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 help
explaining why I do not believe, and consider as mistaken, the
Church's doctrine, which is usually called Christianity.
Among the many points in which this doctrine falls short of the
doctrine of Christ I pointed out as the principal one the absence
of any commandment of nonresistance to evil by force. The
perversion of Christ's teaching by the teaching of the Church is
more clearly apparent in this than in any other point of
difference.
I know—as we all do—very little of the practice and the spoken and
written doctrine of former... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
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 ... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
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 pr... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. "—John viii. 32.
"Fear not them which kill 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.
Of the Book "What I Believe"—The Correspondence Evoked by it—Letters
from Quakers—Garrison's Declaration—Adin Ballou, his Works, his
Catechism—Helchitsky's "Net of Faith"—The Attitude of the World to
Works Elucidating Christ's Teaching—Dymond's Book "On War"—Musser's
"Nonresistance Asserted"—Attitude of the Governme... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Fate of the Book "What I Believe"—Evasive Character of Religious
Criticisms of Principles of my Book—1st Reply: Use of Force
not Opposed to Christianity—2d Reply: Use of Force Necessary
to Restrain Evil Doers—3d Reply: Duty of Using Force in
Defense of One's Neighbor—4th Reply: The Breach of the Command
of Nonresistance to be Regarded Simply as a Weakness—5th
Reply: Reply Evaded by Making Believe that the Question has
long been Decided—To Devise such Subterfuges and to take
Refuge Behind the Authority of the Church, of Antiquity, and of
Religion is all that Ecclesiastical Critics can do to get out
of the Contradiction between Use of Force and Christianity in
Theory and in Practice—G... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Meaning of Christian Doctrine, Understood by a Minority, has Become
Completely Incomprehensible for the Majority of Men—Reason of this to
be Found in Misinterpretation of Christianity and Mistaken Conviction of
Believers and Unbelievers Alike that they Understand it—The Meaning of
Christianity Obscured for Believers by the Church—The First Appearance
of Christ's Teaching—Its Essence and Difference from Heathen
Religions—Christianity not Fully Comprehended at the Beginning, Became
More and More Clear to those who Accepted it from its Correspondence
with Truth—Simultaneously with this Arose the Claim to Possession of
the Authentic Meaning of the Doctrine Based on the Miraculous Nature of
its Trans... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Attitude of Men of Science to Religions in General—What Religion is,
and What is its Significance for the Life of Humanity—Three Conceptions
of Life—Christian Religion the Expression of the Divine Conception of
Life—Misinterpretation of Christianity by Men of Science, who Study it
in its External Manifestations Due to their Criticizing it from
Standpoint of Social Conception of Life—Opinion, Resulting from this
Misinterpretation, that Christ's Moral Teaching is Exaggerated and
Cannot be put into Practice—Expression of Divine Conception of Life in
the Gospel—False Ideas of Men of Science on Christianity Proceed from
their Conviction that they have an Infallible Method of Criticism—From... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Men Think they can Accept Christianity without Altering their
Life—Pagan Conception of Life does not Correspond with Present Stage of
Development of Humanity, and Christian Conception Alone Can Accord with
it—Christian Conception of Life not yet Understood by Men, but the
Progress of Life itself will Lead them Inevitably to Adopt it—The
Requirements of a New Theory of Life Always Seem Incomprehensible,
Mystic, and Supernatural—So Seem the Requirements of the Christian
Theory of Life to the Majority of Men—The Absorption of the Christian
Conception of Life will Inevitably be Brought About as the Result of
Material and Spiritual Causes—The Fact of Men Knowing the Requirements
of the Higher View of... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
People do not Try to Remove the Contradiction between Life and
Conscience by a Change of Life, but their Cultivated Leaders Exert Every
Effort to Obscure the Demands of Conscience, and justify their Life; in
this Way they Degrade Society below Paganism to a State of Primeval
Barbarism—Undefined Attitude of Modern Leaders of Thought to War, to
Universal Militarism, and to Compulsory Service in Army—One Section
Regards War as an Accidental Political Phenomenon, to be Avoided by
