During the year after its first publication in Russian in 1885, "God, Man and the Church" rapidly established a reputation as a seminal work of Russian theology. It is a penetrating examination of man's relationship - both as an individual and in society - with God. For Solovyev, personal religion can only be satisfied in social religion. Private prayer finds its fulfillment in the Church's liturgy, and the Church is the highest expression of man's religious aspirations. Solovyev's mystical understanding of the Church provides the basis for a fundamental analysis of the idea of the state from a Christian viewpoint. Published in 1937, Donald Attwater's translation of "God, Man and the Church," which made the work available in the English language for the first time, has become a classic in its own right.