Christ as represented in a monumental statue 

at the Anthroposophical headquarters.

[Public domain photo.]

According to Rudolf Steiner, Christ is the Sun God — the god otherwise known by such names as Mithra, Hu, and Apollo. Before coming to Earth, Christ lived on (or was united with, or made manifest by) the Sun, where he presided as the local god.

Here is Steiner saying this over and over. There are some conflicts between the various statements, but on this one point they are clear: Christ is the Sun God who descended to Earth.

I have also included a few quotations from Steiner's followers.

(I have set such terms as "Sun God" and "sun spirt" in bold type. All such terms reflect the same doctrine: that Christ, the God of the Sun, came to Earth from the Sun.)

"After Zarathustra had learned to look up to the sun and see in its aura the Sun God, he knew that this Sun God was no one else but the Christ-Spirit." — Rudolf Steiner, THE PRINCIPLE OF SPIRITUAL ECONOMY (Anthroposophic Press, 1986), lecture 10, GA 109.

"The incarnation of the Christ, the sun spirit, in the body of Jesus of Nazareth was the great event which took place in the northern stream of peoples." — Rudolf Steiner, THE EAST IN THE LIGHT OF THE WEST (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1940), lecture 6, GA 113.

"Christ stands before us ... And He says to us: Be not dismayed that the Sun has become black; it is black because I, the God of the Sun, am no longer in it; for I have come down and united myself with the Earth.” — Rudolf Steiner, MAN'S LIFE ON EARTH AND IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS (Health Research Books, 1960), lecture 5, GA 218.*

"In [numerous] instances we have to appreciate a connection with the Sun, and in the sequence of the epochs of civilization we can observe how men experienced the spirit of the Sun approaching the Earth. Vishva Karman, Ahura Mazdao, Osiris, Apollo are all identified with the spiritual essence of the Sun. This essence or being seems to be far away in Indian times but comes nearer to the Earth in the course of time. Just before the birth of Christ it is in the immediate neighbourhood; then it is clothed with a human form ... [T]he great cosmic spirit whom we call the Christ brought a new revitalizing spiritual substance to the Earth." — "The Mission of Christ", Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain.

"Had Christ not appeared on the earth, had He remained the Sun-God only, humanity on the earth would have fallen into decay. Increasingly men would have come to believe that material things alone exist, that the sun and the stars are material bodies. For men had forgotten altogether that they themselves had descended from a pre-earthly existence, from the spirit-world of the stars.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1958), “World-Pentecost; The Message of Anthroposophy”, GA 226.

"The highest Ruler of Saturn, the Ego Spirit, appears to us as the Father God, and the highest Ruler of Sun, the Sun-God, as the Christ. Similarly the Ruler of the Moon stage of Earth appears to us as the Holy Spirit with his hosts known in Christian esotericism as the Messengers of the Godhead, the angels.” — Rudolf Steiner, ROSICRUCIAN WISDOM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), p. 100.

"My dear friends, when the pupils of the old initiates looked out into the wide universe and spoke of what they saw living out there beyond the Earth in the workings of the Sun, yes, in the Sun itself — when they spoke of the sublime Spirit-Being of the Sun as proclaimed by Zarathustra, they were speaking of the very same Being Whom, in these later times, we designate as Christ." — Rudolf Steiner, MAN'S LIFE ON EARTH AND IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS (Health Research Books, 1960), pp. 14-15.

"With greater or less understanding, the first Christians of the earliest centuries after Christ regarded him as the `mighty Sun God'. But during these first Christian centuries, the faculty of instinctive clairvoyance once possessed by human beings was fading. People could no longer see in the sun the great kingdom at whose center the Christ had once dwelt.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE KARMA OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2009), p. 41.

"Then came the epoch which was to prepare for the descent of the cosmic sun god upon the earth. The spirit who previously had been external now had to enter into the human soul, had to be found within it, even as formerly the Luciferic divinities and Osiris were to be found there. The two paths clearly shown in the contrasts between the Chaldeans and the Egyptians had to make one another fruitful. Such an event was essential. How could it take place? It could only occur after a ‘connecting link’ had been created. This proceeded from Ur of Chaldea, as the Bible truly states. It takes up the revelation coming from without then it passes on into Egypt, absorbs that which comes from within and unites the two, so that for the first time in Jahve we have a being heralding the Christ who unites the two paths. Jahve or Jehovah is a divinity to be found on the inward path, but Jahve is not visible in himself. He only becomes visible when illuminated from without. Jehovah reflects the light of Christ.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE EAST IN THE LIGHT OF THE WEST (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1940), chapter 8, GA 113.

