Leo Tolstoy: Spiritual Writings

Modern Spiritual Masters

by Leo Tolstoy (Editor), Charles E. Moore (Editor)

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is the famed author of such classic Russian novels as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. In mid-life he underwent a deep moral and spiritual crisis that led him back to the Gospels in an effort to conform his life to the spirit of Christ. This volume focuses on Tolstoy's "spiritual writings""--autobiographical reflections on his journey of faith, Gospel commentaries, essays on the essence of Christianity, and timeless wisdom regarding the meaning of human existence.
iNCLUDES EXCERPTS FROM: On Life; My Confession; What I Believe; The Kingdom of God Is Within You; Stop and Think; What Is to Be Done?; Writings on Civil Disobedience; The Law of Love and the Law of Violence; Thoughts on God; Path of Lie; On Reason, Faith, and Prayer; and The Destruction of Hell and Its Restoration: A Legend.

Genres: Russia, Spirituality, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 2006

About the author

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reviews

[Jana Light · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a perfect first book to kick off 2013! This is one of the most beautiful books on spirituality that I have read in a long time (even granting that it was a set of collected passages from other of his longer works). Tolstoy's fiction never ceases to delight me and he was no less delightful in this genre than in his fiction. While I didn't agree with all of his truth claims (he held some very extreme, controversial views on politics and certain core tenets of Christianity), overall his emphasis and insights on the dependence of Christianity on living a life of love resonated profoundly with me. Tolstoy attempted to live his life in accordance with the near-unattainable ideals outlined in this work, and his inability to do so perfectly comes through clearly in his writing, adding humanity and intensity to subjects that, to the modern Christian, may sound trite or spiritually cliche.

One of my favorite aspects of Tolstoy's spiritual writing is the vivid and precise (sometimes expansive) imagery he uses either to clarify a difficult concept or to illustrate a moral/spiritual imperative. Many times I couldn't help but think of C.S. Lewis's apologetic/philosophic/theologic writing and how part of Lewis's brilliance was expressed in his ability to craft a perfect, complete illustration, simile or image to explicate abstract ideas.

I think this book would be an interesting read for Christians and those generally interested in spiritual concepts but unaffiliated with the Christian church. Christian and non-Christian readers will find aspects of this work very controversial, but hopefully all will simply let those passages lead them into deeper introspection and contemplation of what underlies their own beliefs and whether those foundations are right, solid, and true.

Favorite passage:
"God is for me what I strive for, and thus what constitutes my life. Therefore for me God is; but God is necessarily such that I cannot comprehend or name him.

"If I understood God, I would have reached him, and there would be nothing to strive after; there would be no ife. And yet, though I cannot understand or name him, I know him and the direction tht points me toward him. Of this I am most certain.

"I do not comprehend him, yet I am always anxious when I am without him, and only when I am with him am I at peace. What is stranger still is that to know him more and better I must draw nearer to him, and I wish to do so -- in that is my life; but such drawing nearer in no way increases, and cannot increase, my knowledge. On the contrary, every endeavor of the imagination to know God more definitely (for instance, as my Creator or as the Merciful One) removes me farther from him and hinders me from drawing closer to him. Even the pronoun 'he' diminishes my understanding of God.

"The mystery of God is that I can love truly -- that is, more than myself or anything else -- him alone. This love alone knows no bounds, no decrease (on the contrary, all is increase), no sensuality, no insincerity, no subservience, no fear, no self-satisfaction. Only through this love can I love all that is good. I can love and live only through him and by him.

"For me, God is that eternal, infinite 'not ourselves' that 'makes for righteousness.' God is not only the law of human life, but the inner motive that penetrates our being. God is love. Not love of wife, or child, or country, but of God -- that very feeling of kindness, sympathy, and joy of life that constitutes our natural, blissful, true life, which knows no death." pp. 143 - 144

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This man is truly prophetic - we are still struggling with issues we still deal with. His writing is both staggeringly wise and uncomfortably challenging - the best kind of Christian writing.

[Sinan Öner]

Russian Philosopher, Historian, Novelist, Storywriter, "Spritual" Leader Lev Tolstoy's "Spiritual Writings" is a selection from Tolstoy's different essays, notes, books. Tolstoy was a Historian of Christianity! In his "Spiritual Writings", Tolstoy's notes, critiques, discussions, impressions, thoughts about the history of Christianity were published. Tolstoy thinks about the current questions, "crisis" and practices of Christianity in different regions of the world. Tolstoy thinks about slavery, feudality and capitalism for the development of Christianity and Christian communities in the world. Tolstoy improves his projects for the modern societies with the studying of Christian philosophies since Jesus Christ, Tolstoy's "historicism" forms his "Spiritiual Writings", Tolstoy's "humanism" grows very deeply with his history works.

[Barbara Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhere I had read a short section from this book, but that section piqued my curiosity and desire to know more. Therefore, I decided I would read the whole book. I had no idea what a treat that would be. It is a book I will want to read again and again.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Julien Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth to read it twice ...

[Matty Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

If everyone on Earth read this book, the world would be much better off.

[Shannon Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers an accessible route into Tolstoy's theology.