The Mystical Beginnings Of Christianity Written by Dominic Daley B.A., graduate of Rudolf Steiner College

“She who is to give birth to the greatest King The Sun of Righteousness Maria, Star of the Sea, approaches her rising today, Rejoice, ye faithful, and behold the Light divine!” —Fulbertus, Bishop of Chartres (990‐1028 A.D.)

INTRODUCTION This course will cover the history of Christianity in particular from 330 B.C. to 330 A.D. There has been no time in the history of humankind when all social classes were prone to thoughts of religion, practiced religion, or strove more ardently after high ethical ideals, than in these six centuries. As for Christianity in the modern days, we will look at where we can find it and where it is heading in the future. We will not cover the basics of Christianity, per se, like the common stories of the Bible, or famous characters, for this is fairly common knowledge and easily accessible information in libraries and on the internet. Rather, we will look at the mystical beginnings of Christianity and its esoteric concepts in this course. A History of God: The 4,000‐Year Quest Of Judaism, Christianity And Islam (1994) by Karen Armstrong points out a path that 21st century Christianity might consider. She writes, “Judaism, Christianity and Islam each developed the idea of a personal God, which has helped believers to mature as full human beings.” This powerful idea of a personal God can be misused with poor judgment and can result in condemnation of others. These three monotheisms of different traditions have developed mystical practices that are grounded in the singular realization that our human idea of God is merely “a symbol of the ineffable reality of an eternal Truth.” As a result of modern, aggressively righteous religious beliefs that are actually “a retreat from god,” we see in our world today great discord rather than unity. Ultimately we have to evolve beyond the idea of a personal God who behaves like a father, to one who “works for us in the empirical age,” an age that requires global unity. The French Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin in his book, Phenomenon Of Man (1955), reveals his vision of a universal unfolding of evolution. He writes about the phenomenon of the cerebral complexification of the human phylum, which concludes with the sudden appearance of a consciousness of self (the “threshold” of reflection). Then in a worldwide communication network of human thought, the noosphere, [mass consciousness] appeared, at the heart of which is an active and acting “Christ, the capstone of evolution,” a communicating with humanity occurs in a transcendent fashion, reaching toward the “Omega point” (the Kingdom of God). In the 1970s the Gaia Hypothesis, jointly proposed by Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock, opened exciting new prospects in biology and atmospheric physics. The Gaia Hypothesis is that the Earth is a living being, and very complex. The danger to the human race from our own actions and the living planet Gaia’s reaction to these actions might be fatal. The Gaia Hypothesis tells us that the human species is a part of a net, or web of cosmic life, and can be experienced in the symbiosis (interconnected, working together) of all species. If this knowledge can be grasped by humanity then we can together create a shared destiny. Note to readers: CE stands for “Common Era,” and is used in place of A.D., the abbreviation for “Anno Domini” in Latin or “the year of the Lord” in English, referring to the approximate birth year of Yeshua ben Nazareth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ). CE and A.D. have the same value but C.E is secular and is now considered politically correct for secular history. BCE stands for “Before the common era,” and replaces B.C., which means “Before Christ.” For this material, however, we will use B.C. and A.D. abbreviations, as this is religious material. Review of Literature (Exam questions are not drawn from the Review Of Literature section) This course could never have been compiled, edited, and written without the use of over 30 different scholar’s books and 18 websites with online articles. I wish to acknowledge them all for their rigorously illuminating efforts. Their breathtaking scholarship provided me with a rich bounty to draw from. All works found in this text are dully attributed to author/authors, and sources are given allowing students to pursue future studies of Christianity beyond this course. A History of God: The 4,000‐Year Quest Of Judaism, Christianity And Islam (1994) by Karen Armstrong explores the experience of God found in Judaism, Christianity and the Islam, from Abraham into the twentieth Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 1 century. Her fascinating book looks at the issue of God’s existence and gives a great kaleidoscopic history of religion, with an optimistic outlook toward humanity. The Faith Of The Christian Church (1948) by Gustaf Aulen examines and discusses a changing theology. It brings a new and realistic approach to the biblical message, with an effort to see Christianity as it actually exists in its unique place in the world. This work attempts to liberate the Christian message so that it can appear again in its original power and clarity. The Phenomenon Of Man (1955) by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who was born in 1881 in Sarcenat, Puy‐de‐ Dôme, France, and died in New York City in 1955. His scientific work included the discovery of the Peking Man in 1929. He also conducted explorations in India, Java, and China in 1931. This book focuses on mass consciousness or noosphere as Chardin calls it. Chardin states, “He [Christ] has affected a threefold synthesis of the material and physical world with the world of mind and spirit; of the past with the future; and variety with unity, the many with the one.” In The Divine Milieu: An Essay On The Interior Life (1960) by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The cover says, “Teilhard challenges standard definitions of faith as practice or as direct interior illumination of the soul by God. His concern is, rather to teach his readers how to see. Faith demands awareness of the perceptual world as a subject, which ‘enters vitally into the most spiritual zones of our souls.’ Illumination of the soul is thus a product of the illumination of the world. True vision becomes, in turn, a gift which enables us to pay attention to the world, thereby enhancing its radiance.” The Mind Of God (1992) by Paul Davies re‐examines the great questions of existence. In the process, it provides an entertaining, provocative tour of recent developments in theoretical physics. He ponders the reasons for the existence of the universe. He covers the origin and evolution of the cosmos and the nature of consciousness. In the end he does not support a belief in a God, but rather that the tool of science can allow us to see into the heart of nature, and that is the mind of God. Healing Words: The Power of Prayer And The Practice Of Medicine (1993) by Larry Dossey, M.D. 15 to 20 percent of all cases in which the patient and others have prayed for divine assistance, there is advanced healing. “Prayer says something incalculably important about who we are and what our destiny may be.” He examines prayer from a scientific point of view and brings some understanding to the link between prayer and healing. The Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates The Material World (1995) by Amit Goswami, Ph.D. with Richard E. Reed and Maggie Goswami has to be one of my favorite books about how spirit and science can come together in the 21st century. A must read for any psychonaut interested in the interconnectedness of all life. Goswami covers the paradoxes of being in two places at once, Schrodinger’s Cat and the Einstein‐Podolsky‐Rosen Paradox. He concludes with a section on the Re‐enchantment of the Person with writings on Outer and Inner Creativity, The Awakening of Buddhi, and Spiritual Joy. This is a great book for coming to an understanding of the significance of quantum physics and the nature of our souls’ consciousness. Mary Magdalene: Myth And Metaphor (1993) by Susan Haskins is a brilliant book about Mary Magdalene, written by a female theologian. For two thousand years Mary Magdalene and the origins of Christianity have been buried. This books explors the many myths and misconceptions surrounding Mary Magdalene, one of the most significant figures of ancient Christianity. The Book Of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch (1973) by Dr. J.J. Hurtak was transmitted to the author from two beings of Higher Superluminal Intelligence. A greater unity is called for and must occur between the scientific and spiritual paths in order for us to solve the problems of Earth. The keys of Enoch are kabbalistic modes of thought. This work defines the Keys of Enoch as acknowledging the Divine as more than a God of Commanding (commandments); rather It is a God of Bestowing (Gifts) to those seeking the Godhead. Hurtak writes that our physical universe is a sub‐structure of more sublime levels of creation working through archetypal fractals or “divine letters” of thought‐form creation. The Lord’s Prayer (1983) by Dr. J.J. Hurtak is an exposition of the Scroll of Matthew 6:9‐13. This 20‐page work shares with us the words of Jesus through the Gospel of Matthew. When the disciples asked Matthew how to pray to the Father, he replied with a ‘special formula’ that has come down through the ages and believed to be the thought‐forms of Divine Language. Hurtak writes that this prayer is effective not only for the individual but for the collective of humanity as well. Earth Under Fire (1997) by Dr. Paul A. La Violette gives scientific insight into the ancient myths from around the world, that tell of humanity’s suffering through destructions by fire, flood, and other catastrophes. It was recorded in legend a darkening of the sky occurred, while the Earth started burning, culminating in the last

