The Gospel in Brief - Tolstoy's Life of Christ (Aziloth Books) (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781911405115)

Leo Tolstoy is famous the world over for his epic novels of Russian history and society. But during the last 30 years of his life Tolstoy devoted himself to spiritual matters in an attempt to return Christianity to the fundamental teachings of Christ, shorn of both biblical additions and interpolations, and the obfuscating hand of Church dogma. 'The Gospel in Brief' is the culmination of this long endeavour, a composite account taken only from the Four Gospels. Working with the oldest original Greek versions, Tolstoy set aside all accounts of miracles, genealogies, and prophecies, seeking the core philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, and a solution - in the words of Christ himself - to "the problem of life". The result is a compelling account of a teacher whose basic message was the Unity of all existence: God is the giver of life, and within all things. For Tolstoy, acknowledgement of this central fact, that "the Kingdom of God is Within You", immanent in all existence, bestows liberation from the illusions of time and selfhood, and makes easy Christ's admonition to "love God, and your neighbour as yourself" The Aziloth edition is fully annotated, allowing each section of Tolstoy's compilation to be related directly to the relevant Gospel passage. A book that will uplift and give new direction to both Christian and agnostic alike.