Anthroposophy

Anthroposophy is a spiritual<ref name="Staudenmaierthesis">Template:Cite thesis</ref>Template:Rp new religious movement<ref name="newreli">Sources for 'new religious movement':Template:Bulleted list</ref> which was founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner<ref>Anthroposophy Template:Webarchive, 1998?, Encyclopedia Britannica online. "Anthroposophy, philosophy based on the premise that the human mind has the ability to contact spiritual worlds. It was formulated by Rudolf Steiner (q.v.), an Austrian philosopher, scientist, and artist, who postulated the existence of a spiritual world comprehensible to pure thought but fully accessible only to the faculties of knowledge latent in all humans."</ref> that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers of anthroposophy aim to engage in spiritual discovery through a mode of thought independent of sensory experience.<ref name="Essential">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref>"Anthroposophy", Encyclopædia Britannica online, accessed 10/09/07</ref> Though proponents claim to present their ideas in a manner that is verifiable by rational discourse and say that they seek precision and clarity comparable to that obtained by scientists investigating the physical world, many of these ideas have been termed pseudoscientific by experts in epistemology and debunkers of pseudoscience.<ref name="pssci">Sources for 'pseudoscience':Template:Bulleted list</ref>

Anthroposophy has its roots in German idealism, Western and Eastern esoteric ideas, various religious traditions, and modern Theosophy.<ref>Sources for 'Theosophy':Template:Bulleted list</ref> Steiner chose the term anthroposophy (from Greek ἄνθρωπος {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'human', and σοφία sophia, 'wisdom') to emphasize his philosophy's humanistic orientation.<ref name="Essential" /><ref>Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy, Anthroposophic Press 1995 Template:ISBN</ref> He defined it as "a scientific exploration of the spiritual world";<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> others have variously called it a "philosophy and cultural movement",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a "spiritual movement",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a "spiritual science",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> "a system of thought",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> "a speculative and oracular metaphysic",<ref name="k734">Template:Cite book</ref> "system [...] replete with esoteric and occult mystifications",<ref name="j611">Template:Cite book</ref> or "a spiritualist movement".<ref name="m378">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Anthroposophical ideas have been applied in a range of fields including education (both in Waldorf schools<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and in the Camphill movement<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>), environmental conservation<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and banking; with additional applications in agriculture, organizational development, the arts, and more.<ref>Sources for 'additional applications':Template:Bulleted list</ref>

The Anthroposophical Society is headquartered at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. Anthroposophy's supporters include writers Saul Bellow,<ref name=":0" /> and Selma Lagerlöf,<ref name=":1" /> painters Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint,<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky,<ref name=":8" /> child psychiatrist Eva Frommer,<ref name="Frommer 1995 p. " /><ref name=":13" /> music therapist Maria Schüppel,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Romuva religious founder Vydūnas,<ref name="VydunasAnthroHindu">Bagdonavičius, Vaclovas. "Similarities and Differences between Vydūnas and Steiner ("Berührungspunkte und Unterschiede zwischen Vydūnas und Steiner"). [In Lithuanian]. Vydūnas und deutsche Kultur, sudarytojai Vacys Bagdonavičius, Aušra Martišiūtė-Linartienė, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2013, pp. 325–330.</ref><ref name="JacobsenHinduism">Template:Cite book</ref> and former president of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia.<ref name="Urushadze">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> While critics and proponents alike acknowledge Steiner's many anti-racist statements,<ref name="Staudenmaierthesis" /><ref name=":14">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":15">Template:Cite book</ref> "Steiner's collected works...contain pervasive internal contradictions and inconsistencies on racial and national questions."<ref name=Peter/><ref>See also Template:Cite thesis</ref>

The historian of religion Olav Hammer has termed anthroposophy "the most important esoteric society in European history".<ref name="Hammer">Template:Cite book See also p. 98, where Hammer states that – unusually for founders of esoteric movements – Steiner's self-descriptions of the origins of his thought and work correspond to the view of external historians.</ref> Many scientists, physicians, and philosophers, including Michael Shermer, Michael Ruse, Edzard Ernst, David Gorski, and Simon Singh have criticized anthroposophy's application in the areas of medicine, biology, agriculture, and education, considering it dangerous and pseudoscientific.<ref name="dangerous">Sources for 'dangerous' or 'pseudoscientific':Template:Bulleted list</ref> Ideas of Steiner's that are unsupported or disproven by modern science include: racial evolution,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn clairvoyance (Steiner claimed he was clairvoyant),<ref name="Ruse2018">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="QuackWatch">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Atlantis myth.<ref>Sources for 'Atlantis':Template:Bulleted list</ref>

History

File:Steiner um 1905.jpg

Rudolf Steiner

The early work of the founder of anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner, culminated in his Philosophy of Freedom (also translated as The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity and Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path). Here, Steiner developed a concept of free will based on inner experiences, especially those that occur in the creative activity of independent thought.<ref name="Essential" /> "Steiner was a moral individualist".Template:Efn-lr<ref name="t661">Template:Cite book</ref>

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Steiner's interests turned almost exclusively to spirituality. His work began to draw the attention of others interested in spiritual ideas; among these was the Theosophical Society. From 1900 on, thanks to the positive reception his ideas received from Theosophists, Steiner focused increasingly on his work with the Theosophical Society, becoming the secretary of its section in Germany in 1902. During his leadership, membership increased dramatically, from just a few individuals to sixty-nine lodges.<ref name="ahern2edAnthSec">Of these, 55 lodges – about 2,500 people – seceded with Steiner to form his new Anthroposophical Society at the end of 1912. Geoffrey Ahern, Sun at Midnight: the Rudolf Steiner Movement and Gnosis in the West, 2nd edition Template:Webarchive, 2009, James Clark and Co, Template:ISBN, p. 43</ref>

By 1907, a split between Steiner and the Theosophical Society became apparent. While the Society was oriented toward an Eastern and especially Indian approach, Steiner was trying to develop a path that embraced Christianity and natural science.<ref name="Lachman">Gary Lachman, Rudolf Steiner, New York:Tarcher/Penguin Template:ISBN</ref> The split became irrevocable when Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society, presented the child Jiddu Krishnamurti as the reincarnated Christ. Steiner strongly objected and considered any comparison between Krishnamurti and Christ to be nonsense; many years later, Krishnamurti also repudiated the assertion. Steiner's continuing differences with Besant led him to separate from the Theosophical Society Adyar. He was subsequently followed by the great majority of the Theosophical Society's German members, as well as many members of other national sections.<ref name="ahern2edAnthSec" /><ref name="Lachman" />

By this time, Steiner had reached considerable stature as a spiritual teacher and expert in the occult.<ref>Ahern, Geoffrey. (1984): Sun at Midnight: the Rudolf Steiner movement and the Western esoteric tradition</ref> He spoke about what he considered to be his direct experience of the Akashic Records (sometimes called the "Akasha Chronicle"), thought to be a spiritual chronicle of the history, pre-history, and future of the world and mankind. In a number of works,<ref>especially How to Know Higher Worlds and An Outline of Esoteric Science</ref> Steiner described a path of inner development he felt would let anyone attain comparable spiritual experiences. In Steiner's view, sound vision could be developed, in part, by practicing rigorous forms of ethical and cognitive self-discipline, concentration, and meditation. In particular, Steiner believed a person's spiritual development could occur only after a period of moral development.<ref name="Essential" />

File:Goetheanum Dornach.jpg

Second Goetheanum, seat of the Anthroposophical Society

In 1912, Steiner broke away from the Theosophical Society to found an independent group, which he named the Anthroposophical Society. After World War I, members of the young society began applying Steiner's ideas to create cultural movements in areas such as traditional and special education, farming, and medicine.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

By 1923, a schism had formed between older members, focused on inner development, and younger members eager to become active in contemporary social transformations. In response, Steiner attempted to bridge the gap by establishing an overall School for Spiritual Science. As a spiritual basis for the reborn movement, Steiner wrote a Foundation Stone Meditation which remains a central touchstone of anthroposophical ideas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Steiner died just over a year later, in 1925. The Second World War temporarily hindered the anthroposophical movement in most of Continental Europe, as the Anthroposophical Society and most of its practical counter-cultural applications were banned by the Nazi government.<ref name="Hansen-Schaberg 2006 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref> Though at least one prominent member of the Nazi Party, Rudolf Hess, was a strong supporter of anthroposophy,<ref name="g287">Template:Cite book</ref> very few anthroposophists belonged to the National Socialist Party.<ref>Sources for 'Nazi Party':Template:Bulleted list</ref> In reality, Steiner had both enemies and loyal supporters in the upper echelons of the Nazi regime.Template:Sfn Staudenmaier speaks of the "polycratic party-state apparatus", so Nazism's approach to Anthroposophy was not characterized by monolithic ideological unity.Template:Sfn When Hess flew to the UK and was imprisoned, their most powerful protector was gone,<ref name="Rieppel 2016 p. 246" /><ref name="Douglas-Hamilton 2012 p. 106" /><ref name="Tucker 2018 p. 165" /> but Anthroposophists were still not left without supporters among higher-placed Nazis.Template:Sfn

