The Gospel in Brief

by Leo Tolstoy

Overview

‘The one thing that is necessary, in life as in art,’ Tolstoy once said,’ is to tell the truth.’

The Gospel in Brief is one of the most challenging and unsettling interpretations of the significance of Jesus ever written, which has intrigued and unsettled Christians, agnostics and atheists alike. Leo Tolstoy believed that the existence of God could be neither proved nor disproved and that the meaning of life lay beyond the limits of our minds. After much suffering and study, Tolstoy came to believe that the answer to the riddle of how we should live well can be found in the teachings of Jesus.

The Gospel in Brief is his provocative synthesis of the four Gospels. Here, he believed, was the essential message of Jesus, a simple key to the good and purposeful life, with all the clutter and superstition of priests and theologians swept away.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780232528510
Publisher:	Darton, Longman & Todd LTD
Publication date:	05/31/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	52 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Novelist, essayist, dramatist, and philosopher, Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is most famous for his sprawling portraits of 19th-century Russian life, as recounted in Anna Karenina and War and Peace.

Date of Birth:

September 9, 1828

Date of Death:

November 20, 1910

Place of Birth:

Tula Province, Russia

Place of Death:

Astapovo, Russia

Education:

Privately educated by French and German tutors; attended the University of Kazan, 1844-47

Table of Contents

My Confession
My Religion
The Gospel in Brief:
Author's Preface
1. The Son of God
2. Life in the Spirit
3. The Source of Life
4. God's Kingdom
5. The True Life
6. The False Life
7. I and the Father are One
8. Life is not Temporal
9. Temptations
10. The Warfare with Temptation
11. The Farewell Discourse
12. The Victory of the Spirit over the Flesh
A Prologue: The Understanding of Life
A Summary: The Understanding of Life is to do Good
A Recapitulation:
1. The Son of God
2. Life in the Spirit
3. The Source of Life
4. God's Kingdom
5. The True Life
6. The False Life
7. I and the Father are One
8. Life is not Temporal
9. Temptations
10. The Warfare with Temptation
11. The Farewell Discourse
12. The Victory of the Spirit over the Flesh