'The Kingdom of God Is Within You' is a collection of essays by Leo Tolstoy, interpreting Christianity as a practical guide to life based on inner spirituality and nonviolence. It is worth listening to for its critique of institutional religion and state violence, and for its vision of a society shaped by love and nonviolent resistance.
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Cover of the original edition (Project Gutenberg, public domain).
Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
"THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU" "THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU" CHRISTIANITY NOT AS A MYSTIC RELIGION BUT AS A NEW THEORY OF LIFE TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN OF COUNT LEO TOLSTOY BY CONSTANCE GARNETT NEW YORK THE CASSELL PUBLISHING CO.
31 EĵǪǵ 17ǵƒ Sǵ. (UƿƗLjƿ SǟǼĵǡŧ)
CLjǙΏǡƗƄƒǵ, 1894, œΏ
THE CASSELL PUBLISHING CO.
All rights reserved.
THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS,
RAHWAY, N. J.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
The book I have had the privilege of translating is, undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable studies of the social and psychological condition of the modern world which has appeared in Europe for many years, and its influence is sure to be lasting and far reaching.
Tolstoy's genius is beyond dispute. The verdict of the civilized world has pronounced him as perhaps the greatest novelist of our generation. But the philosophical and religious works of his later years have met with a somewhat indifferent reception. They have been much talked about, simply because they were his work, but, as
Tolstoy himself complains, they have never been seriously discussed. I hardly think that he will have to repeat the complaint in regard to the present volume. One may disagree with his views, but no one can seriously deny the originality, boldness, and depth of the social conception which he develops with such powerful logic. The novelist has shown in this book the religious fervor and spiritual insight of the prophet; yet one is pleased to recognize that the artist is not wholly lost in the thinker. The subtle intuitive perception of the psychological basis of the social position, the analysis of the frame of mind of oppressors and oppressed, and of the intoxication of Authority and
Servility, as well as the purely descriptive passages in the last chapter
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