My Religion (1884) is Tolstoy’s personal theological manifesto, in which he describes the religious crisis and subsequent transformation that occurred after the completion of Anna Karenina. Rejecting church dogma and the supernatural, he presents a radically ethical Christianity centered on the literal application of the Sermon on the Mount — including nonresistance to evil, the rejection of all violence, and the renunciation of worldly goods.
Hugely influential on Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and many others, this book marks the turn to the moral and spiritual writings of Tolstoy’s later career. Download the free EPUB to read one of the 19th century’s most challenging spiritual documents.