Abstract

Leszek Kołakowski (1927–2009) is known primarily as a researcher and critic of Marxism. However, his research on the philosophy of religion, especially the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, is less known. The text presents the Polish philosopher’s position on the phenomenon of heresy and orthodoxy, showing the role of both phenomena and their mutual interpenetration. Orthodoxy is a function of heresy, and heresy is a causative function of orthodoxy. The Reformation is considered a reaction to the tension between the religious consciousness of the individual and the social bond built by the institutional Church. The Reformation can therefore be considered an act of building a new quality of bond between the individual and the church institution. In turn, the Counter-Reformation consists in expanding the field of orthodoxy by accepting, in part, what the Reformation had developed. The author proposes to use the Russian term “perestroika” known from the Gorbachev era to refer to the Counter-Reformation. In this sense, counter-reformation can be defined as an attempt to introduce a new quality in the relationship between the individual and the leader, and an attempt to rebuild trust.