--- id: adin-ballou recordStatus: draft liveStatus: new type: person title: Adin Ballou titleEn: Adin Ballou titleRu: Адин Баллу nameAlternatives: - name: "Адин Баллу" type: transliteration language: ru - name: "Балу" type: variant language: ru description: "American minister (1803–1890) who preached non-resistance for fifty years; the preface Tolstoy began to his Catechism of Non-Resistance grew into The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1890–93)." birthDate: "1803" birthDateOldStyle: "" birthDateApproximate: false deathDate: "1890-08" deathDateOldStyle: "" deathDateApproximate: false birthPlace: "" deathPlace: "" causeOfDeath: "" nationality: American religion: "" politicalViews: "" roles: - author read by Tolstoy occupation: - minister relationToTolstoy: correspondent relationshipDescription: "They never met. Tolstoy learned of him in June 1889 from Lewis G. Wilson, and they exchanged letters until Ballou's death in August 1890." periodOfContact: from: "1889-06" to: "1890-08" notes: "Letters through Wilson (June 1889), Ballou's of 14 January 1890 NS, Tolstoy's of 21–24 February 1890, Ballou's of 30 May 1890 NS, Tolstoy's of 30 June 1890 (probably never received)." authorityTier: 3 synopsis: "" worksAuthored: [] worksTranslated: [] worksEdited: [] worksTranscribed: [] relatedWorks: - id: the-kingdom-of-god-is-within-you role: quoted author relatedArticles: - william-lloyd-garrison - quakers - nikolai-strakhov - vladimir-chertkov - leo-tolstoy themes: - non-resistance to evil by violence - property identifiers: wikidata: Q1104729 viaf: "" lccn: "" bnf: "" fieldSources: birthDate: - sourceId: jubilee-edition volume: "65" page: "" notes: "Commentary to letter No. 26: Adin Ballou, 1803–1890." deathDate: - sourceId: jubilee-edition volume: "28" page: "15" notes: "Ch. I: Ballou died in August 1890." --- Adin Ballou (Адин Баллу; 1803–1890) was an American minister who opposed negro slavery and preached "Christian non-resistance".[^1] He led the community at Hopedale, Massachusetts. ## How Tolstoy found him Tolstoy first heard of Ballou in June 1889, from a letter by Lewis G. Wilson, Ballou's helper, who sent him Ballou's *Christian Non-Resistance* and some smaller pamphlets.[^2] The diary has the days: "From America about non-resistance, very interesting" (19 June); "Read Adin Ballou Non-resistance. Gave it to Lyova to translate. Excellent" (20 June).[^3] Writing to Wilson on 22 June (5 July NS), he disagreed that Ballou "will not go down to posterity among the immortals": as "one of the first true apostles of the 'New Time'" he would be acknowledged as one of the chief benefactors of humanity.[^4] The meeting had a strange side, which Tolstoy tells in chapter I of [[The Kingdom of God Is Within You]]. He had asked the son of [[William Lloyd Garrison|Garrison]] whether a society for non-resistance still existed, and was told it had broken up and had no followers, while at that very time Ballou, who had taken part in the elder Garrison's work, was living at Hopedale and had spent fifty years preaching non-resistance (I.30).[^5] In a draft Tolstoy noted that Ballou had signed Garrison's declaration of 1838.[^6] ## Where they differed Tolstoy's letter to Wilson praised Ballou's tracts, in which "all the objections that are generally made against 'non-resistance'" are "victoriously answered". It then made three objections, in his own English:[^7] - **Force against the drunk and the insane.** "I cannot agree with the concession that he makes for employing violence against drunkards and insane people, the Master made no concessions, and we can make none… A true Christian will always prefer to be killed by a madman rather than to deprive him of his liberty." - **Property.** Ballou does not decide the question categorically enough: "for a true Christian not only cannot claim any rights of property, but the term 'property' cannot have any signification for him." "Property has been Achilles heel for the Quakers, and also for the Hopedale Community." - **Government.** For a true Christian the term "government" ("very properly defined by Mr. Ballou") can have no meaning: "Government is for a Christian only regulated violence." And: "No compromise!" Ballou answered on 14 January 1890 NS, defending his views.