LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:1 January 2016
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2015
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

Religious Exclusivism and Quest for God in Leo Tolstoy's
The Coffee House of Surat

S. Mathivanan. M.A., M.Phil. NET, Ph.D. Scholar
Dr. R. Soundararajan. M.A., M.Phil., B.Ed., Ph.D. Candidate


Abstract

It has been normally perceived that there is a creator for all living beings and it is evident that the superior power of divinity should not be ignored. Man has been believing in God, thinking He could rescue him out of these calamities of earth. But, Charles Darwin and his ideologies about evolution have put man in a state of despondency and desperation to go on a quest for God and find him as soon as possible, before his demise. The causalities of the Second World War have entrenched in his mind the long lasting question whether there is really someone to save him from all of this world’s troubles. Religion has been trying all along to answer this question in its own way and fashion. This has evoked religious exclusivism which says that one’s God is the true God and that may not be accepted others. Leo Tolstoy tried to somehow find the answer about God in order to evade the existentialism found in one’s life and employ meaning into it. Leo Tolstoy’s ideologies are unique as he does not want to speak about the ecstasy which can be found in Heaven or afterlife, but he speaks of the one to be found right here on earth.

Keywords: Leo Tolstoy, belief in God, Darwin, The Coffee House of Surat, heaven and afterlife.

Coffee House Faith

Leo Tolstoy has wonderfully managed to inculcate the idea of God through his writings like that of A Confession and Resurrection. This particular story speaks about the various opinions staged by various individuals of various ethnicity and the ultimate answer through a story when asked about God. Tolstoy unifies God with faith of one’s own and the evident need to tell the truth. Tolstoy has also managed to choose the ambience of a Coffee Hose for this story carefully, as it is an ideal place for a debate and a final answer.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

S. Mathivanan, M.A., M.Phil. NET, Ph.D.Candidate
Assistant Professor of English
Srimad Andavan Arts and Science College
Thiruvanaikovil
Trichy-620005
Tamilnadu
India
netzachmathi@gmail.com

Dr. R. Soundararajan. M.A, M.Phil., B.Ed., Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Research Guide
National College
Trichy
Tamilnadu
India
vidhyarthy1@gmail.com

Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.