The Third Reich had banned almost all esoteric organizations, claiming that these were controlled by Jews.<ref name="Sutin 2014 p. 506">Template:Cite book</ref> The truth was that while Anthroposophists complained of bad press, they were to a surprising extent tolerated by the Nazi regime, "including outspokenly supportive pieces in the Völkischer Beobachter".Template:Sfn Ideological purists from Sicherheitsdienst argued largely in vain against Anthroposophy.Template:Sfn According to Staudenmaier, "The prospect of unmitigated persecution was held at bay for years in a tenuous truce between pro-anthroposophical and anti-anthroposophical Nazi factions."Template:Sfn

The anti-esoteric faction ensconced in the SD and Gestapo recognized that they faced influential adversaries in other sectors of the Nazi hierarchy. They knew that Hess and his staff, Baeumler in the Amt Rosenberg, and Ohlendorf in the SD itself were willing to intervene on behalf of anthroposophical endeavors. Minister of Agriculture Darré and Lotar Eickhoff in the Interior Ministry were also seen as sympathizers of anthroposophy, and the SD considered the head of the party's "Examination Commission for Safeguarding National Socialist Writings," Karl Heinz Hederich, a supporter of occultists and astrologers.⁵²{{#if:Template:Harvnb|{{#if:|}}

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While anthroposophists were in the center of the SD's sights, they were supposed to receive relatively mild treatment compared to other occultists.{{#if:Template:Harvnb|{{#if:|}}

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Despite these measures, anthroposophist authors were able to write long after June 1941. Franz Dreidax, Max Karl Schwarz, Elisabeth Klein, Johannes Bertram-Pingel, Georg Halbe, Otto Julius Hartmann, Rudolf Hauschka, Jürgen von Grone, Wolfgang Schuchhardt and others continued to publish throughout the war. But serious disruptions were common.{{#if:Template:Harvnb|{{#if:|}}

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Morals: Anthroposophy was not the stake of that dispute, but merely powerful Nazis wanting to get rid of other powerful Nazis.Template:Sfn E.g. Jehovah's Witnesses were treated much more aggressively than Anthroposophists.Template:Sfn

Yet, the relative moderation of Heydrich's action, which paled in comparison to measures taken against communists and socialists, Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as the mentally and physically disabled, continued to reflect the Third Reich's underlying ambivalence toward policing the occult.{{#if:Template:Harvnb|{{#if:|}}

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Kurlander stated that "the Nazis were hardly ideologically opposed to the supernatural sciences themselves"—rather they objected to the free (i.e. non-totalitarian) pursuit of supernatural sciences.<ref name="Black Kurlander 2015 p. 149">Template:Cite book</ref>

According to Hans Büchenbacher, an anthroposophist, the Secretary General of the General Anthroposophical Society, Guenther Wachsmuth, as well as Steiner's widow, Marie Steiner, were "completely pro-Nazi."<ref name="Büchenbacher">Staudenmaier (2014: 18, 79). Quote: Though raised Catholic, Büchenbacher had partial Jewish ancestry and was considered a “half-Jew” by Nazi standards. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1936. According to his post-war memoirs, “approximately two thirds of German anthroposophists more or less succumbed to National Socialism.” He reported that various influential anthroposophists were “deeply infected by Nazi views” and “staunchly supported Hitler.” Both Guenther Wachsmuth, Secretary of the Swiss-based General Anthroposophical Society, and Marie Steiner, the widow of Rudolf Steiner, were described as “completely pro-Nazi.” Büchenbacher retrospectively lamented the far-reaching “Nazi sins” of his colleagues.⁵⁹</ref> Marie Steiner-von Sivers, Guenther Wachsmuth, and Albert Steffen, had publicly expressed sympathy for the Nazi regime since its beginnings; led by such sympathies of their leadership, the Swiss and German Anthroposophical organizations chose for a path conflating accommodation with collaboration, which in the end ensured that while the Nazi regime hunted the esoteric organizations, Gentile Anthroposophists from Nazi Germany and countries occupied by it were let be to a surprising extent.Template:Sfn Of course they had some setbacks from the enemies of Anthroposophy among the upper echelons of the Nazi regime, but Anthroposophists also had loyal supporters among them, so overall Gentile Anthroposophists were not badly hit by the Nazi regime.Template:Sfn

Yet when Hitler threatened to suppress the Anthroposophical Society, its executive council—which had recently expelled much of its membership—chose to collaborate rather than resist. Marie Steiner, Günther Wachsmuth, and Albert Steffen knew of Hitler's violent intentions toward the Jewish people, since Hitler's attacks on anthroposophy included the accusation that anthroposophy was aligned with the Jews. Rather than standing in solidarity with Hitler's other targets, they disavowed any sympathy for Judaism and assured Nazi leaders that both they and Steiner were of pure Aryan heritage.⁴⁴{{#if:Template:Harvnb|{{#if:|}}

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Staudenmaier's overall argument is that "there were often no clear-cut lines between theosophy, anthroposophy, ariosophy, astrology and the völkisch movement from which the Nazi Party arose."<ref name="Koehne 2016 pp. 281–283">Template:Cite journal</ref>

By 2007, national branches of the Anthroposophical Society had been established in fifty countries and about 10,000 institutions around the world were working on the basis of anthroposophical ideas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Etymology and earlier uses of the word

Anthroposophy is an amalgam of the Greek terms {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 'human') and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 'wisdom'). An early English usage is recorded by Nathan Bailey (1742) as meaning "the knowledge of the nature of man".<ref>"Anthroposophy", OED</ref>

File:Troxler Portrait 1830.jpg

Ignaz Paul Vitalis Troxler

The first known use of the term anthroposophy occurs within Arbatel de magia veterum, summum sapientiae studium, a book published anonymously in 1575 and attributed to Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. The work describes anthroposophy (as well as theosophy) variously as an understanding of goodness, nature, or human affairs. In 1648, the Welsh philosopher Thomas Vaughan published his Anthroposophia Theomagica, or a discourse of the nature of man and his state after death.<ref>Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes): Anthroposophia Theomagica, or a discourse of the nature of man and his state after death. Oxford 1648</ref>

The term began to appear with some frequency in philosophical works of the mid- and late-nineteenth century.<ref>The term was used for example in a discussion of Boehme Template:Webarchive in Notes and Queries, May 9, 1863, p. 373</ref> In the early part of that century, Ignaz Troxler used the term anthroposophy to refer to philosophy deepened to self-knowledge, which he suggested allows deeper knowledge of nature as well. He spoke of human nature as a mystical unity of God and world. Immanuel Hermann Fichte used the term anthroposophy to refer to "rigorous human self-knowledge", achievable through thorough comprehension of the human spirit and of the working of God in this spirit, in his 1856 work Anthropology: The Study of the Human Soul. In 1872, the philosopher of religion Gideon Spicker used the term anthroposophy to refer to self-knowledge that would unite God and world: "the true study of the human being is the human being, and philosophy's highest aim is self-knowledge, or Anthroposophy."<ref>Die Philosophie des Grafen von Shaftesbury, 1872</ref>

In 1882, the philosopher Robert Zimmermann published the treatise, "An Outline of Anthroposophy: Proposal for a System of Idealism on a Realistic Basis," proposing that idealistic philosophy should employ logical thinking to extend empirical experience.<ref>Anthroposophie im Umriß. Entwurf eines Systems idealer Weltsicht auf realistischer Grundlage, 1882</ref> Steiner attended lectures by Zimmermann at the University of Vienna in the early 1880s, thus at the time of this book's publication.<ref>Robert Zimmermann Geschichte der Aesthetik als philosophische Wissenschaft. Vienna, 1858. Anthroposophie im Umriss-Entwurf eines Systems idealer Weltansicht auf realistischer Grundlage. (Vienna, 1882): Steiner, Anthroposophic Movement: Lecture Two: The Unveiling of Spiritual Truths, 11 June 1923.[1]</ref>

In the early 1900s, Steiner began using the term anthroposophy (i.e. human wisdom) as an alternative to the term theosophy (i.e. divine wisdom).

