Rosicrucianism Renewed: The Unity of Art, Science & Religion: The Theosophical Congress of Whitsun 1907

Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner #CW 284

by Rudolf Steiner, Christopher Bamford

13 lectures, various cities, and reports, 1907–1923 (CW 284) “Rosicrucianism was central in Steiner’s life, any close reading of which makes it clear that the spiritual school radiating from the being and personality of Christian Rosenkreutz provided the substance and guiding principles of his teaching and mission. Furthermore, between-the-lines evidence suggests that Rudolf Steiner was actually ‘initiated’ into this school and given the task of revealing it publicly by Christian Rosenkreutz himself.” ― Christopher Bamford Unnoticed by most people at the time, a significant moment in spiritual history took place at Whitsun (Pentecost) in Munich in 1907. Known as “the Congress of the Federation of European Sections of the Theosophical Society,” this event witnessed Rudolf Steiner’s emergence onto the public stage as an independent esoteric Christian spiritual teacher with a world mission to transform planetary culture through what would come to be called “Anthroposophy.” The event (and hence Anthroposophy itself) was placed under the sign of Christian Rosenkreutz and the cultural impulse of Rosicrucianism, which, since its initial appearance in the early seventeenth century, had gone underground to be transmitted through the centuries by small, more-or-less hidden esoteric groups. In the Congress, however, the original aim of the movement―a “general reform” of human society through the unity of art, science, and religion―was proclaimed anew and with the firm intent to put it into practice. This volume thus marks not only the birth of Anthroposophy as a spiritual movement of cultural renewal―from which would flow new initiatives in art, science, religion, education, agriculture, medicine, architecture, and drama―but also the articulation of this activity as the evolutionary tip of human consciousness reaching back to the primordial mystery centers. Collected here, with Steiner’s lectures and descriptions, are essays and reports on the Theosophical Congress of Whitsun 1907, as well as documents relating to some of the direct consequences of the Congress, especially those leading to the design and construction of the first Goetheanum. An extensive color section of facsimiles, photographs, and plates includes the esoteric and symbolic artistic work (the seals and columns) created for the congress hall. This “Collected Works” edition contains an introduction, illustrations, a chronology of Rudolf Steiner’s life, editorial notes, and an index. Rosicrucianism Renewed is a translation of Bilder okkulter Siegel und Säulen. Der Münchner Kongress Pfingsten 1907 und seine Auswirkungen (GA 284).

424 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2007

About the author

Author also wrote under the name Rudolph Steiner.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...


Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy. His teachings are influenced by Christian Gnosticism or neognosticism. Many of his ideas are pseudoscientific. He was also prone to pseudohistory.
In the first, more philosophically oriented phase of this movement, Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and spirituality. His philosophical work of these years, which he termed "spiritual science", sought to apply what he saw as the clarity of thinking characteristic of Western philosophy to spiritual questions,  differentiating this approach from what he considered to be vaguer approaches to mysticism. In a second phase, beginning around 1907, he began working collaboratively in a variety of artistic media, including drama, dance and architecture, culminating in the building of the Goetheanum, a cultural centre to house all the arts. In the third phase of his work, beginning after World War I, Steiner worked on various ostensibly applied projects, including Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, and anthroposophical medicine.
Steiner advocated a form of ethical individualism, to which he later brought a more explicitly spiritual approach. He based his epistemology on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's world view in which "thinking…is no more and no less an organ of perception than the eye or ear. Just as the eye perceives colours and the ear sounds, so thinking perceives ideas." A consistent thread that runs through his work is the goal of demonstrating that there are no limits to human knowledge.