"If we then follow the life of this child [i.e., Jesus] and his permeation by the spirit of the Christ-Being, we come to realise that this Being, this Christ-Being, comes from the sun." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 307.

"We thus see the Mystery of Golgotha [the Crucifixion] descending in stages from the heights of spirit, where it occurred as the first Christ event in Lemurian times [i.e., when humanity lived on the continent of Lemuria], until it reached the physical plane in the Mystery of Golgotha. This may serve to indicate the whole significance of this unique event in Earth evolution, showing that it was well prepared in advance from the higher worlds. The connection with the sublime Sun spirit, which we have emphasized on a number of occasions, is also apparent in the Greek Apollo idea, for Apollo was the Sun god.”  — Rudolf Steiner, THE FIFTH GOSPEL (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), p. 181.

"The rituals through which one can contact gods and goddesses of old offer a deep sense of satisfaction. However, times have changed, spiritual beings evolve also and are known by other names. Christ, the Sun God, who was known by earlier peoples under such names as Ahura Mazda, Hu or Balder, has now united himself with the earth and its future evolution.” — Margaret Jonas, Introduction to RUDOLF STEINER SPEAKS TO THE BRITISH (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 5.

"Hu is the Welsh name of the Sun God who descended to earth, known to us as the Christ ... Rudolf Steiner describes how Arthur and his knights experienced...Christ on the Sun before He had left it in order to descend to earth. The Arthurian knights had taken up this experience of the Christ on the Sun in their own etheric bodies." — Betty Staley, citing Richard Seddon and Virginia Sease,  RESEARCH BULLETIN (Research Institute for Waldorf Education), Autumn/Winter, 2012.

[NASA.]

“The sun-god was experienced as driving across the sky in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds. And now Rudolf Steiner revived this image for what he wished to impart to the young people — the picture of a chariot, but one coming from the spiritual world into the earthly world.” — Ernest Lehrs, “The Rising Generation”, in A MAN BEFORE OTHERS: Rudolf Steiner Remembered (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), p. 113.

"Initiates saw in the birth of Jesus the Earth event that could bring about transition from lunar to solar orientation [i.e., the transition from worship of Jahveh to worship of Christ].” — Synopsis, lecture 1 in THE CYCLE OF THE YEAR AS BREATHING-PROCESS OF THE EARTH (SteinerBooks, 1984), a collection of Steiner lectures, p. 5.

"The divine spirit we should venerate is not in a particular place on earth but is connected with the power of the sun, the living nature of the sun which the Christ has taken into himself.” — Rudolf Steiner, FROM LIMESTONE TO LUCIFER (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999),  p. 228.

"One describes the Christ-Being as the genius of the sun who unites himself with the earth and becomes also the genius of the earth. He has already begun to be this since the event of Golgotha. But there is also an opposing principle to the Lamb, there is also a Sun-Demon, the so-called Demon of the Sun, that which works in the evil forces of man, thrusting back the force of the Lamb, and it works in such a way that a certain amount of the human race is thrust out of the evolution which leads to the sun." — Rudolf Steiner, THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN (M. Cotterell, 1958), lecture 11, GA 104.

"In enacting this ritual, the officiating priest said to his pupils, and they then repeated it to others: ‘This is the sign and token that before you came down to the earth you were in a spirit-realm that is the abode of the Sun-God. Look up to the sun which radiates light! Whatever you see is only the outward revelation of the Sun-Being. Behind its radiance is the eternal Sun-God who ensures immortality for you.’ Thus those who received this teaching knew that they had come down from spiritual worlds into the earthly world, but that they had forgotten the world where dwells the Sun-God. But the priest told them: ‘Through your birth you have departed from the realm of the Sun-God. When you pass through death you shall find that realm again through the power that he, the Sun-God, has laid in your hearts.’” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1958), “World-Pentecost; The Message of Anthroposophy”, GA 226.

