Chapter 1 - Introduction

Summary

The Introduction presents the main scope and ideas of the book and discusses some theoretical approaches to the study of continuity and rupture in intellectual history, such as semiotics and sociology of knowledge, which can help to explain Tolstoi’s relationship to the Russian Church and to the religious environment in which he grew up. Although the impressions Tolstoi received from various non-Russian sources were indeed important, no thinker can be significantly influenced by all national cultures and all time periods. In important respects, the culture in which one has grown up retains cognitive primacy also for those who rebel against it. Any church influences its opponents both positively and negatively – by the elements they take over from it (usually without acknowledging this), and since such rebellion is provoked by precisely the features that are characteristic of that particular. Tolstoi was deeply imbued with Orthodox ways of thinking, and incorporated important elements of Orthodox spirituality into his own religious system. The elements he selected from Orthodox spirituality underwent a radical change of meaning when applied to his message. Thus, in determining the relationship of Tolstoi to the Orthodox Church we must emphasize both continuity and break at the same time.