Central ideas

Spiritual knowledge and freedom

Anthroposophical proponents aim to extend the clarity of the scientific method to phenomena of human soul-life and spiritual experiences. Steiner believed this required developing new faculties of objective spiritual perception, which he maintained was still possible for contemporary humans. The steps of this process of inner development he identified as consciously achieved imagination, inspiration, and intuition.<ref name="Schneider">Template:Cite book</ref> Steiner believed results of this form of spiritual research should be expressed in a way that can be understood and evaluated on the same basis as the results of natural science.<ref name="Willmann" /><ref name="Schneider20" />

Steiner hoped to form a spiritual movement that would free the individual from any external authority.<ref name="Schneider20">Template:Harvnb, Schneider quotes here from Steiner's dissertation, Truth and Knowledge</ref> For Steiner, the human capacity for rational thought would allow individuals to comprehend spiritual research on their own and bypass the danger of dependency on an authority such as himself.<ref name="Schneider20" />

Steiner contrasted the anthroposophical approach with both conventional mysticism, which he considered lacking the clarity necessary for exact knowledge, and natural science, which he considered arbitrarily limited to what can be seen, heard, or felt with the outward senses.

Nature of the human being

File:Representative of humanity.gif

The Representative of Humanity, detail of a sculpture in wood by Rudolf Steiner and Edith Maryon<ref name="EM" />

In Theosophy, Steiner suggested that human beings unite a physical body of substances gathered from and returning to the inorganic world; a life body (also called the etheric body), in common with all living creatures (including plants); a bearer of sentience or consciousness (also called the astral body), in common with all animals; and the ego, which anchors the faculty of self-awareness unique to human beings.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Anthroposophy describes a broad evolution of human consciousness. Early stages of human evolution possess an intuitive perception of reality, including a clairvoyant perception of spiritual realities. Humanity has progressively evolved an increasing reliance on intellectual faculties and a corresponding loss of intuitive or clairvoyant experiences, which have become atavistic. The increasing intellectualization of consciousness, initially a progressive direction of evolution, has led to an excessive reliance on abstraction and a loss of contact with both natural and spiritual realities. However, to go further requires new capacities that combine the clarity of intellectual thought with the imagination and with consciously achieved inspiration and intuitive insights.<ref name="RAMcD">Template:Cite book</ref>

Anthroposophy speaks of the reincarnation of the human spirit: that the human being passes between stages of existence, incarnating into an earthly body, living on earth, leaving the body behind, and entering into the spiritual worlds before returning to be born again into a new life on earth. After the death of the physical body, the human spirit recapitulates the past life, perceiving its events as they were experienced by the objects of its actions. A complex transformation takes place between the review of the past life and the preparation for the next life. The individual's karmic condition eventually leads to a choice of parents, physical body, disposition, and capacities that provide the challenges and opportunities that further development requires, which includes karmically chosen tasks for the future life.<ref name=RAMcD/>

Steiner described some conditions that determine the interdependence of a person's lives, or karma.<ref>Rudolf Steiner, Theosophy, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Rudolf Steiner, An Outline of Esoteric Science, Template:ISBN</ref>

Evolution

The anthroposophical view of evolution considers all animals to have evolved from an early, unspecialized form. As the least specialized animal, human beings have maintained the closest connection to the archetypal form;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> contrary to the Darwinian conception of human evolution, all other animals devolve from this archetype.<ref name="Trevelyan 1981 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref> The spiritual archetype originally created by spiritual beings was devoid of physical substance; only later did this descend into material existence on Earth.<ref>Steiner, Man as Symphony of the Creative Word and Occult Science</ref> In this view, human evolution has accompanied the Earth's evolution throughout the existence of the Earth.

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Anthroposophy adapted Theosophy's complex system of cycles of world development and human evolution. The evolution of the world is said to have occurred in cycles. The first phase of the world consisted only of heat. In the second phase, a more active condition, light, and a more condensed, gaseous state separate out from the heat. In the third phase, a fluid state arose, as well as a sounding, forming energy. In the fourth (current) phase, solid physical matter first exists. This process is said to have been accompanied by an evolution of consciousness which led up to present human culture.

Ethics

The anthroposophical view is that good is found in the balance between two polar influences on world and human evolution. These are often described through their mythological embodiments as spiritual adversaries which endeavour to tempt and corrupt humanity, Lucifer and his counterpart Ahriman. These have both positive and negative aspects. Lucifer is the light spirit, which "plays on human pride and offers the delusion of divinity", but also motivates creativity and spirituality; Ahriman is the dark spirit that tempts human beings to "...deny [their] link with divinity and to live entirely on the material plane", but that also stimulates intellectuality and technology. Both figures exert a negative effect on humanity when their influence becomes misplaced or one-sided, yet their influences are necessary for human freedom to unfold.<ref name="Essential" /><ref name="Willmann" />

Each human being has the task to find a balance between these opposing influences, and each is helped in this task by the mediation of the Representative of Humanity, also known as the Christ being, a spiritual entity who stands between and harmonizes the two extremes.<ref name="Willmann" />

Claimed applications

Steiner/Waldorf education

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} There is a pedagogical movement with over 1000 Steiner or Waldorf schools (the latter name stems from the first such school, founded in Stuttgart in 1919)<ref>Paull, John (2011) Rudolf Steiner and the Oxford Conference: The Birth of Waldorf Education in Britain Template:Webarchive. European Journal of Educational Studies, 3 (1): 53–66.</ref> located in some 60 countries; the great majority of these are independent (private) schools.<ref>German Education Research Group, "International Associations and Waldorf Schools in alphabetical order of country" Template:Webarchive</ref> Sixteen of the schools have been affiliated with the United Nations' UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network, which sponsors education projects that foster improved quality of education throughout the world.<ref>Agenda Fact Sheet, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization dated 18 April 2001 Template:Webarchive The foundation, Friends of Waldorf Education (Freunde der Erziehungskunst), is one of the 26 non-governmental organizations worldwide to maintain official relations with UNESCO. UNESCO Official Relations Template:Webarchive</ref> Waldorf schools receive full or partial governmental funding in some European nations, Australia and in parts of the United States (as Waldorf method public or charter schools) and Canada.

The schools have been founded in a variety of communities: for example in the favelas of São Paulo<ref name="White">White, Ralph, Interview with Rene M. Querido Lapis Magazine Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> to wealthy suburbs of major cities;<ref name="White" /> in India, Egypt, Australia, the Netherlands, Mexico and South Africa. Though most of the early Waldorf schools were teacher-founded, the schools today are usually initiated and later supported by a parent community.<ref name="Ullrich" /> Waldorf schools are among the most visible anthroposophical institutions.<ref name="Ullrich">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Lenart">Lenart, Claudia M: "Steiner's Chicago Legacy Shines Brightly" Template:Webarchive, Conscious Choice June 2003</ref>

Benjamin Lazier calls Steiner a "maverick educator".<ref name="r012">Template:Cite book</ref>

Biodynamic agriculture

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Biodynamic agriculture, is a form of alternative agriculture based on pseudo-scientific and esoteric concepts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was also the first intentional form of organic farming,<ref name=Lenart/> begun in 1924, when Rudolf Steiner gave a series of lectures published in English as The Agriculture Course.<ref name="first">Paull, John (2011) . "Attending the First Organic Agriculture Course: Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course at Koberwitz, 1924" Template:Webarchive, European Journal of Social Sciences, 21(1):64–70.</ref> Steiner is considered one of the founders of the modern organic farming movement.<ref name="Ferree Warrington 2003 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>David Kupfer, "Trailblazers, Heroes & Pioneers: The Organic Farming Movement" Template:Webarchive</ref>

"And Himmler, Hess, and Darré all promoted biodynamic (anthroposophic) approaches to farming as an alternative to industrial agriculture."<ref name="Kurlander 2015 pp. 498–522"/><ref name="x531">Cf. Template:Cite book</ref> "'[...] with the active cooperation of the Reich League for Biodynamic Agriculture' [...] Pancke, Pohl, and Hans Merkel established additional biodynamic plantations across the eastern territories as well as Dachau, Ravensbrück, and Auschwitz concentration camps. Many were staffed by anthroposophists."<ref name="Kurlander 2017 pp. 231–262">Template:Cite book</ref>

"Steiner's 'biodynamic agriculture' based on 'restoring the quasi-mystical relationship between earth and the cosmos' was widely accepted in the Third Reich (28)."<ref name="Purcell 2018 t965">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Anthroposophical medicine

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Anthroposophical medicine is a form of alternative medicine based on pseudoscientific and occult notions rather than in science-based medicine.<ref name="teils">Template:Cite journal Cited in Template:Cite journal</ref>

Most anthroposophic medical preparations are highly diluted, like homeopathic remedies, while harmless in of themselves, using them in place of conventional medicine to treat illness is ineffective and risks adverse consequences.<ref name="krit">Template:Cite journal</ref>

One of the most studied applications has been the use of mistletoe extracts in cancer therapy,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but research has found no evidence of benefit.<ref name="coch-2010">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="ACS">Template:Cite book</ref>

