Pavel Florensky was, at one and the same time, a supremely gifted philosopher, mathematician, physicist, engineer and theologian. He was also a poet and wrote studies of history, language and art. His book "The Pillar and the Ground of Truth" is widely seen as a masterpiece of Russian Orthodox theology. This title offers an account of his life.

The first biography in English of an extraordinary polymath whose great genius was stifled and finally extinguished by the Soviet Union.

Avril Pyman's biography presents the Western reader with the first introduction in English to this truly remarkable intellectual figure. Those who have already encountered Florenskii's name will find this reliably researched book invaluable in its sympathetic, yet sober, approach,which dispels legends and inaccuracies that have accumulated around the thinker, who is often revered as a martyr to Orthodoxy... Pyman's book is a timely and valuable contribution to the emerging field of Florenskii studies. It is an excellent starting ground for any reader in the West who would like to learn about one of Russia's foremost minds.