Resumen
Resumen de El reino de Dios está en ustedes
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About 8 h to read.Para quién es
For readers who love moral arguments pushed to their limit, are curious about the roots of nonviolent resistance, or want to know what Tolstoy truly believed.
De qué trata este libro
What if the Sermon on the Mount means exactly what it says? Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian novelist, answers yes in this treatise, finished in 1893. Russian censors ban it, so it travels in foreign editions and secret copies. He argues that Christ forbids violence, that churches and states bury the command, and that armies, courts, prisons and oaths depend on people forgetting it. You do not need his faith to feel the force of his questions. The book later moves Mahatma Gandhi and many others.
En este resumen
- 1Tolstoy finds a command he cannot ignoreFree
- 2Churches and critics both bury the command
- 3Resist not evil is the heart of the law
- 4Governments rule by threat, and the army is the base
- 5Conscription and oaths trap the conscience
- 6People are both the victims and the agents
- 7Science, art and public opinion serve power
- 8Revolution fails, and change begins within
- 9Critics, followers and the book's reach
Idea clave 1 de 9
Tolstoy finds a command he cannot ignore
Tolstoy opens by telling how his own mind changed. He presents the teaching of Jesus as a new understanding of life and an ideal to pursue, not comforting symbols. The rule that strikes him most is the Sermon on the Mount instruction not to resist evil.
He recalls once treating the teaching on nonresistance as a joke. Churchmen encourage that mockery rather than opposing it. Now he insists that Christ's words should be understood plainly and put into practice.
He also finds he is not alone. Christians in other countries, such as the American William Lloyd Garrison, had urged nonresistance, and their writings were simply ignored. Tolstoy takes the silence as a sign, since nobody had refuted the idea. He asks you to take the words of Christ at face value and see what follows.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of El reino de Dios está en ustedes
About 8 h to read.About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 126,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 8 h 25 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about El reino de Dios está en ustedes
What is The Kingdom of God Is Within You about?
It is Tolstoy's argument that Christianity forbids violence. He claims Jesus meant the command not to resist evil literally, and that wars, armies, oaths and punishments cannot be squared with it. He urges people to refuse to take part.
Why was The Kingdom of God Is Within You banned in Russia?
Russian censors blocked it. Tolstoy said the Church served the government, and that armies and courts rested on violence. The book spread through foreign editions and secret copies.
What does the kingdom of God is within you mean?
The phrase comes from the Gospel of Luke. Tolstoy takes it to mean that the kingdom is not a place or a future event, but a way of living that begins in each person's conscience.
How did Tolstoy influence Gandhi?
Gandhi read the book in 1908 and wrote to Tolstoy, and the two exchanged letters. Gandhi said it deeply moved him. Its case for nonviolent refusal helped shape his campaigns in South Africa and India.
Is The Kingdom of God Is Within You hard to read?
The ideas are clear. Tolstoy writes plainly and builds his case step by step.