Customer Service 703-661-1594

Steiner and Kindred Spirits

Paperback
August 2015
9781621481362
More details
  • Publisher
    SteinerBooks
  • Published
    3rd August 2015
  • ISBN 9781621481362
  • Language English
  • Pages 436 pp.
  • Size 6" x 9"
$35.00

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), the Austrian founder of Anthroposophy, is frequently viewed by those familiar with his teaching as unique and separate from other spiritual teachers of our modern era. While, Steiner is thought by anthroposophists to be a scientist and a philosopher, as well as an interpreter of events depicted in Christian scriptures, he is nevertheless generally ignored by scientists and philosophers, as well as by both liberal and fundamentalist scriptural scholars and theologians. 

In this book, Robert McDermott—the editor of American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner, which investigates Steiner’s philosophy in the context of American philosophers—places Steiner and his work in the context of a variety of spiritual teachers and teachings, both Western and Eastern. In doing so, the reader is guided to new perspectives that show the similarities and contrasts between Steiner’s Spiritual Science and a number of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and secular spiritual worldviews.

The kindred spirits in this book include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, C.G. Jung, Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Buber, Sri Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhians, feminists, ecologists, and more. Steiner went as far up the spiritual ladder as any modern individual but, unlike some enthusiasts for Steiner, McDermott is also impressed by other reli-gious thinkers and spiritual practitioners who have been helpful to those of us in need of encouragement and guidance and whose vistas and insights may not have been researched or explained by Steiner.

For those with unbiased, open minds, this book presents a fresh look at Rudolf Steiner, a modern spiritual initiate, and his contributions to the world, along with a generous and appreciative view of his kindred spirits of our time.

C O N T E N T S:

Preface

1. Kindred Spirits
2. Steiner Alone
3. Philosophy
4. Evolution of Consciousness
5. Krishna, Buddha, and Christ
6. The Goddess Sophia
7. God, Evil, and Suffering
8. Social Justice
9. Education
10. Art and Aesthetics
11. On Behalf of Gaia
12. Spiritual Practice

Works Cited and Recommended
Index of Individuals and Concepts

Robert A. McDermott

Robert McDermott, Ph.D., is president emeritus and chair of the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). His publications include Radhakrishnan (1970); The Essential Aurobindo (1974, 1987); The Essential Steiner (1984); (with Rudolf Steiner) The Bhagavad Gita and the West (2009); and The New Essential Steiner (2009). He has also published on William James, Josiah Royce, M. K. Gandhi, the evolution of consciousness, and American thought. His administrative service includes president of the New York Center for Anthroposophy; president of the Rudolf Steiner [summer] Institute; chair of the board of Sunbridge College (New York) and of Rudolf Steiner College (California). He was a member of the council of the Anthroposophical Society in America (1996–2004). He is the founding chair of the board of the Sophia Project, an anthroposophic home in Oakland, California, for mothers and children at risk of homelessness. He is a Lindisfarne fellow, a Fetzer mentor, and a member of the Esalen Corportion.