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 2 great flood. The Galactic cause of these events, La Violette discovered, is an intense volley of explosively emitted cosmic rays, from the center of our Galaxy. They bombarded our solar system with light occluding particles of cosmic dust, which caused the global catastrophe that decimated civilization at the end of the last ice age. Forerunners And Rivals Of Christianity From 330 B.C. To 330 A.D. (1964) by Francis Legge is a great book for understanding the growth and development of the Christian religion. He covers the importance of the study of Christian origins and the changes in viewpoint of Christianity as the progress of science is introduced to the Western world. This book is possibly the most informed historical rendering of the birth of early Christianity. Mystics And Zen Masters (1967) by Thomas Merton is a rich collection of writings. Celtic Monasticism is covered in the chapter, “From Pilgrimage to Crusade.” Merton spoke of the idea of pilgrimage as a geographical event that was “the symbolic acting out of an inner journey.” The inner journey is “the interpolation of the meanings and signs of the outer pilgrimage.” Though it would be possible to have a geographical pilgrimage without an inner journey, and vice versa, it would be “best to have both.” The Flaming Door: The Mission Of The Celtic Folk‐Soul (1983) by Eleanor Merry is a wonderful book for anyone interested in Celtic mythology. The breadth of her research is staggering. The imagination found here coupled with her obvious scholarship makes this an incredible read. She covers ancient sagas and legends that holds the secrets of initiation. “The Celtic mysteries of old are the signature of our immortality. They are the ladder upon which Christian faith may mount to the stars.” Dream Yoga And The Practice Of Natural Light (1992) by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu is about developing lucid dream consciousness. In this work we learn about Dzogchen, the realm of enchanting self‐awareness where we can reach liberation. The emphasis in the book is placed on specific exercises that allow a person to develop awareness in their dream states. Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche is one of the great Tibetan dream mastery teachers in the world today. I highly recommend this book. The Gnostic Gospels (1991) by Elaine Pagels gives us new insights into the Essenes, their practices, and the early life of Jesus. This book raises many questions of good versus evil. The writer uses Gnostic teachings that have been repressed by the Christian Church, while considering alternatives for redemption as contrasted with our current Judaeo‐Christian tradition. Along with the Dead Sea Scrolls, these Gnostic materials are the most illuminating archeological textual finds of the 20th Century. The Second Man In Us (1977) by Maria Roschl‐Lehrs is truly a beautiful book. She writes of a deeper life and the second man in us all and how to bring it to birth in ourselves. She is well versed in the gift of significant dreaming and dream consciousness. Man, she tells us, is standing at the riddle of life. The Great Religions By Which Men Live (1961) by Floyd H. Ross and Tynette Hills, covers all the great religions of the world. The following questions are addressed in this work: What is the meaning of human life? What am I? What is the difference between right and wrong? What is the nature of God? What happens after death? This book is recommended for anyone interested in the history of world religion. The World’s Religions (1995) by Huston Smith is highly readable, and it is a detailed and absorbing account of the inner dimensions of the great world religions, including Tibetan Buddhism, Sufism, and Christian teachings. We learn that for the greater part of human history, religion was experienced tribally and was virtually timeless. In recent decades we have seen a revival of interest in the divine feminine and earth based spirituality. The Reappearance Of Christ In The Etheric (1983) by Rudolf Steiner is a great recourse for merging metaphysics and Christianity. Steiner combines his vision of a new age with the teachings of Christ. In 1910, Rudolf Steiner began a series of lectures announcing the advent of Christ’s appearance in the sphere of the earth’s etheric or life body. The earth is infused by the Christ’s living presence and a new, natural clairvoyance will become increasingly common as we enter the 21st century, he tells us. “The Christ will become a living comforter,” we can see the etheric Christ as He is here now. This is a great series of lectures, which I highly recommend. The Archangel Michael: His Mission And Ours (1994) by Rudolf Steiner is a series of 23 lectures. They call us to heed the Archangel Michael because the Archangel “cannot fulfill his mission without humanity’s cosmic vocation of freedom, individuality, and love. Human beings, too, depend on Michael for the fulfillment of their task…His great joy is helping those who of their own free deed enter the ranks of those collaborating in the great work of the invisible.” Steiner tells us in this series of lectures, now in print, that the Christ may be thought of as sunlight, while Archangel Michael as the reflected sunlight. We learn in this book that Jehovah can be thought of as the Moon being that is worshiped by the ancient Hebrews known to them as Jehovah‐Michael. Steiner tells us that Michael was the countenance of Jehovah and the Archangel by which Jehovah revealed himself to the ancient Hebrews.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 3 The Stages Of Higher Knowledge (1967) by Rudolf Steiner is a small 58‐page booklet of spiritual attitudes and exercises for developing a spiritual path. He covers the four stages of knowledge. He also describes how a student experiences three higher stages of consciousness: Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition. Steiner says, “Just as Imagination may be called a spiritual seeing, so may Inspiration be called a spiritual hearing.” The True Nature Of The Second Coming (1971) by Rudolf Steiner is a small work of 2 lectures contained in 72 pages. We learn that “The Second Coming” consists of two aspects: the manifestation of Christ on the etheric plane, and the attainment of etheric vision on an individual basis. The Fourth Dimension: Sacred Geometry, Alchemy And Mathematics (2001) by Rudolf Steiner is a must read for any student of Christianity and metaphysics who wants to navigate the inner planes of experience. Theurgy And The Soul (1994) by Gregory Shaw is a study of Iamblichus of Syria (240‐325 A.D.) whose teachings set the final form of pagan spirituality prior to the Christization of the Roman Empire. Gregory Shaw focuses on the theory and practice of theurgy, the most controversial and significant aspect of Iamblichius’a Platonism. The Woman With The Alabaster Jar (1993) by Margaret Starbird explores history, ancient symbolism, medieval art, psychology, and the Bible. Her book contains evidence from medieval art and artifacts regarding the heresy of the Holy Grail and Mary Magdalene. She concludes a “sacred union” was originally at the heart of the Christian Gospels. Julian’s Gods: Religion And Philosophy In The Thought And Action Of Julian The Apostate (1995) by Rowland Smith is a treatment of Julian’s thought and action with respect to Greek/Hellenic culture and religion. The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (1996) by Michael Wise, Martin Abegg Jr., and Edward Cook is believed by scholars to be the most comprehensive translation for the general reader. In this volume we have never‐before‐revealed stories about the biblical figures Abraham, Jacob, and Enoch. We have here a rich collection of texts that bring us transmissions of illuminating ancient doctrines about the angels. These writings, claiming to be revelations of these angels themselves, include the Archangel Michael. This is a great work and I highly recommend it for future study. The Urantia Book (1995) is channeled material that states that Urantia is an ancient name for the planet earth. It is a large book with over two thousand pages and almost 200 individual essays that reveal information about God and other supernatural beings. It also covers the history of the universe and the planet Earth. Man’s Eternal Quest (1975) by Paramahansa Yogananda is a volume of 58 essays that focus on applying spiritual ideals to everyday living, rather than promoting particular practices for organized religion. He covers meditation, life after death, health and healing, the unlimited powers of the human mind, and the interconnectedness of all life. Yogananda is considered the father of yoga in the West. This anthology of inspires and encourages the student on this path of self‐discovery.

