The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Foreword to the Second Edition

[ 1 ] "Christianity as a mystical fact" was the title the author gave this work eight years ago when he summarized the content of lectures he had given in 1902. This title was intended to indicate the special character of the book. It was not merely an attempt to present the mystical content of Christianity from a historical point of view, but to describe the emergence of Christianity from a mystical perspective. This was based on the idea that spiritual facts were at work in this emergence, which can only be seen through such a view. The content of the book alone can justify the fact that its author does not call "mystical" a view that adheres more to vague emotional knowledge than to "strictly scientific explanation". In wide circles, "mysticism" is currently understood in this way, and is thus probably also declared by many to be an area of human spiritual life that can have nothing to do with "real science". In the sense of this book, the word "mysticism" is used to describe a spiritual fact that can only be recognized in its essence if the knowledge is taken from the sources of spiritual life itself. Anyone who rejects a form of knowledge that draws from such sources will not be able to take a position on the content of this book. Only those who accept "mysticism" in the sense that such clarity can prevail in it as in the true presentation of scientific contexts will be able to accept the way in which the content of Christianity as mysticism is also mystically described here. For it is not only the content of Scripture that matters, but also - and above all - the means of knowledge used to present it.

[ 2 ] In our present age, many still have the strongest aversion to such means of knowledge. They see them as contradictory to true science. And this is the case not only with those who merely want to accept a view of the world that they hold on the basis of "genuine scientific knowledge", but also with those who, as professors of Christianity, want to consider its essence. The author of this writing stands on the ground of a view which recognizes that the scientific achievements of our present time demand the elevation to true mysticism. This view can show that a different attitude to knowledge is precisely in contradiction to everything that these scientific achievements offer. With those means of knowledge that some would like to use alone, who think they are standing on the solid ground of natural science, the facts of this natural science cannot be grasped.

[ 3 ] Only those who can admit that full justice to our present, so admirable knowledge of nature is compatible with genuine mysticism will not reject this book.

[ 4 ] Through what is here called "mystical knowledge", this book aims to show how the source of Christianity created its preconditions in the mysteries of pre-Christian times. In this "pre-Christian mysticism" the soil is shown in which Christianity flourishes as an independent seed. This point of view makes it possible to understand Christianity in its independent essence, even if one traces its development from pre-Christian mysticism. If this point of view is disregarded, it is all too easy to misjudge this independence by believing that Christianity has only developed what was already there in pre-Christian mysticism. Many contemporary opinions fall into this error when they compare the content of Christianity with pre-Christian views and then believe that Christianity is merely a further development of these pre-Christian views. This book is intended to show that Christianity presupposes the previous mysticism like a plant seed presupposes its soil. It aims to emphasize the essence of Christianity precisely in its peculiarity by recognizing its origin, but not to erase it.

[ 5 ] It is with deep satisfaction that the author can mention that with this presentation of the "essence of Christianity" he has found the approval of a personality who has enriched the education of our time in the deepest sense through his significant writings on the spiritual life of mankind. Edouard Schuré, the author of the "Grands Initiés", ^{1This book is available in German translation by Marie Steiner: "Die großen Eingeweihten" by Edouard Schuré [12. The great initiates" by Edouard Schuré [12th, unabridged edition Munich 1956]} agreed with the viewpoints of this book to the extent that he himself provided its translation into French (under the title "Les mystéres antiques et les mystéres chrétiennes"). As an aside and as a symptom of the fact that there is a longing in the present day to understand the essence of Christianity in the sense of this book, it should be mentioned that the first edition has been translated into other European languages as well as French.

[ 6 ] The author did not feel compelled to change anything essential in the first edition when publishing this second edition. On the other hand, it contains additions to what was presented eight years ago. Attempts have also been made to make some things more precise and detailed than was possible at the time. Unfortunately, the author has been forced by much work to let a long time pass between the moment when the first edition went out of print.

Written in May 1910.
Rudolf Steiner