Heretical orthodoxy : Lev Tolstoi and the Russian Orthodox Church / Pål Kolstø, University of Oslo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kolstø, Pål, author.

Series:

Ideas in context.

Ideas in context

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910--Religion.

Tolstoy, Leo.

Russkai͡a pravoslavnai͡a t͡serkovʹ.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 306 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Preface

Introduction

Tolstoi as a practicing Orthodox

Examination of dogmatic theology

Tolstoi, Orthodoxy and asceticism

Lev Tolstoi and Orthodox forms of spirituality: elders

Tolstoi and the wanderer tradition in Russian culture

Tolstoi and the ideal of 'the Holy Fool'

Father Sergius: Kasatskii's spiritual journey to holy foolishness

Tolstoi and the social ideal of the Eastern Church: John Chrysostom

The Church mounts a counter-attack: threat perceptions and combat strategies

Between 'almost Orthodox' and 'Antichrist': Images of Lev Tolstoi in Russian Orthodox polemics

The 'excommunication' and its aftermath

A Requiem for a heretic? The controversy over Lev Tolstoi's burial

Summary and conclusions

Bibliography.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 15 Sep 2022).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-009-26039-1

1-009-26038-3

1-009-26037-5