“Men spoke in those times of [the Sun God] Ra, whose representative on Earth was Osiris; Ra signified for them the Sun that moved round the Earth, giving light ... 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 ... What took place at the Mystery of Golgotha was really nothing less than that the Being Who, previously, was not to be found on Earth, Whom one could find only outside the Earth when one had been initiated into the Mysteries of the heavens, — this Being incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth, lived on Earth in Jesus of Nazareth, was crucified and laid in the Earth, and appeared to his initiated pupils as Resurrected — as One who has risen in the spiritual body. The great and sublime Sun Being descended from cosmic heights, descended to Earth — that is the event that came to pass in the Mystery of Golgotha. And when He had descended from spiritual worlds and passed through death, and His body had been laid in the Earth, then this same Christ — after His death, after His resurrection — had initiate pupils. And it is important that many should know today what Christ taught at that time to His initiate pupils; it is important that many should know of this teaching of the risen Christ, in order that they may be able to participate in the forces that are now at work for the further evolution of mankind." —Rudolf Steiner, MAN'S LIFE ON EARTH AND IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS (Health Research, 1960), Lecture 1, GA 211.

“It does not take much research to discover that Rudolf Steiner, speaking at the assemblies of the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Germany, repeatedly invoked the name of Christ as the guiding spirit of the school and the 'teachers’ greatest Teacher.' How could a Waldorf school deny its Christian character when its founder explicitly invoked the Christ as its guardian?

“And yet the matter is not quite so simple or so stark. One needs, first, to inquire what Rudolf Steiner meant by 'the Christ' [i.e., the Sun God]. He spoke of 'the Christ Impulse' [I.e., the evolutionary impetus provided by Christ] or 'the Christ Event' [the incarnation of the Sun God on Earth] or 'the Christ-principle' [the essence of the Sun God’s mission]; these are not the terms of orthodox Christianity, nor were they intended to be. It should be noted, further, that Steiner insisted on unqualified freedom in matters of religious practice and felt 'that the only true Christianity is the Christianity which makes possible absolute freedom in the religious life.' In fact, he spoke of the mission of the Christ as concerning human development quite independent of any religious practice. Christ’s mission 'consisted in bringing to all mankind the full force of the ego, an inner independence in the soul.' Indeed, Steiner predicted there would come a time when Christianity as it is commonly practiced today would pass away....” — Anthroposophist Douglas Gerwin, Introduction, AND WHO SHALL TEACH THE TEACHERS? (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America), report on a conference held in 2005.

◊ “Christ, the Genius of the Sun, has since His descent to earth made His throne [here] as Regent of the earth.”  — Foreword to Rudolf Steiner’s THE BIRTH OF A NEW AGRICULTURE (Temple Lodge Publishing, 1999), p. 17.

◊ “From what the ancient Mystery wisdom saw, and through the prophetic sight of future Mystery wisdom, we gather that the human beings who take in what we shall call the inner Christianity, the spiritualized Christianity, those who look to the Genius of the Sun with regard to Christ: these individuals [i.e.,true  Anthroposophists] will experience an acceleration of their evolution and reappear on the earth again at the end of twentieth century.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE BOOK OF REVELATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 116.

◊ “[T]he Apocalypse rightly designated the power, the Being, who leads men so to spiritualize themselves that they can united with the sun as the Christ, and — as we shall hear — as the Lamb. 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 [i.e., the Crucifixion]. But there is also an opposing principle to the Lamb, there is also a Sun-Demon, the so-called Demon of the Sun, that works with the evil forces of man, thrusting back the force of the Lamb, and it works in such a way that a certain part of the human race is trust out of the evolution that leads to the sun ... [They will] be thrown out of our evolution when the 666 conditions of development have passed away; they will then be finally cast into the abyss.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN (Anthroposophic Press, 1993), p. 198.

“Human beings who perceived the presence of the exalted Sun-being in their life bodies can be called ‘Sun humans.’ The being who lived in them as their higher I — only in the generations, of course, not in individuals — is one who was later given various names as human beings acquired conscious knowledge of him. To present-day human beings, the Christ’s relationship to the cosmos is revealed in this being." — Rudolf Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), pp. 238-239.

In a sense, the Sun — or, specifically, the Sun God — created the Earth. 

“[I]t is not as the people of old believed; the earth was not created by the Father God. The Father God made the Son come forth from Him; and the Son is the creator of the earth.” — Rudolf Steiner, MATERIALISM AND THE TASK OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1987), lecture 16, GA 204.

The Sun God, Christ, has intervened in human affairs several times. [See "Christ Events".]

“Although Christ appeared only later, He was always present in the spiritual sphere of the earth. Already in the ancient Oracles of Atlantis, the priests of those Oracles spoke of the ‘Spirit of the Sun’, of Christ. In the old Indian epoch of civilization the Holy Rishis spoke of ‘Vishva Karman’; Zarathustra in ancient Persia spoke of ‘Ahura Mazdao’, Hermes of ‘Osiris’; and Moses spoke of the Power which, being eternal, brings about the harmonization of the temporal and natural, the Power living in the ‘Ehjeh asher Ehjeh’ (I am the I AM) as the harbinger of Christ. All spoke of the Christ.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE DEED OF CHRIST AND THE OPPOSING SPIRITUAL POWERS (Steiner Book Centre, 1954), lecture 1, GA 107. 

“Christ has not only come once, but only once in personal form; His last coming was in Jesus Christ." — Rudolf Steiner, UNIVERSE, EARTH AND MAN (H. Collison, 1931), chapter 9, GA 105.

