Tolstoy's 1893 book, subtitled "Christianity Not as a Mystical Teaching but as a New Concept of Life," introduced such vital concepts as non-violen...
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Dec 16, 2009
Kristen
rated it: 
Mhatma Ghandi said of this book, "Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You overwhelmed me. It left an abiding impression on me. Before the independent thinking, profound morality and the truthfulness of this book, all the books given me...seemed to pale into insignificance." This was lovingly written in the cover of the book when I picked it out of pile of books destined for recycling, where the hard covers would be ripped off and the pages put through the recycling bin. I could n
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Sep 13, 2008
Tyler
rated it: 
Recommended by a friend. Just started it today.
I can't make up my mind whether I am in love with or outraged by Tolstoy's emphatically constructed case for pacifism. It makes me want to strangle the man.
UPDATE:
I skimmed over a lot of Tolstoy's polemics. I enjoyed his critiques of Christianity more than his case for pacifism. My caveat is personal: I prefer a more nuanced argument.
If you don't mind the polemic style, Tolstoy actually lays out a good case More...
I can't make up my mind whether I am in love with or outraged by Tolstoy's emphatically constructed case for pacifism. It makes me want to strangle the man.
UPDATE:
I skimmed over a lot of Tolstoy's polemics. I enjoyed his critiques of Christianity more than his case for pacifism. My caveat is personal: I prefer a more nuanced argument.
If you don't mind the polemic style, Tolstoy actually lays out a good case More...
Dec 16, 2009
wes
rated it:
i read this after reading Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew. He suggested it...its always why i read The Brothers Karamazov. Tolstoy's black and white uncompromising take on the Sermon on the Mount is frought with problems (as his life showed) but it was a good kick in the ass for me. The uncompromisingness of the book has stuck with me and really, for better or worse, informes the way i look at the issues of justice and our part in combating it and the church and its constant compromising nature.
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Dec 31, 2010
Bryan
rated it:
I think this book has a lot of great merits, yet I cannot rate something such as this higher when it has so strange a premise:
Tolstoy postulates that Christ didn't live, that we don't need a living Savior, and that Christianity is two-thirds deception, and then he says that the principles which Christ taught are going to save the world.
It's a remarkable example of throwing the baby out with the bath water.
If there is any reason to live the gospel of Christ at all, More...
Tolstoy postulates that Christ didn't live, that we don't need a living Savior, and that Christianity is two-thirds deception, and then he says that the principles which Christ taught are going to save the world.
It's a remarkable example of throwing the baby out with the bath water.
If there is any reason to live the gospel of Christ at all, More...
Aug 25, 2010
Tom
rated it:
Tolstoy is my favorite writer.
'The Kingdom of God Is Within You' is a book that heavily influenced Gandhi in his epic battle for justice and compassion within and, then, against the British Empire.
It is not what you might think though. It is heavily censorious of prevailing assumptions in Christianity as they were practiced in the 18th century.
Tolstoy is a radical and allows Christians no wriggle room. You are either a believer and follow the spirit and teachings More...
'The Kingdom of God Is Within You' is a book that heavily influenced Gandhi in his epic battle for justice and compassion within and, then, against the British Empire.
It is not what you might think though. It is heavily censorious of prevailing assumptions in Christianity as they were practiced in the 18th century.
Tolstoy is a radical and allows Christians no wriggle room. You are either a believer and follow the spirit and teachings More...
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Jun 20, 2011
David
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I have read two of Tolstoy's other masterpieces in "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina." For all the brilliant prose in these two works of penultimate genius, to really understand the heart of the novelist writing about his society, these essays lend powerful insight. The essays begin as Tolstoy rides a train with soldiers sent to beat Russian peasants who have lodged a complaint against a rich landowner bent upon cutting down a forest, with which serfs had always enjoyed comm
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Oct 13, 2009
Melissa
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Some of what Tolstoy argues is legitimate and certainly his descriptions of the church as an institution are valid in many if not most cases. However, I cannot easily swallow a book that kicks out one of the primary tenets of Christianity; the doctrine of grace.
