Role of Christ in Anthroposophy
A theological exchange
with Dan Dugan.
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From: Dan Dugan
Subject: role of Christ in Anthroposophy
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 00:20:41 -0700
Tarjei Straume, you
wrote (in response to John Morehead),
You are either ignorant of, or deliberately
overlooking, the fact that anthroposophical Christology also
affirms the unique nature of Christ, that He was the unique incarnation
of God in human flesh, who died a substitionary death for human
sin. This is one of the key concepts that anthroposophy holds
in common with traditional Christianity.
If Steiner believed that Christ died to redeem
humanity from sin, I don't see it much in his writings. I've
gotten the impression that Christ's incarnation was intended
to help humanity balance between the influences of Lucifer and
Ahriman. When I've explained this in my slide talk, the back-row
party from Rudolf Steiner College has appeared to agree. Can
you give some quotes supporting your position, please?
I've also gotten the impression that the one
who has been redeemed is Lucifer, evidenced by his descent as
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Some findings that may or may not be helpful:
"[The Christ's] mission consisted in bringing to mankind the full
force of the ego, an inner independence in the soul."
[Steiner, Rudolf. The Gospel of St. John.
(Hamburg Cycle, 1908), rev. ed. New York: Anthroposophic Press,
1962. p. 82]
"The Christ [in Steiner's
sculpture] towers in the middle as the One who is carrying the
Parcival principle into the new age and who, not through his
power but through his very being, induces others to overcome
themselves, rather than being overcome by Him. In Michelangelo's
painting [Sistine Chapel], we see a Christ who uses His very
power to send some to heaven and others to hell. In future, such
an image will no longer be seen as the genuine Christ, but rather
as a Christ having luciferic qualities. ...There has to be a
clear understanding that we cannot turn our attention just to
the Christ, but must set our sight on the threefold configuration:
Christ, Lucifer, Ahriman. I can only hint at this, but spiritual
science will eventually bring to light the full content of the
mystery, Christ in relation to Lucifer and Ahriman."
[Steiner, Rudolf. Christ in Relation to
Lucifer and Ahriman. (1915) Trans. Peter Mollenhauer, Ph.D. Spring
Valley, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1978. pp. 15-16.]
"Whitsuntide [Pentecost]
belongs in a spiritual sense to Easter, is, in a spiritual sense,
connected with Easter, and is inseparable from Easter. This Holy
Spirit is none other than the re-risen Luciferic Spirit, resurrrected
now in a new and higher glory. He is the spirit of Self-reliant,
wisdom-filled knowledge. The re-risen Lucifer carries the torch
before the Christ. Lucifer, now transformed to the good, bears
the Christ Himself. Christ is the Light--Lucifer is the Light-bearer."
[Arenson, Adolf. Lucifer: Two lectures
by Adolf Arenson: Stuttgart 1933. Spring Valley, NY: Mercury
Press, 1992 p. 21]
-Dan Dugan
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From: Tarjei Straume
Subject: Re: role of Christ in Anthroposophy
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 15:06:38 +0200
Dan Dugan wrote:
If Steiner believed that Christ died to
redeem humanity from sin, I don't see it much in his writings.
I've gotten the impression that Christ's incarnation was intended
to help humanity balance between the influences of Lucifer and
Ahriman. When I've explained this in my slide talk, the back-row
party from Rudolf Steiner College has appeared to agree. Can
you give some quotes supporting your position, please?
"Christ and the Human Soul", Rudolf
Steiner Press 1972. Four lectures held in Norrköping from
122th to 16th July, 1914. Here Steiner deals with the difficult
and widely misunderstood relationships between hereditary sin,
the redemption of Christ, and karma (GA 155)
The incarnation of Christ on the physical
plane, the redemption of humanity from death through the death
of Christ on the cross etc. is also dealt with in an RS lecture
on my website, "Esoteric and Exoteric Christianity",
at
http://www.uncletaz.com/exoeso.html
and "Love and its Meaning in the World"
at
http://www.uncletaz.com/lovemeaning.html
which also deals with the Mystery of Golgotha
as a divine sacrifice, borne out of love, to rescue humanity
from the consequences of the Fall, or Original Sin.
I would also recommend "Building Stones
for an Understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha" ten lectures
from 27th March to 8th May, 1917 in Berlin (GA 175). As this
title indicates, the subject requires careful study. Anthroposophy
has also been called "The New Christ-Revelation" for
obvious reasons, and to me, Rudolf Steiner is first of all a
proclaimer of the Christ, making Him comprehensible to our scientific
age.
In addition to the above, I suggest all the
lecture cycles on the various Gospels for further reading.