“[T]owards the end of the twentieth century, a significant event will again take place ... What is this event? It consists in the fact that a certain office in the Cosmos, connected with the evolution of humanity in the twentieth century, passes over in a heightened form to the Christ. Occult clairvoyant research tells us that in our epoch Christ becomes the Lord of Karma for human evolution.” — Rudolf Steiner, FROM JESUS TO CHRIST (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), pp. 46-47.

Consider what it means for Christ to take up an office previously held by other gods. Steiner's Christ is not the being worshipped by Christians, the unique and incomparable Son of God. Steiner's Christ is very important, he is high, but fundamentally he is one of a vast panoply of gods. Several of those gods have, at various times, ruled or steered human destiny. At this time, Christ fills that role. In the future...

The doctrine of karma is really quite horrid, when taken literally. It tells us that the low, the afflicted, the ill, the impoverished — all these souls chose their fate, it is their karma, we really should not interfere. They have gotten what they deserve or asked for.

"[W]e see...groups of human souls in their descent from pre-earthly into earthly existence wander to regions situated, for example, in the vicinity of volcanoes, or to districts where earthquakes are liable to occur ... [S]uch places are deliberately chosen by the souls thus karmically connected, in order that they may experience this very destiny ... [They think] 'I choose a great disaster on earth in order to become more perfect....'" — Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS, Vol. 2 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1974), pp. 226-227.

So the victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, for instance, chose to be victims; it is good for them. We should certainly not interfere in their karma.

This, of course, is utter, horrid, inhuman nonsense. And it is wholly incompatible with Christian charity.

Even Steiner, when he stopped to think things through, realized that his teachings about karma must not be taken to such extremes.

“[I]n educating handicapped children we are intervening in a process which in the normal course of development — were there no intervention, or were there misguided intervention — would find its fulfillment only when the child had passed through the gate of death and come to birth again in the next life. We are making, that is to say, a deep intervention in karma. Whenever we give treatment to a handicapped child, we are intervening in karma  [sic]. And it goes without saying, we must intervene in karma this way.” — Rudolf Steiner, EDUCATION FOR SPECIAL NEEDS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 47.

Yes, we must help those who need our help. Kudos to Steiner for grasping this.

What he also should have grasped — or what we must grasp, anyway — is that the imperative to be humane, to help those who need our help, highlights the depravity of the doctrine of karma. Steiner should have renounced the doctrine. He didn't. But we must.

◊

"At the end of his life, Rudolf Steiner took up the task that was his special destiny: to bring to the West a knowledge of reincarnation and karma. To do this, he gave over eighty lectures in 1924 in which he explicitly and concretely revealed the destinies of various individuals from one life to the next in order to show how the general laws of karma operate in individual cases. He also revealed many details of the karmic streams of the members of the Anthroposophical Society. These volumes constitute an immeasurable contribution to the understanding of reincarnation and karma, and the tasks of the Anthroposophical Society in connection with the Archangel Michael." — Publisher's description, the multi-volume series KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS (Rudolf Steiner Press).

According to Steiner, the Archangel Michael is the warrior god who fights on behalf of Christ. Steiner strove mightily to make belief in karma seem consistent with Christian beliefs. In the process, he offered his own reinterpretations of both karma and Christianity. But his attempted reconciliation of disparate teachings never became convincing.

What is Christ's central message to us? According to many theologians, it is this: We should love God above all else, and we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Most Christians, when considering their faith, will think of this injunction. For Rudolf Steiner’s followers, however, the central Christian teaching is quite different. For them, all the statements made by Christ have passed through the mind of Rudolf Steiner and emerged as something not found in the Bible. Here is the Anthroposophical version of Christ's injunction:

“The Gospel says, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself, and God above all.’ Another way of putting it is, ‘If one looks upon the divine in the light of the present day aspect of the three ideals,* as a modern human being must, one learns to love the divine.’ For one feels that one's humanness depends on devoting oneself with all the love at one's command to the three ideals. But then one feels oneself united with every other individual who is able to do likewise and offer up the same love. One learns to love the divine above all else, and, in loving God, to love one's neighbor as oneself. That keeps any hard feelings from developing.” — Rudolf Steiner, AWAKENING TO COMMUNITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1974), p. 83.

Actually, no. Steiner has not paraphrased Christ's words; he has said something very different ("one's humanness depends on devoting oneself...to the three ideals"). And this, gentle reader, is the point. If you are a spiritual person and you want to embrace the spirituality of Waldorf education, fine, do so. Enroll yourself and your children — enter the Waldorf universe. But, please, do so with your eyes open. Know what sort of universe you are entering. It is not the universe of Christianity. Nor that of Judaism. Nor Islam. Nor Buddhism, nor Hinduism, nor even Theosophy. It is the universe of Anthroposophy, which Rudolf Steiner invented. Steiner’s new religion incorporates bits and pieces of many other religions (which is why Waldorf students are required to study so many world religions), but it is identical to none of them. It is something different, something very strange. It is the gnostic, esoteric, occult concoction called Anthroposophy. If you want it, it is available to you. But walk through that door with your eyes open — and send your children through that door only if you are completely sure that you are making the right decision for them. 

◊

* Here is Steiner’s explanation of the three ideals. Note that it is polytheistic and thus incompatible with monotheistic Christianity. 

“[M]en's beholding of the gods became the inner life of the religious ideal. Their symbolical-allegorical expression of divine forms through the various media was the life underlying the ideal of art. In their re-telling of what the gods had told them lived the ideal of science. These three ideals merged into one in ancient Oriental times, for they were at bottom one and the same.” — AWAKENING TO COMMUNITY, p. 74.

