Christianity As Mystical Fact

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Summary: Christianity's Place in the Spiritual Evolution of Humanity
Review: "Christianity As a Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity" is based on a series of lectures by Rudolph Steiner, a metaphysician Linda Goodman has described as unequaled before or since his time regarding all metaphysical writings. The purpose of this book, in calling Christianity a "mystical fact," is not to belittle this great religion but to reveal a new layer of meaning closer to its core than the layers most people know of today.

(I) The book opens with a piece entitled "Points of View". Here Steiner introduces the reader to "spiritual science," which investigates spiritual pheonomena the way natural scientists observe the physical world. In this book, the phenomenon to be investigated is the spiritual evolution of humankind.

(II) In "Mysteries and Mystery Wisdom", Steiner discusses the initiates and truth seekers of ancient civilizations. In each community, there were always two religions, the religion of the people and the "secret" religion. He describes rules, teachings and practices common to all these secret religions, with emphasis on the Ancient Greek Mysteries. Then he illustrates what mystics who achieved enlightenment experienced, quoting the likes of Heraclitus, Plutarch and Xenophanes.

(III) In "Greek Sages before Plato in the Light of Mystery Wisdom", Steiner delves deeper into Ancient Greek philosophy. By shedding the light of the mysteries on the writings of those who modern thinkers call the "Natural Philosophers", he reveals that these ancients studied not the physical world, but the spiritual world.

(IV) "Plato As a Mystic" is a part devoted entirely to Plato's teachings. First, Steiner describes Socrates as an initiate, drawing on the accounts in the "Phaedo", the "Timaeus", and the "Symposium". Then he takes apart a few Greek myths to show how their symbols correspond to mystery images. Finally, he introduces Philo, a Neoplatonist considered a reincarnation of Plato, to show how similar are Plato's path to cognition and Christians' path to Christ.

(V) "Mystery Wisdom and Myth" is a continuation of the previous part, with more analyses of Greek myths and philosophy. Here, Steiner also shows similarities between a parable attributed to Buddha and the Egyptian myth of Osiris.

(VI) In "Egyptian Mystery Wisdom", Steiner digs more deeply into the story of Osiris and the text of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Then he reveals the parallels in the lives of Buddha and Jesus of Nazareth, proving that Buddhism is also a mystical fact. Unlike the Osiris myth and the story of Buddha, however, the life of Jesus takes the initiations further.

(VII) "The Gospels" examines the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John not as biographies of Jesus as a man, but as myths that speak of the "Mystery of Golgotha" the way the myths of Ancient Greece speak of the Ancient Mysteries. The Mysteries of Judaism are also touched here, because it was to a Jewish initiate that the Logos descended.

(VIII) In "The Miracle of the Raising of Lazarus", Steiner shows what is so special and significant about Lazarus' rising from the dead. (There is more on this in Steiner's "The Gospel of St. John".)

(IX) In "The Apocalypse of John", Steiner uncovers the meanings of the strange symbols in Revelations: the seven churches, the seven seals, the four horsemen, the four animals, etc.

(X) "Jesus and His Historical Background" gives some information on the Essenes and the Therapeutae, who initiated Jesus of Nazareth into the Mysteries. Describing their lifestyle and beliefs, Steiner explains their role in the spiritual evolution of humankind.

(XI) "The Essence of Christianity" is where Steiner finally explains how Christianity differs from the ancient secret religions and why Christian philosophy has rightly changed the world. He also shows how the earliest Christians, and many Gnostics were able to reconcile the Mystery of Golgotha with the Ancient Mysteries.

(XII) In "Christianity and Pagan Wisdom", Steiner compares Neoplatonism, the representative vessel of pagan wisdom, and Christianity, to show why Christianity is so important in relation to the ancient Mysteries.

(XIII) The book ends with "Augustine and the Church". As St. Augustine of Hippo was a pagan who was converted to Christianity, his convictions, quoted by Steiner, are a magnificent illustration of the transition from pagan spirituality to Christian spirituality. St. Augustine set a precedent for the approach to the Christ Mystery that most Catholics follow to this day. Steiner does not judge this path as right or wrong, but does explain why the Christ event has redeemed faith in mysticism.

As most of Steiner's illustrations involve Ancient Greek initiates and early Christian mystics, a background in history and philosophy will definitely make it easier to plod through this book. Fortunately, the reader can get away with information gleaned from the outlines in "Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder.

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Summary: As good and prescient as Welburn asserted
Review: I learned about this book while reading translator Andrew Welburn's excellent book The Beginnings of Christianity: Essene Mystery, Gnostic Revelation and the Christian Vision. These two books should be treated as a set. I was apprehensive about reading Steiner, not wanting anything to do with occult, psychic, or reincarnation ideas -- fortunately, none of these appear in this particular book.

Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in the original, esoteric forms of Christianity as a Jewish-styled version of the Hellenistic mystery-religion, as described in the book The Jesus Mysteries, by Freke and Gandy.

Rating:
Summary: As good and prescient as Welburn asserted
Review: I learned about this book while reading translator Andrew Welburn's excellent book The Beginnings of Christianity: Essene Mystery, Gnostic Revelation and the Christian Vision. These two books should be treated as a set. I was apprehensive about reading Steiner, not wanting anything to do with occult, psychic, or reincarnation ideas -- fortunately, none of these appear in this particular book.

Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in the original, esoteric forms of Christianity as a Jewish-styled version of the Hellenistic mystery-religion, as described in the book The Jesus Mysteries, by Freke and Gandy.

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Summary: New life into the old book
Review: In this book, Steiner describes how Christianity evolved from earlier esoteric traditions such as the mystery schools, Egyptian and Eastern wisdom, and Greek philosophy.

Steiner interprets the life of Chrsit as a model for the path of an initiate. As examples, he offers elegant insights into parts of the gospels which have previously left me "in the dark." Some say that Steiner's approach to the Christianity has been continued by Joseph Campbell. If you like Campbell, you'll like this book.

This book has reinvigorated Christianity for me-- by showing me how it can be interpreted like a myth. Now I can look at the gospels in a new manner, and gain new insights from them.

I think that it helps to have a little background in Greek philosophy to read this book, but I don't think that its absolutely necessary.