Paul L. Gavrilyuk holds the Aquinas Chair in Theology and Philosophy at the Theology Department of the University of St. Thomas. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, he studied physics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in Russia. He was one of the first scholars from the former Soviet Union to come to the United States to pursue graduate work in theology. An Eastern Orthodox historian and theologian, Gavrilyuk specializes in early Christian theology and Russian religious thought. Translated into five languages, his books include The Suffering of the Impassible God: The Dialectics of Patristic Thought, Histoire du catechumenat dans l'eglise ancienne [A History of the Catechumenate in the Early Church], and The Spiritual Senses: Perceiving God in Western Christianity, co-edited with Sarah Coakley.

"Paul Gavrilyuk's meticulously documented book is a model study of the intellectual development of one of the most significant and intriguing personalities of modern Orthodoxy, a masterly undertaking which will influence any further reflection on the complex development and interrelationships among the various strands of modern Orthodox theology. The book does justice to Florovsky, not as uncritical hagiography, but as a lucid, informed account of his intellectual development and his place in the history of modern Orthodox thought." --Paul Ladouceur, St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly

"It will not be possible, from now on, to read Russian theologian Georges Florovsky's work or for that matter, anything about him without reference to Paul Gavrilyuk's truly groundbreaking study and reassessment." --Michael Plekon, Logos

"Gavrilyuk's study provides us with the most comprehensive, broad, and critical consideration of the complex and not yet fully understood relationship between Florovsky and the Renaissance movement." --Nikolaos Asproulis, Journal of Theological Studies

"In short, Gavrilyuk's monograph is an indispensable study of the Russian religious renaissance and certainly a welcome corrective to a facile anti-westernism that oft en characterizes Orthodox thought." --Slavic Review