‘Christianity was bound at first to be a matter of faith and is only now beginning, very gradually, to be a matter of knowledge.’ – Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Steiner gave 70 lectures on the four canonical Gospels, characterizing the distinctive contribution of each of the evangelists. The Gospel of Mark is a ‘cosmic’ text that calls for an astronomical as well as a human reading. It is also critical for understanding the evolution of Christianity, which depends on knowledge of ‘the Mystery of Golgotha’ (Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection and ascension). ‘We are only at the beginning of Christian evolution’, Steiner states, reiterating that its further development will depend on spiritual knowledge. In order to develop such cognition, ‘most important of all is reverence for the great truths and the feeling that we can approach them only with awe and veneration’. Many profound spiritual truths are indeed revealed in these lectures. Among the panoply of topics covered are: ‘Mystery Teachings in St Mark’s Gospel’; ‘The Son of God and the Son of Man’; ‘The Symbolic Language of the Macrocosm’; ‘The Moon-religion of Yahweh’ and ‘The Penetration of the Buddha-Mercury Stream into Rosicrucianism’. This thoroughly revised edition includes notes and appendices by Frederick Amrine and an extensive introduction by Robert McDermott.

In an absorbing series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner discloses factors in a person's life on Earth that will influence their experiences in the spiritual world after their death - and conversely, factors in the spiritual world that will affect their next life on Earth. Steiner focuses on the period in the afterlife when the individual has been through kamaloka - the purgatorial place where the soul is purified. Once the soul has been cleansed of its astral sheath, it becomes open to cosmic influences, expanding into the planetary sphere. Now it can begin preparation for reincarnation - for a new human life on Earth. Steiner addresses the vital relationship of the living to the dead - in particular, how those on Earth can influence the souls of the dead. He also speaks on themes of 'Sleep and death', 'The seven-year life cycles of man', and offers a 'Christmas gift' in the form of a lecture on Christian Rosenkreutz and Gautama Buddha. He ends with a mighty picture of the Mystery of Golgotha: Jesus Christ's death on the cross was only seemingly a death; in reality it enabled the momentous birth of the Earth-Soul. Long out-of-print, the freshly-revised text of the ten lectures in this new edition is complemented with an introduction, notes and appendices by Professor Frederick Amrine, and also features an index. Ten lectures, Berlin, Nov.-Apr. 1913, GA 141

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