The Essence of Christianity

GA 68a — 15 April 1903, Weimar

1. Theosophy and the Further Development of Religions (The Bible-Babel Question)

I. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung” of April 17,

Yesterday evening, in front of a large audience, Dr. Rudolf Steiner from Berlin gave a lecture on “Theosophy and the Further Development of Religions” (The Bible-Babel Question) in the “Erholung” hall. This was the first of three announced lectures. In a captivating manner, the speaker began by discussing the emergence of divine wisdom (theosophy), which had come to the fore in a significant way through Adolf Harnack's sensational work “The Essence of Christianity” and Friedrich Delitzsch's world-famous lectures, as it considers its most important task to be the promotion of the comparative study of religions, philosophies, and sciences. The tireless research of science, which seeks to penetrate the divine mysteries on the basis of the natural world, and principles such as Harnack's Radical rejection of all scientific interference in religion, to reconcile the resulting contradictions, is the task of theosophy, whose essence is never struggle and strife, but always explanation and fulfillment, the explanation and interpretation of the symbols of knowledge, the fulfillment and completion of the tasks of the will. And who is a theosophist? Anyone who, in the wonders that are undoubtedly revealed in the smallest and most inconspicuous creature up to the microcosm, the most perfect wonder of our own self, feels the living bonds of the master who guides him, drawing him toward the divine, the eternal. The knowledge of Theosophy goes back to the oldest traditions of all civilized peoples, expressing itself in the consciousness of our own divine nature, in the consciousness of our immortality, and in the consciousness of the goal of our striving, in divine perfection. We find this threefold consciousness already in the oldest documents of our race, in the Egyptians, in the traditions of the Chaldeans and in the Mosaic traditions of the Old Testament, even among the Chinese and even in the natural philosophers of today's savage peoples. But we also find this theosophical insight in Homer and the poetry of classical antiquity, in the ancient Germanic sagas, and in its most ideal form in the original text of Christianity, the New Testament. — And in accordance with this insight, the representatives of theosophy considered it their duty, without alienating anyone from their religion, to encourage everyone to search in the depths of religion for the spiritual nourishment that is indispensable for them. Everyone should treat the religion of others, whether friend or foe, with the respect that they demand for their own religion. With the meaningful quote, “Those who have art and science have religion; those who do not have these two things should have religion,” the speaker concluded his extremely interesting 1½ hour-long presentation, which was received with the utmost attention. Unfortunately, we do not have enough space to reproduce the entire content here. — The next lectures will take place on Friday and Monday, respectively.

II. Report in “Germany,” Second Sheet, dated April 17, 1903.

The Secretary General of the “Theosophical Society for Germany”, Dr. Steiner of Berlin, gave an introductory lecture on the spiritual and historical significance of Theosophy on Wednesday evening. This first lecture will be followed by two more, to be held on Friday, April 17, and Monday, April 20. Dr. Steiner, who is known as a captivating speaker, began his lecture by stating that the Theosophical movement found its justification in the fact that it had set itself the goal of solving the many mysteries surrounding human existence, as well as the lack of clarity regarding any continued existence after death. Theosophy does not want to take away anyone's religion, but only to encourage them to research their religion and to seek the spiritual nourishment that every person needs. In the further course of the lecture, Dr. Steiner explained that the idea of theosophy dominates all cultural religions, just as the idea of God was almost the same in almost all cultural peoples of the ancient world. The account of the Fall of Man, as we find it in the Old Testament, corresponds at the same time to the account of the Chinese, the Egyptians, Babylonians, even the Aztecs in Mexico. Likewise, we find the same traditions of the idea of God in Greek history as in our old Germanic Edda. The consciousness of this idea of God lived in all peoples at all times; each people interpreted its God in its own way; only with the material advancement of culture does the deepening of this consciousness become a mystery of initiates. The speaker explained that one should not join those for whom research in the fields of religion always causes a feeling of dread; it is the duty of the world of scholars to penetrate ever deeper into the natural sciences. Heart and mind could very well explore the true essence of religion together, and the recently so justified sensational research of Professor Delitzsch is a big step towards enlightenment. In any case, one should not oppose a movement that may be inclined to create a completely new worldview. The three purposes of Theosophy are, firstly, to form the core of a fraternal spiritual community that extends to all of humanity, without distinction of race, religion, class, nationality or gender; secondly, to promote the comparative study of religions, philosophies and sciences; and thirdly, to explore the as-yet-unexplained laws of nature and the forces slumbering within man. Even if all the above-mentioned cultural religions are based on Theosophy, there is something about it that distinguishes it from all religions as different forms of worship. Each of them places the emphasis on its own particular expression of wisdom. The Theosophical movement, however, has always emphasized only the common core, which promotes the same striving and the same knowledge in all people. Above all, it is opposed to materialistic scholasticism, and not only to natural science, but also to historical and linguistic science. The two opposing world views are the inward and the outward, the spiritual and the sensual. The speaker explained that this lecture should be regarded as an introduction. In any case, Theosophy offers effective protection against the twin enemies of civilized man, superstition and materialism; the purifying and ennobling influence of this movement would not fail to materialize. The extremely stimulating and interesting lecture lasted about an hour and a half.