ADDENDA

I.

The relationship between Steiner's new religion 

and established Christianity has not been happy. 

Christian clergy and theologians understand how 

fully Steiner split away from Christian doctrines. 

The following odd excerpt from one of Steiner's 

lectures helps illustrate the resulting tensions. 

Steiner presents his own, defensive response to 

criticisms leveled at him and at Anthroposophy:

More than once, I have pointed out how Catholic clerical factions, especially here in Switzerland, are now resorting to a web of lies in order to destroy spiritual science. Those of you who have been here have witnessed a number of examples of what the Catholic Jesuits come up with in the attempt to destroy anthroposophy. Consider the attacks made by Jesuit seminarists with weapons that are certainly not nice. I need not characterize this; those who have not informed themselves can easily do so.

For Switzerland and Central Europe, where these things happen, are all part of the world. So, too, is America. I recently received a magazine published in America in which anthroposophically oriented spiritual science is characterized, while, at the same time, the Jesuits in Europe denounced spiritual science as a threat to the Catholic Church and to Christianity. You know by now that Reverend Kully [40] stated that there are three evils in the world. One is Judaism, the other Freemasonry, but the third — worse than all of them, even worse than Bolshevism — is what is taught here in Dornach. [41] This originates from the Catholic side, and is how anthroposophy is characterized.

What about America? I want to read you a small paragraph from an American publication written at the same time Catholic journals over here printed their view of anthroposophy: “Just as the Catholic hierarchy has always insisted that the Roman church is the only one with any authority," [at this point Steiner interrupts to make a comment]

— Protestant sects do not come into consideration; according to the Roman church, these sects stand outside the gates; they are viewed merely as a great number of heretics — [42] "so it is self-evident that the church which Steiner's glib tongue alludes to can be none other than the Roman Catholic church. This assumption is reinforced and indeed any doubt about the matter ceases, when one reads Steiner's other occult books. They all point to the same thing, namely, his writings are purely misleading; the sheepskin of a superficial occultism covering the wolf of Jesuitism."

So you see that in America anthroposophy is taken for Jesuitism, while in Europe the Jesuits strongly oppose anthroposophy as the biggest enemy of the Catholic church. [43] That is how the world thinks today! That, however, is also how people think in Europe where they are living side by side; they are just not aware of it.

The American article concludes with several more nice sentences: "Steiner claims to be an initiate. That may be; but whether he is of the White Lodge or belongs to the Brothers of Shadow is something one can only decide when it is realized that he stood on the side of men of 'blood and iron'...and that a number of his students here (in America) were interned as German spies." [44] 

So you see, sometimes the wind blows from the Roman Catholic corner, sometimes from the American side! It just shows you how things are inside the heads of our contemporaries. Yet, from the thoughts hatched inside human heads, there developed what has led into the decline of the present, and the ascent must truly be sought in a different direction from the one where many seek it today.

— Rudolf Steiner, 

SPIRITUAL SCIENCE AS 

A FOUNDATION FOR 

SOCIAL FORMS 

(Anthroposophic Press, 1986), 

p. 20.

Anthroposophists have sometimes referred to

Steiner's "Christian enemies,"

as in the title of the book below.

(The purpose of the book, of course,

is to defend Steiner.)

Louis M. I. Werbeck,

DIE CHRISTLICHEN GEGNER RUDOLF STEINERS

UND ANTHROPOSOPHIE DURCH SIE SELBEST WIDERLEGT

(Der Kommende Tag A.G. Verlag, 1924).

{THE CHRISTIAN ENEMIES OF RUDOLF STEINER

AND THE ANTHROPOSOPHY THAT REFUTES THEM}

 II.

Christians believe that Christ will return: There will be a Second Coming. We shouldn't end our examination of Steiner's "Christian" teachings without considering what Steiner said about the Second Coming.

To do the topic justice, we need to briefly review some of what we have already seen. “True” Christianity, according to Steiner, is his own teachings. The Bible and the churches are wrong, but Steiner can set us all straight. “True” Christianity is Anthroposophy, which Steiner claimed is a science, not a religion. By using what he called “exact” clairvoyance, Steiner could (or so he said) gather objective factual information about the spirit realm; thus he could know what Christ was and what Christ meant, in a way no one else could without using the same high form of clairvoyance. Thus, Steiner meant to “go beyond historical Christianity and its limitations.” [45] 

Steiner offered his new, improved "Christianity" in lectures such as the ones contained in THE FIFTH GOSPEL, his proposed addition to the Bible. 

“From his clairvoyant reading of the spiritual Akashic Record — the cosmic memory of all events, actions and thoughts — Rudolf Steiner was able to speak of aspects of the life of Jesus Christ which are not contained in the four biblical Gospels.” [46] 

The Second Coming of Christ, according to Steiner, is the renewed, revived knowledge of Christ that Steiner himself provided. It is not the physical return of Christ to the Earth, but the emergence in the spiritual realm (“the etheric”) of the new Christ impulse that Steiner's doctrines enable. When we “see” Christ in the right way (i.e., Steiner’s way), we will experience Christ’s 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 of Christ Jesus becomes perceptible to those who have truly prepared themselves. To a person in whom natural clairvoyance has developed this will be like a Second Coming of Christ Jesus.” [47] 

Note the emphasis on knowledge. Steiner taught that we are not saved by faith or good works, but by knowledge. This is Steiner's gnosticism. [See "Gnosis".]

