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Reincarnation Edition 3

A Christian Perspective

Paperback
March 2018
9781782504740
More details
  • Publisher
    Floris Books
  • Published
    30th March 2018
  • ISBN 9781782504740
  • Language German
  • Pages 128 pp.
  • Size 5.4" x 8.5"
$19.95

Reincarnation—by which human beings return to live on earth—is a concept most often associated with Eastern philosophies rather than Christianity. In this fascinating book, Friedrich Rittelmeyer explores reincarnation from a Christian point of view, arguing that it has a place in modern Christian thought.

Reincarnation can sometimes be exploited to justify daydreams or imaginary past glories, or can harden into a legalistic reckonining of vice and virtue. Rittelmeyer's approach is different: joyous, essentially Christian, and full of a sense of freedom as he struggles to find a path through the pitfalls on the way to a Christ-filled acceptance of reincarnation.

Drawing on the work and inspiration of Rudolf Steiner, Rittelmeyer was able to encounter the cosmic truth of reincarnation and, wrestling with human doubt on every level, courageously grounds it in human reality.

C O N T E N T S:

Foreword by Stewart C. Easton
Introduction, by Richard Steel

Reincarnation in the Light of Thought
Reincarnation in the Light of Religion
Reincarnation in the Light of Ethics

Friedrich Rittelmeyer

Friedrich Rittelmeyer (1872–1938) was a Lutheran German minister, theologian, and the principal founder and first leader of The Christian Community. He came to prominence in the early 20th century as a leading academic liberal theologian and priest in Germany and wrote several books that advocated for a socially engaged "Christianity of deeds" (Tatchristentum). During World War I, he became one of the most high-profile clergy in Germany to publicly oppose the war. From the 1910s, his thinking was gradually influenced by Rudolf Steiner, and in 1922 a group of mainly Lutheran priests and theology students led by Rittelmeyer founded The Christian Community as an ecumenically oriented Christian community inspired by Steiner's writings. The Christian Community is primarily a liturgical community with a loose creed that rejects Christian dogmas. Rittelmeyer saw it as a continuation of the liberal Christian tradition of which he was the foremost representative in Germany in the early 20th century.