"The Star Wisdom had, however, been lost. And now came Christ Jesus who brought it to life again — but in a new form — teaching that the Sun God must now have his place upon the Earth. If Christ's teaching had gained the victory, knowledge of the Sun influence and indeed of the ancient Star Religion in its entirety would again have been present in the world. Moreover in the early Christian centuries this was in many ways the case. There was a certain revival of the ancient Mystery teachings. But Christ Jesus had brought about the great and fundamental change in that He placed as a reality before all the world what had previously been guarded as a close secret in the Mysteries. Thereafter it would have been within the reach of all human beings, but no effort succeeded in spreading the knowledge.” — Rudolf Steiner, STAR WISDOM, MOON RELIGION, SUN RELIGION (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1950), lecture 1, GA 353.

"At the baptism in Jordan, when the significant symbol of the dove appeared above the head of Jesus, he was not merely inspired but directly intuited by the Christ. On that occasion something shot through the entire body of Jesus of Nazareth, even into those parts which, at the present stage of human development, are most withdrawn from the influence of man — the very bones. I am now about to say something which to the materialistic consciousness of the present day seems nonsense; but that is of no matter. At the moment when the body of Jesus of Nazareth was permeated and fired by the Individuality of Christ — the great Sun-Spirit — the effect reached even into the bones.” — Rudolf Steiner, UNIVERSE, EARTH AND MAN (H. Collison, 1932), chapter 10, GA 105.

"The Sun was itself a kind of being of air, surrounded by that substance which had previously formed Saturn-fire, warmth. The part that had densified had formed the gaseous Sun, and what had not densified was a surging sea of fire. These beings could live on the Sun and inhale and exhale warmth, fire; they were therefore called the Spirits of Fire. They stood at the human level on the Sun and they worked in the service of humanity. One calls them Sun Spirits or Fire Spirits. Man at that time was at the stage of sleep-consciousness, the Sun-Fire Spirits had already the ego consciousness. Since then they too have developed further and ascended to higher degrees of consciousness. One calls them in Christian Esotericism Archangels. And the highest evolved Spirit Who was on the Sun as Fire Spirit, Who today is still active upon the Earth, with very highly evolved consciousness, this Sun or Fire Spirit is the Christ. In the same way the most evolved Saturn Spirit is the Father God.

“Christian Esotericism knows that there was incarnated in the body of flesh and blood of Christ-Jesus precisely such a Sun-Fire Spirit, and indeed the highest, the Regent of the Sun Spirits. That He might come on to the Earth He had to make use of a physical body, He had to live under the same earthly conditions as man, in order to be able to manifest here.” — Rudolf Steiner, ROSICRUCIAN WISDOM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), p. 97.

"It was known to the initiated priests of these Mysteries that the sublime Sun-Spirit of whom they spoke to the worshippers is the same Being as He who would later be called the Christ. But before the Mystery of Golgotha the priests could speak to this effect only: “If you desire to know something of the Christ, you will seek in vain on the earth; you must be lifted to the secrets of the sun. For only outside and beyond the earth will you find the mysteries pertaining to the Christ.

“...Until the fourth century after the Mystery of Golgotha there were always some who knew that Christ, the Sun-Being, and the Christ who had lived in Jesus of Nazareth were one and the same. It is deeply moving to learn from Spiritual Science of the fervent prayers of men in the early Christian centuries: 'Thanks be to the Christ-Being from whom we should perforce have been separated, had He not come down from spiritual worlds to us here on earth!'

“After the fourth century A.D. the human mind could no longer comprehend that the Christ, who ensures immortality for men, was the sublime, divine Sun-Being. From that time until our own day there have been only the external words of the Gospels, telling of the Mystery of Golgotha. Nevertheless, these words of the Gospels worked throughout the centuries with such power that they turned men's hearts to the Mystery of Golgotha.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING, Vol. 3 (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1958), lecture 3, GA 226.

"[O]ne can also call the Sun Oracle the Christ Oracle. The unification of the Christ-Being with the earth took place when the blood flowed from the wounds of Jesus Christ at Golgotha. That is when His essence united with the atmosphere of the earth, as can be perceived even today in clairvoyant retrospection. That is how the Christ-Being came down from the Sun to earth. When the light of spiritual illumination fell on Saul-Paul near Damascus, Paul beheld the Christ that was united with the earth and knew immediately that it was He who had shed His blood at Golgotha.

