The Kingdom of God Is Within You (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

“Tolstoy’s purpose is the discovery of truth.” —Isaiah Berlin

The Kingdom of God Is Within You, an influential Christian anarchist philosophical work, faced an initial ban in Russia and found publication in Germany in 1894. This culmination of Tolstoy’s three decades of contemplation presents a unique societal structure based on a Christian interpretation centered on universal love.

Inspired by Luke 17:21, the book explores nonviolent resistance, pivotal for Tolstoyan followers of nonviolence and Christian anarchism. Tolstoy discusses the principle of nonviolent resistance in response to violence, asserting that Jesus Christ’s directive to “turn the other cheek” means renouncing all forms of violence, including self-defense and revenge.

In his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Mohandas Gandhi expressed how Tolstoy’s book deeply impacted him, considering it one of the three most significant modern influences in his life.

This Warbler Classics edition includes a new introduction that contextualizes Tolstoy’s relentless search for truth and his yearning for a practical understanding of how to live according to the principles set forth in the New Testament.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a Russian writer and philosopher best known for his monumental novels, including War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Born into an aristocratic family, Tolstoy later embraced a simple life and a spiritual and moral philosophy that influenced his later works. His advocacy for nonviolent resistance and Christian anarchism, as expressed in The Kingdom of God Is Within You, left a lasting impact on social and political thought.

Patrick Maxwell is a writer and journalist, based as a historian at New College, Oxford. He writes regularly for The Big Issue and TheArticle magazine as a literary critic, and as a correspondent on foreign and domestic policy. He is also a conductor and a singer.