Echoes From Golgotha

Fundamentally, all of spiritual science ultimately aims to understand human beings in their essence, in their tasks and endeavours – in their necessary endeavours in the course of development.' – Rudolf Steiner. In the midst of the division and destruction of the Great War, Rudolf Steiner speaks of the spiritual unification of all human beings. Rather than preaching a traditional morality, however, he states esoteric facts as he perceives them, based on spiritual-scientific research. These observations relate to the powerful universal impulse of Christ – a healing spiritual force that works through the various nations and races, irrespective of creed or colour – as a source of potential unity. Rudolf Steiner describes this impulse as the central core of human evolution. It allows for a conscious and newly-acquired connection between all human beings, in the context of the continuing diversification and fragmentation of the human race. The central motif in these lectures relates to the appearance of Christ on earth – knowledge of his historical incarnation, as well as Christ's manifestation in the present and future periods of human development. Rudolf Steiner creates an arc from the pre-Christian mysteries through Gnosticism and the older studies of the early Church Fathers, to Scholasticism and neo-Scholasticism. After ancient faculties of clairvoyance had began to fade, he explains, human beings could no longer see beyond the world of outer appearances, and direct perceptions of Christ were therefore no longer possible. And so the question arose as to how limitations on human knowledge could be overcome – a question which remains pertinent in our time. Steiner asserts that only a transformation of thinking, enabling a living and conscious inner conceptual life, can allow for a true understanding of the relationship between the earthly Jesus and the cosmic Christ. Such living thinking leads in turn to direct experience. Other topics in this volume include the birth date of the 'two Jesus children'; the wisdom of Gnostic teachings; the provenance of the Cross; the mysteries of the Christmas festival; insights into ancient Christmas plays, and reflections on individual consciousness of karma in the future.

The spiritual world blesses the Earth at least 58 times a year-here's how you can join the party. Do you think folklore customs about solstices and equinoxes and other regular celebration days are quaint holdovers from the past? Not so. Do you sometimes wish there were a way to include the entire planet in a meditation practice? There is, and it's called the geomantic year. At least 58 times a year the spiritual world-angels, archangels, Ascended Masters, Star-Angels, even the Supreme Being-tunes in to the Earth, blesses, and even heals it in real-time day-long events. Our planet is constantly receiving input from the cosmos and heavenly realms. It's all part of a rhythmic maintenance calendar in which the Earth is enlivened, and all of humanity is invited to participate. This book shows you how. What kinds of events? On Epiphany, January 6, the Christ focuses on the planet to birth his Light. On Bifrost Paints the Planet, April 10, the Great Bear constellation envelopes the Earth in 14 rays of light. On Michaelmas, September 29, the Archangel Michael cleanses the Earth's sacred sites and all their "plumbing." Other events in the geomantic year involve stars, Nature Spirits, holy mountains, River-gods, Pleiadians, Hollow Earth dwellers, Grail Kings, volcano spirits, the Great Mother, and much more. The Geomantic Year documents 58 festival dates that focus on the Earth through its sacred sites, and it provides 58 simple meditations to help you participate. And it offers 12 informative essays linking Earth energies with hot topics such as the Illuminati and world control, parallel universes, the world's gold supply, the Ghost Dance, the Fall of Man, Earth and climate changes, and the apocalyptic year 2012. Why not get out your appointment book and pencil in a few dates: the Earth's expecting you!

Is Jesus mythological? And is he a mere product of his cultural milieu? Through narratological and social-scientific analysis of the gospel account, Barber systematically demonstrates that there are two opposing patterns structuring the gospel. The first is the pattern of this world, which is the combat myth, with a typical sequence of motifs having mythological meanings. It is lived out by everyone else in the accounts except Jesus, because this pattern of the world is the pattern of myth-culture, which is the pattern of the old Adam and sin nature. The pattern of Jesus is the pattern intended for Adam to walk in, and is the unique pattern of the new Adam, Jesus Christ. Jesus’s pattern inverts the sequence and subverts the significance of each and every motif and episode of the myth-culture’s pattern. Barber shows that Jesus’s “failure” to conform to this world’s mythological pattern establishes that he is not mythological, and not a product of his culture. As the apostle Peter states, “. . . we did not follow cleverly devised tales [myths] when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Pet 1:16).

Since the early 4th century, Christian pilgrims and visitors to Judea and Galilee have worshipped at and been inspired by monumental churches erected at sites traditionally connected with the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. This book examines the history and archaeology of early Christian holy sites and traditions connected with specific places in order to understand them as interpretations of Jesus and to explore them as instantiations of memories of him. Ryan's overarching aim is to construe these places as instantiations of what historian Pierre Nora has called “lieux de mémoires,” sites where memory crystallizes and, where possible, to track the course and development of the traditions underlying them from their genesis in the Gospel narratives to their eventual solidification in the form of pilgrimage sites. So doing will bring rarely considered evidence to the study of early Christian memory, which in turn helps to illuminate the person of Jesus himself in both history and reception.

An astute and thought-provoking analysis of the theologia crucis and the significance of Karl Barth as a modern exponent of this theological tradition. In this volume New Zealand theologian Rosalene Bradbury argues convincingly that tethered to the tradition that gave rise to it, the term theologia crucis references a theological system centered around notions of false and true glory, and an ancient conviction that from the cross of Jesus Christ comes a revelatory and a saving Word.