In the last thirty years of his life, Leo Tolstoy wrote countless books, essays and pamphlets expounding his newly-articulated views on truth, violence, the state, the church, and on how to improve the human condition. Since then, these ‘Christian anarchist’ views have been dismissed as utopian or naive, and despite inspiring numerous activists, often forgotten or ignored. This paper aims to assess his political thought and its critics in order to consider whether any of his views might be relevant to the political challenges facing today’s world. The paper therefore considers his quest for truth, his pacifism, his anarchism, his anti-clericalism and his militantism, each time discussing criticisms and seeking to reflect on the potential relevance of his political thought in the contemporary world arena.
