The Rudolf Steiner Archive

82. The Old and New Testaments, Theosophy, and Art

[ 1 ] At the request of the Theosophical Society (Adyar), Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave a lecture on April 30 on The Old and New Testaments. The comparative study of different religions is one of the tasks the Theosophical Movement has set for itself. The common core of the religions is the concept of the dual nature of human beings and the struggle in which the higher, divine nature is to overcome the lower, earthly nature; it is the victory of the invisible over the visible. Another common view is that the microcosm of the human being corresponds to a macrocosm of nature. Religious texts indicate that behind visible, external nature stand invisible divine beings—the elder brothers of humanity—who, in ancient times, underwent the same struggle and achieved victory. The creation narratives of the Old Testament, which depict this struggle, arose from the visionary perception of an earlier stage of consciousness that preceded today’s clear, waking consciousness. The Old Testament now describes the development of a people whose community is founded on a shared bloodline; the soul of this national body is the God of the people (Yahweh). Development proceeds as the individual detaches himself as an individual from the national body; what was depicted in the struggle of the entire people must now continue within the individual. The promise of victory in this struggle is expressed at the end of the Old Testament. Christ Jesus was the first to establish the concept of a brotherhood based not on a bond of blood but on a communion of souls. This brotherhood took its beginning in Christianity; the Theosophical Movement is intended to serve its further development.

[ 2 ] On May 1, Dr. Steiner spoke about theosophy and art. If we want to understand the connection between theosophy and art, we must go back to a time when there was no art in its own right. It was not until the time of the Greeks that we see such art blossom, and indeed, it emerged from the Mysteries. There, God—who had descended, been buried in matter, and risen again in the human soul—was depicted, and from this primordial tragedy, which united beauty, truth, and divinity within itself, emerged what we today understand as art, science, and religion. The god of the primordial tragedy became the hero who struggles, suffers, and triumphs even in death. Thus, Greek art always presents itself to us in the garb of divinity. Pythagoras’s music is closely linked to the divine-spiritual; what he calls “sphere music” is known to all initiates whose senses are attuned to perceiving the spiritual worlds. Sculpture reveals the wisdom of the mysteries and piety in the guise of beauty; the development of humanity from an animal to a divine being—which was depicted in the mysteries—finds its expression in the three fundamental types of Greek sculpture: Zeus, Hermes, and the satyr. While Greek culture saw the God immersed in external nature, Christianity sought Him within the soul itself, thereby imparting to art an inward focus that found expression in Renaissance and Gothic painting. Thus it becomes evident that art rests upon the deepest foundations of worldview, and if Theosophy strives for a deepening of the life of the soul, it is thereby also particularly called upon to enrich art.