[^8] Tolstoy's reply of 21–24 February would not argue the points again, but explained what he had meant by compromise: "compromise, inevitable in practice, cannot be admitted in theory." No one draws a perfectly straight line, yet the definition of a straight line is not changed; "such a compromise in practice is not a sin, but a necessary condition of every Christian life. The great sin is the compromise in theory, is the plan to lower the ideal of Christ in view to make it attainable." Admitting force over a madman, "be it even benevolent", is such a compromise in theory. He set aside their dogmatic differences, about the words "Son of God", personal life after death and the resurrection, as "of little consequence".[^9] Ballou's next letter, of 30 May 1890 NS, thanked him for the explanation about compromise and said he did not wish to quarrel over differences of words.[^10] Tolstoy told [[Vladimir Chertkov]] on 1 July: "a beautiful letter from old Ballou himself; he no longer argues, but writes so lovingly, like a brother, that the heart rejoices."[^11] Tolstoy's answer of 30 June asked whether Ballou had been a member of Garrison's society. The editors conclude it probably never reached him: Ballou's autobiography does not mention it, and it is missing from Wilson's published correspondence.[^12] ## The Catechism and the beginning of the book Ballou sent Tolstoy his publications, among them the *Catechism of Non-Resistance*, which [[Nikolai Strakhov]] translated while staying at Yasnaya Polyana.[^13] Tolstoy corrected the translation on 27 and 28 June 1890 and decided to write a preface to it. On 8 July the diary says: "Wrote a preface to Ballou's catechism."[^14] In fact the draft preface was to both the *Catechism* and Garrison's declaration, and it became the beginning of *The Kingdom of God Is Within You*.[^15] Writing to Pavel Biryukov on 17 September 1890, he called the planned conclusion to "the Garrison declaration and the Ballou catechism (he has died)" the work that drew him most.[^16] Tolstoy also had *Christian Non-Resistance* translated and tried to publish it in A. Gattsuk's newspaper; the censorship stopped it. It came out in Moscow only in 1908, from Posrednik.[^17] ## In The Kingdom of God Is Within You Chapter I gives Ballou more room than anyone else (I.30–37, I.86–90). - **The ironic extracts (I.31–36).** Tolstoy introduces the first one as from an essay "exposing the inconsistency of Christians who allowed a right of self-defense and of warfare" (I.31).[^18] Ballou speaks there in the voice of the Christian citizen he is criticizing: he is sworn to Christ and sworn to the Constitution, and sees no difficulty in serving both. The voice builds to "War, too, is a Christian duty" and "nothing can be more Christian than such murder" (I.34). The words are that citizen's, not Ballou's own; the absurd ending is the point. A reader can easily take "says Ballou" at the start as Ballou stating his own view. The second extract, "How many Men are Necessary to Change a Crime into a Virtue?", is in his own voice (I.35–36). - **The Catechism (I.37–85).** Given "for his flock", in questions and answers, ending "Non-resistance is Salvation; Resistance is Ruin." - **The fifty years (I.86).** His books treat the question "from every possible side". One chapter deals with exceptional cases, and admits that if there were cases where the rule could not be applied, the law would not be universally binding.[^19] - **Silence (I.87–90).** Ballou died in August 1890. A laudatory obituary in the *Religio-Philosophical Journal* (23 August) counted eight to nine thousand sermons, a thousand marriages and about five hundred articles, but did not once use the word "non-resistance" (I.88–89).[^20] His life's work, like the Quakers' and Garrison's, "seems just as though it did not exist and never had existed" (I.90).