The Temple Sleep Of The Rich Young Ruler

Who wrote the Gospel of John? The author identifies himself only as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," and Christian tradition tells us that this disciple was the apostle John. However, during the past century, scholars have increasingly come to doubt that attribution. In 1902, Rudolf Steiner wrote that the author of the Gospel of John was in fact Lazarus. Steiner's position stemmed from his insight that Lazarus's encounter with death involved far more than people realized --an initiation into higher spiritual realities that uniquely qualified him to write this gospel. Edward Smith takes up this argument and shows that subsequent research has tended to favor Lazarus for reasons grounded in John's Gospel itself. More important, Smith shows that subsequent discoveries at Nag Hammadi and Mar Saba corroborate Steiner's reasoning about the nature of the raising of Lazarus, pointing to Lazarus as "the rich young ruler" of Mark's Gospel.

With this major work, Edward Reaugh Smith concludes his singular series on the Bible and Anthroposophy. Understanding the Book of Revelation presents the ultimate challenge to those who wish to penetrate its deepest meaning—a spiritual mountain whose summit has remained beyond reach to most people. Paradoxically, in spite of its name, Revelation is the most veiled and mysterious book in the Bible. A century ago, Rudolf Steiner opened a route to that summit. This book is the first extensive application of that priceless resource to the full text of Revelation. The substance of what Steiner tells us about John’s Revelation derives from the individuality who had that Apocalyptic Vision—he was a seer and visionary, and his account is esoteric and open only to such a seer. Smith presents Steiner as a seer who, for the first time since John wrote his Revelation, has penetrated the obscuring veil of this text. The scope of John’s vision and Steiner’s exposition covers the vast stretch of our human journey. Our ongoing involvement in that journey is not optional. We are each in it from beginning to end. This book is for those who would awake to it.

Many new and fruitful avenues of investigation open up when scholars consider forgery as a creative act rather than a crime. We invited authors to contribute work without imposing any restrictions beyond a willingness to consider new approaches to the subject of ancient fakes and forgeries.

In 1958, American historian of religion Morton Smith made an astounding discovery in the Mar Saba monastery in Jerusalem. Copied into the back of a seventeenth-century book was a lost letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-215 CE) that contained excerpts from a longer version of the Gospel of Mark written by Mark himself and circulating in Alexandria, Egypt. More than fifty years after its discovery, the origins of this Secret Gospel of Mark remain contentious. Some consider it an authentic witness to an early form of Mark, perhaps even predating canonical Mark. Some claim it is a medieval or premodern forgery created by a monastic scribe. And others argue it is a forgery created by Morton Smith himself. All these positions are addressed in the papers contained in this volume. Nine North American scholars, internationally recognized for their contributions to the study of Secret Mark, met at York University in Toronto, Canada, in April 2011 to examine recent developments in scholarship on the gospel and the letter in which it is found. Their results represent a substantial step forward in determining the origins of this mysterious and controversial text. List of Contributors: Scott G. Brown Tony Burke Stephen C. Carlson Bruce Chilton Craig A. Evans Paul Foster Charles W. Hedrick Peter Jeffery Allan J. Pantuck Marvin Meyer Hershel Shanks

12 lectures, Hamburg, May 18-31, 1908 (CW 103) "It was Steiner's intention in these lectures to establish the ways in which this Gospel and its author, Lazarus-John, the one Christ called the beloved disciple, provided one of the surest paths to an understanding of the profound relationship of Christ to each human person and to Earth.... He leads his audience, and us readers, to an understanding of Lazarus-John unknown even to the other three primary evangelists --Matthew, Mark, and Luke --who wrote their Gospels several decades before Lazarus-John." -- Robert McDermott (from the introduction) In these twelve profound lectures, Rudolf Steiner uncovers and reclaims the essential truths of Christianity, illuminating the Gospel of John in all its majesty, power, and far-reaching significance. Foremost among the revelations to be found here is the identity of the writer of John's Gospel --the risen Lazarus, the disciple whom the Lord loved. Lazarus-John, the first to be initiated by Christ Himself, wrote his Gospel out of the deepest wellsprings of knowledge, implanting within it vital spiritual forces. As Steiner states in the final lecture of this volume, "This Gospel is not a textbook but a force that can work within our souls." It is this force living in the words and rhythms of John's Gospel that purifies the soul, transforming it --in the language of esoteric Christianity --into the Virgin Sophia, receptive to the Holy Spirit. Along this path, we come to recognize that Christianity, far from being a codified system of beliefs, is a living power within the evolution of humanity, a power that is only at the beginning of its activity. What Steiner calls the Mystery of Golgotha --the death and resurrection of Christ --stands as the turning point of time, the event through which the Earth receives its meaning. The effects of this event, and the further activity of Christ as the Spirit of the Earth, will continue to evolve from year to year, century to century, until one day in the distant future, Christianity will fulfill its mission. This cannot happen, however, until Christianity is understood "in its true, spiritual form." This lecture cycle is an essential guide to understanding the true mission of Christianity, a guide to spiritualizing the Earth, transforming the Cosmos of Wisdom into the Cosmos of Love. As with all great books, The Gospel of John not only imparts knowledge --it can also change you. "Our lectures on the Gospel of John will have a double purpose. One will be the deepening of the concepts of anthroposophy themselves and their expansion in many directions, and the other will be to make this great document itself comprehensible by means of the thoughts that will arise in our souls in consequence of these deepened and expanded concepts. I beg you to hold clearly in mind that it is the intention of these lectures to proceed in these two directions. It should not be simply a question of arguments about this Gospel, but rather that by means of the latter we shall penetrate into the deep mysteries of existence. We should hold very clearly in mind how the perspective of anthroposophy must be developed when we are dealing with any of the great historical records handed down to us by the different religions of the world. -- Rudolf Steiner (lecture 1) This volume is a translation from German of Das Johannes-Evangelium (GA 103). Cover image: The Raising of Lazarus, by William Blake (1757-1827). Pencil, pen, ink, and watercolor on paper, 11.6" x 16". Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland.