Tolstoy writes about grace “And what is most important of all--the man who believes in salvation through faith in the redemption or the sacraments, cannot devote all his powers to realizing Christ's moral teaching in his life. More...
Tolstoy writes about grace “And what is most important of all--the man who believes in salvation through faith in the redemption or the sacraments, cannot devote all his powers to realizing Christ's moral teaching in his life. More...
Dec 17, 2009
Rob
rated it:
this is an amazing book. i'm not a religious person and i can't say i believe in god, but this book sort of made me believe in jesus. not the supernatural aspects of him, but in his philosophy. tolstoy rips into the Church and gives no quarter, saying that the clergy are no better than gangsters. his elucidation of the profound madness involved when "christians" march off to war made me jump out of my chair and say, "yes!" read this book.
Mar 15, 2010
Valarie
rated it:
This is a great book to read before you go to sleep. I gave it three stars because it gave my brain a bit to think about, not because it is a well-written book by any stretch of the imagination. Tolstoy has a lot of great ideas, but this book is more of a collection of ramblings than a comprehensive work. Each chapter begins with a summary of its contents, which can be up to two pages on its own, and then proceeds to restate those ideas in even clumsier prose. Tolstoy's short stories were works
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Nov 30, 2011
Rick
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It's easier to go along with the flow of life than it is to stand firm on eternal truths and thus to oppose political and religious paradigms. Sure enough Tolstoy can find dozens of ways to state his case that Christianity is good and organized religion is not. And every way is relevent and true. Church complicity with worldly authorities, ready to support the violence of war and the oppression of the weak is quite at odds with the messages of Jesus Christ himself.
Read this (p. More...
Read this (p. More...
May 05, 2011
Eric
rated it:
I have considered this since I read it probably 6 years ago to be my favorite book, or at least the book that has challenged me the most. It's as powerful of a testament to Christian nonviolence as I imagine has ever been written. Probably it's most well-known claim to fame is that Gandhi cites it as the book that influenced him most in his life, even though he was a devout Hindu.
Jun 27, 2011
Nick
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Three stars means "liked it," and I did like it, but this book was definitely a disappointment. I had been tracing nonviolent Christian thought back through a few works, from Yoder's "The Politics of Jesus" through King's "Strength to Love" and Gandhi's "Hind Swaraj," and I was excited to read the thoughts of the great Leo Tolstoy, who had been a direct inspiration for Gandhi.
Unfortunately, KG was a dry and mostly uninspiring work, with none of t More...
Unfortunately, KG was a dry and mostly uninspiring work, with none of t More...
May 29, 2009
Charles
rated it:
The anarchist Tolstoy was a post-emergent christian before the emergent christianity appearance in america.
Ex-Orthodox catholic, he has a strong anti-institucionalist view of the church. He is the man that make Gandhi and Martin Luther King exists. Gandhi says about this book:
His political view is anarchist, or libertarian, instead of agression and terrorism from mostly know anarchists, he More...
Ex-Orthodox catholic, he has a strong anti-institucionalist view of the church. He is the man that make Gandhi and Martin Luther King exists. Gandhi says about this book:
"Was the few type of book that can change a man immediately"
His political view is anarchist, or libertarian, instead of agression and terrorism from mostly know anarchists, he More...
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May 08, 2011
David
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Tolstoy calls on all people to live by the Law of Jesus, primarily set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. For Tolstoy, living like this is what it means to be a Christian. Early on he makes it clear he has no love for the rest of the New Testament outside the Gospels. He finds the whole idea of sin and salvation by grace as really part of the problem. Thus, his view of being a Christian is quite different than the traditional view as he simply says - live like Jesus.
Of course, t More...
Of course, t More...
