Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-04-07
OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW
DR.. Steiner's "ToIstoy the Man

| as other points in Iowa, TO say nothlnS
| OF Grnnell citizens and students. who
have listened to the sermons and adj
dresses of DIR. Steiner. will be inter
ested in the book notice IN the Record
Herald referring to his latest work,
"Tolstoy the Man" 1t follows:
DIR. steiner, professor of applied
Christianity in Iowa College, became
acquainted with Tolstoy twenty years
ago under conditions full of portent for
| him and for many of his fellow stu
dents In a certain German university.
Rationalistic criticism had nearly criti-
cised God out of existence for them,
when Tolstoy's War and Peace fell
into their hands. reawakening all their
early ardor for Christs teachings.
Nothing would do but they must make
q pilgrimage to their st. John the Bap-
tist They went on foot all the way
to Moscow, where Tolstoy received
them, warmly, poor, ill-clad and I'M
known as they We're and with sub
lime patience listened to their doubts,
only half formulated even then, ana
resolved them, casting a spell over the
youths which is potent to this day.
Three times since has DR.. Steiner
gone to Russia to visit the teacher. the
last time in 1903, when, at the behest
of the Outlook Company, he made an
extended stay, gathering material Tor
a memoir The essential results OF his
study of Tolstoy, extending over Pc
Rod of twenty years, are to be found
in DR.. Stener's book, Tolstoy the
Man. to which l.. Pasternak has con-
tributed some charming drawings. AS
a memoir it is admirable.
THE book contains running sketch
OF Tolstoys whole life, an outline of all
his books, and the key TO his philoso-
ply. The philosophy appears no less
idealistic than ever. interpreted by DR.,
Steiner. 1t is derived entirely from the
gospels of Christ as epitomized in the
sermon on the mount. All Iolstoy s
passively anarchical doctrines about
war, about government, about celiba-
cy, etc, have been deduced from THIS.
Christs law thus given is eificaclous,
he contends to save man and society.
THEORETICALLY, he is agnostic. He lets
YOU believe what you will about the
divinity of Christ, but you must admit
that He is the greatest ethical teacher
the world has known, thru whom God
is revealed.
"On the whole, DIR. Steiner seem to
regard Tolstoys philosophy as unprac-
teal, vague ia many respects, mathe-
matically irreducible and unlivable. but
the spirit is fecund. life-giving. His
own temperamental peculiarities AMI
social conditions peculiar to Russia
have colored and affected Tolstoy's
whole philosophy. He was born with
a hot determined. passionate nature,
he belongs to the last of civilized ma
tons: the difference in his country De-
tween noble and peasant is only of de-
gree and not of kind: the peasantry
ARE abnormally lethargic, and so on
and so on = all of these points are
given due consideration by DR.. Steiner,
and must be discounted before deter
mining how much of his philosophy is
of practical value to the rest of civil
iZation.a
Dr. steiner very creditably abstains
from taking controversial attitude
in his exegesis of Tolstoyism, but his
book affords a satisfactory explana-
ton of the anomalies of Tolstoys own
household. which We're made so much or
lin Mere jkowski's scathing book. Toll
stoy as Man and Artist" Tolstoy
has honestly tried to interpret the gos-
pei nationally and live 1t radically, but
he has failed thru no fault of his, but
because in our complex society no man
can live for himself alone, even to be
Christian martyr. This is his heart
ache in old age - that he has never
been allowed to live up to the full OF
his teachings nor to exemplify them IN
his own household. Not one OF his
own household, moreover, is convert.
This is a bitter sorrow. which at times
outweighs In his mind the vast good
his propaganda has done.
THE likeness between Rousseau and
Tolstoy is strikingly brought out. Both
cry back to nature. both deny prog
ress Two thoughts are constantly inn
pressed by Tolstoy-first. that develop
ment and publication come thru cast
ing off culture; second, that the vir-
tues to be adopted are to be found
among peasants. This Is Rousseau.
ut is pleasant to learn what a
sweetening, spiritualiZing effect time
has had upon the great man and how
many people have been affected by his
doctrines to the extent of obeyins
Christ's injunction. giving all to the
poor and following Him. Nonetheless,
it appears evident that the Tolstoyan
ideas are not workable ones. speaking
for all mankind. But he is a great
leaven in the world, and the greatest
social critic of several centuries. In
lis magnificent novels he has pointed
out the fatal assures in the social
structure, to others must be the work
of reconstruction.
"Dr Steiner's lucid, clear-eyed CONF
mentary on Tolstoy is most helpful"
Notwithstanding all of the admiration
Dr. Steiner and his school of philoso-
pliers have for Tolstoy, his ism" is
far from being orthodox. They find
much to approve in his theories but
his '.passivity' toward evil is not in
line with modern Christianity. How
much the world gains by Tolstoyism
is shown by his theories and those
observing the counts entire worldly
possessions, in the legal hands of his
thrifty and capable wife, from which
he derives daily and hourly much in
cidental benefit is a question others
than DIR. Steiner find hard one to
answer.
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