Summary
Josip Berdica: The religious anarchism of Leo N. Tolstoy
When it comes to "religious anarchism", it should be said that, according to Berdica, this term participates to a significant extent in anarchism as a political concept. However, the term "religious" is attached to anarchism understood in this way primarily due to the fact that its motives for negation, the ways in which it takes place and its final goal are derived from ideas that have their origin in the field of dominantly religious discourse - love, non-violence and solidarity. The author of this book believes that Tolstoy represents the point of view of personalism. Personalism due to the fact that in this social-philosophical point of view the supreme value is represented by man, the human person as a supreme person, and not by some generality or collective reality such as society, nation, state, civilization or the Church.
The book particularly deals with Tolstoy's social philosophy, within which the famous Russian writer develops his peculiar and, to superficial connoisseurs of his thought, unexpected criticism of the state, government, law and private property. This criticism is based on religious motives that mainly have their origin in "original Christianity" as seen and interpreted by Tolstoy himself. The final part of the book is dedicated to the topicality of Tolstoy's criticism of government institutions, especially in the light of his strongly emphasized "radical anarchist and humanitarian pacifism", which Berdica sees as the central argument for the topicality of this topic in the contemporary "age of extremes".
—Rade Kalanj
Biblos Newsletter
New titles, special copies and quiet recommendations from the antiquarian bookshop.