Jesus and Christ
Published on 26. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
282 pages
978-1-915776-31-0 (ISBN)
Description
'To see Christ in Jesus and Jesus in Christ is an incomparable joy. Each single saying and each single word finds its place in the heights on the way from Jesus to Christ, on the way from Christ to Jesus.' - Friedrich Rittelmeyer
How can we meet the real Jesus today? Friedrich Rittelmeyer (1872-1938) - a well-known Protestant preacher of his day who helped found The Christian Community - presents us with the modern seeker's path. A thoroughly revised translation of his Jesus (1912) traces the story of mankind's longing. On the way, Nietzsche's trenchant critique of Christianity is answered as intellectual honesty demands - with a concrete account of spiritual experience.
During challenging times, Rittelmeyer took up Rudolf Steiner's advice to complete his inner journey by working with John's Gospel. Twenty-four years later, his testament appeared, Christ (1936) - now featured here in English for the first time. The author follows Johannine tradition, with Paul claiming: 'I shall know even as I am known' (1 Cor. 13:12) - and which Rudolf Steiner calls the spiritual faculty of 'moral Imagination'.
Rittelmeyer's intellectual achievement ends in action; his path of exact perception leads to experience of the living Christ. 'The path of Christ is always the path through death to resurrection.' Here is spiritual reading as penetrating as any that can be found elsewhere. Jesus and Christ - at last complete in one volume - concludes by contrasting Nietzsche and Novalis along with an insight of Wagner's regarding the only far-reaching solution for the 21st century.
How can we meet the real Jesus today? Friedrich Rittelmeyer (1872-1938) - a well-known Protestant preacher of his day who helped found The Christian Community - presents us with the modern seeker's path. A thoroughly revised translation of his Jesus (1912) traces the story of mankind's longing. On the way, Nietzsche's trenchant critique of Christianity is answered as intellectual honesty demands - with a concrete account of spiritual experience.
During challenging times, Rittelmeyer took up Rudolf Steiner's advice to complete his inner journey by working with John's Gospel. Twenty-four years later, his testament appeared, Christ (1936) - now featured here in English for the first time. The author follows Johannine tradition, with Paul claiming: 'I shall know even as I am known' (1 Cor. 13:12) - and which Rudolf Steiner calls the spiritual faculty of 'moral Imagination'.
Rittelmeyer's intellectual achievement ends in action; his path of exact perception leads to experience of the living Christ. 'The path of Christ is always the path through death to resurrection.' Here is spiritual reading as penetrating as any that can be found elsewhere. Jesus and Christ - at last complete in one volume - concludes by contrasting Nietzsche and Novalis along with an insight of Wagner's regarding the only far-reaching solution for the 21st century.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
East Sussex
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Colour and black and white illustrations throughout
Dimensions
Height: 155 mm
Width: 234 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
438 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-915776-31-0 (9781915776310)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
FRIEDRICH RITTELMEYER (1872-1938) was a Lutheran minister and theologian who led the founding The Christian Community. Rittelmeyer came to prominence as a leading liberal theologian and preacher early in the twentieth century, advocating a socially engaged 'Christianity of deeds' (Tatchristentum). During the First World War he became one of the most high-profile clergymen in Germany to oppose the war publicly. From the 1910s his thinking was gradually influenced by the philosopher, spiritual researcher and teacher Rudolf Steiner. In 1922 a group of mainly Lutheran pastors and theology students founded The Christian Community, a Movement for Religious Renewal. Rittelmeyer remained at the helm of the movement until his death.
Content
Introduction to the Revised English Edition
PART ONE: JESUS
Preface to the first german edition (1912)
Extract from Rudolf Steiner Enters my Life
I. THE LIFE
The forerunner
The Baptism & Temptation
The public ministry
Miracles
Deed, conflict and conquest
True humanity and its inner replenishment
Opposition from friends and enemies
Traditional authority and emancipation from it
Healings on the sabbath
Fellowship with outcasts
Meeting the oppositions
The approaching Passion
The entry into Jerusalem
The necessity to decide
Passion Week
The last hours
Secret sovereignty
Will and Over-will
II. THE PERSONALITY
His physical form
The ruling spirit
His mind and the divine
False piety
His passionate vitality ...
... and absorption in the moment
The woman taken in adultery
The story of the tribute money
His moral radiance
A homeless life-respecting the ties of home His moral will
His divine vocation
The life-secret of his faith The Mystery of the life of God
Companionship with God
Superhuman self-knowledge
III. THE MESSAGE
A teaching or a life?
The parables
Admonitions
The kingdom of heaven
'God was in Jesus'
A new beginning
The All-Father
Serving God all in all
Banish anxiety root and branch
Prayer in search of God
Life out of God's life
The fire of Love
The golden, royal law and its culmination
The end of the world?
IV. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS FOR OUR OWN TIME Did Jesus ever live?
Scientific scholarship, or folklore & poetry? Can we surpass Jesus' example? The racial argument
The past not directly relevant? Personal conviction
Dispense with the historical Jesus?
Earthly ties spurned or earthly life renewed?
The significance of Jesus today and Nietzsche's sense of longing Inner resources
The Spirit transfigures the world From fragmentation to integration
Contemporary lifestyles ...
... and the life of Jesus
The secret of true humanity
The Creation and the future
The governing Power
Recognition the only proof
Our own truth ...
... in relation to tradition
Our modern cultural environment ...