Special needs education and services

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:See also In 1922, Ita Wegman founded an anthroposophical center for special needs education, the Sonnenhof, in Switzerland. In 1940, Karl König founded the Camphill Movement in Scotland. The latter in particular has spread widely, and there are now over a hundred Camphill communities and other anthroposophical homes for children and adults in need of special care in about 22 countries around the world.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Both Karl König, Thomas Weihs and others have written extensively on these ideas underlying Special education.<ref name="König 2009 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Weihs 2000 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref>

Architecture

File:First Goetheanum.jpg

The first Goetheanum, designed by Steiner in 1920, Dornach, Switzerland

Steiner designed around thirteen buildings in an organic—expressionist architectural style.<ref>Sharp, Dennis, Rudolf Steiner and the Way to a New Style in Architecture, Architectural Association Journal, June 1963</ref><ref>Sokolina, Anna P. "Biology in Architecture: The Goetheanum Case Study." In: The Routledge Companion to Biology in Art and Architecture, edited by Ch. Terranova and M. Tromble, 52–70. New York and London: Routledge, 2017. 546p.</ref> Foremost among these are his designs for the two Goetheanum buildings in Dornach, Switzerland.<ref>Sokolina, Anna. "Modernist Topologies: The Goetheanum in Building." In Modernity and Construction of Sacred Space, edited by Aaron French and Katharina Waldner, 149–168. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024. ISBN 9783111061382 and 9783111062624. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111062624-008.</ref> Thousands of further buildings have been built by later generations of anthroposophic architects.<ref name="Verlag Freies Geistesleben 1982 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Sokolina, Anna, ed., co-author, Architecture and Anthroposophy. (Arkhitektura i Antroposofiia. bilingual ed.) 1st and 2nd edition. 268p. M.: KMK Scientific Press. 2001, Template:ISBN. 2010, Template:ISBN.</ref>

Architects who have been strongly influenced by the anthroposophic style include Imre Makovecz in Hungary,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hans Scharoun and Joachim Eble in Germany, Erik Asmussen in Sweden, Kenji Imai in Japan, Thomas Rau, Anton Alberts and Max van Huut in the Netherlands, Christopher Day and Camphill Architects in the UK, Thompson and Rose in America, Denis Bowman in Canada, and Walter Burley Griffin<ref name="WBGriffin">Paull, John (2012) Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, Architects of Anthroposophy Template:Webarchive, Journal of Bio-Dynamics Tasmania, 106:20–30.</ref> and Gregory Burgess in Australia.<ref name="Raab Klingborg Fant 1979 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Pearson 2001 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Sokolina, Anna, "The Goetheanum Culture in Modern Architecture." In: Science, Education and Experimental Design (Nauka, obrazovaniie i eksperimental'noie proiektirovaniie. Trudy MARKHI) (In Russian), edited by D.O. Shvidkovsky, G.V. Yesaulov, et al., 157–159. Moscow: MARKHI, 2014. 536p.</ref> ING House in Amsterdam is a contemporary building by an anthroposophical architect which has received awards for its ecological design and approach to a self-sustaining ecology as an autonomous building and example of sustainable architecture.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Eurythmy

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Together with Marie von Sivers, Steiner developed eurythmy, a performance art combining dance, speech, and music.<ref name="Poplawski 1998 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Ogletree, Earl J. Eurythmy: A therapeutic art of movement Template:Webarchive Journal of Special Education Fall 1976 vol. 10 no. 3 305–319 {{#invoke:doi|main}}</ref>

Social finance and entrepreneurship

Template:See also Around the world today are a number of banks, companies, charities, and schools for developing co-operative forms of business using Steiner's ideas about economic associations, aiming at harmonious and socially responsible roles in the world economy.<ref name="Essential" /> The first anthroposophic bank was the Gemeinschaftsbank für Leihen und Schenken in Bochum, Germany, founded in 1974.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Socially responsible banks founded out of anthroposophy include Triodos Bank, founded in the Netherlands in 1980 and also active in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Spain and France.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Other examples include Cultura Sparebank which dates from 1982 when a group of Norwegian anthroposophists began an initiative for ethical banking but only began to operate as a savings bank in Norway in the late 90s, La Nef in France and RSF Social Financein San Francisco.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Harvard Business School historian Geoffrey Jones traced the considerable impact both Steiner and later anthroposophical entrepreneurs had on the creation of many businesses in organic food, ecological architecture and sustainable finance.<ref name="Jones2017">Template:Cite book</ref>

Organizational development, counselling and biography work

Bernard Lievegoed, a psychiatrist, founded a new method of individual and institutional development oriented towards humanizing organizations and linked with Steiner's ideas of the threefold social order. This work is represented by the NPI Institute for Organizational Development in the Netherlands and sister organizations in many other countries.<ref name="Essential" />

Speech and drama

There are also anthroposophical movements to renew speech and drama, the most important of which are based in the work of Marie Steiner-von Sivers (speech formation, also known as Creative Speech) and the Chekhov Method originated by Michael Chekhov (nephew of Anton Chekhov).<ref>Byckling, L: Michael Chekhov as Actor, Teacher and Director in the West Template:Webarchive. Toronto Slavic Quarterly No 1 — Summer 2002. University of Toronto, Academic Electronic Journal in Slavic Studies.</ref>

Art

File:Groupeenbois.jpg

The Representative of Humanity, by Rudolf Steiner and Edith Maryon

Anthroposophic painting, a style inspired by Rudolf Steiner, featured prominently in the first Goetheanum's cupola. The technique frequently begins by filling the surface to be painted with color, out of which forms are gradually developed, often images with symbolic-spiritual significance. Paints that allow for many transparent layers are preferred, and often these are derived from plant materials.Template:Sfn Rudolf Steiner appointed the English sculptor Edith Maryon as head of the School of Fine Art at the Goetheanum.<ref name="EM">Paull, John (2018) A Portrait of Edith Maryon: Artist and Anthroposophist Template:Webarchive, Journal of Fine Arts, 1(2):8–15.</ref> Together they carved the 9-metre tall sculpture titled The Representative of Humanity, on display at the Goetheanum.<ref name=EM/>

Other

File:Flowform Vortex Garten Darmstadt.jpg

Flowforms in Darmstadt, Germany

• Phenomenological approaches to science, pseudo-scientific<ref name="pssci"/> ideas based on Goethe's philosophy of nature.<ref name="Essential" />
• John Wilkes' fountain-like flowforms, sculptural forms that guide water into rhythmic movement for the purposes of decoration.
• Antisemitic legislation in Italy (1938–1945).Template:Sfn
• The Fellowship Community in Chestnut Ridge, New York, United States, which includes a retirement community and other anthroposophic projects.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• The Harduf kibbutz in Israel.

Social goals

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} For a period after World War I, Steiner was extremely active and well known in Germany, in part because he lectured widely proposing social reforms. Steiner was a sharp critic of nationalism, which he saw as outdated, and a proponent of achieving social solidarity through individual freedom.<ref name="Essential" /> A petition proposing a radical change in the German constitution and expressing his basic social ideas (signed by Hermann Hesse, among others) was widely circulated. His main book on social reform is Toward Social Renewal.<ref name="Essential" />

Anthroposophy continues to aim at reforming society through maintaining and strengthening the independence of the spheres of cultural life, human rights and the economy. It emphasizes a particular ideal in each of these three realms of society:<ref name="Essential" />

• Liberty in cultural life
• Equality of rights, the sphere of legislation
• Fraternity in the economic sphere

According to Cees Leijenhorst, "Steiner outlined his vision of a new political and social philosophy that avoids the two extremes of capitalism and socialism."<ref name="Hanegraaff Faivre van den Broek Brach 2005 p. 1090">Template:Cite book</ref>

Steiner did influence Italian Fascism, which exploited "his racial and anti-democratic dogma."<ref name="Pilkington Sutcliffe 2023 p. 194">Template:Cite book</ref> The fascist ministers Giovanni Antonio Colonna di Cesarò<ref name="c227">Template:Cite book</ref> (nicknamed "the Anthroposophist duke"; he became antifascist after taking part in Benito Mussolini's government<ref name="peter">Template:Cite book</ref>) and Ettore Martinoli have openly expressed their sympathy for Rudolf Steiner.<ref name="Pilkington Sutcliffe 2023 p. 194" /> Most from the occult pro-fascist UR Group were Anthroposophists.Template:Sfn<ref name="turris">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="beraldo">Template:Cite book</ref>

According to Egil Asprem, "Steiner's teachings had a clear authoritarian ring, and developed a rather crass polemic against 'materialism', 'liberalism', and cultural 'degeneration'. [...] For example, anthroposophical medicine was developed to contrast with the 'materialistic' (and hence 'degenerate') medicine of the establishment."Template:Sfn