Mar 28, 2009
I will admit that the last 10-15 pages of the book were pretty good. I still don't appreciate the first 200 or so, but his concluding pages were pretty well reasoned and thought-provoking. I could divorce his logic from nonviolence and apply it to many other things. "What will become of humanity if each of us performs the duty God demands of us through the conscience implanted within us?" I think that's a good question to personalize. Also his idea that we are free to choose our mo
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Apr 20, 2011
Moon 佛月球 Будда Луны
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If Dostoevsky triggered the awakening of my consciousness...Somehow Tolstoy put words into it with this sublime book. Dostoevsky's philosophies enabled my mind to plunge deeper into the depths of my soul, the wisdom was attained yet it was difficult to articulate it into words, not until I came across this book, The Kingdom Of God Is Within You by Tolstoy. It reflects Tolstoy's belief that a society of peace, harmony and love is possible and only in our midst, if only we could learn to li
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May 29, 2011
Naum
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Confession time: I have never read War and Peace (though I have read most of Dostoevsky, his Russian rival for the age), and stumbled across this title in serendipitous style, scrolling through a library (yes, of the real life brick & mortar type) aisle seeking another title. I started reading and was quickly captivated, in some part due to the discovery that this text was a source of inspiration for Gandhi.
I was surprised how lucid most of the book was, given that it is an ~120 year o More...
I was surprised how lucid most of the book was, given that it is an ~120 year o More...
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Feb 03, 2011
La pointe de la sauce
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"Ye have heard, it was said of old, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you Resist not evil. But if one smites thee on the right cheek, turn him the other also; and if one will go to law with thee to take thy coat from thee, give him thy cloak also."
I have always said that Jesus Christ is one of the greatest humanists there has ever been and the starting point of many revolutionary ideas. Here Tolstoy attempts to disassociate Christ's teachings fro More...
I have always said that Jesus Christ is one of the greatest humanists there has ever been and the starting point of many revolutionary ideas. Here Tolstoy attempts to disassociate Christ's teachings fro More...
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Mar 13, 2011
James
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This is essentially an extensive defense of a previous book that Tolstoy wrote which apparently was pretty much ignored or dismissed without much comment. Some reviews I have read say that Tolstoy's ardent passionate defense of the non-violent resistance to evil influenced Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. Tolstoy insists that non-violent resistance to evil is the defining ethic of Christianity. He insists that living the ethic of the Sermon of the Mount is more important to Christianity tha
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Jun 07, 2011
Harrison
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What does a nation established in Christ’s principles look like?
Does it wage war?
Does it maintain a standing army?
Does it manufacture nuclear weapons? Landmines? Assault rifles? Hand guns?
Does it torture people?
Waterboard people?
Imprison people?
Are there poor people in a Christian nation?
Are there rich people in a Christian nation?
Does a women die from hunger in a Christian nation?
Does she die from preventable di More...
Does it wage war?
Does it maintain a standing army?
Does it manufacture nuclear weapons? Landmines? Assault rifles? Hand guns?
Does it torture people?
Waterboard people?
Imprison people?
Are there poor people in a Christian nation?
Are there rich people in a Christian nation?
Does a women die from hunger in a Christian nation?
Does she die from preventable di More...
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Sep 23, 2009
Derek
rated it:
It was sad to see Tolstoi's predictions about the end of war, punishment of crime, and other brutality. When he wrote this in the late 1800s, he seemed confident that "man" would soon move beyond violence. I am not sure if he would have been shocked if he had lived a 5 more years, but he would have been disappointed.
From a spiritual standpoint, I was conflicted by his interpretation of non-resistance. Although I long ago rejected the idea that the Sermon on the Mount was ge More...
From a spiritual standpoint, I was conflicted by his interpretation of non-resistance. Although I long ago rejected the idea that the Sermon on the Mount was ge More...
Apr 12, 2009
Frightful_elk
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A great and terrible book, from Tolstoy the man who bought you War and Peace and Christian Anarchism.
This was the book that directly inspired Gandhi to begin his non violent resistance movement, and for that reason alone it is worth reading. It is very inspiring, if anything it suffers from being too impassioned. It is a direct call for individuals to take personal responsibility for their actions. A very simple idea, but Tolstoy illustrates the power of it exceedingly well, his cal More...