... in relation to Jesus
PART TWO
CHRIST
Foreword by Rudolf von Koschuetzki
Author's Preface
I. CHRIST JESUS
'He who shall come'
The Baptism
The Temptation
The Transfiguration
The Lord's Prayer
Words from the Cross
Resurrection experiences
The Kingdom of Heaven
Christians
Paul's Damasus experience
What is baptism?
Death-Resurrection
Resurrection
Three thinkers: Goethe, Nietzsche, and Fichte
The One Life
II. CHRIST AND THE SUN
Christ and the Sun
Rembrandt, Goethe, and Novalis
The Bible and the Sun
The outer Sun
The Sun enlightens
The Sun warms
The Sun enlivens
The creation of light
Seven Signs in John's Gospel
Healing transformation
Easter-new life
True 'nature' religion
III. CHRIST AND THE 'I'
A glance at history and peoples
The human I-experience and the divine I
The mystical attitude
The Johannine 'IAM' sayings
The central saying
East and West
Israel, India and Greece
Deliverance by indwelling
Divine 'I' and human 'I'
The 'I' in Communities-Church
Congregation
Community
IV. CHRIST IN BODY AND BLOOD
Novalis & Nietzsche
The Greek and bodily beauty
The Israelites and music
Bread & Wine
Body & Blood
Experience of the Mass
Christ the World-Physician
Blood and the 'I'
The great marriage
Afterword
APPENDICES
1. Christoph Rau: Rittelmeyer's Creative Sayings
2. Adam Bittleston: Friedrich Rittelmeyer as Forerunner of a Christianity of the Future
3. Emil Bock: Friedrich Rittelmeyer (1872-1938)
4. Emil Bock: Rudolf Steiner and Friedrich Rittelmeyer in Berlin
Epilogue by the translator
Notes
Further Reading
Picture Credits
PART ONE: JESUS
Preface to the first german edition (1912)
Extract from Rudolf Steiner Enters my Life
I. THE LIFE
The forerunner
The Baptism & Temptation
The public ministry
Miracles
Deed, conflict and conquest
True humanity and its inner replenishment
Opposition from friends and enemies
Traditional authority and emancipation from it
Healings on the sabbath
Fellowship with outcasts
Meeting the oppositions
The approaching Passion
The entry into Jerusalem
The necessity to decide
Passion Week
The last hours
Secret sovereignty
Will and Over-will
II. THE PERSONALITY
His physical form
The ruling spirit
His mind and the divine
False piety
His passionate vitality ...
... and absorption in the moment
The woman taken in adultery
The story of the tribute money
His moral radiance
A homeless life-respecting the ties of home His moral will
His divine vocation
The life-secret of his faith The Mystery of the life of God
Companionship with God
Superhuman self-knowledge
III. THE MESSAGE
A teaching or a life?
The parables
Admonitions
The kingdom of heaven
'God was in Jesus'
A new beginning
The All-Father
Serving God all in all
Banish anxiety root and branch
Prayer in search of God
Life out of God's life
The fire of Love
The golden, royal law and its culmination
The end of the world?
IV. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS FOR OUR OWN TIME Did Jesus ever live?
Scientific scholarship, or folklore & poetry? Can we surpass Jesus' example? The racial argument
The past not directly relevant? Personal conviction
Dispense with the historical Jesus?
Earthly ties spurned or earthly life renewed?
The significance of Jesus today and Nietzsche's sense of longing Inner resources
The Spirit transfigures the world From fragmentation to integration
Contemporary lifestyles ...
... and the life of Jesus
The secret of true humanity
The Creation and the future
The governing Power
Recognition the only proof
Our own truth ...
... in relation to tradition
Our modern cultural environment ...
... in relation to Jesus
PART TWO
CHRIST
Foreword by Rudolf von Koschuetzki
Author's Preface
I. CHRIST JESUS
'He who shall come'
The Baptism
The Temptation
The Transfiguration
The Lord's Prayer
Words from the Cross
Resurrection experiences
The Kingdom of Heaven
Christians
Paul's Damasus experience
What is baptism?
Death-Resurrection
Resurrection
Three thinkers: Goethe, Nietzsche, and Fichte
The One Life
II. CHRIST AND THE SUN
Christ and the Sun
Rembrandt, Goethe, and Novalis
The Bible and the Sun
The outer Sun
The Sun enlightens
The Sun warms
The Sun enlivens
The creation of light
Seven Signs in John's Gospel
Healing transformation
Easter-new life
True 'nature' religion
III. CHRIST AND THE 'I'
A glance at history and peoples
The human I-experience and the divine I
The mystical attitude
The Johannine 'IAM' sayings
The central saying
East and West
Israel, India and Greece
Deliverance by indwelling
Divine 'I' and human 'I'
The 'I' in Communities-Church
Congregation
Community
IV. CHRIST IN BODY AND BLOOD
Novalis & Nietzsche
The Greek and bodily beauty
The Israelites and music
Bread & Wine
Body & Blood
Experience of the Mass
Christ the World-Physician
Blood and the 'I'
The great marriage
Afterword
APPENDICES
1. Christoph Rau: Rittelmeyer's Creative Sayings
2. Adam Bittleston: Friedrich Rittelmeyer as Forerunner of a Christianity of the Future
3. Emil Bock: Friedrich Rittelmeyer (1872-1938)
4. Emil Bock: Rudolf Steiner and Friedrich Rittelmeyer in Berlin
Epilogue by the translator
Notes
Further Reading
Picture Credits