WHEN THINKING ABOUT the works of Leo Tolstoy, one would be forgiven if the first books that come to mind are Anna Karenina (1887)and War and Peace (1869); they are his most famous titles after all. However, many might be surprised by what some would call his political magnum opus, The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894). Titled after a verse in Luke 17, this book outlines Tolstoy’s major deviation from standard Christian dogma and doctrine of the Russian Orthodox, and, indeed, the majority of major Church doctrines around the world.

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