New Testament

What this work carries

The twenty-seven books carry the event of the Mystery of Golgotha as the cosmic turning point of earth-evolution. They preserve, in narrative and epistolary form, the experiences of those who stood within or in the immediate wake of the Christ Event, transposing the older mystery-wisdom of the Hebrew prophets and the Greek mystery-schools into a record centered on the deed of Christ Jesus.

Language frame

Composed in Koine Greek during the first century, the corpus comprises four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline and General Epistles, and the apocalyptic Revelation of John. It transmits a Hebraic substance through a Hellenistic linguistic body, fitted to the 4th post-Atlantean intellectual soul.

Steiner’s engagement

• GA 155, 1914-07-16Steiner states that the New Testament has been written and stands as a revelation for humanity, but that the whole of earth-evolution must run its course before its content is fully realized.
• GA 246, 1909-12-12Steiner contrasts the two Testaments: the Old Testament points back to a spirit connected with the Moon, while the New Testament points forward to Christ Jesus who carries earth-development further.
• GA 292, 1917-01-02Steiner notes that early illuminated bibles placed Old and New Testament scenes in parallel, expressing the artistic-religious idea that the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old.
• GA 345, 1923-07-14Steiner argues that the original language of the New Testament can no longer be experienced adequately by modern consciousness, and that its words must be recovered as living cosmic facts rather than abstract concepts.
• GA 343, 1921-10-06In the priests' course Steiner addresses, in response to a participant's question, what the New Testament does and does not justify regarding the sacramental act of the mass.
• GA 228, 1923-07-28Steiner contrasts how non-European readers such as Rãmanãthan study the New Testament with the manner in which Europeans have transmitted and obscured it.
• GA 91, 1904-08-19In an early esoteric lesson Steiner gives helpful concepts for understanding the relationship between ancient legends and the New Testament.
• GA 112, 1909-07-07Within the Gospel of John cycle Steiner draws on the precise terminology of the New Testament, noting where German renderings collapse distinct Greek meanings.

Cross-tradition congruence

• Hebrew TanakhThe New Testament presents itself as the fulfillment of the Old, the two together forming a single arc from the Jahve-impulse of the Moon-stream to the Christ-impulse of the Sun-stream.
• Pistis Sophia and Nag Hammadi writingsThese esoteric Christian documents preserve, in a more occult register, materials structurally parallel to the canonical Gospels and Pauline corpus.