Goethe’s Faust in the Light of Anthroposophy (CW 273)

Goethe’s Faust in the Light of Anthroposophy: Volume Two of Spiritual–Scientific Commentaries on Goethe’s Faust

13 lectures in Dornach and Prague, Sept. 30, 1916 – Jan. 19, 1919 (CW 273),
plus excerpts from various texts and two poems by Goethe

This volume is the sequel to Anthroposophy in the Light of Goethe’s Faust (CW 272).

By late 1916, Rudolf Steiner had become an important interpreter of Goethe and frequently discussed Faust—probably Goethe’s greatest work—from the perspective of anthroposophic Spiritual Science. Although Steiner’s readings are unconventional and unsystematic, his insights into the text are penetrating and prescient, opening scholarly avenues not discovered or pursued by others until decades later and, in some cases, still await fuller elaboration.

Steiner’s account is completely unlike those of his contemporaries, including those Goethean scholars he most admired. His approach is not a philological construction of the ideal text, a positivistic account of the biographical genesis of the work or influences on Goethe, an intellectual and historical recasting of the drama as implied philosophical argument, or a view of the tale through the lens of an especially refined sensibility. Steiner’s discussions veer into each of these arenas, but, invariably, he steers back to his original course, stressing the least realistic, least historical, and least romantic aspects of Goethe.

Steiner contributed to the scholarship on Faust by, above all, opening new aesthetic perspectives; by revealing the centrality of Greek Mystery religion within the archetypal unconscious of Faust; by showing the duality of evil latent within Goethe’s text; and by exploring an alchemical transformation of consciousness.

In this volume, Steiner anticipates the best of Goethe’s Faust by helping us to see the Neoplatonic Faust, the Hermetic Faust, the archetypal Faust—in short, the esoteric Faust.

Goethe’s Faust in the Light of Anthroposophy is a translation from German of Geisteswissenschaftliche Erläuterungen zu Goethes ‘Faust’, in 2 Bdn., Bd.2, Das Faust-Problem (GA 272).

CONTENTS:

Introduction: “Faust in the Light of Mystery Wisdom” by Frederick Amrine

LECTURES

• September 30, 1916, Lecture 1, Dornach: The Faust Problem
• December 10, 1916, Lecture 2, Dornach: The “Romantic Walpurgis Night”
• January 27, 1917, Lecture 3, Dornach: Goethe’s Intimations of the Concrete: Shadowy Concepts and Concepts Permeated with Reality
• November 2, 1917, Lecture 4, Dornach: Faust and the Mothers
• November 3, 1917, Lecture 5, Dornach: Faust and the Problem of Evil
• November 4, 1917, Lecture 6, Dornach: The Helen-Saga and the Riddle of Freedom
• June 12, 1918, Lecture 7, Prague: Goethe’s Personal Relationship to His Faust
• September 27, 1918, Lecture 8, Dornach: Aspects of Spiritual Science in Connection with the “Classical Walpurgis Night,” Part One
• September 28, 1918, Lecture 9, Dornach: Aspects of Spiritual Science in Connection with the “Classical Walpurgis Night,” Part Two
• September 29, 1918, Lecture 10, Dornach: Goethe’s Soul-Life in the Light of Spiritual Science
• January 17, 1919, Lecture 11, Dornach: The Mysteries of the Samothracian Cabiri: The Secret of Human Incarnation
• January 18, 1919, Lecture 12, Dornach: Intuitive Perception of Reality in the Greek Myths
• January 19, 1919, Lecture 13, Dornach: Instead of Homunculism and Mephistopheleanism: Goetheanism

EXCERPTS AND OTHER SHORTER TEXTS

• Three Verses by Rudolf Steiner to Accompany Eurythmy Performances of Scenes from Goethe’s Faust
• Goethe vs. Calderon
• The Rhythm in Goethe’s Life
• Dr. Rudolf Steiner’s Address before the Public Performance of the Scene “Classical Walpurgis Night”
• Passages from Rudolf Steiner’s Notebooks Relating to Performances of Scenes from the “Classical Walpurgis Night” in Goethe’s Faust: Part Two
• The First Goetheanum: Architecture as Living Form and Organic Style
• A Contribution to the Revival of a “Lost Culture”
• Faust and Hamlet
• The Height of Goethe’s Creativity in Light of Benedetto Croce

TWO POEMS BY GOETHE

• “ Song of the Soul over Water” (1779)
• “The Metamorphosis of Plants” (1798)

About the Author

Rudolf STEINER (1861–1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner’s multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.