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{{short description|Philosophical non-fiction treatise written by Leo Tolstoy}}

{{Infobox book
| name = The Kingdom of God Is Within You
| image = Tolstoi1st.jpg
| caption = The first English edition of ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You''.
| author = [[Leo Tolstoy]]
| country = Russia (written)/Germany (first published)
| language = Russian
| title_orig = Царство Божіе внутри васъ
| orig_lang_code = ru
| subject = [[Christian theology]], [[philosophy]], [[anarchism]]
| published = 1894
| media_type = Hardcover, Paperback
| pages = 335 pages (1927 edition, hardcover)
| isbn = 1603863826
}}
'''''The Kingdom of God Is Within You''''' ([[Reforms of Russian orthography|pre-reform Russian]]: {{lang|ru|'''Царство Божіе внутри васъ'''}}; post-reform {{lang-rus|'''Царство Божие внутри вас'''|Tsárstvo Bózhiye vnutrí vas}}) is a [[non-fiction]] book written by [[Leo Tolstoy]]. A [[Christian anarchist]] philosophical [[treatise]], the book was first published in Germany in 1894 after being banned in his home country of Russia.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Companion to Tolstoy |author=Donna Tussing Orwin|year= 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nU2lErM3VgwC&q=tolstoy+%22The+Kingdom+of+God+Is+Within+You%22+-intitle:%22The+Kingdom+of+God+Is+Within+You%22&pg=PA31|isbn=0-521-52000-2}}</ref> It is the culmination of 30 years of Tolstoy's thinking, and lays out a new organization for society based on an interpretation of Christianity focusing on universal love.

''The Kingdom of God Is Within You'' is a key text for [[Tolstoyan]] proponents of [[nonviolence]], of [[nonviolent resistance]], and of the [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchist]] movement.<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |location=Exeter |page=19 |quote=[Tolstoy] wrote countless essays and books on the topic, but the most often cited one among anarchists is ''The Kingdom of God Is within You''.}}</ref>

==Background==
[[Image:Lev tolstoi carstvo bozhie vnutri vas.jpg|thumb|The first edition of ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You'', 1894.]]
The title of the book originates from [[Luke 17:21]]. In the book, Tolstoy speaks of the principle of [[nonviolent resistance]] when confronted by violence, as taught by [[Jesus Christ]]. When Christ says to [[turn the other cheek]], Tolstoy asserts that Christ means to abolish violence, even the defensive kind, and to give up [[revenge]]. Tolstoy rejects the interpretation of Roman and medieval scholars who attempted to limit its scope.

{{blockquote|"How can you kill people, when it is written in God's commandment: 'Thou shalt not murder'?"}}

Tolstoy was largely inspired by the writings of American Christian anarchists [[Adin Ballou]] and [[William Lloyd Garrison]], who also shared his viewpoint that all governments who waged war is an affront to the [[New Testament]] and [[Christian ethics]]. Tolstoy discusses Ballou and Garrison's texts and biographies at length in the book, including a whole excerpt of Ballou's ''[http://www.adinballou.org/catechism.shtml Non-Resistance Catechism]'' (originally published in 1844). As the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] was at the time an [[state church|organization merged with the Russian state]] which fully supported the state's policies, Tolstoy sought to separate its teachings from what he believed to be the true [[gospel]] of Christ, specifically the [[Sermon on the Mount]].

Tolstoy advocated [[nonviolence]] as a solution to [[nationalist]] woes and as a means for seeing the hypocrisy of the church. In reading Jesus' words in the Gospels, Tolstoy notes that the modern church is a [[heretical]] creation:

{{blockquote|"Nowhere nor in anything, except in the assertion of the Church, can we find that God or Christ founded anything like what churchmen understand by the Church."}}

Tolstoy presented excerpts from magazines and newspapers relating various personal experiences, and gave keen insight into the history of non-resistance from the very foundation of Christianity, as being professed by a minority of believers. In particular, he confronts those who seek to maintain ''status quo'':

{{blockquote|"That this social order with its pauperism, famines, prisons, gallows, armies, and wars is necessary to society; that still greater disaster would ensue if this organization were destroyed; all this is said only by those who profit by this organization, while those who suffer from it – and they are ten times as numerous – think and say quite the contrary."}}

In 1894, [[Constance Garnett]], who translated the work into [[English language|English]], wrote the following in her translator's preface:

<blockquote>"One cannot of course anticipate that English people, slow as they are to be influenced by ideas, and instinctively distrustful of all that is logical, will take a leap in the dark and attempt to put Tolstoy's theory of life into practice. But one may at least be sure that his destructive criticism of the present social and political regime will become a powerful force in the work of disintegration and social reconstruction which is going on around us."<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Cassell Publishing Company| last = Tolstoy| first = graf Leo| title = "The Kingdom of God is Within You": Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion But as a New Theory of Life| date = 1894}}</ref></blockquote>

==Reception==

===Tolstoy's relationship with Mohandas Gandhi===
[[File:Gandhi Tolstoy Farm.jpg|thumb|left|Mohandas K. Gandhi and other residents of [[Tolstoy Farm]] (a colony established as part of the [[Tolstoyan movement]]), South Africa, 1910]]
[[Mohandas Gandhi]] wrote in his autobiography ''[[The Story of My Experiments with Truth]]'' ([[wikisource:The Story of My Experiments with Truth/Part II/Religious Ferment|Part II, Chapter 15]]) that Tolstoy's book "overwhelmed" him, and "left an abiding impression". Gandhi listed Tolstoy's book, as well as [[John Ruskin]]'s ''[[Unto This Last]]'' and the poet [[Shrimad Rajchandra]] (Raychandbhai), as the three most important modern influences in his life.<ref>{{cite book|title= The Story of My Experiments with Truth|author= Mohandas K. Gandhi|year= 1929|url= http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/english/etext-project/Biography/gandhi/part2.chapter1.html|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100801050423/http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/english/etext-project/Biography/gandhi/part2.chapter1.html|archive-date= 2010-08-01}}</ref> Reading this book opened up the mind of the world-famous Tolstoy to Gandhi, who was still a young protester living in South Africa at the time.