“The sun oracle of ancient Atlantis had already prophesied the coming of Christ, of the Sun-God. To be sure, he was named the Christ only much later, but we can still say that the Sun Oracle is the Christ Oracle.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE PRINCIPLE OF SPIRITUAL ECONOMY IN CONNECTION WITH QUESTIONS OF REINCARNATION (Anthroposophic Press, 1986) lecture 1, GA 109.

"External civilisation on the Earth arose through the fact that hardening on the one side and spiritualisation on the other side were prevented. Lucifer made use of what had been given by the Mars forces. The new state of the Earth was given the name of Mars. Things continued in this way until the middle of the Atlantean Race. Then a new question arose. Man had absorbed wisdom, but in the future it would not be possible for wisdom alone to manifest in a form-creating way. One would have been able to build up the mineral kingdom through Lucifer, but Lucifer could not have given it life. Man could never have imparted life under the influence of the other powers. This was why a Sun God had to come, a higher being than Lucifer. There still existed what are known as the Solar Pitris. The most exalted among these is Christ.” — Rudolf Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 26, GA 93a.

"The force enters into the form with ever increasing density and hence life in the Lemurian Age had to receive a new impulse, which was brought about by the turning around of the Earth Globe ... Four million years were needed by the Moon Pitris in order to turn the axis of the Earth. At that time the Moon Pitris development was already much further on than that of present day man.

"...Now there came a Sun Hero, similar to those who appeared in the Hyperborean Epoch, represented by Ezekiel as the Winged Lion. This Hero, Who gave the second impulse, is the Christ, the Lion out of the tribe of Judah. The representative of the Eagle will come only later; he represents the Father Principle. Christ is a Solar Hero, a Lion-Nature, a Sun Pitri.

“The third impulse will be represented by an Adept who was already an Adept on Saturn. Such a one cannot as yet incarnate on the Earth. When man is not only able to develop his higher nature upwards, but working creatively is able to renounce completely his lower nature, then will this highest Adept, the Saturn Adept, the Father Principle, the Hidden God, be able to incarnate.” — Rudolf Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 23, GA 93a.

* "My dear friends, the confusion that reigns within man to-day is no whit less than it was in olden times. That man is unaware of it makes no difference, the confusion is there, just the same. Man is perpetually being torn and tossed, this way and that, while the powers behind Nature and below himself fight to get possession of him. And when one crosses the Threshold [into the spirit realm] and, looking consciously into the spiritual world, observes this terrific battle that is going on, this complicated game that is being played with man as the prize, then one may look now in vain for the messengers of God who in an earlier age would come forward with the staff of Mercury, for example, and with other symbols of that nature, ready to give them into the hands of the Mystery doctors, who could then use them to bring healing to man. At the present time, when you cross the Threshold, you find yourself only in the midst of the terrific conflict of which we have spoken, between beings of the upper planets who have remained behind in their evolution — immature Mars, Jupiter and Saturn beings — and beings of the lower planets who have remained behind — immature Moon, Mercury and Venus beings. Like two armed encampments they stand facing one another; on one side, the air-fire beings — Saturn, Jupiter and Mars beings that have failed and fallen out of their true evolution; and on the other side, facing them, the earth-water beings — Moon, Mercury and Venus beings who have also failed and fallen behind. And there, beyond the Threshold, the fight goes on with such fury that the Sun becomes first of all fiery and aflame, and then grows darker and darker, until at last it shows like a terrible black disk. It was not so for the initiates of long ago. They saw right through the black disk; and from the direction of the black disk itself came towards them the messengers of God, of the Father God, who were also in those times the bearers of the knowledge of healing. But for us, when we cross the Threshold and see before us the terrific battle and behold how the Sun becomes fiery red and then black — for us, the Sun remains black, it remains a black disk. And we are rebuffed, we are turned back; for if we men of modern times are to find our way amid all this confusing and perplexing conflict, it is on the Earth that we must look for help.