[^21] ## Open questions - The objection about drunkards and the insane comes from Tolstoy's letters. Whether *Christian Non-Resistance* makes that allowance in its chapter on exceptional cases (I.86), and in what words, is not checked against Ballou's text. - Ballou's own letters (14 January and 30 May 1890) are known here only through the PSS commentary. - Whether Ballou signed the 1838 declaration rests on Tolstoy's draft (manuscript АЧ 19/6); his 30 June question to Ballou suggests he was not sure. - Birth and death dates are given by year and month only; the sources here do not give the days. ## Dive provenance - [1890-1893-the-kingdom-of-god-is-within-you](../works/non-fiction/treatises/1890-1893-the-kingdom-of-god-is-within-you/index.md): the text of chapter I (PSS 28:8–16), N. K. Gudzy's history of the writing (PSS 28:333–371), and Tolstoy's letters to L. G. Wilson (PSS 64, No. 391) and to Ballou (PSS 65, Nos. 26 and 100). Johan's reader notes of 12 October 2026 asked for this page; his confusion at I.31–34 is why the extracts are explained above. [^1]: «американский пастор, выступавший против рабства негров в США, проповедник „христианского непротивления“» (PSS 65, commentary to No. 26). English: ours. [^2]: «Он прислал Толстому книгу Баллу „Христианское непротивление“ („Christian non-resistance“) и несколько небольших брошюр его. Из этого письма Толстой впервые узнал о Баллу» (PSS 28:335, commentary). English: ours. [^3]: «Из Америки о non-resistance очень интересное»; «Читал Adin Ballou Non-resistance. Дал Леве переводить. Превосходно» (PSS 50:97–98, diary, 19 and 20 June 1889; quoted PSS 28:335). English: ours. [^4]: Tolstoy's English, letter to L. G. Wilson, 22 June (5 July NS) 1889 (PSS 64:270–274, No. 391). [^5]: «тогда как в то время, когда он писал мне, жил в Массачусете, в Hopedale, Адин Баллу, участвовавший в трудах отца Гаррисона и посвятивший 50 лет жизни на проповедь устно и печатно учения непротивления» (PSS 28:8–9, ch. I). English: Garnett. [^6]: «„подписавшийся“ в 1838 г. под „Провозглашением“ В. Л. Гаррисона» (PSS 28:336, commentary, manuscript АЧ 19/6). English: ours. [^7]: Tolstoy's English, letter to L. G. Wilson (PSS 64:270–274, No. 391). First printed in *The Arena*, 1890. [^8]: «Баллу в свою очередь, в письме от 14 января н. с. 1890 г., разбирая возражения Толстого, отстаивал свои взгляды» (PSS 28:335, commentary). English: ours. [^9]: Tolstoy's English, letter to Ballou, 21–24 February 1890 (PSS 65:34–38, No. 26). [^10]: «Баллу благодарил Толстого за „разъяснение мысли относительно допущения компромисса на практике“ и писал о своем нежелании „пререкаться относительно словесных разногласий“» (PSS 65, commentary to No. 100). English: ours. [^11]: «Я на днях получил… прекрасное письмо от самого старика Балу, он не спорит больше, а так любовно братски пишет, что сердце радуется» (PSS 87:31–32, to V. G. Chertkov, 1 July 1890; quoted PSS 28:336). English: ours. [^12]: «приходится вывести заключение, что подлинник не дошел до Баллу» (PSS 65:111–114, commentary to No. 100). English: ours. [^13]: «брошюру „Катехизис непротивления“, которую перевел гостивший у Толстого в Ясной Поляне Н. Н. Страхов» (PSS 28:336, commentary). English: ours. [^14]: «Написал предисловие к катехизису Балу» (PSS 51:60, diary, 8 July 1890; quoted PSS 28:336). English: ours. [^15]: «В действительности Толстой написал начерно „Предисловие“ и к „Катехизису“ А. Баллу и к „Декларации“ В. Гаррисона… Это „Предисловие“… послужило началом трактата „Царство божие внутри вас“» (PSS 28:336, commentary). English: ours. [^16]: «главное, что на очереди и влечет меня, это заключение к декларации Гарисона и катехизису Балу (он умер)» (PSS 65:166, to P. I. Biryukov, 17 September 1890; quoted in the PSS 28 commentary). English: ours. [^17]: «Перевод этой книги со своими поправками Толстой пытался напечатать в „Газете А. Гатцука“. Но из-за цензурных препятствий он в печати не появился. Только в 1908 г. этот перевод был издан в Москве „Посредником“» (PSS 28:336, commentary). English: ours. [^18]: «говорит Баллу в одной из статей, обличающей непоследовательность христиан, признающих право защиты и войны» (PSS 28:9, ch. I). English: Garnett. [^19]: «Баллу в продолжение 50 лет писал и издавал книги преимущественно о вопросе непротивления злу насилием» (PSS 28:15, ch. I). English: Garnett. [^20]: «но ни одного слова не сказано о той цели, которой он посвятил свою жизнь, не сказано даже и слова: „непротивление“» (PSS 28:16, ch. I). English: Garnett. [^21]: «так и вся деятельность Баллу точно как будто не существуют и не существовали» (PSS 28:16, ch. I). English: Garnett.