THE SCIENCE OF RELIGIONS The six centuries covered in this course was a time when humanity of all classes delved into religious thoughts or strove for lofty ethical ideals. Claims to the contrary are often uneducated and misguided. Francis Legge, in Forerunners And Rivals Of Christianity (1964), writes, “A general notion that, shortly before the coming of Christ, the Pagans had tired of their old gods, and, lost to all sense of decency, had given themselves up to an unbridled immortality founded on aesthetic ideas… is almost the reverse of the truth.” Francis Legge continues, “The cause of this misconception is, however, clear enough. Half a century ago, the general public was without guide or leader in such matters, for having any materials on which to form opinions of their own. The classical education which was all the majority of men then got, carefully left…the origins of Christianity on one side.” It is important to look at historical and scientific evidence as well as church history, when studying any religion. Outside the regular or canonical scriptures, most faiths grew from a reservoir of vast literature of uncertain authorship in which were found the same stories, repeated again, being introduced into the Christian Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, and Lives of the Saints. It then began to dawn upon scholars that the human mind under similar conditions works the same way. All religions, true or false, very well might have gone through similar stages of development. I Am by Dennis Bratcher demonstrates this principle of the human mind at work. Who is God, he asks? It replies, “I am.” Yet how do we know? It says, Watch! “Because I am who I will be in your history. From Messiah to Son of God, development not only in animal forms, in the intellectual moral faculties of man, in political and social institutions, and even in what he called ‘ecclesiastical institutions,’ which included religions themselves.” Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 4 This is the likely explanation for John 8:28 in which “I Am” becomes a functional name for God, “‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Bratcher tells us that “I Am” is the concept but not a dimension of time or even tense, and explains that John is proclaiming that this God revealing Itself to the Israelites at the exodus, is now once again revealing Itself in human history in Jesus the Christ. Other times in which God is identified as I am are Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush on Mount Horeb. When Moses asked whom he should tell the people sent him to deliver them from Egypt, God revealed himself as “I am” or “I will be” (Exodus 3: 14

ANCIENT ORIGINS & THE EARLY DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF CHRISTIANITY A Brief History of Mesopotamia and Jesus’ Life The history of this region of the world goes back some 5,000 years. The Canaanites were the earliest known inhabitants of Palestine, about 3,000 B.C. They became urbanized and lived in city‐states, one of which was Jericho. Moses leads the Jews, wondering in the desert for 40 years, on the Exodus from Egypt in the 12th century B.C. In 1,230 B.C., Joshua conquered parts of Palestine. In 1,000 B.C. King David, defeated the Philistines, and eventually assimilated with the Canaanites. The unity of Israel allowed David to build a large independent state, with Jerusalem its capitol. In 333 B.C. the Persian domination of Palestine was replaced by Greek rule when Alexander the Great of Macedonia took the region. Alexander’s successors, the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria, continued to rule the country. The Seleucids tried to impose Hellenistic (Greek) culture and religion on the population. In 132‐35 BC Jewish revolts erupted, numerous Jews were killed, many were sold into slavery, and the rest were not allowed to visit Jerusalem. Judea was renamed Syria Palaistina. It was into this social unrest that Jesus of Nazareth was born. Most theologians and religious historians believe that the approximate birth date of Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus) was in the fall, sometime between 7 and 4 BCE during the rule of King Herod, although we have seen estimates as late as 4 CE and as early as the second century BCE. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the Roman province of Judea. His mother is commonly thought to have conceived him through the “immaculate conception,” meaning that his mother was given Jesus not through sexual intercourse, but rather by God itself. However, this is actually a misconception. The Doctine of Ineffabilis Deus, presented by Pius IX, and accepted by the Catholic Church on December 8th, 1854 asserts that Mary was exempt from original sin (the sin committed at her conception), making her a pure receptacle for Christ, is largely responsible for this belief. Joseph and Mary, his parents, lived in Nazareth, a Roman province of Galilee. Years after, he began his teaching mission. His attempts to call people back to pure teachings were judged subversive by the authorities. He was tried as a heretic and sentenced to death on the cross (a common sentence for prisoners). After the death of Jesus many Christian groups were formed. By the end of the 1st century, three main movements remained in Christianity. One group was the Pauline Christians: a group of mainline congregations, largely of non‐Jewish Christians. Some had been converted by Paul and his colleges. They evolved to become the established church. Another group was the Gnostic Christians, who claimed salvation through special, otherwise secret, gnosis (knowledge). They were declared heretics and were gradually suppressed. A third group was the Jewish Christians, a group originally headed by James, the brother of Yeshua, and Jesus’ disciples. They were scattered throughout the Roman Empire after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and gradually disappeared. By 400 A.D., The Bishop of Rome was recognized as the most senior of all bishops. Siricius (384‐399 CE) became the first bishop to be called Pope. Pauline Christianity became a bonafide religion. God’s Disillusioned Kingdom on Earth Looking back at the life of Jesus we can see the traditional roots of his upbringing. He learned Jewish history and scriptures from his father and synagogue leaders. According to Floyd Ross and Tynette Hills in their book The Great Religions By Which Men Live (1961), “He knew well the ever present Jewish hope for a brighter, better future, when God would help the Jews to regain their freedom and prestige among the nations. This hope flamed high in their hearts, as they lived under Roman conquerors.” Many of the Jews felt hopeless, that their individual actions were not important. They believed that God was going to create a miracle, bringing into being a new age, when Judea Palestine would be “powerful, independent, and respected among nations. There would be no accompanying armies or foreign governors. The Jewish people would live in the same prosperous way they had lived under King David of long ago,” (Ross and Hills). Jesus did not believe that God sent his blessings to some and withheld them from others. Ross and Hills continue by saying that God’s blessings came to a person, “The Kingdom of God is not a condition that we get in Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 5 some undisclosed future. No, [the kingdom of God is a present possibility of goodness that is hidden, like a seed, inside every person.] You have only to let it grow naturally, feeding its development by loving attitudes and kind deeds. And behold, it grows gradually until you yourself are part of the Kingdom of God.” Hearing the stories of the prophets, knowing many of the Psalms describing God’s love and mercy, we are told most importantly that Jesus developed a “close personal relationship with God. Prayer and meditation made him feel at home with God.” Jesus turned to God through meditation and prayer. Jesus comforted those who had ears to hear. He taught, “God expected something of man…to behave toward [one another] with loving concern, forgiveness and patience just as he [would]. This was the righteousness God’s Kingdom required, not a righteousness bound up with many rules and practices. This righteousness went much deeper, as deep as thoughts…and desires.” From these roots flowed correct speech, acts, and efforts. We further learn in The Worlds Religions (1958) by Huston Smith that the stories of the prophets and visionaries in the Hebrew history stretch back more than 5000 years. