Product Description

What does man seek in religion and what should he seek in it? How does God reveal Himself in order to bring man to a knowledge of the Truth? How does suffering help this revelation to occur? Fr. Seraphim Rose addressed these and other issues during a lecture at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1981. GOD'S REVELATION TO THE HUMAN HEART is a transcription of that lecture, and the question-and-answer session between Fr. Seraphim and the university students.

Drawing upon a wealth of resources--the Holy Scriptures, patristic writings, the Lives of ancient and modern saints, and accounts of persecuted Christians in today's world--Fr. Seraphim leads the audience to the core of all Christian life: the conversion of the heart of man, which begins to burn with love for Christ and transforms him into a new man.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46840 in Books
• Published on: 1988-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 48 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780938635031
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From the Author
When conversion takes place, the process of revelation occurs in a very simple way--a person is in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up. The more you are in suffering and difficulties and are desperate for God, the more He is going to come to your aid, reveal Who He is and show you the way out.

About the Author
Fr. Seraphim Rose (1934-1982) was an Orthodox monk in the ancient tradition that dedicated his life to reawakening modern Western man to forgotten spiritual truths. From his remote cabin in the mountains of northern California, he produced writings, which have been circulated throughout the world in millions of copies. Today he is Russia's best-loved spiritual writer. His books Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future and The Soul After Death have changed countless lives with their uncompromising and sobering truth.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Why is the truth, it would seem, revealed to some and not to others? Is there a special organ for receiving revelation from God? Yes, although usually we close it and do not let it open up: God's revelation is given to something called a loving heart.

Customer Reviews

Why Study Religion?
_God's Revelation to the Human Heart_ is the transcript of a lecture that Fr. Seraphim Rose delivered to the students of comparative religion at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1981. It can easily be read in one sitting, and although it is not the most in depth or detailed introduction to Orthodoxy, it is an insightful nonetheless. Fr. Seraphim begins his address with the question, "Why study religion?" The answer to this is to find out the meaning of Reality itself. The nature of this reality is in contrast with mundane reality, all of which eventually passes on in this world. True reality is something that cannot be perceived in a strictly empirical manner, but comes from within and glimpses at eternity. Fr. Seraphim also speaks of the search for religious experience and religious truth. An individual should not look for religious experiences per se because they can be the paths towards spiritual delusion, but rather towards Truth itself. The importance of suffering in Orthodox Christianity is also discussed, giving the well-known example of Alexander Solzhenitsyn (author of the _Gulag Archipelago_) who was persecuted by the Soviets for political dissent. Unlike in many Western countries, Christianity in Russia under communism was directly and brutally persecuted. Fr. Seraphim's conclusion discusses the spiritual rebirth that is happening in Russia today. Finally, the last few pages are the Question and Answer session after Fr. Seraphim's lecture.

The heart is where God dwells
Published transcripts of talks are risky. Sometimes a lecture that is powerfully persuasive because of the personal charisma of the speaker comes across as dull and uninspiring when read. This is usually (but not always) an indication that there's little substance in the talk, and that its original appeal was founded more on smoke-and-mirrors than insight or wisdom.

I'm happy to say that the transcript of Father Seraphim's 1981 Santa Cruz talk, "God's Revelation to the Human Heart," comes across as well on the written page as it must've when he gave it to college students a quarter-century ago. Delivered a year before his premature death, it can be viewed as a concise statement of his spirituality.

The purpose of religion (re+legio=to reconnect), says Seraphim, is to "open up contact" with a "reality deeper than the eveyday reality that so quickly changes, rots away, leaves nothing behind, and offers no lasting happiness." In our deep hunger for this reality, we frequently settle on the one hand for effusive experiences that feel good but which don't necessarily lead us to the Truth we seek, or cold, calculative philosophies, which promise to reveal Truth for us but typically wind up dissecting it instead.

What we need do is recognize, as Pascal said in the seventeenth century, that the heart has reasons that the mind knows not. The heart, Seraphim reminds us, is that organ designed to reveal God to us, because the heart is the seat of love, and only love takes us to Truth/reality. That which reconnects us is love. But to love necessarily means to suffer, for in loving we empathically experience the pain of those whom we love. In willingly taking on the cross of suffering, we invite God to crack open our hearts and reveal both Himself (Truth/Reality) and our true identities.

The path of love/suffering defended by Father Seraphim in this lecture, then, takes us to Truth by avoiding gushy sentimentality on the one hand, and detached, rationalistic analysis on the other. His approach is the same as that defended by the Fathers in the first centuries of the Church.

Ironically--sadly--the questions asked of Seraphim by students after his talk (the transcript is included in this volume) suggest that most of his listeners just didn't get the point of what he was saying. The questions tend to be off-subject ("What do Orthodox think about non-Orthodox?" "What's the Apocalypse?" "What does Orthodoxy teach about fasting?"). But one can hope that seeds were planted. Certainly the published version of Seraphim's talk is rich and fertile for those of us fortunate enough to read it. Many thanks to St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood for making it available.

A solid addition for any library
What has set Fr. Seraphim Rose of blessed memory apart from his contemporaries is that he was so far ahead of his time in his writings. In this little classic, we get to see how Fr. Seraphim Rose presented material to a group of college students. The degree of clarity and foresight in his thoughts and conclusions are on a level by themselves. What I enjoy most about Fr. Seraphim is not only his conversion to Orthodoxy, but the degree in which he crucified his intellect and subjected to Christ and the early Christian Fathers. This is a quick read, that if you are like me. You will have to read it several times to plumb the depths of the writings.