A Criticism of Dogmatic Theology, 1880, Confession, 1882, The Four Gospels Unified and Translated, 1882

These essays are the first of many that explore Tolstoy’s religious beliefs. He has no reticence about criticising the Russian Orthodox Church once he becomes a true believer and A Criticism of Dogmatic Theology is the first of many stinging attacks. It seeks to dismiss all the traditional Christian doctrines and claims that the Church has perverted Christianity on purpose. Tolstoy spells out his personal spiritual conversion in Confession, in part an exercise in self-flagellation due to what he did as a young man. “None of the great confessional literature from St Augustine to Rousseau can match Tolstoy’s short work for power, eloquence, concise if not always logical thought, and the ability to convey with colloquial simplicity the grandeur and nobility of biblical language. Step by step he recounts his early loss of faith, his disillusionment in its various surrogates – self-perfection, literary fame, the 19th Century belief in progress – and his growing despair, halted only temporarily by marriage and family responsibilities which could not conceal the fact that he had no answer to the questions of the purpose of life when faced with the prospect of inevitable death” (p213, Tolstoy, A Critical Introduction, Christian). Despite it being banned in Russia in 1882 it is widely circulated. In Union and Translation of the Four Gospels he rearranges, rewrites and reinterprets the New Testament into a single narrative that offers practical instruction on how to live according to the teachings of Jesus.