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus begins his ministry with a quote from Isaiah saying, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled.” Smith shares a quote from William James found in his Varieties Of Religious Experience. “In its broadest terms, religion says that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in rightful relations to it.” Smith emphasizes that the biblical tradition in which Jesus stood should really be understood as a continuum, “a sustained and demanding dialogue of the Hebrew people with the unseen order.” The Kingdom Of Heaven Within We come to the realization that the Kingdom of God is within us all. The dogma of Christianity and other organized religions does not provide us with this spiritual foundation or knowledge, really. The ancients taught know yourself. We are of a divine consciousness that inhabits physical temples or bodies that in turn create this material world we find ourselves in. To know ourselves is to know God. Thomas Merton says in Mystics And Zen Masters (1967),”We must never forget that Christianity is much more than the intellectual acceptance of a religious message by a blind and submissive faith which never understands what the message means except in terms of authoritative interpretations handed down externally by experts in the name of the Church. On the contrary, faith is the door to the full inner life of the Church, a life which includes not only access to an authoritative teaching but above all to a deep personal experience which is at once unique and yet shared by the whole Body of Christ, in the Spirit of Christ.” St. Paul compares this knowledge of God, in the Spirit, to the subjective knowledge that a man has of himself. Just as no one can know my inner self except my own “spirit,” so no one can know God except God’s Spirit, yet this Holy Spirit is given to us, in such a way that God knows himself in us. This experience is utterly real, though it cannot be communicated in terms understandable to those who do not share it. Consequently, St. Paul concludes, “We have the mind of Christ.” Corinthians 2:16. “He who is united to the Lord is one spirit.” I Corinthians 6:17 The Kingdom of God finally comes down to that place of “being within,” not a condition we find ourselves in sometime in the future. No, the Kingdom of God is a present, living condition with many possibilities for goodness that we have, but hides like a seed within every individual. It grows naturally, and feeds upon the developing attitudes of love and practicing kind deeds. Behold, like a new plant, it grows gradually until you yourself are part of this garden in the Kingdom of God, within yourself and the world without. Jesus is seen as a prophet who proclaims the Kingdom of God, but Jesus celebrates that Kingdom as already present with his 12 deciples and his followers. Jesus proclaims the Kindom of Heaven is open and available for everyone. The Emergence of Christianity Christianity emerged from a rich array of spiritual traditions that it has been influenced by. The preponderance of common ideas found among the people’s religious practices cannot be explained away or destroyed. For instance the stories like the great flood in Genesis are believed to have come from ancient Babylonian beliefs. The idea of the archetypal, or heavenly man created before the advent of terrestrial man, who is then made into the image of his Creator (Adam in Christianity), is a common concept. For the Kabbalists, this initial subject is Primordial Man, Adam Kadmon, who encompasses all humanity (See U.M.S. Quabalah course). The Phrygian Ophites believed in “a Man and a Son of Man,” as the origins of all subsequent things. In the Avestic literature of Persia, Gayomort was the son of Spenta‐armaiti. The daughter of the Supreme God Ahura Mazda is believed to be the source of humanity. The “First Man,” found in the Babylonian belief system, is seen as an intermediary between the gods of light and this earth. The Pistis Sophia, a collection of Gnostic writings, tells

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 6 us of a “First Man” called Jeu, referred to as “overseer of the light” and the arranger of the cosmos. This was written in Greek yet shows more affinity with Egyptian beliefs than Persian religion. This “First Man” concept appears at the same time, yet in different countries and between peoples who were often hostile rivals. The Great Religions By Which Men Live (1961) by Floyd H. Ross and Tynette Hill recounts the life of Jesus as a life “embroidered with the hopes and dreams of generations of Christians.” From reading this work we learn that it is almost impossible to know just who this man historically was and that in fact it was an inadvertent move that started the Christian religion and the unintended result that many people today believe that he is God incarnate. We are encouraged to approach the study of Jesus like other religious prophets and leaders, keeping an open mind. It is only natural for our human nature to deify a religious leader. The history of Christian attitudes illustrates this as opposed to the way of Taoism and Buddhism. The Church was “intent on exulting the divine role that the church has given to Jesus; many have missed finding the wisdom of his teachings. They have worshiped him, but failed to follow him. Yet the Jesus, whom some at least can see behind all the adoration, sought not to make man accept himself, but to accept his way of life.” According to Legge in the introduction to Forerunners And Rivals Of Christianity (1964) the Christian religion and its divine origin would follow the same lines of development as its rivals. Christian religion survived the early competition from other belief systems, as it was better suited for its environment. Judaism, Christianity’s matrix, was not a rival of Christianity. The Sadducees were the dominant party of the Jewish state but were a small part of the population of Judaea, which was mostly populated by the Pharisees. After 69 A.D. tensions and hostility rose between Jews and Gentiles however Judaism never attempted to become a world religion. In The Great Religions By Which Men Live (1961) by Floyd H. Ross and Tynette Hills, we learn that although John’s Gospel records much hostility from the Jewish religious authorities (who refuse to believe in Jesus), there is nothing but respect for the Judaism of the past and the Old Testament. It is written in Greek, but its authors appear to be at home with Aramaic thought and idiom, and with the thought of contemporary Jewish rabbis. Those rabbis spoke of the Torah (the law given by Moses) as water, bread and light for the world, so John presents Jesus as the living fulfillment of that Law. But the Jewish Law is also to be made available to all men by means of the Lord’s coming and death. John 12:32, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” The religions competing with Christianity fall into three categories. The Oriental religions were found west and east of the Mediterranean, free from Hellenic culture until after the time of Alexander. When Alexander married European and Asian cultures through his military conquest, these belief systems exerted far more influence than they had before in their own native