The Search for Truth on the Path of Reason – Theological Studies – Book
Professor Alexei I. Osipov
312 pages
The Search for Truth on the Path of Reason is a classic of Christian apologetics by Professor Alexei I. Osipov of the Moscow Theological Academy. The author is possibly the most widely known professor of Theology in Russia today.
Prof. Osipov presents an overview of Western philosophy, the roots of religion and atheism, the relationship between religion and science, different forms of paganism, spiritual experience, and other related topics. He clearly delineates between all the various religious experiences, contrasting them with Orthodox experience and patristic teaching. The Western philosophies and systems of thought described in this overview have left such a deep impressions on our society as well that we can scarcely see beyond their influence.
Osipov shows also the flip-side of Western rationalism, which is the various forms of mysticism and paganism that continually reproduce themselves in different guises. This book can help us to discern all of these trends, manifestations, and world views from an Orthodox, patristic perspective.
The book also includes a description of how Igumen Nikon (Vorobyev), who was Prof. Osipov’s spiritual guide and instructor from an early age, came to a sure and direct knowledge of God after desperate years of fruitless searching through science, philosophy, and psychology. He finally found the truth in his native Orthodox Christian religion; he then embarked upon the infinitely fulfilling study of the “science of sciences,” found in the unanimous experience of the fathers of our Church.
