The
following lecture-course was given by Rudolf Steiner to an audience
familiar with the general background and terminology of his anthroposophical
teaching. It should be remembered that in his autobiography,
The Course of My Life,
he emphasises the distinction between his written works on the
one hand and, on the other, reports of lectures which were given as oral
communications and were not originally intended for print. For an intelligent
appreciation of the lectures — and very specially so in the case of
those contained in the present volume — it should be borne in mind that
certain premises were taken for granted when the words were spoken.
‘These premises,’ Rudolf Steiner writes, ‘include, at the
very least, the anthroposophical knowledge of Man and of the Cosmos in its
spiritual essence; also what may be called “anthroposophical
history”, told as an outcome of research into the spiritual
world.’
On
each of the Gospels Rudolf Steiner gave more than one special course,
as well as innumerable lectures on the mysteries connected with the figure of
Christ-Jesus in celestial and earthly history. All these courses and lectures
lead into the deepest secrets of Christianity and as well as the earlier,
fundamental work,
Christianity as Mystical Fact,
are indispensable for reference at every stage of the study of Spiritual
Science.
A
list of publications in English translation relevant to the themes of
the following lectures, and a summarised plan of the Complete Centenary
Edition of Rudolf Steiner's works in the original German will be found at the
end of the present volume.
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