Esoteric path

Paths of spiritual development

According to Steiner, a real spiritual world exists, evolving along with the material one. Steiner held that the spiritual world can be researched in the right circumstances through direct experience, by persons practicing rigorous forms of ethical and cognitive self-discipline. Steiner described many exercises he said were suited to strengthening such self-discipline; the most complete exposition of these is found in his book How To Know Higher Worlds. The aim of these exercises is to develop higher levels of consciousness through meditation and observation. Details about the spiritual world, Steiner suggested, could on such a basis be discovered and reported, though no more infallibly than the results of natural science.<ref name="Schneider" />

Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge, to guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe…. Anthroposophists are those who experience, as an essential need of life, certain questions on the nature of the human being and the universe, just as one experiences hunger and thirst.<ref>Steiner, Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts (1924)</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Steiner regarded his research reports as being important aids to others seeking to enter into spiritual experience. He suggested that a combination of spiritual exercises (for example, concentrating on an object such as a seed), moral development (control of thought, feelings and will combined with openness, tolerance and flexibility) and familiarity with other spiritual researchers' results would best further an individual's spiritual development. He consistently emphasised that any inner, spiritual practice should be undertaken in such a way as not to interfere with one's responsibilities in outer life.<ref name="Schneider" /> Steiner distinguished between what he considered were true and false paths of spiritual investigation.<ref>True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigation, first English edition 1927 (online [2]), 2010 edition Kessinger Publishing Company Template:ISBN</ref>

In anthroposophy, artistic expression is also treated as a potentially valuable bridge between spiritual and material reality.<ref name=Lindenberg/>Template:Rp

Prerequisites to and stages of inner development

A person seeking inner development must first of all make the attempt to give up certain formerly held inclinations. Then, new inclinations must be acquired by constantly holding the thought of such inclinations, virtues or characteristics in one's mind. They must be so incorporated into one's being that a person becomes enabled to alter his soul by his own will-power. This must be tried as objectively as a chemical might be tested in an experiment. A person who has never endeavored to change his soul, who has never made the initial decision to develop the qualities of endurance, steadfastness and calm logical thinking, or a person who has such decisions but has given up because he did not succeed in a week, a month, a year or a decade, will never conclude anything inwardly about these truths.{{#if:Rudolf Steiner"On the Inner Life",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Steiner's stated prerequisites to beginning on a spiritual path include a willingness to take up serious cognitive studies, a respect for factual evidence, and a responsible attitude. Central to progress on the path itself is a harmonious cultivation of the following qualities:<ref name="Willmann" />

• Control over one's own thinking
• Control over one's will
• Composure
• Positivity
• Impartiality

Steiner sees meditation as a concentration and enhancement of the power of thought. By focusing consciously on an idea, feeling or intention the meditant seeks to arrive at pure thinking, a state exemplified by but not confined to pure mathematics. In Steiner's view, conventional sensory-material knowledge is achieved through relating perception and concepts. The anthroposophic path of esoteric training articulates three further stages of supersensory knowledge, which do not necessarily follow strictly sequentially in any single individual's spiritual progress.Template:Sfn<ref name="Stein">Stein, W. J., Die moderne naturwissenschaftliche Vorstellungsart und die Weltanschauung Goethes, wie sie Rudolf Steiner vertritt, reprinted in Meyer, Thomas, W.J. Stein / Rudolf Steiner, pp. 267–75; 256–7.</ref>

• By focusing on symbolic patterns, images, and poetic mantras, the meditant can achieve consciously directed Imaginations that allow sensory phenomena to appear as the expression of underlying beings of a soul-spiritual nature.
• By transcending such imaginative pictures, the meditant can become conscious of the meditative activity itself, which leads to experiences of expressions of soul-spiritual beings unmediated by sensory phenomena or qualities. Steiner calls this stage Inspiration.
• By intensifying the will-forces through exercises such as a chronologically reversed review of the day's events, the meditant can achieve a further stage of inner independence from sensory experience, leading to direct contact, and even union, with spiritual beings ("Intuition") without loss of individual awareness.Template:Sfn

Spiritual exercises

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Steiner described numerous exercises he believed would bring spiritual development; other anthroposophists have added many others. A central principle is that "for every step in spiritual perception, three steps are to be taken in moral development." According to Steiner, moral development reveals the extent to which one has achieved control over one's inner life and can exercise it in harmony with the spiritual life of other people; it shows the real progress in spiritual development, the fruits of which are given in spiritual perception. It also guarantees the capacity to distinguish between false perceptions or illusions (which are possible in perceptions of both the outer world and the inner world) and true perceptions: i.e., the capacity to distinguish in any perception between the influence of subjective elements (i.e., viewpoint) and objective reality.<ref name="Schneider" />

Place in Western philosophy

Steiner built upon Goethe's conception of an imaginative power capable of synthesizing the sense-perceptible form of a thing (an image of its outer appearance) and the concept we have of that thing (an image of its inner structure or nature). Steiner added to this the conception that a further step in the development of thinking is possible when the thinker observes his or her own thought processes. "The organ of observation and the observed thought process are then identical, so that the condition thus arrived at is simultaneously one of perception through thinking and one of thought through perception."<ref name="Schneider" />

Thus, in Steiner's view, we can overcome the subject-object divide through inner activity, even though all human experience begins by being conditioned by it. In this connection, Steiner examines the step from thinking determined by outer impressions to what he calls sense-free thinking. He characterizes thoughts he considers without sensory content, such as mathematical or logical thoughts, as free deeds. Steiner believed he had thus located the origin of free will in our thinking, and in particular in sense-free thinking.<ref name="Schneider" />

Some of the epistemic basis for Steiner's later anthroposophical work is contained in the seminal work, Philosophy of Freedom.<ref name="Pifer 1991 p. ">Template:Cite book See also Steiner's doctoral thesis, Truth and Science</ref> In his early works, Steiner sought to overcome what he perceived as the dualism of Cartesian idealism and Kantian subjectivism by developing Goethe's conception of the human being as a natural-supernatural entity, that is: natural in that humanity is a product of nature, supernatural in that through our conceptual powers we extend nature's realm, allowing it to achieve a reflective capacity in us as philosophy, art and science.<ref name="Tarnas">Template:Cite book</ref> Steiner was one of the first European philosophers to overcome the subject-object split in Western thought.<ref name="Tarnas" /> Though not well known among philosophers, his philosophical work was taken up by Owen Barfield (and through him influenced the Inklings, an Oxford group of Christian writers that included J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis).<ref name="Myers 1994 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref>

Christian and Jewish mystical thought have also influenced the development of anthroposophy.<ref>Hans-Jürgen Bader, Lorenzo Ravagli, Rudolf Steiner als aktiver Gegner des Antisemitismus, Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen, 2005</ref><ref name="Paddock Spiegler 2003 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref>

Union of science and spirit

Steiner believed in the possibility of applying the clarity of scientific thinking to spiritual experience, which he saw as deriving from an objectively existing spiritual world.<ref name="Lindenberg">Christoph Lindenberg, Rudolf Steiner, Rowohlt 1992, Template:ISBN</ref>Template:Rp Steiner identified mathematics, which attains certainty through thinking itself, thus through inner experience rather than empirical observation,<ref>Albert Einstein, Geometry and Experience Template:Webarchive</ref> as the basis of his epistemology of spiritual experience.<ref>Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy and Science, lecture of March 16, 1921</ref>

Anthroposophy regards mainstream science as Ahrimanic.<ref name="Ahrimanic">Sources for 'Ahrimanic':Template:Bulleted list</ref>

Relationship to religion

Esoteric School

The Esoteric School of the Anthroposophical Society originated, directly and indirectly, from "the many pansophical and occult groups belonging to high-grade Masonry", going through the Theosophical Society and Ordo Templi Orientis.<ref name="d553">Template:Cite book</ref> Steiner had the Masonic degrees 33 and 95.<ref name="n238">Template:Cite book</ref>

Christ as the center of earthly evolution

Steiner's writing, though appreciative of all religions and cultural developments, emphasizes Western tradition as having evolved to meet contemporary needs.<ref name="Lachman" /> He describes Christ and his mission on earth of bringing individuated consciousness as having a particularly important place in human evolution,<ref name="Essential" /> whereby:<ref name="Willmann" />

• Christianity has evolved out of previous religions;
• The being which manifests in Christianity also manifests in all faiths and religions, and each religion is valid and true for the time and cultural context in which it was born;
• All historical forms of Christianity need to be transformed considerably to meet the continuing evolution of humanity.

