Beschrijving
The Third Adam
The Mariavite Church in Poland was one of that country’s few heretical movements. Jerzy Peterkiewicz describes its genesis as a devout movement within the Catholic Church and its separation into an extraordinary sect. It ordained women as bishops, decades ahead of any Western Church. Like many religious movements headed by a strong willed male, it is no surprise that clerical celibacy was quietly abandoned, though under the smokescreen of “mystical marriages”.
The trial of its leader Jan Kowalski, an internal split and the chaos of World War 2 all damaged the Mariavites. Kowalski died in Dachau concentration camp, one Mariavite cleric among 2,000 Catholic priests.
The Third Adam refers to the historical sequence. The first Adam fell from grace in the Garden of Eden. The second Adam, Christ, came to redeem the fall of Adam. Kowalski was The Third Adam.
Most fascinating of all is the author’s speculations on how the Mariavites morphed into a Gnostic sect, while retaining the outward trappings of a Christian church.
The story in the book only goes up to the 1970s, so there is still much for later writers to tell.
He began writing novels in English in 1953, reserving Polish for his poetical works. His novels were successful, and led to a friendship with Muriel Spark. On the accession of Pope John Paul II, Pietrkiewicz translated his poems into English, and as a result his own work became known in Poland. He was awarded the Prize of the Ministry of Culture and Art in 1987.
His first book of poetry appeared in 1935, when he was 18, dedicated to the people of his village. Critical and popular success followed and he started to depict Poland as strong and free.
When, in 1939, the Germans and then the Russians invaded Poland, his career as a journalist and literary editor ended. He managed to reach Romania.
He arrived in Britain, from France, in 1940. Exempted from military service on health grounds, he was helped by the British Council to go to the University of St Andrews. There, he took a first degree in English and German in 1944, and then, in 1947, a doctorate in English literature from King’s College London, becoming the first Pole in the history of that college to do so. Soon afterwards he married the writer Christine Brooke-Rose, but they later separated. He was also married briefly to a Polish actor called Danuta Karel.
He died in London.
For further NOTES See also the BACK of the book!
Author: | Jerzy Peterkiewics |
ISBN-10: ISBN-13: |
0192121987 9780192121981 |