Hi, Alexine —
My Encyclopedia of American Religions describes the Christian
Community under the category of Ancient Wisdom religions,
along with Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, and other movements based on occult
and metaphysical ideas.
The Christian
Community finds its roots in the teaching of
Rudolf Steiner, a German literary scholar and mystical Christian thinker
who lived about 100 years ago. While affiliated for some years with the occult-ic Theosophical
Society, he broke with its leader, Annie Besant, and organized a new Anthroposophical
Society in 1912 in order to preserve a Christ-centered focus and
reject the increasing adoption of Eastern mysticism in Theosophy.
Steiner thought that Christ was not just another religious figure; rather,
Christ replaced the Eastern religions, by opening a new era for man to
search for the spiritual in the material world.
Christian pastors and students in Steiner's movement sought to express
his ideas about man and about the evolution of the world in liturgical
and communal form. Steiner and a Lutheran pastor founded the Christian
Community in 1922. Its governance follows a congregational model, but it
does have common beliefs and rituals. The Christian
Community is not formally
linked to the Anthroposophical
Society, but many are members of both groups.
The Anthroposophical
Society and the Christian
Community spread to the
U.S. through German immigrants, but started to spread further after World
War II as Steiner's writings became more widely available in English. In
1989, there were ten congregations of the Christian
Community within the
United States. The Anthroposophical
Society has its United States base in New York.
The Vatican doesn't have any official position on most of the religious
groups in the world,
so I expect they have never made an official statement
on Steiner's thought or his movement.
Richard Chonak
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