The Second Coming, as redefined by Steiner, has already happened. 

“In the lectures of 1910...[Steiner] spoke to small groups of prepared listeners concerning the advent of the appearance of the Christ in the etheric life-element of the earth. To begin with, He would only be seen by a few, but as the century progressed He would be perceived by an ever greater number of human beings on earth [as Anthroposophy spreads], bestowing comfort and strength to people. Steiner pointed quite specifically to the period between 1930 and 1940 (he also mentioned 1950) in this respect. The years 1933 and 1935 are singled out in some lectures ... Steiner had warned, however, that opposing powers would conspire to darken the consciousness of humanity so that the second coming of the Christ, His appearance in the etheric, might go unnoticed. He further foretold that powerful attempts would be made on the part of certain groups to proclaim false messiahs to whom people would flock, convinced that the Christ could reappear in physical form in our time.” [48]

Speaking before the years he specified, Steiner gave the following preview. By developing our "soul faculties" (clairvoyance) in the way he specified, we will "see" Christ, and this will be the Second Coming, as it were:

“[T]ransformations will come about in human soul faculties, resulting in what may be described as etheric vision. And Who is bound up with this fact? That being Whom we call the Christ, Who appeared on earth in the flesh at the beginning of our era. He will never come again in a physical body; that event was unique. The Christ will return, however, in an etheric form ... We thus comprehend spiritual science in a completely different sense. We learn that it imposes a tremendous responsibility upon us, since it is a preparation for the concrete occurrence of the reappearance of Christ. Christ will reappear because human beings will be raising themselves toward Him in etheric vision. When we grasp this, spiritual science appears to us as the preparation of human beings for the return of Christ, so that they will not have the misfortune to overlook this great event but will be ripe to seize the great moment that we may describe as the second coming of Christ. Man will be capable of seeing etheric bodies, and among these etheric bodies he will also be able to see the etheric body of Christ.” [49]

Whether Christ will return in physical form is a topic of debate among Christians, but most fundamentalist Christians say that he will. [50] Steiner was no fundamentalist Christian.

The divide between Steiner and Christianity was wide. If Steiner sometimes found himself quarreling with Catholics (see Addendum I, above), he was at least equally at odds with Protestants.  

Protestants, Steiner claimed, misidentify God. The “God” they worship is actually just an angel, a god one level above humans. In Anthroposophic belief, there are nine ranks of gods above us. Angels are the lowest, archangels are a step higher than angels, and other gods occupy still more elevated ranks. According to Steiner, angels guide individual humans; archangels guides peoples, nations, and races. Here is Steiner telling Waldorf teachers how to explain some of this to their students: 

“[E]xplain that there are higher gods [i.e., higher than angels], the archangels ... These archangels exist to guide whole groups of human beings, that is, the various peoples and such. You must teach this clearly so that the children can learn to differentiate between the god spoken of by Protestantism, for instance, who is actually only an angel, and an archangel, who is higher than anything that ever arises in the Protestant religious teachings." [51] 

Another great problem with Protestantism, Steiner taught, is that the true meaning of ritual has been lost in Protestant churches. Responding to a Waldorf teacher who said the students resisted attending religious services, Steiner said this: 

“They completely misunderstand the service. They have a Protestant understanding of ritual, which means a rejection of it. It is possible to attend the service throughout your entire life. Their understanding is based upon the perspective that these teachings are preparations, not a ritual. We need to overcome that Protestant understanding.” [52]

Steiner stressed the importance of ritual. Thus, for instance, he described a supernatural ritual enacted at the beginning of the 19th century. (Somewhat confusingly, he used the present tense to describe this past event.) In this description, we find the fundamental cause of Steiner's dispute with Christianity. Christians believes in a single God, whereas Steiner taught that the universe teems with many gods. 

“[T]here hovers in the immediate neighbourhood of the physical world of sense [i.e., the world we apprehend through our ordinary senses] a great supersensible event, consisting in supersensible acts of ritual, an unfolding of mighty pictures of the spiritual life of beings of the universe, the Beings of the Hierarchies [i.e., multiple gods] in connection with the great ether-workings of the universe and the human workings upon earth.” [53]

The "Hierarchies" are the multitudinous gods of Steiner's polytheism. Steiner said there are nine ranks of gods divided into three large groupings he called "Hierarchies. "

Note how high Steiner places the Spirits of Harmony and the Spirits of Love. This might seem to suggest that Christianity can be found in Steiner's schema. Indeed, the nine ranks described by Steiner are based, at least in part, on traditional Jewish/Christian beliefs about the heavenly host who serve God. But pause. Judaism and Christianity are monotheistic faiths. In their teachings, there is but one god: God Almighty, the creator and ruler of the universe. The heavenly host consists of God's companions and servants — the angelic spiritual beings who dwell in proximity to God but who are wholly subordinate to Him. Steiner's teachings paint a different picture. Anthroposophy is polytheistic, telling of a universe in which there are a vast number of gods of various ranks, and God Almighty (the one and only creator and ruler of everything) is absent. [To delve deeper into all this, see "Polytheism".] 

ONE SUMMATION

Steiner's views were complex and, at least potentially, confusing. Here is brief summary of Steiner's teachings on Christianity. I will use the plainest language I can, and I will reiterate key points. Bear with me, please. I will not clutter up the summary with quotations and endnotes; you will find lots of documentation elsewhere in "Was He Christian?" and in other essays on this website. 

