What I Believe

In 1884, Leo Tolstoy—already famous for *War and Peace*—publicly renounced his own masterpieces and announced a new faith. *What I Believe* is the raw, intimate record of that transformation. With searing honesty, Tolstoy argues that the heart of Jesus’s teaching has been buried under two thousand years of church doctrine and state power. He finds its essence in a single command: “Resist not evil.” For Tolstoy, this is not a passive slogan but a revolutionary way of life—a path that rejects violence, courts, armies, and oaths, and that insists on loving enemies and sharing all possessions. Written in clear, present‑day English, this edition makes Tolstoy’s radical vision accessible to modern readers. His challenge remains as provocative today as when it was first published: What would it mean to actually live the Sermon on the Mount? Part of The Modern Wisdom Library.