GOSPEL OF SAINT JOHN

During Whitsun 1908, seven years after he had given the world the first intimation of the consequences of his turn-of-the-century Christ-experience in Christianity as Mystical Fact, Rudolf Steiner began his great task of renewing humanity's understanding of the true meaning of the Mystery of Golgotha. Accordingly, he turned to the deepest, most spiritual Gospel: that of the Initiate, St. John. In this lecture cycle, readers will find that the incarnation, death and resurrection of the Divine Word or Logos reveals the mission of the earth to be Love. We learn the secret of the raising of Lazarus, of the Seven Degrees of Initiation, of the I AM sayings. Listening to Rudolf Steiner, we come to understand that the Gospel of St. John is a continuing spiritual presence - to be recalled, meditated, and permeated with one's life. Doing so, we realize that our task - the task of human beings - is to become ourselves Virgin Sophias, receptive to the Holy Spirit. All of Steiner's work, as Marie Steiner writes in her introduction, was to 'pave the way to Christ.' Indeed, at the conclusion of these lectures Rudolf Steiner said: 'It will come to be understood that Christianity is only beginning its influence, and will fulfill its real mission only when it is understood in its true, spiritual form.' And he added: 'The more these lectures are understood in this sense, the better they will be understood as they were intended.'