Second Tolstoy

“Everyone knows that Tolstoy’s nonviolence inspired Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and millions of others. Far fewer know how directly Tolstoy’s vision was rooted in the Sermon on the Mount, though thinkers as diverse as Bonhoeffer, Wittgenstein, and Dorothy Day certainly did. Steve Hickey’s recovery of this forgotten Christian tradition is a reminder that when we think of nonviolent movements for justice around the globe, we are in fact reconsidering the truth of the teaching of Jesus.”


—Brian Brock, Professor of Moral and Practical Theology, Department of Divinity and Religious Studies, King’s College, Aberdeen





“Hickey’s book takes Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as seriously as Tolstoy did. By rigorously explaining Tolstoy’s interpretation and locating it firmly within the broader Christian tradition despite Tolstoy’s idiosyncrasies, it makes a compelling case for fellow Christians to live by the ethics of the Sermon. A must-read for those curious about Tolstoy’s religious and political writings, and especially for those interested in Christian ethics.”


—Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Loughborough University





“This comprehensive study irradiates Tolstoy’s neglected religious writings with a new clarity, sympathy, and optimism. The great Russian novelist is presented as a major Christian commentator who deserves to be read by all ‘pastors and seminarians’ and included in the modern religious curriculum. Then comes the real challenge: the Sermon on the Mount should be seen as ‘liveable and to be lived.’ Steve Hickey will show you how.”


—Anthony Briggs, translator of War and Peace and Resurrection





“Second Tolstoy is a unique study in the faith and public theology of the nineteenth-century Russian novelist. Tolstoy attempted to live directly by the teachings of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. He had a central influence on Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. . . . I remember the young Steve, the bright young seminarian who planted a church in South Dakota and led it to become a church of more than a thousand persons while also serving in the South Dakota State Legislature. Stricken by a cruel and disabling affliction, he buried himself in Tolstoy. Now teaching in an Alaskan college, his impassioned spiritual research has given us not only a unique study in Tolstoy—Steve also enflames our own passion for Christ and his kingdom.”


—Paul Emanuel Larsen, President emeritus, The Evangelical Covenant Church