In 1908, Tolstoy wrote ''[[A Letter to a Hindu]]'',<ref>{{Citation |last=Parel |first=Anthony J. |author-link=Anthony Parel |contribution=Gandhi and Tolstoy |editor1=M. P. Mathai |editor2=M. S. John |editor3=Siby K. Joseph |title=Meditations on Gandhi : a Ravindra Varma festschrift |pages=96–112 |publisher=Concept |place=New Delhi |year=2002 |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kcpDOVk5Gp8C&pg=PA96 |access-date=2012-09-08}}</ref> which Gandhi would read, and which outlined the notion that only by using love as a weapon through [[passive resistance]] could the native Indian people overthrow the colonial British Empire. This idea ultimately came to fruition through Gandhi's organization of nationwide [[nonviolent]] [[Strike action|strikes]] and protests during the years 1918–1947. In 1909, Gandhi wrote to Tolstoy seeking advice and permission to republish ''A Letter to a Hindu'' in his native language, [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]. Tolstoy responded and the two continued a correspondence until Tolstoy's death a year later in 1910. The letters concern practical and theological applications of nonviolence, as well as Gandhi's wishes for Tolstoy's health. Tolstoy's last letter to Gandhi "was one of the last, if not the last, writings from his pen."<ref>{{cite book|title=Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy: Letters |editor=B. Srinivasa Murthy|year= 1987|isbn= 0-941910-03-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=149509 |title="Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi: A Double Portrait in the Interior of the Age"- Russian documentary which captures correspondence between the two spiritual teachers of humanity |publisher=[[Press Information Bureau]] |access-date=5 December 2016}}</ref>

===With other nonviolent activists===
''The Kingdom of God is Within You'' also had a great effect upon [[James Bevel]], a major 1960s strategist of the [[civil rights movement]].<ref>Randall L. Kryn, "James L. Bevel; The Strategist of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement", in [[David Garrow]], ''We Shall Overcome, Volume II'' (1989), Carlson Publishing Company</ref><ref>[http://cfm40.middlebury.edu/node/287 Randy Kryn, "Movement Revision Research Summary Regarding James Bevel"], October 2005, [[Middlebury College]]</ref> After reading the book while serving in the U.S. Navy, Bevel came to the conclusion that he would be unable to kill another person. He thereafter sought and was granted an honorable discharge, and entered a seminary for religious training.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Rv-8E76FZWkC&pg=PT806&lpg=PT806&dq=%22James+Bevel%22+Tolstoy+%22The+Children%22+Halberstam&source=bl&ots=9l2rfUvjVP&sig=4g6zeuU3_WpEkEjXYKnsZKQYs9E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwil_abN9fDaAhVo5YMKHV0wA0wQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=%22James%20Bevel%22%20Tolstoy%20%22The%20Children%22%20Halberstam&f=false ''The Children'', 1999, David Halberstam]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Leo Tolstoy bibliography]]
* [[Divine presence]]
* [[Kingdom of God]]
* ''[[The Gospel in Brief]]''
* [[List of books about anarchism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Milivojevic, D. ''Leo Tolstoy and the Oriental Religious Heritage.'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).

==External links==
{{Wikisource|The Kingdom of God Is Within You|''The Kingdom of God Is Within You''}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Refbegin}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/leo-tolstoy/the-kingdom-of-god-is-within-you/leo-wiener}}
* {{librivox book | title=The Kingdom of God Is Within You | author=Leo Tolstoy}}
*[https://archive.org/details/TheKingdomOfGodIsWithinYou ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You''] — complete text in various formats at [[Internet Archive]]
* {{gutenberg|no=4602}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120205200941/http://www.kingdomnow.org/withinyou.html ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You''] — complete HTML text by Kingdom Now
*[http://sniggle.net/Experiment/index.php?entry=tkogiwy ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You''] — complete HTML version, with links to Wikipedia and to Tolstoy's source material
*Tolstoy's Legacy for Mankind- A Manifesto for Nonviolence: [http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/library/tolstoj/tolstoy.htm Part 1] [http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/library/tolstoj/tolstoy2.htm#contents Part 2]
{{Refend}}

{{Leo Tolstoy}}
{{Gandhi}}
{{Sermon on the Mount}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingdom of God Is Within You}}
[[Category:Christian anarchism]]
[[Category:Books by Leo Tolstoy]]
[[Category:1894 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Books about spirituality]]
[[Category:Christian philosophy]]
[[Category:Christian theology books]]
[[Category:Anti-war books]]
[[Category:Books about anarchism]]
[[Category:Books about Christianity]]
[[Category:Tolstoyan movement]]
[[Category:Mahatma Gandhi]]

The Kingdom of God Is Within You - Revision history

->Ser Amantio di Nicolao: now in infobox template, removed: {{italic title}}