Sources of Christianity: Peter, Paul and John
The three apostles Peter, Paul and John are the most important starting point for understanding the beginnings of Christianity. Each brings a different background and language: Peter’s Old Testament imagery, Paul’s connection with Greek culture, and John’s independent lyricism.
This fascinating book paints a vivid picture of the three, exploring what they had in common as well as their significant differences, and demonstrating their continuing relevance today. The authors start by discussing the pre-Christian context, and finish by tracing the esoteric streams of Petrine, Pauline and Johannine Christianity in the first few centuries after Christ. They show above all that all three are needed to truly approach the reality of Jesus Christ.
About the Author
Bastiaan Baan worked as a teacher in the Netherlands before being ordained in 1981. He was a Christian Community priest in the Netherlands and before becoming director of the priests’ seminary in Spring Valley, NY. He lectures widely, and has written many books. Lord of the Elements is his first book to be published in English.
Christine Gruwez studied philosophy and linguistics at the KU Leuven, the Catholic University in Louvain, Belgium. She met Anthroposophy through the Waldorf school in Antwerp, which her four children attended, and where she taught from 1976 to 1986. She also taught for a decade in the Waldorf Education Training Program. Since 1997, Christine has led seminars and conferences at Emerson College, at the Goetheanum, and in Japan. The publication of Bernard Lievegoed’s Battle for the Soul renewed her contact with the Manichaean impulse. Having studied the language and texts at university, her life’s research question became: How can we actualize what historical Manichaeism has initiated in human history? Christine has followed the history of Mani and his communities throughout the Far and Near East, from the Balkans to North Africa, Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, along the Silk Road to Japan. Her book, Walking with Your Time: A Manichaean Journey, addresses ways to become a contemporary human individual and the question of good and evil in our time.
Philip Mees was born in Holland and has lived in the United States since 1969. He is a retired bank officer and was for many years a trustee of the Rudolf Steiner Foundation (RSF Social Finance, San Francisco CA). He is a long-time student of Rudolf Steiner’s work and one of his particular interests is the evolution of human consciousness through the ages as expressed in art, as well as in human actions in everyday life today. His principal retirement occupation is translating Dutch anthroposophical books, in which his ably assisted by his wife Linda Connell. Linda and he live in Glendale CA.
John van Schaik studied medieval mysticism and gnosticism at the University of Utrecht and the University of Antwerp. He specialized in the relationship between esoteric Christianity and the established Church and received his PhD from the Catholic University of Nijmegen. He helped establish and directs the Origenes Institute in the Netherlands.
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