Heretical Orthodoxy

Pål Kolstø is Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Oslo. His previous publications include, as author or editor, ten academic books in English, and numerous journal articles.

• Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Tolstoi as a practicing orthodox; 3. Examination of dogmatic theology; 4. Tolstoi, orthodoxy and asceticism; 5. Lev Tolstoi and orthodox forms of spirituality: elders; 6. Tolstoi and the wanderer tradition in Russian culture; 7. Tolstoi and he ideal of 'the Holy Fool'; 8. Father Sergius: Kasatskii's spiritual journey to holy foolishness; 9. Tolstoi and the social ideal of the Eastern Church: John Chrysostom; 10. The Church mounts a counter-attack: threat perceptions and combat strategies; 11. Between 'almost orthodox' and 'Antichrist': images of Lev Tolstoi in Russian orthodox polemics; 12. The 'excommunication' and its aftermath; 13. A requiem for a heretic? The controversy over Lev Tolstoi's burial; 14. Summary and conclusions.

'Pål Kolstø's absorbing book is something of an event in Tolstoy studies. It provides an extremely judicious account of Tolstoy's ostensibly unconventional Christianity, its connections to Russian Orthodoxy, and the reasons for Tolstoy's excommunication in 1903. … Balance is perhaps the best term with which to describe Kolstø's book, which through a sober, painstaking research effort liberates Tolstoy from the generalizations that have often been employed to describe his Christianity.' Jeff Love, The Russian Review