The Great Initiates

The Great Initiates: A Study of the Secret History of Religions

The Great Initiates encompasses long centuries of human existence and reflects our great search—the greatest search of all—the quest for the spirit. This book describes the motivations behind external history, the growth of religious striving, the rise and fall of cultures, and indicates their importance for us today. It reflects the lives and deeds of human beings of extraordinary stature: Rama, Krishna, Hermes, Moses, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato, and Jesus.

In these pages one witnesses spiritual adventure of a depth and intensity rarely experienced by creative human beings, even in their most exalted moments. This excitement of discovery which breathes through The Great Initiates may well explain its continuing popularity after over a century.

Looking for just two of the portraits? See Krishna & Orpheus, a large-print edition of the Krishna and Orpheus chapters.

About the Author

Édouard Schuré (1841–1929) was a French writer, philosopher and music critic, born in Strasbourg. An early champion of Richard Wagner, he wrote poetry, plays, novels and studies of history and religion. His best-known work, The Great Initiates (1889), has remained in print in many languages ever since. Schuré met Rudolf Steiner in 1906 and became a close friend and student; Steiner staged Schuré’s dramas The Sacred Drama of Eleusis and The Children of Lucifer in Munich. His other books include From Sphinx to Christ.