Steiner claimed he had found the true meaning of Christianity. This meaning is revealed in his worldview, Anthroposophy. Christianity is a religion, but Steiner said Anthroposophy is a science, not a religion. By claiming that his “science” reveals the deeper truths of “Christianity,” Steiner appropriated the term “Christianity,” applying it in a novel way. Does this make him a Christian? Does calling yourself a Christian make you one? What if I truly think I am a Christian but my beliefs are actually incompatible with the tenets of Christianity as found in the Bible and in all major Christian denominations? What, for instance, if my “Christianity” involves belief in many different gods, and reincarnation, and karma, and astrology, and Atlantis, and Zarathustra, and Buddha, and so forth and so on? This is exactly the case for Anthroposophists; the beliefs I have listed are all part of “Christian” Anthroposophy. Steiner’s followers may think their beliefs qualify as “Christian,” but they do not.

Claiming to be a Christian is very different from actually being one. Likewise, placing emphasis on Christ does not necessarily make you a Christian. Muslims, for instance, believe in Christ. They assign great importance to Christ. But they are not Christians, obviously — their religion is Islam, not Christianity. The same holds for Anthroposophists. They consider Christ extremely important, but they are not really Christians.

Like most words, “Christian” may mean many things. The normal definition contains these elements: Christianity is the religion centered on the divinity of Christ; a Christian accepts Christ as his Lord and Savior; a Christian worships Christ as God (or a Member of the Triune God); a Christian accepts the teachings of Christ as found in the Bible; a Christian is a member of a Christian church.

There can be variations and disputes over all elements of this definition. But, by virtually all of the standards of the above definition, Anthroposophy is not Christian. It is (theoretically) a “science,” not a religion; it speaks of evolution, not salvation per se; by their own account, Anthroposophists do not worship Christ, since Anthroposophy is not a religion; Anthroposophy rejects the literal meaning of much if not all of the Bible (Steiner revealed the hidden “Mystery” meaning of Bible passages); Anthroposophy has no churches, per se (unless we count the Goetheanum and other prayer-centered structures such as Waldorf schools).

Nutshell: Anthroposophists claim a) Anthroposophy is a science, and b) it is a science in which Christ looms large. The truth is that a) Anthroposophy is a religion, but b) it is not Christian.

Here are central Anthroposophical concepts. Note that each one of them violates orthodox Christian faith.

There are many, many gods

After death, we do not go to our 

eternal judgment, but we reincarnate

Our earthly lives are largely controlled by karma, 

which we create for ourselves

We are evolving — specifically, we are evolving 

toward becoming the highest gods

The stars have powerful effects on us 

(astrology and horoscopes)

There are two devils (who aren’t all bad): 

Lucifer and Ahriman

Christ is the Sun God

Buddha performed as the Christ of Mars

There were two Jesuses, one of whom 

was Zarathustra in a previous life

The other bore the spirit of Buddha

We recently lived on Atlantis 

and someday we will proceed to Vulcan

Ultimately we will become God the Father

Calling these tenets “Christian” does not make them so. Virtually no Christian theologian or clergyman would accept them as Christian (except self-proclaimed Anthroposophical “Christians”). The Bible offers little or no evidence that Christ himself would have accepted them.

So Anthroposophy is not Christian. But it is a religion. Here are some central indicators:

Anthroposophy involves prayers, meditations, 

and religious observances

It "explains" spiritual matters

It describes the will and purpose 

of the gods

It tells us how to live in accordance 

with the gods' divine plan

It depends on clairvoyance 

(which does not exist);

hence, there is no “scientific” 

basis for any of its tenets;

hence, it can be accepted only 

by an act of faith, belief

Steiner stressed the need for belief

He stressed the need for gurus

People who do not live properly, 

according to the tenets of

Anthroposophy, will be consigned 

to a form of perdition

People who do live properly, 

according to the tenets of

Anthroposophy, will be saved

(i.e., they will evolve toward apotheosis)

None of this is characteristic of a science; but all of it is characteristic or indicative of religion. 

The religion followed by Anthroposophists is Anthroposophy.

— Roger Rawlings

Image of Indra from Ernst Lehner's

SYMBOLS, SIGNS & SIGNETS 

(Dover Publishing, 1950), p. 34.

"In the spiritual realm behind the element of air, for instance, a host of spiritual beings appear, beings which do not descend so far as the physical world, but express themselves therein through the air. In the soul-world we meet them as entities, as individualities, and the mightiest of them is still to be found today in him who in ancient India was named ‘Indra.’ Indra is associated with the whole regulation of man's breathing process, and to his activity we owe the fact that we breathe as we do today ...  Indra exists for us today as he existed in ancient Vedic times, but we must now pass on to another consideration ... A man who is able to perceive Indra may well say that this Being now reveals something different from his earliest revelations ... Indra himself passed to a higher stage of evolution through this contact with the Christ light." — Rudolf Steiner, THE EAST IN THE LIGHT OF THE WEST (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1922), pp. 75-76. 

Christ, the Sun God, is the most important of all gods for us here on Earth now. But the other gods are also important. As we have seen, Steiner sometimes indicated that Christ is not alone in descending to Earth as an avatar. Here is a further elaboration of this theme:

"As long as the ‘I’ of man, with its physical expression in the blood, was not seized by an impulse to be found on the earth, the religions could not teach of the force of self-redemption in the human ‘I’. So they describe how the great spiritual Beings, the Avatars, descend and incarnate in human bodies from time to time when men are in need of help. They are Beings who for the purpose of their own development need not come down into a human body, for their own human stage of evolution had been completed in an earlier world-cycle. They descend in order to help mankind. Thus when help was needed, the great God Vishnu descended into earthly existence. One of the embodiments of Vishnu — namely, Krishna — speaks of Himself, saying unambiguously what the nature of an Avatar is." — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 219.

