God's Revelation to the Human Heart

Wonderful Little Book , amazing insights it touched my heart personally, once i started reading i couldn't stop i just had to read it in one sitting, the book also has some pictures throughout , Defo buy!!

A stellar introduction to Orthodoxy. It's concise, polite, and covers a spectrum of topics from a viewpoint that can be understood from the most simple to the most learned. Fr Seraphim was a very captivating, well-read man, who as the foreword states, became surprisingly simply stated the more he learned. I am only a catechumen, at the time not even an inquirer when I bought the little booklet, but I've met so many who already consider the reposed priest a saint. I wholeheartedly recommend this to any who seek to try to gently convince non-Orthodox family or friends to learn.

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.

This book is an amazing read. It’s not very long so you can finish it pretty fast, and it is very valuable for the price. The book speaks about Father Seraphim Rose’s talk with college kid seeking religion. I must encourage everyone reading this review, go out and purchase this book. It’s only $5, the price of a coffee, and your return on the book will be much greater than the investment.

Saint Serpahim Rose pray for us

Pray for us, Fr. Seraphim Rose

Every now and then my spirit needs a bit of help from a wiser source. While it is not difficult to find interesting agile minds willing to share and inform on an academic plane, it can be frustrating to seek out a wiser spirit. Father Seraphim's book, God's Revelation to the Human Heart points to this confusion from the opposite direction. It is the transcription of a talk he gave to a comparative religion class thirty years ago. The audience of university students, naturally, had been trained to formulate, then respond to their own, intellectual questions about matters best addressed in a spiritual plane. Thus, from their recorded interaction with Father Seraphim, we sense a group perhaps frustrated by a spiritual revelation offered to those expecting an intellectual meal. But perhaps, Father Seraphim's fluent presentation of spiritual wisdom allowed a few of the students to find "ears to hear" and sustenance for a more deep-seated hunger. For myself, Father Seraphim's gentle and profoundly true talk to the students provides simple cleansing necessary after periods of frustrating and confounding immersion in the concerns of our fallen world. I recommend this work to anyone who has learned that the intellect provides only shallow answers and who wants a clear picture of how the light of orthodox Christian spirituality illuminates a spiritual path through a clouded mundane landscape. Here, one can find Answers without necessarily understanding any "answers."

This book was a short and good read. Easy to understand and I definitely recommend it. You’ll learn something from Fr. Seraphim Rose and his books are great too.

In his short life, Fr Seraphim wrote books that clearly, concisely, and with a spirit of peace explain what Orthodoxy truly is. A wonderful book for catechumens too.

I tend to like simply written books. And this one has a great many insights into society and messages from very well spoken men who have experienced life on many different levels. Their messages are timely and valuable.

A very accessible talk by the late Seraphim Rose. In a few words, he addresses essential issues with words that can touch the heart of anyone. May be very valuable to anyone on a spiritual path. Shows the path of the heart.

"What reveals God to men, is something about God that is revealed to a heart that is ready for it. This is what is meant by a 'burning heart' " ... "To come to the fulness of Truth, something deeper would have to take place within." For me, these two excerpts are the essence of this wonderful book. It is a 'must read' for every honest spiritual seeker. It brought me also into contact with Orthodoxy in general and I am busy to explore the great heritage of wisdom revealed by many Orthodox saints and elder fathers. And besides, Fr. Seraphim Rose himself was not a so called 'born' Orthodox, he converted in his later days after observing and investigating its deep truth (book 'Father Seraphim Rose - His life and work).

1981年カリフォルニア大学での講義と質疑応答の記録。過去から現在までの聖人の例を引きながら、人が真理に向き合うのは、言葉や知識によるよりも、神の臨在を感じさせる人間の存在によって、心を動かされることによってである、と説いている。小冊子ながら、まさにセラフィム・ローズの存在感を覚えさせる一冊である。