About the Book

The present work I am  (Én vagyok) was written in 1950–51 in Kodolanyi’s retreat at Akarattya, and forms part of his cycle of works set in the ancient Middle East; the others are The Flood (Vízözön), New Heaven and New Earth (Új ég, új föld) and The Burning Bush (Az égô csipkebokor). In I am  Kodolanyi rethinks and retells one of the most contradictory stories in the New Testament – the link between Jesus and Judas, the ‘God-man’ and the ‘traitor’, the sacred and the profane, the separation and union of the worlds of Heaven and Earth. In Yeshuah I am  presents us with the ‘lost, secret Jesus’ and his mystical teaching, while Yehuda bar Shimon is the archetype of a man enmeshed in the insecurity and materialistic interests of this world. In its factually accurate and sensitive portrayal of the Biblical age and setting, a comparison with both the time of writing and with considerations and expectations of spiritual regeneration at the turn of the twenty-first century becomes ever clearer for the modern reader. This volume contains the unabridged text of the original manuscript, whereas earlier editions were arbitrarily abbreviated.