8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compassion, Love, and the nativity stories of Jesus, January 23, 2007
This review is from: According to Luke: The Gospel of Compassion and Love Revealed (Paperback)
These ten inspiring talks by Rudolf Steiner on Luke's much loved gospel about the birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ begins with an informative introduction by its editor, Robert McDermott. At the end of the book, McDermott supplies a "descriptive outline" elegantly summarizing each talk and helpfully comparing the Luke gospel to that of Mark with respect to the birth of Jesus. Throughout, Steiner's own descriptions are startling but persuasive. The incarnation of Christ into the body of Jesus required that two Jesus children be born to two separate couples in two different towns. Mark tells about one, Luke the other. The two Jesus children become one at the time of the cleansing of the temple, when they are about 12 years old, as both gospels agree. The composite human body of Jesus received the Christ in its thirtieth year, at the Baptism by John, after which the three year ministry of Christ on earth began. Steiner is able to show how so great an event as the word becoming flesh would reasonably entail such complexities as well as eons of preparation (see also his classic, "Christianity as Mystical Fact"). McDermott's Introduction contrasts Steiner's mode of spiritual research into the esoteric "record" called by the Sanskrit name, the Akasha,
with the exhaustive and impressive research of the Jesus Seminar. The two methods differ substantially. Describing each with exquisite skill and clarity, McDermott shows that they are not mutually exclusive.
In addition, Steiner's comparisons between Buddha and Christ make both figures shine with a wondrous esoteric significance for humanity's cosmic evolution. The entire book brings a deep understanding of both compassion and love and it offers a profound reading of the nativity story as well. An outstanding work by Steiner, excellently edited and introduced by McDermott.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The childhood of boy Jesus, December 24, 2005
This review is from: According to Luke: The Gospel of Compassion and Love Revealed (Paperback)
Recorded is the life of the boy Jesus... his childhood.
Recorded is - among other things - how when Adam "fell in Eden" not all of his 'forces' fell with him... some were left behind, kept pure... not to 'fall' until the boy Jesus was born.
The 'left-behind-forces' of Adam entered boy Jesus, which gave Jesus a puresomeness about him... an innonence.
Recorded is what happened in the Temple in Bethlehem...
Recorded are about levels of spiritual awareness:
Imagination - recognizing spiritual entities
Inspiration - interacting with spiritual entities
Intuition - dwelling within the spiritual beings / being one with them.
At level of Intuition one no longer distinguishes between others and self in spiritual surroundings... all are one, are brothers...
Imagination = clairvoyance (according to Rudolf Steiner in his lecture at that particular time) and usually no one reaches the other two levels before going through level of Imagination; However - exceptions were made... some were 'inspired', some were 'intuititive'.
Luke was Imaginitive, who used the words of Inspired people to help him in his recording - according to Rudolf Steiner. Luke called the Inspired (cognitive) seers: "servants of the word" - they serve the word (inspired) but not able to see clear images (as Imaginitives could - like Luke e.g.).
It is possibe for all three to exist...
[Actually: the book "According to Luke" was written by Lucius the Cyrene (earlier Lucius of Ceptulus) - Bishopp of the Church of Laodicea, kinsmen of Luke and of the 70 selected to be teacher. He had overheard oral conversations of Luke with Paul in time when Paul was preaching in the Church located in Laodicea.
The intention of Lucius was to have a recording for those people of faith living in the Provinces under the Roman Rule (Palestine and other Roman Provinces). Since it was directed to people living in Palestine, and other Roman Provinces, there is no mention of the experiences of Jesus outside those areas (like flight from Egypt for example).]
It is recorded that Jesus developed far faster than other people at that time... and this is recorded by Luke.
In the recording (of the lecture of Rudolf Steiner) there is recorded about human development (physical body - ether body - astral body - Ego a.k.a. I - spirit-Self - Spirit-Mind - Spirit-Man) and how Jesus went through those developments in a fast rate.
So recording is about development of boy Jesus... as seen from spiritual perspective (7-fold nature of human make-up).
PS
Texts between [] are added by me -- are not from recordings in "Luke" book with recordings of lectures by Rudolf Steiner.
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