The Gospel in Brief

Tolstoy’s harmonization of the four Gospels is, as Tolstoy said, ‘an examination of Christian teaching not according to the church’s interpretations, but solely according to what has come down to us of Christ’s teaching, as ascribed to him in the gospels.’

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Publisher: White Crow Books

Publication Date: January 2010

Extent: 148

Size: 5.5 x 8.5"

ISBN: 978-1-907355-22-6

eBook ISBN: 978-1-907355-22-6

Summary

Written in 1883, The Gospel in Brief is Tolstoy’s harmonization of the four Gospels into one. So now we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – and Tolstoy. It is, he says, ‘an examination of Christian teaching not according to the church’s interpretations, but solely according to what has come down to us of Christ’s teaching, as ascribed to him in the gospels.’

That which Tolstoy retains from the originals, and that which he leaves out, tells us much about what he regards as essential Christianity. So here we find Tolstoy not concerned with events, but with the teaching; for it is the teaching that gives meaning to life. In his version, there is no place for the famous birth story; the healing miracles or Christ’s resurrection. In Tolstoy’s view, these were put there to persuade people of Christ’s divinity, and are therefore superfluous. We should not be focusing on Christ the Son of God, but on Christ the teacher; and to this end, Tolstoy always refers to Jesus’ disciples as ‘pupils’. He also never misses a chance to place the Orthodox Church firmly with Christ’s opponents. He calls the scribes ‘Orthodox professors’ and refers to the teachers of the law, simply as ‘Orthodox.’

We also find expressed clearly here the five commands Tolstoy regarded as the essence of the gospel:

Do not be angry, but live at peace with all men.
Do not indulge yourself in sexual gratification.
Do not promise anything on oath to anyone.
Do not resist evil, do not judge and do not go to law.
Make no distinction of nationality, but love foreigners as your own people.

Will the church like this version? Tolstoy doubts it, and expects a response: ‘If they will not disavow their lies, only one thing remains for them: to persecute me – for which I, completing what I have written, prepare myself with joy and with fear of my own weakness.’ But Tolstoy was both too aristocratic and too famous to be seriously harmed.

About the Author

Number of books: 11

Leo Tolstoy

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, better known as Leo Tolstoy, is rightly regarded as one of the greatest writers in the history of literature. His masterpieces, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are considered by many to be two of the most important novels ever written.

He was born in 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana, in what was then the Russian Empire, into a noble family with long-established ties to the highest echelons of the Russian aristocracy. His parents died while he was young, leaving relatives to raise him. After a brief and disappointing time at university, where he enrolled in 1844, he spent several years gambling—and often losing—in St. Petersburg and Moscow before joining the army in 1851.

He began writing while in the army and, upon leaving, took it up as his occupation. His first books detailed his life story, along with Sevastopol Sketches, which discussed his experiences in the Crimean War. By the time he had completed Sevastopol Sketches, he had returned from the first of two trips abroad that would change his outlook on life and, consequently, his writing approach and the themes of his work.

A trip to Europe in 1860–61, during which he met Victor Hugo—who had just completed Les Misérables—had a marked influence on War and Peace. On the same trip, Tolstoy also met Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the French anarchist, with whom he discussed the importance of education for all levels of society. This revelation led Tolstoy to open up 13 schools in Russia for the children of the working class, further highlighting his growing separation from his noble roots.

War and Peace, published in 1869, and Anna Karenina, published in 1878, were universally recognised as great works. However, not long after the publication of the latter, Tolstoy fell into an existential crisis. Although not suicidal in the literal sense, he did feel that if he could find no purpose for his existence, life would no longer be worth living. He sought answers from many of his friends in intellectual and aristocratic circles, but their theories failed to satisfy him. Just as he was on the verge of despair, he experienced a moment of clarity in a dream and concluded that faith in God—understood in a spiritual, rather than institutional, sense—was the key to life’s meaning. He remained wary of the church and of those who abused religion as a tool of oppression.

He published A Confession in 1882, explaining his crisis, his search for meaning, and how he had resolved it. Two subsequent works, The Death of Ivan Ilyich and What Then Must We Do?, further reinforced his views and included strong criticism of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The culmination of his 30 years of religious and philosophical thinking was The Kingdom of God Is Within You, published in 1894. In the book, Tolstoy denounced the abuses of those in power, both in the church and in the government, which eventually led to his excommunication from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1901. Tolstoy’s central message derived from Jesus’ teaching to “turn the other cheek,” which he believed was the core of Christ’s message, particularly as expressed in the Sermon on the Mount. This doctrine of nonviolence would have a profound impact on Mahatma Gandhi, who read the book as a young man while living in South Africa.

In 1908, Tolstoy wrote A Letter to a Hindu, in which he urged the Indian people to use nonviolent resistance and love as a means to overcome British colonial rule. The letter was published in an Indian newspaper and came to Gandhi’s attention; Gandhi not only read it but also wrote to Tolstoy to request permission to translate it into his native Gujarati. The Kingdom of God Is Within You and A Letter to a Hindu helped solidify Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance, which he later implemented in the movement that culminated in India’s independence in 1947. Tolstoy and Gandhi continued their correspondence until Tolstoy’s death in 1910.