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Historically, the development of Christianity has often ended up in the hands of a select group – we encounter for example the idea of an original “inner circle” of Christ’s disciples and their successors. This is manifested in the present-day in the idea of the “Apostolic Succession” of the Pope of the Catholic Church who claims spiritual authority over the members of the Church based on an unbroken succession going back all the way to Saint Peter. Later, Martin Luther was a leading figure in the Protestant movements of Christianity which generally encouraged the development of individual understanding of Christian scriptures in every true Christian believer as the basis of true faith thus achieving individual redemption and salvation. Here emphasis was placed more upon individual understanding, but only within a circumscribed field of belief as prescribed by generally accepted Church tradition and upheld by individuals’ reading of canonical Christian scriptures. Movements such as Rosicrucianism, the Freemasons and related organizations arising especially in the time around and after the Renaissance emphasized a more private and esoteric relationship to Christianity, drawing freely on more ancient traditions such as Hermeticism and Gnosticism and Oriental approaches to spirituality as are found, for example, in the various expressions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the rise of many movements religious, spiritual and so-called “secular” many of which in different ways attempted to place the free individual even more at their centre in accordance with a new spirit and emphasis arising in the world. The vitality and originality of artistic work arising at this time also bears mentioning as a symptom of something new arising in the world. In this social and spiritual context Rudolf Steiner originally wrote his work “The Philosophy of Freedom” in the late nineteenth century. This work stands on its own in one sense but also relates most intimately to his later work, as he himself said on more than one occasion. “The Philosophy of Freedom” itself does not appear on first reading to be Christian in any sense – in fact, some passages could be read, especially out of context, as even being “anti Christian”. However it is my contention that this book is in a deeper sense a critical development in the evolution of Christianity despite this surface appearance. Steiner himself once gave a lecture entitled “Christianity Began as a Religion but is Greater than All Religions”. Only through realising the Being of Christ in our own lives encompassing our life in Community with others can we begin to realise the ideal implied in this as a force that is active now and on into the future. This discussion group is dedicated to the exploration of these and related issues.
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