Kingdom of God Is Within You
by graf Tolstoy · first published 2018
61% recommend39% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Tolstoy's sustained argument on violence, the state, war and the church, with a strong case for Christian pacifism. It is challenging on sin and faith, and it rewards rereading.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…battlefield and kill other young people is not immoral. It is the most moral and humane thing you can do. If you ever need to make that choice, remember this. I highly recommend reading Tolstoy's "The kingdom of God is within you", were he does a very deep analysis of war, state, violence and Christianity not as religion, but as a non-violent philosophy of life.
on “Lecture from the Man Who Dropped Both Atomic Bombs” ↗Almost by accident I started reading 'The kingdom of God is within you' by Tolstoy a couple of months ago. I haven't read anything by Tolstoy before. And boy, was I in for a surprise. It was a very powerful and inspiring book. Being very fond of the counterculture, the…
on “Why We Hurt Each Other: Tolstoy’s Letters to Gandhi” ↗…built up around him and been carried forward as literal truth. The challenge for an individual is separating the wheat from the chaff. Most of my thoughts on the matter are derived from Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You.
on “I'm an addict” ↗I think "The Kingdom of God is Within You" by Tolstoy was the most life changing book I read this year. It made me start thinking about the idea of sin, which I haven't given much thought about before since I was not raised as a Christian and…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2013?” ↗+1 thanks, I just bought "The kingdom of God is Within You" for a dollar (kindle version). I am into spirituality, not religion. Reading your summary of Tolstoy's philosophy and the comments on amazon convinced me to move this to the top of my reading list. A…
on “Why We Hurt Each Other: Tolstoy’s Letters to Gandhi” ↗"A Confession" and "The Kingdom of God is Within You" by Leo Tolstoy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confession https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_God_Is_Within_Y...
on “Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?” ↗“The Kingdom of God is within you,” by Leo Tolstoy. It changed the lives of Ghandi and MLK as the essential primer and exposition of Christian anarchism and its consequent pacifism. It led to my discharge from the military as a conscientious…
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗I just finished Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You. His writing about the plight of the workers and peasants was striking. It was also creepy to read his fears in 1890 about the threat of a senseless Europe-wide conflict. His criticism of governments,…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗"A Confession" [1] and "The Kingdom of God is Within You" [2] by Leo Tolstoy. I believe Mahatma Gandhi considered the latter as a core influence for his nonviolent resistance philosophy. Also, "The Death of Ivan Ilych" [3] by Tolstoy. I felt like a ping-pong…
on “Ask HN: Books that impacted your work that few other people seem to care about?” ↗"The Kingdom of God Is Within You" by Tolstoy is definitely a top book for me. I find that I understand it in a slightly different way each time I read it.
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗"The Kingdom of God is Within You" - Leo Tolstoy "Atlas Shrugged" - Ayn Rand
on “Articles, Ideas, Books and/or Concepts that have changed your life” ↗…incentivized profound shifts in cognition, arguably in favor of disembodied abstraction and decontextualization, creating in its wake what is termed "mental illness"). And why not? A final choice: The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Leo Tolstoy -- "The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent…
on “Ask HN: Life Changing Books?” ↗…might be fairly well known in the US due to "War and Peace" and, possibly, "Anna Karenina". But his nonfiction or autobiographical works deserve attention as well. I would highlight two of these: "The Kingdom of God is Within you" -- I think Mahatma Gandhi considered this to be one of the three most influential books for his philofophy of "nonviolent resistence". Even though Tolstoy was already considered a literary genius in…
on “Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?” ↗I read "The Kingdom of God Is Within You" some years ago and I enjoyed it a lot. As a Christian it made me see a lot of things from a different perspective. I wonder what would happen if all Christendom understood the Bible like Tolstoi.
on “Anarcho-Christian” ↗…forced to help with activities that you believe to be deeply detrimental to the well-being of yourself, others, and all life on earth and beyond? Tolstoy argues this point very well in his book "The Kingdom of God is Within You." He essentially says that if we pay taxes to a government that kills innocents or tortures Arabs their blood is on our (the taxpayers') hands. If the government is doing something that I find to be…
on “The Swiss leaks and Panama papers open a window on the tax-dodger’s world” ↗