First Steps in Christian Religious Renewal ─ Preparing the Ground for the Christian Community: Six Lectures and Two Discussions Held in Stuttgart, june 12-16, 1921

The lectures and discussions in this book make up the first of the five Priest Courses given by Rudolf Steiner. They record the first steps of the remarkable journey taken in 1921 by a small group of dedicated individuals who, out of their own soul needs and guided by Rudolf Steiner, sought a path to Christian religious renewal.

Addressing the group in a warm, intimate manner, Steiner framed their task not primarily in theological terms, but as the need for a renewal of "the religious"uthat is, "the working of the religious element as such." However, the task of re-opening the spiritual worlds could not he accomplished by starting from "old conditions." Earlier, people could still understand concepts such as "Christ," "grace," and "salvation," but How a new starting-point was needed. In this course, Steiner lays the groundwork for developing actual life in Cod rather than merely knowledge of God (theology). In addition, he addresses what the group named as its deepest concerns: ritual, the sermon, community building, and the relationship between these and the striving to awaken to the "I" or individuality.