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Leo Tolstoy on Mormonism

Katzpur

Katzpur

Not your average Mormon
I just ran into this and thought it might be of interest to some of you (probably mostly to my fellow Latter-day Saints).

Count Leo Tolstoy loved talking to people about religion. In speaking to Dr. Andrew D. White, former President of Cornell University and U.S. Foreign Minister to Russia, Tolstoy brought up the subject of Mormonism, a religion which was, at that time (1892) still relatively new and unknown abroad. Here's what he had to say:

"The Mormon people teach the American religion; their principles teach the people not only of Heaven and its attendant glories, but how to live so that their social and economic relations with each other are placed on a sound basis. If the people follow the teachings of this Church, nothing can stop their progress -- it will be limitless. There have been great movements started in the past but they have died or been modified before they reached maturity. If Mormonism is able to endure, unmodified, until it reaches the third and fourth generations, it is destined to become the greatest power the world has ever known."
 
lunamoth

lunamoth

Will to love
I really like Tolstoy. Have you ever read The Kingdom of God is Within You? He takes a bit too much of the Mystery out of Christianity for my tastes, but I agree with much of what he says about the Kingdom and love. He was inspired by William Lloyd Garrison ("Our country is the world - our countrymen are all mankind."), as am I. :yes:

Can't find the quote quickly, but he also had similarly kind words for the Baha'i Faith. Here's one, not sure if it was the one I was thinking of:

"The teaching of the Bábís," wrote Leo Tolstoy, "....have great future before them....I therefore sympathize the Bábísm with all my heart, inasmuch as it teaches people brotherhood and equality and sacrifice of material life for service to God....The teachings of the Bábís which come to us out of Islam have through Bahá'u'lláh's teachings been gradually developed, and now present us with the highest and purest form of religious teaching."
(Shoghi Effendi, Summary Statement - 1947, Special UN Committee on Palestine)
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Francine

Francine

Well-Known Member
"The time is fast approaching when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult You can offer him. Patriotism now means advocating plunder in the interests of the privileged classes of the particular State system into which we have happened to be born."

Patriotism and Government- Tolstoy
 
Katzpur

Katzpur

Not your average Mormon
StephenSmith said:
Hi Kathryn,

Where did you find that quote from Tolstoy?
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Well, Stephen Smith. I'll be darned. Fancy seeing you here. :)

My source was a book called, "1000 Evidences for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (volume 1) by Allen H. Richardson, David E. Richardson and Anthony E. Bentley. The last paragraph of the section I quoted from says:

"Becuase of his discussion with Count Tolstoi, upon his return to the United States, Dr. White secured a set of the Church Standard Works and placed them in the Cornell University Library. (Cited in Richards, "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder" [1950], pp 435-436.) In his autobiography, Dr. White mentions some of Tolstoi's comments about Mormonism. See "Autobiography of Andrew White," (New York, 1907) vol. 2, pg. 87.
 
S

StephenSmith

New Member
:angel2:

I thought you might be surprised!

I have taken 2 weeks leave, well deserved I might say... so I might appear here a bit more over the next little bit.

Thanks for the reference, very interesting, might be something I need to stock up next time in your neck of the woods. Looks like November is it again for going to Sin City. More on that later.

Seems like Tolstoy was quite open minded about religions judging from the other quote provided here. Bully for him.

Regards
Stephen
 
Katzpur

Katzpur

Not your average Mormon
StephenSmith said:
I have taken 2 weeks leave, well deserved I might say... so I might appear here a bit more over the next little bit.
Click to expand...
I sure hope so!

Thanks for the reference, very interesting, might be something I need to stock up next time in your neck of the woods. Looks like November is it again for going to Sin City. More on that later.
Click to expand...
Cool! Now would be the time, then, to start convincing Edith that she needs to come with you.
 
Popeyesays

Popeyesays

Well-Known Member
Tolstoy was fascinated by modern religious movements and also observed the Baha`i Faith.
Shoghi Effendi records this in God Passes By, pp. :

"
"Many persons from all parts of the world," is `Abdu'l-Bahá's written assertion, "set out for Persia and began to investigate wholeheartedly the matter." The Czar of Russia, a contemporary chronicler has written, had even, shortly before the Báb's martyrdom, instructed the Russian Consul in Tabríz to fully inquire into, and report the circumstances of so startling a Movement, a commission that could not be carried out in view of the Báb's execution. In countries as remote as those of Western Europe an interest no less profound was kindled, and spread with great rapidity to literary, artistic, diplomatic and intellectual circles. "All Europe," attests the above-mentioned French publicist, "was stirred to pity and indignation... Among the littèrateurs of my generation, in the Paris of 1890, the martyrdom of the Báb was still as fresh a topic as had been the first news of His death. We wrote poems about Him. Sarah Bernhardt entreated Catulle Mendès for a play on the theme of this historic tragedy." A Russian poetess, member of the Philosophic, Oriental and Bibliological Societies of St. Petersburg, published in 1903 a drama entitled "The Báb," which a year later was played in one of the principal theatres of that city, was subsequently given publicity in London, was translated into French in Paris, and into German by the poet Fiedler, was presented again, soon after the Russian Revolution, in the Folk Theatre in Leningrad, and succeeded in arousing the genuine sympathy and interest of the renowned Tolstoy, whose eulogy of the poem was later published in the Russian press. "

Also:
"The Wisdom of Humankindby Leo Tolstoy, introduced, translated and abridged by Guy de Mallac (CoNexus Press) Leo Tolstoy’s brilliant summation of wisdom from across the ages was based on his deep encounter with Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Baha'i, and other religious and philosophical texts. Originally published in 1911 in Russia, this new English edition, the first since 1919, further distills Tolstoy's final work into a compact and accessible volume. Readers will find here clear and challenging guidance for a spiritually grounded life, based on Tolstoy's synthesis of the wisdom conveyed by humanity's best teachers."

Regards,
Scott
 
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