"And then, my dear friends, then we are guided to turn our eyes to the Christ, Christ stands before us, the Spirit Being who, through the Mystery of Golgotha, united Himself with the Earth. And He says to us: Be not dismayed that the Sun has become black; it is black because I, the God of the Sun, am no longer in it; for I have come down and united myself with the Earth.

"And if, with inner devotion, and with quick and sensitive recognition of all that a knowledge of the Mystery of Golgotha can bring, we draw near to Christ, and then the Sun does not, it is true, become bright again, it remains the black disk that it was, but the Sun begins to make audible for us what Christ is saying to us. And this experience reveals to us the relationship of Christ with the Sun. Yes, the Sun, although still a black disk, becomes a being who enables us to listen to the Christ, if we are duly prepared and approach Him in the right mood and attitude of soul." — Rudolf Steiner, MAN'S LIFE ON EARTH AND IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS (Health Research Books, 1960), lecture 5, GA 218.

Steiner taught that Christ existed before the Sun came into being. Thus, Christ's identity as the Sun God may be seen as merely one phase of his evolving role in human spiritual development. Fundamentally, Christ may be seen as one of the gods or persons who formed the original Godhead. [See "God".] If we take Christ to be the personification of the Word of God, then it is possible to see Christ as the Creator. (This, clearly, is not the mainstream Judeo-Christian view.)

Here is how a priest in the "Christian Community" — the overtly religious arm of Anthroposophy — describes the matter:

"The logos — the second person of the Godhead — the comic Christ is the 'creator' ... [T]he cosmic Christ descends by stages through realms of angelic beings to the earth. These realms are represented outwardly by the world of the fixed stars and the planetary spheres. During this descent, Christ becomes a 'sun being' for a while — he was revered in this form by Zarathustra, in Egypt, and in Greece." — Hans-Werner Schroeder, THE COSMIC CHRIST (Floris Books, 1997), p. 136.

(Note that the "fixed stars" and "planetary spheres" are concepts rejected by science long ago. Such falsehoods linger only in occult systems such as Anthroposophy and astrology. [See "Astrology" and "Planets".] • "The fixed stars work in the human being, the moving planets work in the human being, and all the elements of nature work there as well." — Rudolf Steiner, THE ROOTS OF EDUCATION, The Foundations of Waldorf Education XIX (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 84. • “This enlightening anthology...features excerpts of Steiner's work on the spiritual individualities of the planets, the determination of human characteristics by the constellation at birth, the cultural epochs and the passage of the equinox, cosmic influences on the individual and humanity, life in the planetary spheres between death and rebirth, solar and lunar eclipses, comets, and much more.” — Publisher's description, ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2009).

From The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia:

Second Coming of Christ, The - also see Christ; Christ, Second Coming of; etheric Christ; Sun God

a) In Christian theology, Christ is expected to return to Earth at the Last Judgment. This prophesied event lies in the future.

b) In Anthroposophical belief, Christ the Sun God lived on Earth for three years in the body of Jesus. [1] In at least a mystical sense, Christ united with the Earth. [2] He then departed, but later he returned to a region close to the Earth — the etheric world. [3] This return was the Second Coming. Anthroposophists believe the Second Coming is essentially the revelation of Christ’s true nature, which is provided by Anthroposophy. The Second Coming and the practice of Anthroposophy are thus, Anthroposophists believe, inextricably bound up in each other. Anthroposophists usually date Christ's return as occurring — or at least beginning — in or about the year 1930 CE, a few years after Steiner's death. [4] "[T]he Second Coming of Christ has already taken place with his increased activity within the etheric world ... Since about 1930...the Christ has begun to manifest himself in the world next to man, the etheric world." — S. C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), pp. 165 & 178.