External Measures only—Peace Congress—The Article in the REVUE DES
REVUES—Proposition of Maxime du Camp—Value of Boards of Arbitration
and Suppression of Armies—Attitude of Governments to Men of this
Opinion and What ... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Universal Compulsory Service is not a Political Accident, but the
Furthest Limit of the Contradiction Inherent in the Social Conception of
Life—Origin of Authority in Society—Basis of Authority is Physical
Violence—To be Able to Perform its Acts of Violence Authority Needs a
Special Organization—The Army—Authority, that is, Violence, is the
Principle which is Destroying the Social Conception of Life—Attitude of
Authority to the Masses, that is, Attitude of Government to Working
Oppressed Classes—Governments Try to Foster in Working Classes the Idea
that State Force is Necessary to Defend Them from External Enemies—But
the Army is Principally Needed to Preserve Government from its own
... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Christianity is Not a System of Rules, but a New Conception of
Life, and therefore it was Not Obligatory and was Not Accepted
in its True Significance by All, but only by a Few—Christianity
is, Moreover, Prophetic of the Destruction of the Pagan Life,
and therefore of Necessity of the Acceptance of the Christian
Doctrines—Nonresistance of Evil by Force is One Aspect of the
Christian Doctrine, which must Inevitably in Our Times be
Accepted by Men—Two Methods of Deciding Every Quarrel—First
Method is to Find a Universal Definition of Evil, which All Must
Accept, and to Resist this Evil by Force—Second Method is the
Christian One of Complete Nonresistance by Force—Though the
Failure of the First M... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
The External Life of Christian Peoples Remains Pagan Though they are
Penetrated by Christian Consciousness—The Way Out of this Contradiction
is by the Acceptance of the Christian Theory of Life—Only Through
Christianity is Every Man Free, and Emancipated of All Human
Authority—This Emancipation can be Effected by no Change in External
Conditions of Life, but Only by a Change in the Conception of Life—The
Christian Ideal of Life Requires Renunciation of all Violence, and in
Emancipating the Man who Accepts it, Emancipates the Whole World from
All External Authorities—The Way Out of the Present Apparently Hopeless
Position is for Every Man who is Capable of Assimilating the Christian
Conception of Life,... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Christianity Destroys the State—But Which is Most Necessary:
Christianity or the State?—There are Some who Assert the Necessity of a
State Organization, and Others who Deny it, both Arguing from same First
Principles—Neither Contention can be Proved by Abstract Argument—The
Question must be Decided by the Stage in the Development of Conscience
of Each Man, which will either Prevent or Allow him to Support a
Government Organization—Recognition of the Futility and Immorality of
Supporting a State Organization Contrary to Christian Principles will
Decide the Question for Every Man, in Spite of any Action on Part of the
State—Argument of those who Defend the Government, that it is a Form of
Social L... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
The Condition and Organization of our Society are Terrible, but they
Rest only on Public Opinion, and can be Destroyed by it—Already
Violence is Regarded from a Different Point of View; the Number of those
who are Ready to Serve the Government is Diminishing; and even the
Servants of Government are Ashamed of their Position, and so often Do
Not Perform their Duties—These Facts are all Signs of the Rise of a
Public Opinion, which Continually Growing will Lead to No One being
Willing to Enter Government Service—Moreover, it Becomes More and More
Evident that those Offices are of No Practical Use—Men already Begin to
Understand the Futility of all Institutions Based on Violence, and if a
Few already Understand... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
1. Chance Meeting with a Train Carrying Soldiers to Restore Order
Among the Famishing Peasants—Reason of the Expedition—How the
Decisions of the Higher Authorities are Enforced in Cases of
Insubordination on Part of the Peasants—What Happened at Orel, as
an Example of How the Rights of the Propertied Classes are
Maintained by Murder and Torture—All the Privileges of the
Wealthy are Based on Similar Acts of Violence.
2. The Elements that Made up the Force Sent to Toula, and the Conduct of
the Men Composing it—How these Men Could Carry Out such Acts—The
Explanation is Not to be Found in Ignorance, Conviction, Cruelty,
Heartlessness, or Want of Moral Sense—They do these Things Because they
a... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
