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book1914-present

The Pillar and Ground of the Truth

Disciplines:
philosophy
theology/orthodox theology

Summary

Masterwork of Pavel Florensky published 1914. Structured as twelve letters, it offers a phenomenological account of Orthodox Christian faith, exploring antinomy, friendship, Sophia, asceticism, and the nature of truth as a lived experience rather than abstract proposition.

Core Contribution

Established 'concrete metaphysics' — theology grounded in lived experience and paradox rather than Scholastic abstraction. Its treatment of antinomy and the feminine divine (Sophia) was formative for 20th-century Orthodox thought.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • antinomy as theological method
  • Sophia mysticism
  • epistolary theology
  • concrete metaphysics

Historical Influences

Vladimir Solovyov Fyodor Dostoevsky Plato Orthodox patristic tradition

Intellectual Lineage

No conceptual lineage found.

Allied Works

Iconostasis At the Watersheds of Thought The Meaning of Idealism Sergei Bulgakov: The Wisdom of God

Contemporaries & Peers

Bulgakov's early theological worksBerdyaev's religious philosophy

Minds Influenced

Sergei Bulgakov Hans Urs von Balthasar Russian religious philosophy revival

Intellectual Posterity

No conceptual posterity found.

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