 Image of Vishnu from Ernst Lehner's 

SYMBOLS, SIGNS & SIGNETS, p. 35.

If  you are still unsure whether Anthroposophy is Christian, you might consider the following quotation, which most Christians would consider blasphemous on several counts:

"People on earth have all kinds of religions, but all these religions have one thing in common: that man looks up to higher beings, the gods, and worships them. But these higher beings, the gods, also have a religion: they too look up to something in awe and reverence. What is this religion of the gods? What is it that the gods revere? It is man. Man is the religion of the gods." — Rudolf Steiner, quoted by Waldorf teacher Charles Kovacs in THE SPIRITUAL BACKGROUND TO CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS (Floris Books, 2007), pp. 72-73.

Revealingly, this quotation appears in a chapter about Christmas, which argues that the true meaning of Christmas can be found in the evolution of humanity toward a future state of perfection. In support of this notion, Kovacs directs us to the BHAGAVAD GITA: 

"It is for the the sake of this ultimate end, for the sake of this perfect man, that the whole universe and all there is in it has come into existence, it so for the sake of that perfect man at the end of time that the whole world has been created. In the BHAGAVAD GITA, the holy book of the Hindus, the hero Arjuna is given a vision of this ideal and is overwhelmed by it." — THE SPIRITUAL BACKGROUND TO CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS, p. 73. 

Kovacs also turns to observances such as the festival of Horus:

"The holy child of Bethlehem calls upon the child in us. That is what...the priests of Egypt celebrated on the festival of Horus." — Ibid., p. 77. 

Horus was a god of ancient Egypt. None of the gods of ancient Egypt or of the Hindu faith are recognized in the Bible. None of them are recognized by any Christian sect — unless you count Anthroposophy, that is. But clearly, Anthroposophy is not Christian. Check any Christian catechism for such doctrines as "Man is the religion of the gods." You will not find them there, of course. In Christianity, there is one God, not a plethora of gods. And we must worship God; the gods most assuredly do not worship us.

For information about pagans, pagan Christianity, 

King Arthur, the Grail, and Druids,

see "Pagan".

For Steiner's teachings about the Holy Grail

and Lucifer, see "The Grail".

For information about the overtly religious

offshoot of Anthroposophy, the so-called Christian Community,

see "The Christian Community".

For information on good, moral, loving behavior

— as prescribed by Steiner —

see "Morality".

For information about the Antichrist

and demonic Asuras, see "Evil Ones".

To learn about damnation, Steiner-style,

see "Hell".

To hear Steiner out on the ties between

Osiris, Buddha, and Christ,

see "Best".

To survey Steiner's teachings about

Lucifer and Ahriman, see

"Lucifer" and "Ahriman".

Steiner aimed at an affirmative symbiosis of religious traditions,

balancing East and West, high and low, esoteric and exoteric.

[See "Everything".]

Steiner claimed to report objective, exact clairvoyant findings, 

showing the underlying truths of all human experience and thought.

While some people are attracted to the result,

others are repelled by what they deem 

a hodgepodge of fantasy and/or heresy.

[R.R. sketch.]

The following is excerpted from

“Waldorf Charter School Controversy”

by John W. Morehead

THE WATCHMAN EXPOSITOR

Vol. 14, No. 5

http://www.watchman.org/reltop/waldorfcontroversy.htm:

Proponents of the Waldorf system may acknowledge that it requires teacher acceptance of certain Anthroposophical principles, but argue that does not mean the teacher will necessarily inculcate those beliefs in students any more than a Christian teacher would necessarily teach students to be Christians. This is an unfair and deceptive comparison. Considering the role of the Waldorf teacher in instructing children with the Waldorf curriculum, Anthroposophical writer Gilbert Childs notes: "Waldorf teachers must be Anthroposophists first and teachers second. it must never be forgotten — and one must be emphatic about this — that the whole of teaching matter and method in Steiner schools is aimed at developing within each child the [occult] consciousness that spirit permeates everything in the world" (STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, 1991, p. 166). 

The whole purpose of all teaching in the Steiner/Waldorf schools is thus stated to be explicitly spiritual, i.e. religious. Contrary to the claims of Waldorf supporters, the role of the Waldorf teacher does promote Anthroposophy. Even if not taught or named explicitly, Anthroposophy undergirds and shapes all other teaching, even the manner of teaching, in the Waldorf program. If it did not, it simply would not be a Waldorf school: "The aim at the Waldorf School is to teach and educate according to the findings of the science of spirit" (STEINER, EDUCATION, p. 21), i.e., Steiner's occult Anthroposophy.

No one can ignore the clear statements of the program's founder, quoted above, and claim to have made a thorough and unbiased examination of the Waldorf system, the Waldorf teachers' role in integrating Anthroposophical teaching into the life of the child through the teaching experience, or the issue of religion being taught at taxpayer expense in public schools having Waldorf curricula. 

The Anthroposophical foundation and teacher orientation of the Waldorf program led former Waldorf teacher M. C. Richards to state: "One could say that Waldorf education has a hidden agenda. Its curriculum is described in terms common to public schools in general: arithmetic, writing, reading...But in Steiner schools the dimensions of these subjects are threefold: they are artistic, cognitive and religious. Religion is not an affair for Sunday alone or for theologians and priests. It is a dimension applicable to all our experience" (TOWARD WHOLENESS: RUDOLF STEINER EDUCATION IN AMERICA, 1980, p. 164). 