12 lectures in various cities, March 21 - July 11, 1922 (CW 211) "We must understand that if we relate only to dead matter, we ourselves become dead and ahrimanic, but if we have sufficient courage and love for all the beings around us to relate to them directly (not to our dead ideas about them), we discover the Christ in everything and victorious spirit everywhere. When this happens, we may need to speak in ways that seem paradoxical to our contemporaries. We may need to speak about the individual spiritual beings that live in the solid and fluid elements and so forth. As long as we avoid talking about these beings, we are talking about a dead science that is not imbued with the Christ. To speak about them is to speak in a truly Christian sense. We must imbue all of our scientific activity with the Christ. More than that, we must also bring the Christ into all of our social efforts, all of our knowledge--in short, into all aspects of our life. The Mystery of Golgotha will truly bear fruit only through human strength, human efforts, and human love for each other. In this sense, Anthroposophy in all its details strives to imbue the world with the Christ." --Rudolf Steiner These lectures were given midway between World War I and Steiner's death in 1925. They will be of particular interest to anyone wanting to comprehend Rudolf Steiner's mature understanding of his mission: "enchristing" the world. The first two lectures constitute a call to arms or return to basics. Steiner speaks existentially and phenomenologically, building upon recognizable descriptions of actual experiences. His theme is the three states of consciousness (waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep), and he shows how these ordinary human functions have initiatory possibilities. The next four lectures deal with the evolution of consciousness in relation to the universal significance of the Christ event. Through the resurrection, Christ's being entered earthly evolution. As a result, we see the world differently. Where ancient humanity experienced, "Not I but the divine spirit around me," we can experience, "Not I, but the Christ in me." With this insight, we reach the heart of this volume--esoteric Christianity. For Steiner, our most important task as human beings is to learn to overcome death by uniting with the Christ, who overcame death. Humanity's survival depends upon the "enchristing" of the world. It is the purpose of Anthroposophy to bring this reality into world evolution, to enable all religions and all human beings to experience the new reality. The Sun Mystery and the Mystery of Death and Resurrection is the first complete English translation of Das Sonnenmysterium und das Mysterium von Tod und Auferstehung. Exoterisches und esoterisches Christentum (GA 211). Eight lectures were published in an earlier English translation as part of Festivals and their Meaning II: Easter (1956). Cover image: Burial, by Ninetta Sombart.

The Gospel of John occupies a special place among the four Gospels. Not only is it precise in its historical details and its descriptions of the events of Jesus' life and work – lending support to its claim of being an eye-witness account – but it also offers a deep insight into the person of Jesus Christ through his questions, statements and other utterances. In this perceptive book, Christian Community priest Johannes Lauten reflects upon the many layers of meaning in John's Gospel. He explores some of the less well-known figures surrounding Christ, examines recurring words and phrases such as the 'Son of Man' and the seven 'I am' statements, and illuminates themes like knowledge, faith, the workings of grace and Christ's path to the Cross. Lauten also considers the origins of the gospel and questions the accepted notion that it was written by John, the son of Zebedee and the brother of James. He suggests that the account of the raising of Lazarus, a story not recorded in the other gospels, holds the key to the true identity of the 'disciple whom Jesus loved'. his thought-provoking book will be of interest to biblical scholars and those wishing to gain a deeper insight into the central meaning of Christianity.