The Kingdom of God Is Within You: Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion But as a New Theory of Life

Leo Nikoleyevich Tolstoy

Jan 2009 · The Floating Press

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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.