It should cause one to wonder how many parents of children in Waldorf schools, or in schools with Waldorf curriculum, are aware of this "hidden agenda." Is it any wonder then that Dr. Geoffrey Ahern observed that "Anthroposophical 'Waldorf' education...can only really be understood if integrated with Steiner's [occult] cosmology" (SUN AT MIDNIGHT: THE RUDOLF STEINER MOVEMENT AND THE WESTERN ESOTERIC TRADITION, 1984, p. 62). 

Waldorf educators cannot help but promote Anthroposophy at least implicitly, since Anthroposophy is foundational to Waldorf educational method and curriculum, and thoroughly permeates both its theory and practice. 

WHAT PARENTS CAN DO

Many parents and educators recognize there are problems in public education. Waldorf educational advocates have been motivated to respond to these problems by attempting to be positive agents of change to address this situation in the promotion of Waldorf education. We must also acknowledge the many positive testimonials of parents, educators and children regarding the Waldorf education methodology. As we have seen, however, serious concerns have been identified. 

If Christian prayer is excluded by the courts from the public school as an unconstitutional intrusion of religion in the public school, surely occult based curriculum such as Waldorf education should be as well. Christian parents, at times with the cooperation of their secular counterparts, are encouraged to begin with the steps below in responding to Waldorf education. 

1. Recognize and assert your rights as parents over the education of your children.

2. Educate teachers, principals and school board members about this problem program in a positive manner with well-researched documentation from organizations like Watchman Fellowship, TruthQuest Institute or PLANS.

3. Document the religious nature of Waldorf education, bringing it into conflict with the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.

4. Draw attention to the lack of educational studies supporting Waldorf education. The positive testimonials of Waldorf students and parents have little merit. Ask for scientific studies supporting Waldorf theory and practice. Precious public tax dollars should not be squandered on programs with little or no scientific credibility.

5. In the face of resistance, organize and hold informational meetings among parents.

6. Consider taking your concerns to the local or state school board.

7. Consider appropriate legal action with legal counsel through organizations like The Rutherford Institute or the Christian Legal Society.

Here are excerpts from

"Understanding Christianity and the 

New Age Movements and Religions"

at a now-defunct website, 

http://steiner.thruhere.net/:

Steiner...attempted to intertwine Christian theology into his Anthroposophical religious system. It is not uncommon for Anthroposophists, Theosophists and Steiner advocates to state Steiner was a Christian, or that their beliefs incorporate Christianity, therefore aligning themselves with Christians. However, as we shall see briefly here, this is nothing more than a deception to the truth of traditional Christianity and theology. Please note the material here is by no means exhaustive.

... Anthroposophy is somewhat based on Theosophy and goes back to Gnosticism and eastern "wisdom". To further understand Steiner’s view and philosophy on life and education, it is important to examine quick facts about the Theosophical Society. As highlighted by Walter Martin (2002, p. 280) in his book KINGDOM OF THE CULTS, these facts are:

 1. Theosophy teaches a pantheistic, impersonal Supreme Being

 2. Jesus Christ is not unique: Jesus is the reincarnated being separate from “Christ.” All men become christs.

 3. Mahatmas or Masters communicate esoteric truths through reincarnated emissaries, of whom Madame Blavatsky and Annie Besant are among the few.

 4. Theosophy draws its authoritative teachings from Hindu, Buddhistic, and early Gnostic sources. The Bible is used minimally to proof-text preconceived Theosophical notions

 5. Reincarnation is the way of salvation.

Walter Martin (2000, p. 289) signifies that from a biblical perspective, there is much evidence which separates God forever from the pantheistic God of Theosophy. This evidence includes:

 1. God remembers. “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:25)

 2. God creates. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1)

 3. God knows i.e., He has a mind. “The Lord knoweth them that are his” (2 Timothy 2:19). “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 29:11).

 4. God is a personal spirit. “ I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1).

 5. God has will. “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9).

When we attempt to understand and explain Anthroposophy, it is wise to acknowledge its complexity and often multiple diversities. Put simply, one can research and explore Anthroposophy for some time and still come up without a complete understanding of the Steiner movement ... Steiner believes the human being consists of three entities: The body, the soul and the spirit. If the soul is too closely bound to earthy pleasures, it will be reincarnated in a new body and will not be able to reach the higher worlds where it will eventually be aligned with the spirit. Similarly, in Ahern’s book SUN AT MIDNIGHT (1999, p. 17) he states,” through improving their karma in spiritual struggle, followers think they will be in a purer inner state, when as they suppose, they are reborn.”

Often, I hear many Anthroposophists commenting that Anthroposophy is nothing like Theosophy ... Although there are many differences, it is clear that there are also many similarities. Karma, reincarnation, soul work, astral worlds and astral traveling are only just a few ... For the Christian, reading much of the Waldorf literature available will help [evaluate Anthroposophy], as long as the reader has a firm basis and understanding in Christian theology and knowledge. According to all traditional Christians, this means acknowledging that the Bible is the only true Word of God. 

...On another note, many Christians lay claim to the fact that Anthroposophy has helped them become better Christians. Again, an examination of the man Steiner was (and claimed to be) may prove useful in deciding if this is possible or acceptable from a biblical point of view. As highlighted by several leading Christian theologians, the trouble becomes clear and questions are raised when Christians don’t accept the Bible as the true and only Word of God, but look at other ways of creating spiritual experience, knowledge and understanding.