lands. The second group consists of the many sects called Gnostics. Magic and alternative beliefs in the worship of the gods of Olympus were found among this group. The third competition was the religion of Manes arose and attempted to merge the three religions of Zoroaster, Buddha and Christ. The knowledge concerning these religions is limited and fragmented. The Catholic Church later destroyed many documents that traced the history of these religions. A Pope of the 7th century who stated, “Break the idols and concentrate the temples” of the heathen. However, scholars have managed to discover some artifacts and writings from these ancient belief systems. Fragments of works by Gnostics writers and Manichaean documents have been discovered even as far as the Western frontiers of China. The Logos Doctrine: Influences from Judaism and Greco‐Rome There are both Jewish and Greek elements in Christianity, and it is in John’s Gospel that we see these skillfully fused together. John was the witness and guardian of the Lord’s revelation. John 21:24, “This is the disciple which beareth witness of these things and we know that his witness is true.” Whereas the Jews valued will and action and looked for progress to a glorious future, the Greeks valued thought and looked for the inward reality of outward things. The “Logos” or “Word” was a Greek idea meaning the way in which God expresses his nature and purpose to his creatures, the quickening Spirit of all creation and the life of all that lives. Although the word “Logos” only appears in the Prologue, the dominating idea of John’s entire Gospel is, “This Word has become flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14. The Greco‐Roman gods did not survive the tide of the times. Rome attempted to force Christians to make sacrifices to the genius of the Emperor and the good fortune of Rome. Of course, the Christians refused, and were persecuted. Yet the Olympian gods were declining as Christianity was surfacing. The Greek and Latin writers bear witness to the dislike and outright contempt for this new religious belief system. Plutarch states, “The one eternal, passionless Spirit was far removed from the world of chance and earthly soilure.” The competition of

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 7 Christianity in its infancy was not feared by the Pagans who believed there were many lesser gods controlling various departments of Earthly matters. The followers of the Greek philosophers did hinder the efforts of Christianity. The Neo‐Platonic school joined forces with the few worshippers of the pagan gods forcing them into opposition with Christianity. However, Christianity fell outside the influence of Greek philosophy. It appealed to those who had no interest in philosophy and as it was faith based, philosophy did not agree with it. Celsus says that the admission into the early Christian Church was based on the following criteria: “Let no educated man enter, no wise man, no prudent man, for such things we deemed evil; but whoever is ignorant, whoever is an intelligent, reversible, let him, can be well.” Yet Christians were confident “the Lord is at hand and His reward” was the only philosophical thought that they held. The Highest Good of the philosophers was not the concern of these early Christians. Influences From India Paramahansa Yogananda writes in Man’s Eternal Quest (1975), “The ideals of Christ are the ideals of the scriptures of India. The precepts for Jesus are analogous to the highest Vedic teachings, which were in existence long before the advent of Jesus.” This does not take away from the greatness of Christ but rather, “it shows the internal nature of truth, and that Jesus incarnated on earth to give to the world a new expression of Santana Dharma (eternal religion, the eternal principles of righteousness).” The book of Genesis is an exact parallel to the older Hindu concept of the creation of our universe. The Ten Commandments of Moses, biblical legends and the miracles of Christ, all have parallel themes to the earlier Vedic literature of India. Yogananda believes that the teachings of Christ in the New Testament and those of Krishna in the Bhagavad‐Gita are in fact corresponding teachings. It is a common belief among scholars that Jesus Christ traveled in India before he became a spiritual teacher. No mention is made of him in the New Testament from his twelfth to thirtieth year. Indian records show that Jesus lived and studied there during the fifteen “unaccounted” years of his life in India, which explains the parallels of Christ’s teachings with Yoga‐Vedanta doctrines. It is believed that Jesus journeyed to India to visit the three “wise men from the east” who paid homage to him at his birth. Yogananda tells us that these wise men from the east were guided to the Christ child by the divine light of a star, not a physical luminary, but a star of the omniscient spiritual eye. He further explains that the “third eye” is in the forehead between the eyebrows (the 6th Chakra). It is a metaphysical telescope through which one can see to infinity in all directions simultaneously, beholding with omnipresent spherical vision whatever is happening in any point of creation. Jesus referred to it as “The light of the body is the eye: if therefor the eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light.” By the guiding light of the spiritual eye, the Wise Men found, recognized and honored the infant Christ as a soul of a divine incarnation. See U.M.S. Chakra’s and Aura’s Course. The name and title of Jesus is found in Sanskrit, an ancient spiritual language of creation. Yogananda writes, “The words Jesus and Isa (pronounced ‘Isha’) are substantially the same. Is, Isa, and Iswara all refer to the Lord, or Supreme Being. ‘Jesus’ derives from the Greek form of the name Joshua or Jeshua, a contraction of Jehoshua, ‘help of Jehovah’ or ‘Savior.’” Christ Consciousness in Sanskrit is Kutastha Chaitanya. Paramahansa Yogananda explains that the title of Christ is also found in India. He conjectures that Jesus was possibly given the title “Krishna” while visiting India. Both titles imply divinity, avatars in union with God. An avatar is a being who, while residing in physical form, can experience unity with Christ Consciousness, or Kutastha Chaitanya, the Intelligence of God omnipresent in creation. This consciousness is also called “the only begotten Son of God” because it is the perfect reflection in the creation of the Uncreated Infinite. Creation is like the body of God, and his consciousness omnipresent therein is called Christ Consciousness. He is aware of whatever we do within his universal form. Yogananda states, “The wonders of God’s creation… is the unique potential of human beings to attain the omniscience of oneness with Christ Consciousness.” Influences from Egypt We learn from Francis Legge in Forerunners And Rivals Of Christianity (1964) that in the year 391 A.D., the chief seat of origin for the Alexandrian religion was laid to waste, and the religion itself perished after a successful reign of seven centuries. Legge writes, “The ecclesiastical writers say that this was followed by the conversion of several of the ‘Hellenists,’ adherents to the worship of Serapis and Isis, to Christianity… Is this the reason we find so many of the external usages of Isis‐worship preserved, in or revived by, the Catholic Church? When one religion finally replaces another, it generally takes over from its predecessor much of its usages that seem harmless or praiseworthy.” Another example of this immersion of belief systems is seen with the worship of the Virgin as the Theotokos or Mother of God, which is introduced into the Catholic Church about the same time as