Spiritual science does not want to usurp the place of Christianity; on the contrary it would like to be instrumental in making Christianity understood. Thus it becomes clear to us through spiritual science that the being whom we call Christ is to be recognized as the center of life on earth, that the Christian religion is the ultimate religion for the earth's whole future. Spiritual science shows us particularly that the pre-Christian religions outgrow their one-sidedness and come together in the Christian faith. It is not the desire of spiritual science to set something else in the place of Christianity; rather it wants to contribute to a deeper, more heartfelt understanding of Christianity.<ref>Rudolf Steiner,"Anthroposophy and Christianity"</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Thus, anthroposophy considers there to be a being who unifies all religions, and who is not represented by any particular religious faith. This being is, according to Steiner, not only the Redeemer of the Fall from Paradise, but also the unique pivot and meaning of earth's evolutionary processes and of human history.<ref name="Willmann" /> To describe this being, Steiner periodically used terms such as the "Representative of Humanity" or the "good spirit"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> rather than any denominational term.

Divergence from conventional Christian thought

Steiner's views of Christianity diverge from conventional Christian thought in key places, and include gnosticTemplate:Efn-lr elements:

• One central point of divergence is Steiner's views on reincarnation and karma.
• Steiner differentiated three contemporary paths by which he believed it possible to arrive at Christ:
  • Through heart-felt experiences of the Gospels; Steiner described this as the historically dominant path, but becoming less important in the future.
  • Through inner experiences of a spiritual reality; this Steiner regarded as increasingly the path of spiritual or religious seekers today.
  • Through initiatory experiences whereby the reality of Christ's death and resurrection are experienced; Steiner believed this is the path people will increasingly take.<ref name="Willmann" />
• Steiner also believed that there were two different Jesus children involved in the Incarnation of the Christ: one child descended from Solomon, as described in the Gospel of Matthew, the other child from Nathan, as described in the Gospel of Luke.<ref name="Essential" /><ref name="aspremthesis" /><ref name="x337">Template:Cite book</ref> (The genealogies given in the two gospels diverge some thirty generations before Jesus' birth, and 'Jesus' was a common name in biblical times.)
• His view of the second coming of Christ is also unusual; he suggested that this would not be a physical reappearance, but that the Christ being would become manifest in non-physical form, visible to spiritual vision and apparent in community life for increasing numbers of people beginning around the year 1933.<ref>Rudolf Steiner, "The Appearance of Christ in the Etheric World"</ref>
• He emphasized his belief that in the future humanity would need to be able to recognize the Spirit of Love in all its genuine forms, regardless of what name would be used to describe this being. He also warned that the traditional name of the Christ might be misused, and the true essence of this being of love ignored.

Monty Waldin notes that the two Jesus children sound heretical to mainstream Christians.<ref name="i757">Template:Cite book</ref>

Anthony Mellors states that Steiner's interpretation of the Bible is heretical.<ref name="n565">Template:Cite book</ref>

C.G. Jung{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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According to Jane Gilmer, "Jung and Steiner were both versed in ancient gnosis and both envisioned a paradigmatic shift in the way it was delivered."<ref name="Gilmer 2021 p. 41">Template:Cite book</ref>

As Gilles Quispel put it, "After all, Theosophy is a pagan, Anthroposophy a Christian form of modern Gnosis."<ref name="Layton 1980 p. ">Sources for 'Quispel':Template:Bulleted list</ref>

Maria Carlson stated "Theosophy and Anthroposophy are fundamentally Gnostic systems in that they posit the dualism of Spirit and Matter."<ref name="Livak 2018 p. 58">Template:Cite book</ref> She also stated that Theosophy and Anthroposophy "are both modern gnostic doctrines."<ref name="d438">Template:Cite book</ref>

R. McL. Wilson in The Oxford Companion to the Bible agrees that Steiner and Anthroposophy are under the influence of gnosticism.<ref name="Metzger Coogan 1993 p. 256">Template:Cite book</ref>

Robert A. McDermott says Anthroposophy belongs to Christian Rosicrucianism.<ref name="Eliade 1987 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="g904">Template:Cite book</ref> According to Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Rudolf Steiner "blended modern Theosophy with a Gnostic form of Christianity, Rosicrucianism, and German Naturphilosophie".<ref name="Steiner Seddon Goodrick-Clarke 2004 p. 7">Template:Cite book</ref>

Geoffrey Ahern states that Anthroposophy belongs to neo-gnosticism broadly conceived, which he identifies with Western esotericism and occultism.<ref name="Ahern 2009 p. 11">Template:Cite book</ref>

Stefanie von Schnurbein briefly agrees that Steiner propagated Gnostic Christianity.<ref name="i639">Template:Cite book</ref>

Was Steiner a Gnostic? Yes and no. Yes, from the point of view that he offered insights and methods for a personal experience of Christ. I have formulated this aspect of his work as his hermeneutical key: 'not I, but Christ in me'. No, from the point of view that he was not trying to reestablish Gnosticism's practices into a neo-gnostic tradition. Steiner was, in his times, well aware of concerns articulated more recently by Pope Francis about the two subtle enemies of holiness, contemporary Gnosticism and contemporary Pelagianism.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>{{#if:Template:Harvnb|{{#if:|}}

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Granted that Steiner included Gnostic elements in his cosmological reinterpretation of Christianity, many of them from the Pistis Sophia, Steiner was not a Gnostic in the sense of someone who held that the world was ruled by a demiurge, that matter was evil, or that it was possible to escape from this fallen universe by acquiring secret spiritual knowledge. To characterize the structure of his thought as derived from Syrio-Egyptian gnosis (Ahern 2010) may be too strong and plays down the fact that he was critical of early Gnostic Christianity as having no adequate idea of Jesus as a man of flesh and blood.<ref name="v029">Template:Cite book apud Template:Harvnb</ref>{{#if:Template:Harvnb|{{#if:|}}

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According to Catholic scholars Anthroposophy belongs to the New Age.<ref name="q189">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Elizabeth Dipple stated that Rudolf Steiner's system was a "neo-Platonic, semi-Gnostic, occult anthroposophical system [...] with its allegiance to mystical Christianity, Rosicrucianism and certain versions of spiritualism [...]".<ref name="y640">Template:Cite book</ref>

According to Heiner Ullrich, Steiner's point of view was that of a "neo-Platonic gnostic".Template:Sfn Gareth Knight agrees that Steiner was neo-Platonic.<ref name="c803">Template:Cite book</ref> Brandt and Hammer describe Steiner's anthropology (spirit, soul, and body) as neo-Platonic.Template:Sfn

Carl Abrahamsson stated that Steiner posited a gnostic Christ.<ref name="a836">Template:Cite book</ref>

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke described Anthroposophy as a [modern] offshoot of Ancient Gnosticism, especially of "the aeons of the Valentinian pleroma".<ref name="b670">Template:Cite book</ref>

Steiner's theology is "redemption through sin", he accuses good Christians of killing the spirit of Christianity.Template:Sfn

Judaism

Rudolf Steiner wrote and lectured on Judaism and Jewish issues over much of his adult life. He was a fierce opponent of popular antisemitism, but asserted that there was no justification for the existence of Judaism and Jewish culture in the modern world, a radical assimilationist perspective which saw the Jews completely integrating into the larger society.<ref>Jan-Erik Ebbestad Hansen, The Jews – Teachers of the Nazis? Template:Webarchive In: NORDEUROPAforum. Journal for the Study of Culture. Yearbook 2015. Humboldt University Berlin. {{#if:1863-639X|Template:Catalog lookup link{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-smallTemplate:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-smallTemplate:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-smallTemplate:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-smallTemplate:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-smallTemplate:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-smallTemplate:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-smallTemplate:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-smallTemplate:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-smallTemplate:Main other}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}|Template:Error-small}}.</ref><ref name="Peter">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Ralf">Ralf Sonnenberg, "Judentum, Zionismus und Antisemitismus aus der Sicht Rudolf Steiners" Template:Webarchive</ref> He also supported Émile Zola's position in the Dreyfus affair.<ref name=Ralf/> Steiner emphasized Judaism's central importance to the constitution of the modern era in the West but suggested that to appreciate the spirituality of the future it would need to overcome its tendency toward abstraction.

