concept
Non-resistance to evil (neprotivlenie zlu)
non-resistance to evil
also: непротивление злу, neprotivlenie zlu, non-resistance
The doctrine, associated with Tolstoy's late religious writings of the 1880s, that one must never meet evil -- including violence done to oneself -- with force or resistance, grounded in a literal reading of the Sermon on the Mount; it swept educated Russian society in the decade, inspiring some to renounce servants, meat, and 'carnal love,' and forms the philosophical crux over which the siblings of 'Good People' become estranged.
Reading notes
- Good People §17 непротивление злу
Neprotivlenie zlu ("non-resistance to evil") was the doctrine, closely associated with Tolstoy's late religious and moral writings of the 1880s, holding that one must never answer evil -- including violence directed at oneself -- with force, based on a literal reading of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:39, "resist not evil"). The debate over this idea swept educated Russian society in the decade, prompting some adherents to give up meat, servants, and "carnal love," as the story's narrator notes in passing (§28). Vera's gradual embrace of the doctrine, and Vladimir's uncomprehending resistance to it, is the philosophical axis on which the whole story turns.