Steiner said the orthodox Christian belief that Christ will return bodily to the Earth is mistaken. The reality, Steiner said, is that Christ’s true being — his “ether form” — is perceptible only to those who use clairvoyance properly (i.e., in accordance with Steiner's teachings). This perception of Christ is “like” the Christian expectation of Christ’s bodily return. ◊ “The will of man must be fired by divine wisdom, and the most powerful impulse for this will be if the sublime ether-form [5] of Christ Jesus becomes perceptible to those who have truly prepared themselves. To a person in whom natural clairvoyance [6] has developed this will be like a Second Coming of Christ Jesus. [7]” — R. Steiner, RELIGION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 186. ◊ “Christ will appear again inasmuch as with their etheric sight [8] men will raise themselves to Him. When this is understood, Spiritual Science [9] is disclosed as the means of preparing men to recognise the return of Christ, in order that it shall not be their misfortune to overlook this event but that they shall be mature enough to grasp the great happening of the Second Coming of Christ. Men will become capable of seeing etheric bodies and among them, too, the etheric body of Christ; that is to say, they will grow into a world where Christ will be revealed to their newly awakened faculties.” — R. Steiner, THE TRUE NATURE OF THE SECOND COMING (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1961), lecture 1, GA 118.

•••

[1] See "Was He Christian?" and "Avatars".

[2] See the entry for "Christ" in this encyclopedia.

[3] I.e, the Second Coming has occurred in a level of existence higher than the physical world. [See the entry in this encyclopedia for "etheric world".]

[4] See the entry for "historical narrative" in this encyclopedia. (As on most points, there is some disagreement among Anthroposophists about the date of Christ's return. Some Anthroposophists say it still lies in the future.)

[5] Essentially, this means Christ's etheric body. [See "Incarnation" and the entry for "etheric body" in this encyclopedia.]

[6] Usually, Steiner indicated that mankind has lost its power of "natural" or "atavistic" clairvoyance, and today we must cultivate new, higher powers of clairvoyance.

[7] Steiner was speaking before the Second Coming was to occur, hence his use of the future tense.

[8] I.e., clairvoyance, enabling us to perceive events in the higher worlds. [See "Knowing the Worlds".]

[9] I.e., Anthroposophy — Steiner's own teachings. Steiner taught that we can attain new powers of clairvoyance by practicing Anthroposophy.

Here is an item from the Waldorf Watch News

(I have edited it for use here):

June 12, 2011

"School's hard knock over field of dreams - A Steiner school operating out of the historic Abbotsford Convent faces closure after local residents successfully rallied against its expansion into an adjacent paddock.

"The Sophia Mundi Steiner School [Australia] sought to build five new classrooms on Abbotsford Convent land....

"But the Heritage Council has ruled against the school after receiving 2400 objections  ... The dispute has created a bitter rift between several progressive institutions, and left parents of the school reeling.

"They allege the true motive of the campaign led by socialist Yarra City councillor Stephen Jolly was not to save the paddock but to shut down the school, which has about 200 students and 25 teachers....

"Mr Jolly told THE SUNDAY AGE that claims he was determined to close down the school were 'a load of bollocks'.

"...One distressed Steiner parent, Leslie Arnott, said the school had been wrongly portrayed as a rich private school involved in a greedy land grab." 

[6-12-2011  http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/schools-hard-knock-over-field-of-dreams-20110611-1fymz.html]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

This story follows up on previous accounts. Apparently the dispute has become more bitter — and potentially more threatening to the school — than previously reported.

The association between the Convent and the Steiner school is ironic, considering the true nature of Steiner's form of "Christianity." In Steinerian belief, Christ is not the Son of God as Christians usually conceive Him. Instead, Christ is the Sun God — one of many, many gods in a polytheistic universe. Steiner taught that the Sun God descended to Earth to briefly inhabit the body of one of two Jesuses, whose souls combined for the purpose. In combining, they brought together the spiritual effects of Zarathustra and Buddha.

The Sun God came to Earth in order to assist in human evolution. 

“Had Christ not appeared on the earth, had He remained the Sun-God only, humanity on the earth would have fallen into decay.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 277.

There were two Jesuses. 

“[T]wo Jesus children were born. One was descended from the so-called Nathan line of the House of David, the other from the Solomon line. These two children grew up side by side. In the body of the Solomon child lived the soul of Zarathustra. In the twelfth year of the child's life this soul passed over into the other Jesus child and lived in that body until its thirtieth year ... And then, only from the thirtieth year onward, there lived in this body the Being Whom we call the Christ, Who remained on earth altogether for three years.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE OCCULT SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BHAGAVAD GITA (Anthroposophic Press, 1968), p. 59.

Steiner claimed that he knew of such things because of his occult investigations — he was an avowed occultist. 