Steiner financed the publication of the book Die Entente-Freimaurerei und der Weltkrieg (1919) by Template:Ill; Steiner also wrote the foreword for the book, partly based upon his own ideas.<ref name="Piraino Pasi Asprem 2022 p. 126">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The publication comprised a conspiracy theory according to whom World War I was a consequence of a collusion of Freemasons and Jews – still favorite scapegoats of the conspiracy theorists – their purpose being the destruction of Germany. Fact is that Steiner spent a large sum of money for publishingTemplate:Sfn "a now classic work of anti-Masonry and anti-Judaism".<ref name="Piraino Pasi Asprem 2022 p. 126" /> The writing was later enthusiastically received by the Nazi Party.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In his later life, Steiner was accused by the Nazis of being Jewish, and Adolf Hitler called anthroposophy "Jewish methods". The anthroposophical institutions in Germany were banned during Nazi rule and several anthroposophists sent to concentration camps.<ref name="Staudenmaierthesis" /><ref>Lorenzo Ravagli, Unter Hammer und Hakenkreuz: Der völkisch-nationalsozialistische Kampf gegen die Anthroposophie, Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Template:ISBN</ref> Later, the non-Aryan, the non-German, and the antifascist members of the direction board of the Anthroposophical Society were purged from it; it is unclear if that happened due to Nazi ideology or for other reasons, but the purge clearly brought the Anthroposophic Society closer to Nazism.Template:Sfn

Important early anthroposophists who were Jewish included two central members on the executive boards of the precursors to the modern Anthroposophical Society,<ref>Adolf Arenson Template:Webarchive (board member 1904–1913) and Carl Unger Template:Webarchive (board member 1908–1923)</ref> and Karl König, the founder of the Camphill movement, who had converted to Christianity.Template:Sfn Martin Buber and Hugo Bergmann, who viewed Steiner's social ideas as a solution to the Arab–Jewish conflict, were also influenced by anthroposophy.<ref name="Paddock Spiegler 2003 p. " />

There are numerous anthroposophical organisations in Israel, including the anthroposophical kibbutz Harduf, founded by Jesaiah Ben-Aharon, forty Waldorf kindergartens and seventeen Waldorf schools (as of 2018).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A number of these organizations are striving to foster positive relationships between the Arab and Jewish populations: The Harduf Waldorf school includes both Jewish and Arab faculty and students, and has extensive contact with the surrounding Arab communities, while the first joint Arab-Jewish kindergarten was a Waldorf program in Hilf near Haifa.

Christian Community

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Towards the end of Steiner's life, a group of theology students (primarily Lutheran, with some Roman Catholic members) approached Steiner for help in reviving Christianity, in particular "to bridge the widening gulf between modern science and the world of spirit".<ref name="Essential" /> They approached a notable Lutheran pastor, Friedrich Rittelmeyer, who was already working with Steiner's ideas, to join their efforts. Out of their co-operative endeavor, the Movement for Religious Renewal, now generally known as The Christian Community, was born. Steiner emphasized that he considered this movement, and his role in creating it, to be independent of his anthroposophical work,<ref name="Essential" /> as he wished anthroposophy to be independent of any particular religion or religious denomination.<ref name="Willmann" />

Reception

Anthroposophy's supporters include Saul Bellow,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> Selma Lagerlöf,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> Andrei Bely,<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> Joseph Beuys,<ref name=":4">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Owen Barfield, architect Walter Burley Griffin,<ref name=WBGriffin/> Wassily Kandinsky,<ref name=":6">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Andrei Tarkovsky,<ref name=":8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bruno Walter,<ref name=":9">Bruno Walter, "Mein Weg zur Anthroposophie". In: Das Goetheanum 52 (1961), 418–2</ref> Right Livelihood Award winners Sir George Trevelyan,<ref name=":10">B J Nesfield-Cookson, "Rudolf Steiner" Template:Webarchive from Sir George Trevelyan: thoughts and writings</ref> and Ibrahim Abouleish,<ref name="Abouleish 2005 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref> and child psychiatrist Eva Frommer.<ref name="Frommer 1995 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":13">Fiona Subotsky, Eva Frommer (Obituary) Template:Webarchive, 29 April 2005. {{#invoke:doi|main}}</ref>

The historian of religion Olav Hammer has termed anthroposophy "the most important esoteric society in European history."<ref name=Hammer/> However authors, scientists, and physicians including Michael Shermer, Michael Ruse, Edzard Ernst, David Gorski, and Simon Singh have criticized anthroposophy's application in the areas of medicine, biology, agriculture, and education to be dangerous and pseudoscientific.<ref name="dangerous" /> Others including former Waldorf pupil Dan Dugan and historian Geoffrey Ahern have criticized anthroposophy itself as a dangerous quasi-religious movement that is fundamentally anti-rational and anti-scientific.<ref>Sources for 'anti-rational' or 'anti-scientific':Template:Bulleted list</ref>

Scientific basis

Though Rudolf Steiner studied natural science at the Vienna Technical University at the undergraduate level, his doctorate was in epistemology and very little of his work is directly concerned with the empirical sciences. In his mature work, when he did refer to science it was often to present phenomenological or Goethean science as an alternative to what he considered the materialistic science of his contemporaries.<ref name=Hammer/>

Steiner's primary interest was in applying the methodology of science to realms of inner experience and the spiritual worlds (his appreciation that the essence of science is its method of inquiry is unusual among esotericists<ref name=Hammer/>), and Steiner called anthroposophy Geisteswissenschaft (science of the mind, cultural/spiritual science), a term generally used in German to refer to the humanities and social sciences.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Whether this is a sufficient basis for anthroposophy to be considered a spiritual science has been a matter of controversy.<ref name="Willmann">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Hammer/> As Freda Easton explained in her study of Waldorf schools, "Whether one accepts anthroposophy as a science depends upon whether one accepts Steiner's interpretation of a science that extends the consciousness and capacity of human beings to experience their inner spiritual world."<ref name="Easton 1995 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref>

Sven Ove Hansson has disputed anthroposophy's claim to a scientific basis, stating that its ideas are not empirically derived and neither reproducible nor testable.<ref name="Sven Ove" /> Carlo Willmann points out that as, on its own terms, anthroposophical methodology offers no possibility of being falsified except through its own procedures of spiritual investigation, no intersubjective validation is possible by conventional scientific methods; it thus cannot stand up to empiricist critics.<ref name="Willmann" /> Peter Schneider describes such objections as untenable, asserting that if a non-sensory, non-physical realm exists, then according to Steiner the experiences of pure thinking possible within the normal realm of consciousness would already be experiences of that, and it would be impossible to exclude the possibility of empirically grounded experiences of other supersensory content.<ref name="Schneider" />

Olav Hammer suggests that anthroposophy carries scientism "to lengths unparalleled in any other Esoteric position" due to its dependence upon claims of clairvoyant experience, its subsuming natural science under "spiritual science". Hammer also asserts that the development of what he calls "fringe" sciences such as anthroposophic medicine and biodynamic agriculture are justified partly on the basis of the ethical and ecological values they promote, rather than purely on a scientific basis.<ref name=Hammer/>

Though Steiner saw that spiritual vision itself is difficult for others to achieve, he recommended open-mindedly exploring and rationally testing the results of such research; he also urged others to follow a spiritual training that would allow them directly to apply his methods to achieve comparable results.<ref name="Schneider" />

Anthony Storr stated about Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy: "His belief system is so eccentric, so unsupported by evidence, so manifestly bizarre, that rational skeptics are bound to consider it delusional... But, whereas Einstein's way of perceiving the world by thought became confirmed by experiment and mathematical proof, Steiner's remained intensely subjective and insusceptible of objective confirmation."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

According to Dan Dugan, Steiner was a champion of the following pseudoscientific claims, also championed by Waldorf schools:

1. wrong color theory;<ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32" />
2. obtuse criticism of the theory of relativity;<ref name="Sven Ove">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32" />
3. weird ideas about motions of the planets;<ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32" />
4. supporting vitalism;<ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32" />
5. doubting germ theory;<ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32">Template:Cite book</ref>
6. weird approach to physiological systems;<ref name="FlynnDawkins2007" />
7. "the heart is not a pump".<ref name="FlynnDawkins2007">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn

The epistemology offered by anthroposophy represents a regression to pre-scientific modes of thought.<ref name="s518">Template:Cite book</ref>

Religious nature

Two German scholars have called Anthroposophy "the most successful form of 'alternative' religion in the [twentieth] century."Template:Sfn Other scholars stated that Anthroposophy is "aspiring to the status of religious dogma".Template:Sfn According to Maria Carlson, anthroposophy is a "positivistic religion" "offering a seemingly logical theology based on pseudoscience."Template:Sfn

According to Swartz, Brandt, Hammer, and Hansson, Anthroposophy is a religion.<ref name="religion">Sources for 'religion':Template:Bulleted list</ref> They also call it "settled new religious movement",Template:Sfn while Martin Gardner called it a cult.<ref>Sources for 'cult' or 'sect':Template:Bulleted list</ref> Another scholar also calls it a new religious movement or a new spiritual movement.Template:Sfn Already in 1924 Anthroposophy got labeled "new religious movement" and "occultist movement".Template:Sfn Other scholars agree it is a new religious movement.<ref name="newreli" /> According to Template:Ill, both the theory and practice of Anthroposophy display characteristics of religion, and, according to Zander, Rudolf Steiner would plead no contest.Template:Sfn According to Zander, Steiner's book Geheimwissenschaft [Occult Science] contains Steiner's mythology about cosmogenesis.Template:Sfn Hammer notices that Anthroposophy is a synthesis which does include occultism.<ref name="Lewis Tøllefsen 2015 p. 57">Template:Cite book</ref> Hammer also notices that Steiner's occult doctrines bear a strong resemblance to post-Blavatskyan Theosophy (e.g. Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater).<ref name="Partridge 2014 p. 350">Template:Cite book</ref> According to Helmut Zander, Steiner's clairvoyant insights always developed according to the same pattern. He took revised texts from theosophical literature and then passed them off as his own higher insights. Because he did not want to be an occult storyteller, but a (spiritual) scientist, he adapted his reading, which he had seen supernaturally in the world's memory, to the current state of technology. When, for example, the Wright brothers began flying with gliders and eventually with motorized aircraft in 1903, Steiner transformed the ponderous gondola airships of his Atlantis story into airplanes with elevators and rudders in 1904.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