This was the book that directly inspired Gandhi to begin his non violent resistance movement, and for that reason alone it is worth reading. It is very inspiring, if anything it suffers from being too impassioned. It is a direct call for individuals to take personal responsibility for their actions. A very simple idea, but Tolstoy illustrates the power of it exceedingly well, his cal More...
Apr 04, 2011
Lane
rated it:
I found Tolstoy to be condescending and difficult to read. I am afraid that this book will stay on the currently reading list. I don't want to give up on it but I can't seem to make myself pick it up again. Tolstoy writes about "non-resistance". Which I believe in some cases works and other's it would not be applicable. Martin Luther King used it properly. According to Tolstoy though, you aren't a "true Christian" unless you practice "non-resistance" due to Chr
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Aug 30, 2010
Ryan
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Tolstoy's radical take on Christianity may not sound so radical at first: he insists on a rigid adherence to the specific verbal instructions of Jesus as described in the Gospels. The sermon on the mount, in particular, is afforded special emphasis as a sort of new set of commandments. This is, notably, the sermon in which Jesus instructs us to turn the other cheek and be forgiving and loving of one another. These teachings, he writes, constitute the body of Christianity- they define what it mea
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Sep 29, 2011
Jasmine
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This book is insanely challenging. It took me a while to get through it because it's a bit of heavy reading, but it is amazing and well worth it. The fact that this was written in 1893 and the messages still resonate today is very scary and mind boggling. The book is surprisingly anarchic in nature and turned at least my world upside down. Tolstoy leaves nothing untouched: our society, culture, and religion are all scrutinized. He dismantles all the systems we have set up in our world and expose
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Apr 14, 2008
Alex
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From MLK to Gandhi to Tolstoy, I've been more and more interested in pacifism lately. Have wanted to read this ever since I read Tolstoy's adaptation of the gospels.
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Finally starting this. Seemed relevant with all the civil rights reading I've been doing. I'm a little nervous about how many times the fore matter talks about how unreadable the early chapters are ...
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The introduction was wrong. The early chapters were not bad at all. But all More...
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Finally starting this. Seemed relevant with all the civil rights reading I've been doing. I'm a little nervous about how many times the fore matter talks about how unreadable the early chapters are ...
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The introduction was wrong. The early chapters were not bad at all. But all More...
May 06, 2009
Nikki
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Although this book was the major influence for Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., I retired it after about 150 pages. I agree with Tolstoy about non-violence. And I agree that Christians, for the most part, have failed in living this principle, but I'm just not sure that anyone could fully live the 'true Christianity' that he discusses. I didn't finish the book primarily because Tolstoy rambled on and on about the same things. (Not to be too hard on Tolstoy...I love his fiction works!)
Oct 07, 2011
Ernest
rated it:
Being an anarchist, I would have been remiss by not reading this book. It's fully questions how Christians claim to be solidified in Christianity, yet put those beliefs aside in favor of war for country, endorsing patriotism over God's purpose. The two cannot exist. Tolstoy break down, and deftly explains the conflict that naturally exists between being a Christian, and being patriotic to one's country, explaining that Christ never endorsed a government, a church leader, a state organization,
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Jan 09, 2010
Cindy
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This is the book that Ghandi read that caused him to leave his life as a lawyer in South Africa, return to India and free his countrymen. This is the book that Martin Luther King, Jr. read after he learned that Ghandi had read it and inspired him to free his countrymen. I reckon, then, that it's worth reading.
Jun 27, 2010
mic
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Never mind the cover. This book is amazing!
One of the most important books I've ever read...
Read the description; I think it's pretty right on.
If you've ever called yourself a Christian, this is a must read. If you think Christians are misguided or even dangerous, you should read this book. If you like certain aspects of Christianity but think that organized religion is a crock, you should read this book. If you think war is a necessary evil, read this book. More...
One of the most important books I've ever read...
Read the description; I think it's pretty right on.
If you've ever called yourself a Christian, this is a must read. If you think Christians are misguided or even dangerous, you should read this book. If you like certain aspects of Christianity but think that organized religion is a crock, you should read this book. If you think war is a necessary evil, read this book. More...
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