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 8 the destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria. It enabled the devotees of Isis to continue unchecked their worship of the mother goddess by merely changing the object of their adoration” (Legge). The concept of the Supreme Being as a triune (three‐fold) god was a very old one in Egypt. “Thus from one god I became three gods,” says Osiris in his description of his self‐creation in a papyrus dated twelve years after the death of Alexander. The Trinitarian formulas set out in the Creeds of Nicaea and of St. Athanasius was familiar to those in the Alexandrian religion, but not to those brought up in the uncompromising monotheism of the Jews. The ideas in Christianity are much older doctrines in the most ancient of religions than most people realize. MYSTICISM Revelations of Truth We come to some understanding that Truth is eternal. Revelations of Truth from different religions are as circulating loops with repeating themes. Many scholars agree that Egypt was the precognitor of Israel’s “mystery” religions. Savior Gods are one such repeating theme. Marduk or Tammuz, the Babylonian God, was to come to earth as a savior. Saoshyant was the savior of the Persian religion. Krishna in India had the same role as savior. The Egyptians as early as 2,200 B.C., proclaimed Osiris as savior described as the “shepherd of his people who shall gather together his scattered flocks and in whom there is no sin.” Most often these were dying gods who had originally signified the annual death and revival of vegetation with the seasons. Like the withering vegetation, they disappeared into the underworld when they died, then when the onset of summer was signaled at the spring equinox, the god was born again to fertilize the crops and stimulate the reproductive cycle. See U.M.S. Symbols and Colors course. There are religious texts written before the earliest parts of the Old Testament. The Rig Veda dates from before 1,000 B.C., possibly as early as 1,500 B.C., making it older than the surmised Old Testament sources. Likewise, the Hindu Upanishads date from sometime between 1,400 and 800 B.C., again as old as the Old Testament sources. The Hindu scriptures are a vast body of literature, which include such epic poems as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, including the Bhagavad‐Gita as a later insertion. The collection and writing of the Hindu scriptures continued well into the Christian era, about 500 A.D., giving them a span that is much longer than the Bible writings. Often the messages are the same. Mysteries of the Mystery Schools Revealed The word “Mysticism” itself comes down to us from the Greeks and is derived from a root meaning “to close.” The mystic was one who had been initiated into the secret esoteric knowledge of Divine things. The term “mystical,” then might be applied to any closed circle whose secrets were revealed only to the initiated. The philosophers borrowed the word from the priests and applied it to their own speculative doctrines and thence it passed over into the Christian Church. Mystery Schools have throughout time and place, as centers of sacred esoteric knowledge. This divine knowledge was taught to initiates who often became leaders of the people, starting movements that transformed societies. Often the information taught by the Mystery Schools was secret, so as one might expect, then as today, it is not “public knowledge” and this should be kept in mind when studying this information. “How was it possible that the Hibernia initiate, a thousand years or more before the Incarnation, could have had a vision of Christ?” According to universal mythology, and the teachings handed down for centuries in the esoteric Mystery Schools (even to our own day), the evolution of our planetary system as a whole, has to pass through seven stages. These are echoed in shorter periods within the Earth itself. The third of these shorter periods is said to have reproduced at a quicker tempo than the original creation, or separation from the general cosmic substance, of the Sun and the Moon; and this is the period described in the Book of Genesis, where seven “days” are spoken of. The seven “days” are, of course immense periods, but the word day (in Hebrew Yom) represents not only an age of time but also a sevenfold group of spiritual Creator Beings, the Elohim. One of these “Groups” (the word is very inadequate) whose leader Head was Jehovah, had a Moon‐like nature. This group was especially associated with the power of reflecting, upon the Earth, those influences poured forth by the other Groups who represented the spiritual force of the Sun. Therefore, being in a sense “nearer” to the Earth they could impart to humanity wisdom concerning the spiritual Sun. Eleanor Merry, in The Flaming Door, writes that these Beings were variously described in all ancient mythology and religion as “Moon Beings.” They have already been mentioned as the Pitris. They were from the West, the “Gods of the shining land of Death,” who inspired the initiates in the

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 9 Mysteries. As “reflectors” from the Moon of glory of the Elohim of the Sun, their supreme mission was to prepare humanity in all the different Mystery sanctuaries of the world, for the Advent of the Sun‐Logos, Christ. Christ was called by other names in previous religions, and this “Being held the central place in all the old Mysteries.” He was spoken of in ancient India as Vishvakarman, who was the “Light of the World” in Persia as Ormuzd; in the Zend‐Avesta it is said of Him: “He will descend to Earth; He will overcome age, death, decay; He will create free decision; then, when the time is ripe for the resurrection of the dead, He will have the victory of life. He will be the victorious Saviour, surrounded by Apostles.” In Egypt, He was known as Osiris; in Greece as Apollo; by Moses as the I AM. The influence of the lunar Beings, as teachers about the descent of the Sun‐Logos to Earth, is also to be found in the wisdom known as the Gnosis, which in Christianity appeared as a sect that were regarded as heretical. Why? Because this wisdom (wonderfully written down in the well‐known Pistis Sophia) could fully explain the cosmic nature of Christ but could not explain [for the satisfaction of the Church] His humanity. All of the mystery wisdom seemed intent on reminding human beings that we are all “born out of God.” Merry writes further, “From the physical point of view, all men had their ancestors behind them, so from the spiritual point of view they were ‘sons of God,’ Who was the Father of all. The content of all the Mystery schools consisted in educating such people as were especially fitted for it, to eliminate the physical consciousness (for the time being) and attain a clear spiritual consciousness in which they could perceive something of the manner of their descent from God. And in all the Mysteries it was taught that there was one Son of God Who was supreme, and of Whom it was foretold that He would one day descend to the Earth, in a Man.” She encourages us to study the four Gospels to discover the two points of view shown there. “The God descended is especially to be found in Matthew and John. (The Word made Flesh.) The heights from which He descended are alluded to in Luke’s genealogy: ‘from Adam, which is the Son of God,’ and also in Mark, where we are immediately made aware of the Divinity in Jesus in the way in which the Gospel opens and especially in the recognition of the God in Him by the demons: ‘We know Thee Who Thou art, the Holy One of God.’” (Mark I) … These two poles of existence, the divine and the human, both in doctrine and in ritual, would necessarily be represented in some form in every school of the Mysteries, which was concerned with the central idea of Earth‐ evolution, namely, its Creative Logos. Initiates Of Hibernia Eleanor Merry in her book The Flaming Door: The Mission Of The Celtic Folk‐Soul (1983) gives insight into ancient Egypt. Merry tells us, “The new initiate was led out of the chamber of death to behold the rising Sun, so the initiate