As an explicitly spiritual movement, anthroposophy has sometimes been called a religious philosophy.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> In 1998 People for Legal and Non-Sectarian Schools (PLANS) started a lawsuit alleging that anthroposophy is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes and therefore several California school districts should not be chartering Waldorf schools; the lawsuit was dismissed in 2012 for failure to show anthroposophy was a religion.<ref>Template:Cite court</ref>Template:Primary source inline A 2012 paper in legal science reports this verdict as being provisional, and disagrees with its result, i.e. anthroposophy was declared "not a religion" due to an outdated legal framework.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2000, a French court ruled that a government minister's description of anthroposophy as a cult was defamatory.<ref>United States Department of State, U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2000 – France Template:Webarchive, 26 Feb. 2001</ref> The French governmental anti-cults agency MIVILUDES reported that it remains vigilant about Anthroposophy, especially because of its deviant medical applications and its work with underage persons, and that the works of Grégoire Perra which lambast anthroposophical medicine do not constitute defamation.<ref name="miviludes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Anthroposophical MDs think diseases are caused primarily by karma and demons, rather than materialistic causes.<ref name="miviludes" /> The Gospel of Luke is their main handbook of medical science; this makes them believe they have magical powers, and that medicine is essentially a form of magic.<ref name="miviludes" /> The professional French organization of Anthroposophic MDs have sued Mr. Perra for such claims; they have been condemned to pay 25,000 Euros damages for abusively suing him.<ref name="miviludes" />

Scholars state that Anthroposophy is influenced by Christian Gnosticism.<ref>Sources for 'Christian Gnosticism':Template:Bulleted list</ref> The Catholic Church did in 1919 issue an edict classifying Anthroposophy as "a neognostic heresy" despite the fact that Steiner "very well respected the distinctions on which Catholic dogma insists".<ref name="Diener Hipolito 2013 p. 77">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="k531">See also Template:Cite book</ref> The secular scholar Joan Braune agrees that Anthroposophy is Gnosticism.<ref name="d182">Template:Cite book</ref>

Some Baptist and mainstream academical heresiologists still appear inclined to agree with the more narrow prior edict of 1919<ref name="Ellwood Partin 2016 p.">Template:Cite book</ref> on dogma and the Lutheran (Missouri Sinod) apologist and heresiologist Eldon K. Winker quoted Ron Rhodes that Steiner's Christology is very similar to Cerinthus.<ref name="Winker 1994 p. ">Sources for 'Christology':Template:Bulleted list</ref> Steiner did perceive "a distinction between the human person Jesus, and Christ as the divine Logos",<ref name="Cees Christ">Template:Cite book</ref> which could be construed as Gnostic but not Docetic,<ref name="Cees Christ" /> since "they do not believe the Christ departed from Jesus prior to the crucfixion".<ref name="Winker 1994 p."/> "Steiner's Christology is discussed as a central element of his thought in Johannes Hemleben, Rudolf Steiner: A Documentary Biography, trans. Leo Twyman (East Grinstead, Sussex: Henry Goulden, 1975), pp. 96-100. From the perspective of orthodox Christianity, it may be said that Steiner combined a docetic understanding of Christ's nature with the Adoptionist heresy."<ref name="g483">Template:Cite book</ref> Older scholarship says Steiner's Christology is Nestorian.<ref name="k343">Template:Cite book</ref> According to Egil Asprem, "Steiner's Christology was, however, quite heterodox, and hardly compatible with official church doctrine."<ref name="aspremthesis">Template:Bulleted list</ref>

George Bălan wrote "Even before Nazism and communism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Catholicism had declared war on anthroposophy for daring to step into territory considered the privileged domain of the Church."<ref name="g311">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Statements on race

Rudolf Steiner was an extreme pan-German nationalist, and never disavowed such stance.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Some anthroposophical ideas challenged the National Socialist racialist and nationalistic agenda. In contrast, some American educators have criticized Waldorf schools for failing to equally include the fables and myths of all cultures, instead favoring European stories over African ones.

• From the mid-1930s on, National Socialist ideologues attacked the anthroposophical worldview as being opposed to Nazi racist and nationalistic principles; anthroposophy considered "Blood, Race and Folk" as primitive instincts that must be overcome.<ref>Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, 7. Februar 1935. BAD R 4901–3285.</ref><ref>Report of the SD-Hauptamtes Berlin: "Anthroposophy", May 1936, BAD Z/B I 904.</ref>
• An academic analysis of the educational approach in public schools noted that "[A] naive version of the evolution of consciousness, a theory foundational to both Steiner's anthroposophy and Waldorf education, sometimes places one race below another in one or another dimension of development. It is easy to imagine why there are disputes [...] about Waldorf educators' insisting on teaching Norse tales and Greek myths to the exclusion of African modes of discourse."<ref name="McDermott">Template:Cite journal</ref>

In response to such critiques, the Anthroposophical Society in America published in 1998 a statement clarifying its stance:

We explicitly reject any racial theory that may be construed to be part of Rudolf Steiner's writings. The Anthroposophical Society in America is an open, public society and it rejects any purported spiritual or scientific theory on the basis of which the alleged superiority of one race is justified at the expense of another race.<ref>The General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America (1998) Position Statement on Diversity.</ref>

Tommy Wieringa, a Dutch writer who grew among Anthroposophists, commenting upon an essay by the Anthroposophist Template:Ill, he wrote "It was a meeting of old acquaintances: Nazi leaders such as Rudolf Hess and Heinrich Himmler already recognized a kindred spirit in Rudolf Steiner, with his theories about racial purity, esoteric medicine and biodynamic agriculture."<ref name="NRC 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Brederode 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The racism of Anthroposophy is spiritual and paternalistic (i.e. benevolent), while the racism of fascism is materialistic and often malign.<ref name="Vukadinović 2022 p. 582">Template:Cite book</ref> Olav Hammer, university professor expert in new religious movements and Western esotericism, confirms that now the racist and anti-Semitic character of Steiner's teachings can no longer be denied, even if that is "spiritual racism".<ref name="confirm">Template:Cite journal</ref>

According to Munoz, in the materialist perspective (i.e. no reincarnations), Anthroposophy is racist, but in the spiritual perspective (i.e. reincarnations mandatory) it is not racist.Template:Sfn

Reception by Nazi regime in Germany

Though several prominent members of the Nazi Party were supporters of anthroposophy and its movements, including agriculturalist Template:Interlanguage link, SS colonel Hermann Schneider, and Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> anti-Nazis such as Traute Lafrenz, a member of the White Rose resistance movement, were also followers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rudolf Hess, the adjunct Führer, was a patron of Waldorf schools<ref name="Douglas-Hamilton 2012 p. 106">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Rieppel 2016 p. 246">Template:Cite book</ref> and a staunch defender of biodynamic agriculture.<ref name="Tucker 2018 p. 165">Template:Cite book</ref> "Before 1933, Himmler, Walther Darré (the future Reich Agriculture Minister), and Rudolf Höss (the future commandant of Auschwitz) had studied ariosophy and anthroposophy, belonged to the occult-inspired Artamanen movement, [...]"<ref name="Kurlander 2015 pp. 498–522">Template:Cite journal</ref>

"One of the most insightful contributions to this area is Peter Staudenmaier's case study of Anthroposophy, which has demonstrated the ambiguous role of Anthroposophists in fascist Italy and Nazi Germany."<ref name="o691">Template:Cite book</ref> According to Staudenmaier, the fascist and Nazi authorities saw occultism not as deviant, but as deeply familiar.<ref name="o691" />

See also

• Esoteric Christianity
• Esotericism in Germany and Austria
• Pneumatosophy
• Spiritual but not religious

External links

• Rudolf Steiner Archive (Steiner's works online)
• Steiner's complete works in German
• Rudolf Steiner Handbook (PDF; 56 MB)
• Goetheanum

Societies

• General Anthroposophical Society
• Anthroposophical Society in America
• Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain
• Template:Usurped
• Anthroposophical Society in Australia Template:Webarchive
• Anthroposophical Society in New Zealand