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Overview
Published in 1884, 'The kingdom of God is within you' is perhaps Tolstoy's most significant work of non-fiction. Due to the Russian censors, it was first published in Germany, but its dominant idea of non-violence echoed across the international stage throughout the 20th century. In essence, the book is a defence by Tolstoy of the position on non-violence he adopted in 'My Religion'; and therefore also an assault on the Orthodox Church. 'Nowhere,' says Tolstoy, 'is there evidence that God or Christ founded anything like what churchmen understand by the Church.' And in what it now proclaimed, Tolstoy believed the church was wasting its time: 'The activity of the church consists in forcing, by every means in its power, upon millions Russian people, those antiquated, time-worn beliefs which have lost all significance.' Freshly informed by Quaker ideals of non-violence; and full of both story telling and rhetoric, here is Tolstoy calling for a change in consciousness in society. He does not accept that 'this social order, with its pauperism, famines, prisons, gallows, armies and wars, is necessary to society.' That which is, is not that which must be. Rooted in the Sermon on the Mount, Tolstoy's Christianity is not primarily concerned with worship or salvation, but with a new way of behaving in society - behaviour informed by the pointlessness and sin of violence. Tolstoy tellingly reflects on the army at work - whether in internal repression or in national wars - and asks: 'How can you kill people when it is written in God's commandment 'Thou shall not murder?' Gandhi was 'overwhelmed' by the book, said 'it left an abiding impression', and in time, a correspondence started between the two men. The book convinced Gandhi that Hinduism and Christianity were one and the same at their core, and informed his passive resistance first in South Africa and then India; and later, of course, that of Martin Luther King in the USA
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781907661204 |
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Publisher: | White Crow Books |
Publication date: | 04/16/2010 |
Pages: | 324 |
Sales rank: | 631,377 |
Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.88(d) |
About the Author
Novelist, essayist, dramatist, and philosopher, Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is most famous for his sprawling portraits of 19th-century Russian life, as recounted in Anna Karenina and War and Peace.
Date of Birth:
September 9, 1828Date of Death:
November 20, 1910Place of Birth:
Tula Province, RussiaPlace of Death:
Astapovo, RussiaEducation:
Privately educated by French and German tutors; attended the University of Kazan, 1844-47Table of Contents
Introduction to the Dover EditionTranslator's Preface
Preface
I. The Doctrine of Non-resistance to Evil by Force Has Been Professed by a Minority of Men from the Very Foundation of Christianity
II. Criticisms of the Doctrine of Non-resistance to Evil by Force on the Part of Believers and of Unbelievers
III. Christianity Misunderstood by Believers
IV. Christianity Misunderstood by Men of Science
V. Contradiction Between Our Life and Our Christian Conscience
VI. Attitude of Men of the Present Day to War
VII. Significance of Compulsory Service
VIII. Doctrine of Non-resistance to Evil by Force Must Inevitably Be Accepted by Men of the Present Day
IX. The Acceptance of the Christian Conception of Life Will Emancipate Men from the Miseries of Our Pagan Life
X. Evil Cannot Be Suppressed by the Physical Force of the Government--The Moral Progress of Humanity Is Brought About Not Only by Individual Recognition of Truth, but Also Through the Establishment of a Public Opinion
XI. The Christian Conception of Life Has Already Arisen in Our Society, and Will Infallibly Put an End to the Present Organization of Our Life Based on Force--When That Will Be
XII. Conclusion--Repent Ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand
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