The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Tolstoy's The Resurrection Of Hell

Hello,
a little time ago I found this interesting story of Tolstoy:
college.holycross.edu/diotima/n1v2/tolstoy.htm

Does anybody know it and have some comment for it.
Thanks and Blessings
Dani

It is interesting that you came across this, Daniel. I have been unable to find this writing at any other website. I wonder if there’s any evidence that it is a genuine writing of Tolstoy.

Hello Paidion,
here I just found some other source.
The story just has another title so it seems that it is from Tolstoy:
opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcon … ontext=ocj

Do you know if Tolstoy was a Universalist?

Thank you and God bless you
Dani

Hi Dani, Tolstoy was not a universalist in the eschatological/evangelical sense. He did not believe in a bodily resurrection and the story, if Tolstoy’s, was most certainly written and understood as metaphor. I’m not familiar with this story (which doesn’t mean much — he was incredibly prolific and I haven’t read all that much). But I enjoyed the story greatly and thought it embodied much wisdom, (if not embittered and maybe even a tad fundamentalist). It’s like a Tolstoyan version of Lewis’ “Screwtape Letters”. The Leo Tolstoy Library, not yet available in English, makes note of a work of fiction entitled “The destruction of hell and its restoration”, which is probably your text.

Hi Andrew lovely to see you again :smiley:

Yes I understand that some people were surprised to find with Tolstoy that he most certainly did not believe in the miracles in the New Testament - but he did believe in the desirability of absolute celibacy (for all?). I think the stringency of his ethical teachings were often inspired by his self loathing at how many men he had killed, how may women he had slept with, and how much he had drunk as a younger man. So there was something of the St Augustine in him (‘to Carthage then I came’) and IMHO these people don’t necessarily make the best spiritual teachers on a personal level (we used to have an insufferable but intriguing and sometimes charming version of this type of Christian misanthrope in the UK named Malcolm Muggeridge - aka St Mugg). But in may ways Tolstoy was wonderful man. :smiley:

Does anybody know what Tolsoy believed about hell and satan?
Thanks and blessings
Dani