The Gospel of St. Matthew

The following lecture-course was given by Rudolf Steiner to an audience familiar with the general background and terminology of his anthroposophical teaching. In his autobiography, The Course of my Life, he emphasizes the distinction between his written works on the one hand and, on the other, reports (not revised by him) of lectures which were given as oral communications and were not originally intended for print. For an intelligent appreciation of the lectures 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 ir1 its spiritual essence; also what may be called “anthroposophical history”, told as an outcome of research into the spiritual world.’ * * * A list of publications in English translation recommended for reading in connection with the following lectures, and a summarised plan of the Complete Edition of Rudolf Steiner's works in the original German will be found at the end of the present volume.