Importantly, according to Christian theology, there is one major event that should forever removed all possibilities of realising Christian fellowship with Theosophists and Anthroposophists. As detailed by Martin, (2000, p. 295) the resurrection of Christ and its subsequent effect on all mankind is proof that God exists, that Christ is his Son, and that the redemption of all believers is assured by His personal triumph over the grave (1 Corinthians 15, Acts 1:3). In essence, “The resurrection of Jesus Christ and, for that matter, the resurrection of all mankind leave no room for the Theosophical dogma of concurrent reincarnations.” Martin (2000, p. 295). There is no doubt this is also true for Anthroposophy.

...Reincarnation asserts that death is but an intermediary stage in a cycle where the eternal soul passes from one physical body to another. This cycle of death and rebirth continues until the person finally attains a state of utter perfection. For many, this includes becoming "one with the universe." Can such a view be found within the pages of the Scriptures? The answer is an emphatic NO! Reincarnation blatantly opposes the message of God's Word. It is essentially an attempt to bootstrap one's way out of this world, a system of works righteousness condemned by Scripture. "(God) saved us," Paul wrote to Titus, "not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy" (Tit. 3:5; cf. Eph. 2:8-9). Furthermore, reincarnation does away with the uniqueness and sovereignty of Christ. No longer is Jesus "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) nor the Messiah pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (Isa. 53; cf. John 1:41). Instead...reincarnation see[s] human beings as healers of their own wounds, arduously striving to settle a debt Christ had already paid in full.

Reincarnation is especially dangerous because it denies the reality of eternal torment resulting from the rejection of God's gift of salvation. It peddles the message that there remain countless chances to try harder and do better during upcoming lifetimes. In contrast, the Bible explicitly teaches that "it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment" (Heb. 9:27-28). There are no second chances. There is no coming back. Scripture tells us that upon death "the spirit returns to God who gave it" (Ecc. 12:7), that "to be away from the body" is to be "at home with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). Indeed, the Christian's hope rests not on the reincarnation of the soul, but in the resurrection of the body (1 Cor. 15:42-55).”

Even in these brief examples, we can see crucial differences between the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and the impersonal God of Theosophy and, in essence, Anthroposophy. Similarly, as Martin highlights, the “…pantheistic views of the deity are drawn from the deadly trinity of Hinduism, Buddhism and Gnosticism. And one wonders why Theosophy even attempts to use Christian terms at all, except when it is realised that it is easier to reach the Western mind in terms of the Christian religion than in the language of Hinduism, Buddhism and Gnosticism.”

According to Eaton (2002, p. 69) “The goals of the New Age Movement and Christianity have a lot in common: however, they are two different ways of obtaining similar goals (e.g. a new world in which there is unity, love, peace, healing a benevolent hierarchy, etc).” Similarly, Eaton, a world-renowned cult expert (and Senior Christian Pastor) states that New Agers “… see themselves as advanced in consciousness, rejecting Judeo–Christian values and the Bible in favour of Oriental philosophies and religion.”

...Interestingly, and clearly highlighted by Eaton (2000, p. 76), one of the more common ways that the new age has penetrated Western society is through astrology. Although we are told not to place God’s creation before God, it is clear astrology is more related to idolatry and in essence demonology.

...Christians need to be very careful how New Age religions (or belief systems) such as Anthroposophy and Steiner weave their beliefs into Christianity, therefore making them believable or credible to many uninformed or lay Christians. It would also not be unfair to acknowledge that some well-respected theologians need to be far more aware and vigilant of how easy it can be for anyone (including themselves) to be seduced away from the truth of the Word of God from the Bible.

Endnotes Continued

[40] Max Kully, a German Catholic minister whose article appeared on July 6, 1920.

Fr. Kully was a problematic figure. His church was located near Steiner's headquarters, so he likely encountered Anthroposophy firsthand. However, his views must be treated cautiously: He was reputedly a conspiracy theorist and an anti-Semite. We don't need to place much importance on Fr. Kully individually, however, in order to see that the differences between Anthroposophy and Christianity run deep.

[41] Anthroposophy. The international Anthroposophical headquarters, called the Goetheanum, is in Dornach, Switzerland.

[42] Steiner's point is that the Catholic Church repudiates not just Anthroposophy but Protestant Christianity. However, Protestants should find Steiner's doctrines fully as heretical as Catholics should.

[43] The American magazine article seems to confuse Anthroposophy with Jesuit Catholicism.

[44] Steiner was indeed associated with the German war effort in World War I. [See "Steiner and the Warlord".]

[45] Andrew Welburn, commentary in Steiner's RELIGION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 164.

[46] THE FIFTH GOSPEL, publisher's description.

[47] RELIGION, p. 186.

[48] René M. Querido, introduction to Steiner's THE REAPPEARANCE OF CHRIST IN THE ETHERIC (Anthroposophic Press, 1983

[49] THE REAPPEARANCE OF CHRIST IN THE ETHERIC, lecture 1.  

[50] Here is one Christian interpretation: 

"When Jesus rose from the dead, He rose not as a spirit, but as a person with a physical body which could be seen ... The Bible couldn’t be clearer about this topic. Jesus’ second coming is not some mystical event that will happen in the heart of a new believer. It will be a physical, observable event. Jesus will return with a physical body." — "Jesus' Second Coming", http://biblestudies.suite101.com/article.cfm/jesus_second_coming.

[51] Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 46.

[52] Ibid., p. 773.

[53] Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS, Vol. 4 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 89.