Bulgakov's narrative of the Gospels, which dwell upon the crime, the punishment and the vengeance, emphasize the human nature of Christ, his discourse and his feelings and lead to some conclusions of a quest for "historical Jesus" in Soviet literature.
Keywords:
Mikhail Bulgakov; Master and Margarita; Historical Jesus