Church and State (by Leo Tolstoy)

"Church and State" is an article by Leo Tolstoy written in 1886.[1][2] It was translated to English and then published by the anarchist Benjamin Tucker.[2][3] In this text, Tolstoy condemns anyone who collaborates with the state in committing a war, and especially condemns the Eastern Orthodox Church for supporting the Tsar's wars when Christianity teaches "Thou Shalt Not Kill."[1]

Leo Tolstoy and Family.

Legacy

It was republished by numerous, diverse groups, such as the Methodist Episcopal Church[3] and the anarchist paper Mother Earth, edited by Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman.[4] In 1903, inspired by the Christian, anarchist, pacifist message of Tolstoy, Carlos Brandt planned with Tolstoy to have copies of it locally printed in Venezuela.[5]

Criticism

According to literary critic David Holbrook, like many of Tolstoy's other works, he advocates for sexual abstinence here, claiming that sex can "exhaust and debilitate" people.[6] He is criticized elsewhere for sexist attitudes here, where Tolstoy says that it's deplorable to see a woman "capable of bearing children at men's work."[7]

See also

References
  1. Rosamund Bartlett (2011). Tolstoy: A Russian Life. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 382. ISBN 9780547545875.
  2. graf Leo Tolstoy, Victor S. Yarros, George Schumm (1891). Church and State and Other Essays; Including Money; Man and Woman: Their Respective Functions; The Mother; A Second Supplement to the Kreutzer Sonata. Translated by Benjamin R. Tucker. B. R. Tucker. p. cover.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1906). The Methodist Quarterly Review. Volume 55. Methodist Episcopal Church, South. p. 117. |volume= has extra text (help)
  4. Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, ed. (1914). Mother Earth. Volume 9. Emma Goldman, Proprietor. |volume= has extra text (help)
  5. Rodolfo Montes de Oca (2019). "Chapter 3". Venezuelan Anarchism: The History of a Movement. See Sharp Press. ISBN 9781947071377.
  6. David Holbrook (1997). Tolstoy, Woman, and Death: A Study of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 38-9. ISBN 9780838637012.
  7. Avrom Barnett (1921). Foundations of Feminism: A Critique. R.M. McBride & Company. p. 92.
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