of Hibernia was spiritually led out at last by his Initiators to behold the vision of Christ. In that moment he knew that the warmth and strength of Love could flow into his heart, and that from this strength came the recognition of the harmonious unity of the ‘Science’ and the ‘Art’ of Life. He knew what the statues concealed; he knew the answer to all his questions.” Eleanor Merry continues, “The secret underlying all the ancient Mysteries in some form or other, but especially and clearly in the Hibernian Mysteries and in the essential characteristics of Hu and Ceridwen, was this passing out and in of the soul and spirit of the human being, not only in sleeping and waking, but also in the greater rhythm of dying and being born. It was the secret of Incarnation and Resurrection. And for this reason, the greatest Incarnation the world has ever known, that of Christ Himself, the Sun‐Logos, which, though clearly foreseen, was still wrapped in the obscurity of the future, and was not an incredible or incomprehensible event in the wisdom of Hibernia and its offshoots.” The Sun As we see, it is only with study that we can truly understand what Christianity is. The Sun symbolism can hardly be ignored. We see it in the accepted gospels and the Apocrypha. Christ is a Sun‐god, and the old tradition of Christmas Day was to celebrate the Birth of the Sun as conceived in the constellation of Virgo at the end of August. The ancients believed that the divinity of the Sun was found within. One could know Christ as an inner experience of the sun within and reflect this experience in thoughts, feelings and deeds in the Sun Path. Let us turn to the 19th century metaphysician Rudolf Steiner for his understanding of the Sun Path in his lecture, The Wrong And Right Use Of Esoteric Knowledge (November 25,1917, Dornach, Switzerland.) “Oracle Sanctuaries were the names of the places where ancient wise women and men were instructed in the mysteries of creation by our angelic teachers. The highest Oracle Sanctuary was that of the Sun (Christ) Oracle.” Steiner called the Sun Oracle the highest, most sublime of all the ancient Oracles since it not only encompassed the Christ Mystery, but also all

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 10 the other oracle wisdom. The wisdom, mysteries of the Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus and Vulcan oracles were held in the Christ (Sun/Son) Oracle. See U.M.S. Symbols and Colors course. Ley Lines Researcher Karen Eliot writes about ley lines and the Christian Church. “I came across a book called ‘English Leys’ by R.C. Domino (about ley lines and their use in occult organizations) that proposed that pagan religious sites (e.g. Stonehenge) were built on ley lines, and that when Christianity came to England these sites where ‘neutralized’ by the placing cathedrals and churches on top of them. (The fact Christians did build churches on top of pagan sites is historically true). Domino continues saying that this is a slight distortion of the truth, because the church even at that time was run by the ‘Rosicrucians/Illuminati.’ The cathedrals were built on ley lines to amplify the ‘telluric currents’ that run along these lines. Domino points to the fact that they are well shaped for the task as amplifiers. If this was the case, if I took a map of the United Kingdom and marked all the cathedrals on to it, then it would be logical to find those sites forming rough lines. This is exactly what I did, and sure enough there were some surprisingly well‐defined lines.” It is interesting to speculate that perhaps the early creators of the sacred sites for pagan religious practices were quite aware of the magical phenomena of ley lines in the Earth. It is also interesting to speculate about the Christian churches and their knowledge of these ley lines. Did they make use of them because they knew as well as those who practiced pagan religions that the power these places held was useful for all religious practices, no matter what their portent? Theurgy And The Soul The Schaff‐Herzog Encyclopedia defines Theurgy as: 1) A divine work; a miracle; hence, magic; sorcery. 2) A kind of magical science or art developed in Alexandria among the Neoplatonists, supposed to enable man to influence the will of the gods by means of purification and other sacramental rites. 3) In later or modern magic, that species of magic in which effects are claimed to be produced by supernatural agency, in distinction from natural magic (from). Gregory Shaw, in his book Theurgy And The Soul (1995), says that theurgy was a subtle and intellectually sophisticated attempt to apply Platonic and Pythagorean teachings to the full expression of human existence known in the material world at that time, and God. A student of Platonic, “Porphyry (234‐305) had a marked interest in mystery cults; he was the first to attentively read and comment on the mysterious religious text known as the Chaldean Oracles. Theurgy can be traced back to the Oracles. The word comes from theos (god) and ergon (activity, work); it thus implies a ritual in which man communicates with the divine. Whereas Porphyry was cautious about giving theurgy too important a place, Iamblichus went farther and deemed it superior to both philosophy and theology. After all, philosophy and theology deal with discourses and speculations, while theurgy is actually experienced. Subsequent philosophers—Hierocles, Proclus, Damascius—would be durably influenced by Iamblichus.” Shaw offers an expert analysis of the theory of symbols (sunthemata), whose origin lies primarily in the Chaldean Oracles. According to the Oracles, symbols were sown by the Demiurge in the cosmos and embedded in every soul. Once awakened these symbols enable one to partake in the divine. The symbols have two roles: they perform as agents both cosmogonically (the Demiurge has created all things by means of such images) and anagogically (they effect the soul’s return to the gods). Theurgy is envisioned as the best way to awaken these symbols, through prayer, invocation and rituals. Symbols, much like the individual souls who want to awaken, are not all the same. Shaw shows the difference between material, intermediate and noetic symbols, and also between material, intermediate and noetic souls, depending on one’s personal progress. Iamblichus holds that newcomers must not immediately seek union with the gods (unlike what Plotinus and Porphyry attempted to do). They first need to use matter ritually, and only after having mastered their passions can they move on to the following step. “Theurgical union is not envisioned as a pure contemplation, but as an active participation in cosmogenesis. Through theurgic rites, the soul does not escape but [rather] takes part in the demiurgy of the world… Theurgy can also be considered as a ritual elaboration of such key Platonic themes as Eros (love) and anamnesis (recollection).” Iamblichus of Syria was considered one of the great philosophers whose opinions on the soul, and the importance of ritual has a profound influence on subsequent Platonists. His teachings were to represent the final form of pagan spirituality before the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Up to this time Platonists stressed the elevated status of the human soul yet Iamblichus taught that the soul descended completely into the body and thereby required the performance of theurgic rites, revealed by the gods, to unite the soul with the One. The

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 11 Emperor Julian, who lived between 331‐363 A.D., followed Iamblichus’ teachings, attempting the revival of traditional pagan cults in his campaign to defeat Christianity. Although Julian was unsuccessful, Iamblichus’ ideas persisted well into the Middle Ages and beyond. His vision of a hierarchical cosmos united by divine ritual became the dominant worldview for the entire medieval world later on.

