%0 Journal Article
%T The Living Earth. Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy as a stimulus of modern ecological thought in pre-war Poland
%A Rzeczycka, Monika
%A Patocka-Sigłowy, Urszula
%J Studia Religiologica
%V 2023
%R 10.4467/20844077SR.23.004.19226
%N Volume 56 Issue 1
%P 47-64
%K Western esotericism, anthroposophy in Poland, Rudolf Steiner, Agriculture Course 1924, biodynamic farming, organic agriculture, ecology in prewar Poland, Living Earth
%@ 0137-2432
%D 2023
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/studia-religiologica/article/zywa-ziemia-antropozofia-rudolfa-steinera-jako-impuls-nowoczesnej-mysli-ekologicznej-w-przedwojennej-polsce
%X Research into esoteric ideas and their permeating non-esoteric social practices has revealed a curious phenomenon: the influence of anthroposophy, one of the most important European esoteric movements of the twentieth century, on Polish agriculture in the Second Polish Republic (II RP), as well as the development of modern ecological thought in Polish scientific circles before the Second World War, especially among naturalists and agronomists. This article marks an initial attempt to name the sources, origin as well as methods applied in transforming esoteric ideas, initially presented by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) in 1924. The ideas were connected with spiritual aspects of agriculture of the future and proved to be a very attractive alternative for the development of civilisation, which inspired both Polish landowners and scientists in the 1930s.