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Initially banned in his home country The Kingdom of God Is Within You is Leo Tolstoy's great non-fictional work. The zenith of Tolstoy's thirty years of Christian thinking, it sets out a plan for a new society guided by a literal Christian interpretation. Christ conceived of a society based on love, compassion and tolerance, and Tolstoy believed this was incompatible with violence. Tolstoy's response is the principle of nonresistance in the face of violence, and that the wars that governments wage were at odds with Christian ideals. He believed we should not be limiting the scope of God's commandments, writing "how can you kill people, when it is written in God's commandment: 'Thou shalt not murder'?" Mahatma Gandhi wrote that The Kingdom of God Is Within You "overwhelmed" and "left an abiding impression" on him, listing it as one of three modern works most influential on his life and philosophy.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	The Floating Press
Date de parution	01 janvier 2009
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781775413875
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU
CHRISTIANITY NOT AS A MYSTIC RELIGION BUT AS A NEW THEORY OF LIFE
* * *
LEO NIKOLEYEVICH TOLSTOY
Translated by
CONSTANCE GARNETT

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The Kingdom of God Is Within You Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion But as a New Theory of Life From a 1894 edition.
ISBN 978-1-775413-87-5
© 2009 THE FLOATING PRESS.
While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike.
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Contents
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Translator's Preface Preface Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Endnotes
Translator's Preface
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The book I have had the privilege of translating is, undoubtedly,one of the most remarkable studies of the social and psychologicalcondition of the modern world which has appeared in Europe formany years, and its influence is sure to be lasting and farreaching. Tolstoi's genius is beyond dispute. The verdict of thecivilized world has pronounced him as perhaps the greatestnovelist of our generation. But the philosophical and religiousworks of his later years have met with a somewhat indifferentreception. They have been much talked about, simply because theywere his work, but, as Tolstoi himself complains, they have neverbeen seriously discussed. I hardly think that he will have torepeat the complaint in regard to the present volume. One maydisagree with his views, but no one can seriously deny theoriginality, boldness, and depth of the social conception which hedevelops with such powerful logic. The novelist has shown in thisbook the religious fervor and spiritual insight of the prophet;yet one is pleased to recognize that the artist is not wholly lostin the thinker. The subtle intuitive perception of thepsychological basis of the social position, the analysis of theframe of mind of oppressors and oppressed, and of the intoxicationof Authority and Servility, as well as the purely descriptivepassages in the last chapter—these could only have come from theauthor of "War and Peace."
The book will surely give all classes of readers much to think of,and must call forth much criticism. It must be refuted by thosewho disapprove of its teaching, if they do not want it to havegreat influence.
One cannot of course anticipate that English people, slow as theyare to be influenced by ideas, and instinctively distrustful ofall that is logical, will take a leap in the dark and attempt toput Tolstoi's theory of life into practice. But one may at leastbe sure that his destructive criticism of the present social andpolitical RÉGIME will become a powerful force in the work ofdisintegration and social reconstruction which is going on aroundus. Many earnest thinkers who, like Tolstoi, are struggling tofind their way out of the contradictions of our social order willhail him as their spiritual guide. The individuality of theauthor is felt in every line of his work, and even the mostprejudiced cannot resist the fascination of his genuineness,sincerity, and profound earnestness. Whatever comes from a heartsuch as his, swelling with anger and pity at the sufferings ofhumanity, cannot fail to reach the hearts of others. No readercan put down the book without feeling himself better and moretruth-loving for having read it.
Many readers may be disappointed with the opening chapters of thebook. Tolstoi disdains all attempt to captivate the reader. Hebegins by laying what he considers to be the logical foundation ofhis doctrines, stringing together quotations from little-knowntheological writers, and he keeps his own incisive logic for thelater part of the book.
One word as to the translation. Tolstoi's style in his religiousand philosophical works differs considerably from that of hisnovels. He no longer cares about the form of his work, and hisstyle is often slipshod, involved, and diffuse. It has been myaim to give a faithful reproduction of the original.
CONSTANCE GARNETT.January, 1894
Preface
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In the year 1884 I wrote a book under the title "What I Believe,"in which I did in fact make a sincere statement of my beliefs.
In affirming my belief in Christ's teaching, I could not helpexplaining why I do not believe, and consider as mistaken, theChurch's doctrine, which is usually called Christianity.
