The Wisdom of Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy was born to an aristocratic Russian family, became a world-famous influential novelist, and then chose to lead the simple life of a peasant. Dating from this last part of his life, Tolstoy’s influential book, What I Believe, takes readers along on the path to a life modeled literally on Jesus Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount” and the teachings of the Gospels. In revealing and frank essays he reimagines a faith without dogma, centered solely on Jesus’s doctrine of love, humility, and self-denial. This collection of chapters from What I Believe includes examinations of Resist Not Evil, Judge Not Thy Neighbor, Letting Go of Fear, and Allowing Forgiveness.  

Leo Tolstoy was born to an aristocratic Russian family, became a world-famous influential novelist, and then chose to lead the simple life of a peasant. Dating from this last part of his life, Tolstoy’s influential book, What I Believe, takes readers along on the path to a life modeled literally on Jesus Christ’s 'Sermon on the Mount' and the teachings of the Gospels. In revealing and frank essays he reimagines a faith without dogma, centered solely on Jesus’s doctrine of love, humility, and self-denial. This collection of chapters from What I Believe includes examinations of Resist Not Evil, Judge Not Thy Neighbor, Letting Go of Fear, and Allowing Forgiveness.  

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was one of the most influential writers in Russian history. Born a Russian aristocrat, Tolstoy had, by the age of twenty-six, become both a noble and a soldier. Disenchanted by both lives, he became a writer, producing two of Russian literature’s greatest works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy was a giant of modern literature and made a profound impact on great twentieth century figures such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.