Heretical Orthodoxy

Lev Tolstoi and the Russian Orthodox Church

Pål Kolstø (University of Oslo)

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English

Cambridge University Press
23 May 2024

European history; Religion & beliefs; Christianity; Christian Churches & denominations; Christian spirituality & religious experience

Series: Ideas in Context

"Lev Tolstoi was not only one of the world's most famous writers, he was also a deeply concerned thinker and hugely influential critic of the Church whose impact was felt long after his death. For an entire generation, Tolstoi set the agenda for ethical and religious thought, in Russia and beyond. Most of Tolstoi's main ideas drew on his Christian heritage – selected and creatively combined.

While he claimed that his life's work consisted of rediscovering the pure doctrine of Christ as it had been before the Church perverted it, in fact he radically reinterpreted the Christian faith he had encountered in his own life, Russian Orthodoxy. This book offers a new and comprehensive account of Tolstoi's relationship with the Orthodox Church and its teachings, and shows how the Russian Church reacted to the “Tolstoi phenomenon” and attempted to counteract the influence of this new “heretic"" - with scant success."

By: Pål Kolstø (University of Oslo)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781009260411
ISBN 10: 1009260413
Series: Ideas in Context
Pages: 316
Publication Date: 23 May 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Tolstoi as a practicing orthodox; 3. Examination of dogmatic theology; 4. Tolstoi, orthodoxy and asceticism; 5. Lev Tolstoi and orthodox forms of spirituality: elders; 6. Tolstoi and the wanderer tradition in Russian culture; 7. Tolstoi and he ideal of 'the Holy Fool'; 8. Father Sergius: Kasatskii's spiritual journey to holy foolishness; 9. Tolstoi and the social ideal of the Eastern Church: John Chrysostom; 10. The Church mounts a counter-attack: threat perceptions and combat strategies; 11. Between 'almost orthodox' and 'Antichrist': images of Lev Tolstoi in Russian orthodox polemics; 12. The 'excommunication' and its aftermath; 13. A requiem for a heretic? The controversy over Lev Tolstoi's burial; 14. Summary and conclusions.

Pål Kolstø is Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Oslo. His previous publications include, as author or editor, ten academic books in English, and numerous journal articles.

Reviews for Heretical Orthodoxy: Lev Tolstoi and the Russian Orthodox Church

'Pål Kolstø's absorbing book is something of an event in Tolstoy studies. It provides an extremely judicious account of Tolstoy's ostensibly unconventional Christianity, its connections to Russian Orthodoxy, and the reasons for Tolstoy's excommunication in 1903. … Balance is perhaps the best term with which to describe Kolstø's book, which through a sober, painstaking research effort liberates Tolstoy from the generalizations that have often been employed to describe his Christianity.' Jeff Love, The Russian Review