Among the many points in which this doctrine falls short of thedoctrine of Christ I pointed out as the principal one the absenceof any commandment of non-resistance to evil by force. Theperversion of Christ's teaching by the teaching of the Church ismore clearly apparent in this than in any other point ofdifference.
I know—as we all do—very little of the practice and the spokenand written doctrine of former times on the subject of non-resistance to evil. I knew what had been said on the subject bythe fathers of the Church—Origen, Tertullian, and others—I knewtoo of the existence of some so-called sects of Mennonites,Herrnhuters, and Quakers, who do not allow a Christian the use ofweapons, and do not enter military service; but I knew little ofwhat had been done by these so-called sects toward expounding thequestion.
My book was, as I had anticipated, suppressed by the Russiancensorship; but partly owing to my literary reputation, partlybecause the book had excited people's curiosity, it circulated inmanuscript and in lithographed copies in Russia and throughtranslations abroad, and it evolved, on one side, from those whoshared my convictions, a series of essays with a great deal ofinformation on the subject, on the other side a series ofcriticisms on the principles laid down in my book.
A great deal was made clear to me by both hostile and sympatheticcriticism, and also by the historical events of late years; and Iwas led to fresh results and conclusions, which I wish now toexpound.
First I will speak of the information I received on the history ofthe question of non-resistance to evil; then of the views of thisquestion maintained by spiritual critics, that is, by professedbelievers in the Christian religion, and also by temporal ones,that is, those who do not profess the Christian religion; andlastly I will speak of the conclusions to which I have beenbrought by all this in the light of the historical events of lateyears.
L. TOLSTOI.YASNAÏA POLIANA,May 14/26, 1893.

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"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. "—John viii. 32.
"Fear not them which hill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."—MATT. x. 28.
"Ye have been bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men."—I COR. vii. 23.
Chapter I
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THE DOCTRINE OF NON-RESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE HAS BEEN PROFESSEDBY A MINORITY OF MEN FROM THE VERY FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
Of the Book "What I Believe"—The Correspondence Evoked by it—Letters from Quakers—Garrison's Declaration—Adin Ballou, hisWorks, his Catechism—Helchitsky's "Net of Faith"—The Attitudeof the World to Works Elucidating Christ's Teaching—Dymond'sBook "On War"—Musser's "Non-resistance Asserted"—Attitude ofthe Government in 1818 to Men who Refused to Serve in the Army—Hostile Attitude of Governments Generally and of Liberals toThose who Refuse to Assist in Acts of State Violence, and theirConscious Efforts to Silence and Suppress these Manifestationsof Christian Non-resistance.
Among the first responses some letters called forth by my bookwere some letters from American Quakers. In these letters,expressing their sympathy with my views on the unlawfulness for aChristian of war and the use of force of any kind, the Quakersgave me details of their own so-called sect, which for more thantwo hundred years has actually professed the teaching of Christ onnon-resistance to evil by force, and does not make use of weaponsin self-defense. The Quakers sent me books, from which I learnthow they had, years ago, established beyond doubt the duty for aChristian of fulfilling the command of non-resistance to evil byforce, and had exposed the error of the Church's teaching inallowing war and capital punishment.
In a whole series of arguments and texts showing that war—thatis, the wounding and killing of men—is inconsistent with areligion founded on peace and good will toward men, the Quakersmaintain and prove that nothing has contributed so much to theobscuring of Christian truth in the eyes of the heathen, and hashindered so much the diffusion of Christianity through the world,as the disregard of this command by men calling themselvesChristians, and the permission of war and violence to Christians.
"Christ's teaching, which came to be known to men, not by means ofviolence and the sword," they say, "but by means of non-resistanceto evil, gentleness, meekness, and peaceableness, can only bediffused through the world by the example of peace, harmony, andlove among its followers."
"A Christian, according to the teaching of God himself, can actonly peaceably toward all men, and therefore there can be noauthority able to force the Christian to act in opposition to theteaching of God and to the principal virtue of the Christian inhis relation with his neighbors."
"The law of state necessity," they say, "can force only those tochange the law of God who, for the sake of earthly gains, try toreconcile the irreconcilable; but for a Christian who sincerelybelieves that following Christ's teaching will give him salvation,such considerations of state can have no force."
Further acquaintance with the labors of the Quakers and theirworks—with Fox, Penn, and espe