“Occult investigation shows that the individuality [i.e., soul] who was in the Solomon Jesus-child was none other than Zarathustra ... [T]he Buddha...permeated the astral body of the Nathan Jesus-child.” — Rudolf Steiner, FROM JESUS TO CHRIST (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), pp. 133-136.

Christ, the Sun God, was known long before He incarnated on Earth in the body of Jesus. The spiritual seers of Atlantis, for example, knew of Him. 

"Already in the ancient Oracles of Atlantis, the priests of those Oracles spoke of the ‘Spirit of the Sun’, of Christ." — Rudolf Steiner, THE DEED OF CHRIST AND THE OPPOSING SPIRITUAL POWERS (Steiner Book Centre, 1954), lecture 1, GA 107.

Steiner often expressed contempt for Roman Catholicism. Steiner's occult religious teachings — which from a Catholic perspective must be considered sacrilegious — pervade the curriculum and activities at Steiner schools, albeit generally in subtle and disguised ways. [See, e.g., "Soul School" and "Waldorf's Spiritual Agenda".]

The association between the Convent and the Steiner school is ironic.

And another news item:

May 12, 2018

CHRIST, KARMA,

AND INITIATION

[Rudolf Steiner Press, 1973.]

Currently spotlighted at the Rudolf Steiner Archive & e.Lib.:

FROM JESUS TO CHRIST

[by] Rudolf Steiner

In these lectures, Steiner shows how the Mystery of Golgotha [1] can be seen as the pivotal event of human history, and the Gospels as initiation documents [2] that can help us on a path of spiritual development. He demonstrates how the religious streams of Zarathustra and Buddha [3] helped prepare the way for the events of Palestine. [4] Steiner's emphasis is on rediscovering the esoteric path to Christ [5] and of awakening to the new revelation breaking through in our time: Christ as the Lord of Karma. [6]

[5/12/2018    http://www.rsarchive.org]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

The "Christianity" observed in Anthroposophy and in Waldorf schools is unlike anything you will find in authentic Christian denominations — it is Christianity as reconceived by Rudolf Steiner. This means it is a form of gnostic Christianity interwoven with teachings derived from Theosophy, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and other spiritual traditions. It is a polytheistic faith that incorporates such unbiblical doctrines as karma and reincarnation.

Steiner considered the New Testament to be flawed. He rectified the flaws by creating his own "Fifth Gospel" containing what he said are the truths about Christ's descent to the Earth and his ministry in the bodily form of Jesus. [See "Steiner's Fifth Gospel".] To give an extremely brief summary: Steiner said that Christ is the Sun God (otherwise known as Apollo, Hu, Baldr, and so on) who incarnated in the body of a man named Jesus. Christ stayed on Earth for just three years. Jesus was an ordinary human being except for certain unique features in his lineage. There were actually two Jesuses, Steiner said — two Jesus children, each born to parents named Mary and Joseph. One Jesus had the soul of Zarathustra, the other had the spiritual essence of Buddha. One of the two Jesuses died so that his inner being could migrate into the other Jesus, thereby creating a human vessel containing the spiritual effects of both Zarathustra and Buddha. It was into this compound person that the Sun God descended. [See "Was He Christian?" and "Sun God".]

The following notes may help illuminate Steiner's teachings on some of these matters:

[1] Golgotha is Calvary, the hill on which Christ Jesus was crucified. The Mystery of Golgotha is the spiritual mystery of the incarnation, ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus — as explained by Rudolf Steiner. To put this most simply, we might say that the Mystery of Golgotha is the miraculous incarnation of the Sun God in the body of a human being. "His [i.e., Steiner's] phrase 'the Mystery of Golgotha' refers to the redemptive, world-transforming presence of Christ in Jesus." — Robert McDermott, THE NEW ESSENTIAL STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 2009), p. 40.

[2] I.e., the Gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) contain spiritual secrets that, when properly understood, lead to occult initiation. The concept of initiation is crucial in Anthroposophy. Important spiritual information is hidden from us — it consists of "mysteries." We can learn the truths of these mysteries only when we become initiates — that is, only when we have been inducted into the inner circle of spiritual savants. Steiner professed to be a very high initiate, and he said he could show his followers how to become initiates. [See "Knowing the Worlds".] Many Anthroposophists, including numerous Waldorf teachers, consider themselves to be initiates.

