When Leo Tolstoy died in November 1910, he was just as famous for his radical
political and religious writings as he was for his fictional literature. Yet during the
hundred years that have passed since, his Christian anarchist voice has been drowned
by the sort of historical forces he had always been so eager to make sense of. Today,
only few of even those acquainted with his literature know much about his unusual
and radical religious and political writings (other perhaps than that they were
unusual, radical, religious and political). What he has to say to Christians, to anarchists
and indeed to the wider public, however, is just as urgent today as it was at the
time of writing. In this testimonial to mark the centenary of his death, therefore, I
wish to first provide a brief story of what happened to Tolstoy’s voice, and then to
hint at the importance of the sort of contributions he can make to a number of vital challenges facing us today