What follows is a quote from Lecture 4 in
"Christ and the Human Soul." It is admittedly way out
of context, a fact that should be stressed, and which is why
I recommend *at least* the lectures on my website as a follow-up.
"Let us reflect from
this point of view upon the words of Christ with which He sent
His disciples out into the world to proclaim His name, and in
His name to forgive sins. Why to forgive sins in His name? Because
the forgiveness of sins is connected with His name. Sins can
be blotted out and transformed into living life only if Christ
can be united with our Earth-relics, if during our Earth-existence
He is within us in the sense of the Pauline saying: "Not
I, but Christ in me."
"And wherever any
religious denomination associates itself in its outer observances
with this saying of Christ, in order to bring home to souls,
again and again, all that is connected with Christ, we must seek
this deeper meaning in it. When, in any religious denomination,
one of Christ's servants speaks of the forgiveness of sins, as
though by Christ's command, it means that with his words he forms
a connection with the forgiveness of sins through Christ, and
to the soul in need of comfort he says, in effect: "I have
seen that you have developed a living relationship to Christ.
You are uniting the objective sin and guilt, and the objective
sin and guilt that will enter into your Earth-relics, with everything
that Christ is for you. Because I have recognized that you have
permeated yourself with Christ - therefore I dare say to you:
your sins are forgiven."
"Such words always
mean that he who in any religious denomination speaks of the
forgiveness of sins is convinced that the person in question
has found a connection with Christ, that he wants to bear Christ
in his heart and in his soul. Because of this he can properly
give comfort when the other person comes to him conscious of
guilt. "Christ will forgive you, and I am permitted to say
to you that in His name your sins are forgiven." Christ
is the only forgiver of sins because He is the bearer of sins.
He is the Being who gives life to human Earth-relics, and a wonderful
link with Him is created when those who want to serve Him can
give comfort in the words, "Your sins are forgiven",
to those who show that in their inner being they feel a union
with Christ. For it is like a fresh strengthening of the relationship
to Christ when the soul realises: "I have understood my
guilt and sins in such a way that it can permissibly be said
to me that Christ takes them upon himself, works through them
with his being." If the expression "the forgiveness
of sins" is to be an expression of the truth, it must always
carry an undertone which reminds the sinner of his bond with
Christ, even if he does not form it anew. Between the soul and
Christ there must be a bond so intense that the soul cannot be
reminded of it often enough. And because the Christ is bound
up with the objective sin and guilt of the human soul, the soul
can best remind itself in daily life of its relationship to Christ
by always remembering, at the moment of forgiveness of sins,
the presence of the Cosmic Christ in the Earth's existence.
"Those who join Anthroposophy
in the right spirit, and not merely in an external sense, can
most assuredly become their own father confessors. Most assuredly
through spiritual science they can learn to know Christ so intimately,
and feel themselves so closely connected with Him, that they
can be directly conscious of His spiritual presence. And when
they have solemnly vowed themselves to Him as the Cosmic Principle,
they can in spirit direct their confession to Him and in their
silent meditation ask from Him the forgiveness of sins. But as
men have not yet permeated themselves with spiritual science
in this deep spiritual sense, we must look with understanding
at what the "forgiveness of sins" signifies in the
various religious observances of the world. Men will become spiritually
freer and freer, and in this greater spiritual freedom their
communion with Christ will become more and more a direct experience.
"And there must be
tolerance! A person who believes that through the deep inward
understanding he has of the Spirit of the Mystery of Golgotha,
the Christ, he can hold direct intercourse with the Christ, must
look with understanding upon those who need the positive declarations
of a confession of faith, and a minister of Christ to give them
comfort with words, "Your sins are forgiven". On the
other hand there should be tolerance on the part of those who
see that there are men who can be independent. In earthly life
this may be all an ideal, but the anthroposophist may at least
look up to such an ideal."
I've also gotten the impression that the
one who has been redeemed is Lucifer, evidenced by his descent
as the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Interesting. It's been a long time since I
read about that; I'll look back into it. In the cycle "Life
between Death and Rebirth" (GA 140), Steiner speaks about
how Lucifer is indistiguishable from Christ when he acts as a
guide through the Zodiac between death and rebirth. Lucifer is
only a threat to humanity on the physical plane, between birth
and death. Lucifer, his various roles, and his redemption has
for me always been one of the most complicated riddles in anthroposophy.
Cheers
Tarjei Straume
Greetings from Uncle Taz
http://www.uncletaz.com/
Anarchosophy, anarchism, anthroposophy, occultism,
Christianity, poetry,
plays, library, articles, galleries, marijuana, criminality,
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skeletons, banners, links, links, links. Big section in Norwegian.
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