[3] Zarathustra was the Persian prophet, also known as Zoroaster, who founded the religion known as Zoroastrianism. (In Anthroposophy, Zarathustra is said to predate Zoroaster. Zarathustra lived long ago, then he was reincarnated as Zoroaster, and later yet he was reincarnated as one of the Jesus children.) Buddha is Siddartha Gautama, a Nepalese prince who attained complete spiritual enlightenment, thereby earning the title of "buddha" (enlightened one). Buddhism is the religion based on his teachings, meant to enable devout followers to become buddhas in their own right.

[4] I.e., the events of, and surrounding, the life of Christ Jesus.

[5] Anthroposophy is gnostic — that is, it emphasizes the importance of spiritual knowledge, as distinct from faith or good works. Specifically, it emphasizes hidden, occult, mysterious spiritual knowledge that must be attained through the process of spiritual initiation. [See "Gnosis" and "Inside Scoop".] Faith and good works are also important in Anthroposophy, but they are secondary to occult knowledge.

[6] Steiner taught that all humans are subject to karma, which we create for ourselves. (Your karma is your fate or destiny created by the sum of all your actions in your past lives. The doctrine of karma is closely connected to the doctrine or reincarnation.) To be truly free, and to rise to ever higher levels of spirituality, we must break free of karma eventually. Christ enables us to do so, Steiner taught. Christ has already returned — the Second Coming has already occurred, according to Steiner. Christ exists now in the etheric region surrounding the physical Earth. From his location there, Christ acts as the Lord of Karma, giving us the potential to free ourselves from karma so that we may evolve to the Future Jupiter stage of cosmic development. [See "Future Stages" and the entry for "Lord of Karma" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]

◊

If you want to delve further into these matters, you should certainly study FROM JESUS TO CHRIST, as recommended today by the Rudolf Steiner Archive & e.Lib.

"Quotes of Note" from the news page,

March 7, 2020:

According to the underlying Waldorf belief system, Anthroposophy, the most important god for humanity during our current phase of evolution is the Sun God — the deity who dwells upon or within or adjacent to the Sun. Throughout history, various names have been given to the Sun God by various peoples practicing various religions. Today, in Anthroposophy, the Sun God is called "Christ."

"Sun - physical abode of the sun spirit [i.e., the Sun God], who has been given different names in various cultural epochs, such as Ahura Mazda, Amun Ra and Christ. These all refer to the same spirit who...eventually incarnated in the body of Jesus. There are references to the same sun spirit in the sun worship of Ancient Celtic and Germanic tribes [in Germanic/Norse mythology, he was called Baldur]. Anthroposophy casts new light on these cultural concepts...." — Waldorf teacher Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 116.

Steiner taught that the Sun God saved humanity by descending to Earth and living for a few years in the form of a human being, Jesus. Christ then became, in effect, not only the Sun God but also the patron god of humanity, reminding us of our true home in the stars.

“Had Christ not appeared on the earth, had He remained the Sun-God only, humanity on the earth would have fallen into decay. Increasingly men would have come to believe that material things alone exist, that the sun and the stars are material bodies. For men had forgotten altogether that they themselves had descended from a pre-earthly existence, from the spirit-world of the stars.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1958), “World-Pentecost; The Message of Anthroposophy”, GA 226.

As important as the Sun God is, we must remember that there are many other gods, Steiner taught. So, for instance, Steiner said that the trinity worshipped in Christianity (God in three persons) actually consists of three separate gods, one identified with Saturn, one with the Sun, and one with the Moon:

“The highest Ruler of Saturn, the Ego Spirit, appears to us as the Father God, and the highest Ruler of Sun, the Sun-God, as the Christ. Similarly the Ruler of the Moon stage...appears to us as the Holy Spirit....” — Rudolf Steiner, ROSICRUCIAN WISDOM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), p. 100.

[For more on these matters, see "Sun God", "Polytheism", "Trinity", and "Was He Christian?" To delve into Norse mythology — which is emphasized in Waldorf schools — see "The Gods".]

— Compilation and commentary by Roger Rawlings

[R.R.]