THE BUILDING OF A CHRISTIAN EMPIRE Alexander The Great Alexander The Great carried a copy of Homer’s “Iliad” until his death in 323 B.C. Alexander Mesopotamia together for the first time under a single power. He had a direct effect on the evolution of monotheism, and his conquests were the turning point in the history of religions. The interchange of ideas between East and West threw the different religions of the world into a melting pot. Man now wants to impress his own ideas of the Divine upon others. From the scientific point of view, there is none among the forerunners of Christianity who did more to prepare and make ready its way than Alexander The Great. He was essential to the progress of communication between cultures. Council Of Nicaea (325 A.D.) The following research on the Council of Nicaea was done by Dennis Hinks from 1983‐1999 and is also covered in the book by Frances Legge, Forerunners Of Christianity (1964). The Scriptures teach that there is only one God, they also teach that Christ is God. We will look at the view of Christ, the action taken at Nicaea and the reaction to the Nicene formula. The Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) condemned Arianism and affirmed the Son of God to be identical in essence. A statement (creed) was written in an attempt to accurately define the relationship between Jesus and God. A certain controversial, misunderstood word is included in the creed. This word “coessential” means that the Father and Son are said to share the same essence. Though in agreement with the spirit of the creed, many were discontent with the inclusion of this word. For political reasons, Emperor Constantine temporarily upheld the Orthodox view. Through his influence, nearly everyone signed the creed, in spite of the controversial word. The issue here involved the question of how Jesus (the Son) is God. These definitions are not to be interpreted as an implied denial of the fact that Jesus (the Son) was also human. It is important to note a little history about Constantine. He became powerful in Christianity based on the outcome of a very important battle. Before he embarked for the battle, he received a vision in which a cross appeared to him and he was commanded to fight under the sign of the cross in battle. If he did this, he would be victorious. Therefore, he instructed his entire army to emblazon the symbol of the cross on their shields. They fought the battle victoriously. He was in such gratitude, he established the city of Constantinople as the headquarters of Christianity, and became integral to the forming of Christianity, stabilizing it as the official religion in Rome. Views After The Council The Orthodox views were held by most, or all, Christians in the western half of the empire, and by a few in the eastern half. The Father and the Son are God in the same sense; the relationship between them is that of unity. The Semi‐Arian view was held by the majority in the western half of the empire: The Father and the Son are God in the same sense. The relationship between them, however, was not explained by this group. The Arian view held by a few who disagreed in the eastern half of the empire: The Son was specially created—a creature different from all others. He deserves worship, is a god, and took the place of the soul in a human body at the incarnation. These are the most important views adopted by the Church as a result of the Council of Nicaea. Political and theological disputes occurred after 325 A.D. The conflicts occurred primarily in the “eastern branch” of Christianity as the majority of those in the west held on to the “Orthodox” view. The Arians toned down their views, however, to take advantage of the Semi‐Arians, who wanted to revise the creed, so a coalition was formed. For political purposes, Emperor Constantine joins them and various creeds are written. Those holding to the Orthodox position were persecuted or banished. However there was no true unity between the groups within the coalition so the coalition eventually breaks‐up. The Arian “extremists” also form their own group. The issue is the definition of the “very essence” of these two beings (Father and Son), or “the substance of which they are composed.” The various groups answered this question by stating that the Father and Son were the same, or similar, in essence. Emperor Julian brought back the Orthodox, allowing them to return from exile or to come out of hiding. He did so because he wanted to promote internal strife in the church... because he wanted to destroy it! Instead, the

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 12 opposite occurs. We will cover Emperor Julian more in depth, shortly. The misunderstanding in the wording of the creed was cleared up, however, and they united once again under the Orthodox view. Emperor Valens helped the Arians regain temporary control. After Emperor Valens died, the Nicene Creed was reaffirmed as being an accurate representation of Christian doctrine. The Nicene‐Constantinopolitan Creed follows below: I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in One Lord, Jesus Christ, the only‐begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father of all ages. Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, of One essence with the Father, through whom all things were made. Who, for us all and for our salvation came, down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary and became man. Crucified for our salvation under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried. And on the third day He rose again according to the scriptures. And ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. And He shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, whose Kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. Who spoke through the Prophets. I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. I await the resurrection of the dead; And the life of the age to come. Amen. Constantius died, and Julian’s reign began, which lasted less than twenty months. When Julian became Emperor (361 A.D.), he tried to destroy Christianity, as I have mentioned, not by persecution, but by internal strife and recalling all those who had been previously banished. The Council of Alexandria (362 A.D.) dealt with the problem of admitting Semi‐Arians back into the Nicene group by simply reaffirming the Nicene Creed, and as well as with the confusion of the terms “substance” (hypostasis) and “essence” (ousia). The Emperor Julian (331‐363 AD) did not see things the same way Constantinople did. He supported the sun‐mystery belief systems. The Sun‐Mystery In The Course Of Human History by Rudolf Steiner says, “In the fourth century A.D. there were schools which taught that the sun‐mystery must remain untold, that a civilization knowing nothing of the sun‐mystery must now arise. Behind everything that takes place in the external world lie forces and powers which give guidance from the universe. One of the instruments of these guiding powers was the Roman Emperor Constantine. It was under him that Christianity assumed the form, which denies the sun.” Under Valens (successor to Julian) the Acacians gained temporary control (c.363 A.D.), but only for a short time. By the time of the death of Athanasius (373 A.D.), the Arians were losing ground. Basil, a long‐time enemy of Arianism, became bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. Gregory of Nazianzus started an Orthodox mission in Constantinople, which was well received, amid persecution. Finally, when Theodorius became emperor, the Nicene creed was upheld at the Council of Constantinople (381‐383 A.D.), and Arianism forever became a sect outside the church. And so, the Arian heresy had run its course. After fifty‐five years of struggle, Christendom was convinced that it had to either accept the complete and full deity of Christ, or deny it. There was no middle ground. As for the Arians, they lingered on for a few centuries. They never again held prominent positions in the church, but they were readily accepted by the barbarians, Germanic tribes, and others, so their influence was still felt. Even today it creeps up in the form of various sects, to remind us of these former days—days when it had almost conquered Christendom, but having been put to the test, was found to be false. Rowland Smith, in Julian’s Gods: Religion And Philosophy In The Thought And Action Of Julian The Apostate (1995:137‐138) says, “Philosophical interests, in Julian’s case based on Iamblichan Neoplatonism, appear to have prompted the Emperor’s interest in the mysteries in general and in Mithraism in particular. Mithraic ritual provided a subject for philosophical exegesis but did not substitute for theurgic rites linked by Iamblichus to the divine revelations of the Chaldaean Oracles. Indeed, Smith raises important doubts about the date of Julian’s acknowledged initiation into the cult of Mithras, in Athanassiadi in 351 A.D. This demonstrates the role played by modern identifications of Mithras with the god Helios in attempts to link this initiation to Julian’s involvement with Neoplatonic theurgy, his “conversion” to paganism, or his initiation in the Eleusinian Mysteries during his

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 13 brief stay in Athens. As for the Mysteries of Cybele, though a precise date for Julian’s initiation is beyond recovery, an early formal involvement on his part is suggested by the prominence of the cult of Magna Mater at Ephesus and by the association of Hecate, so important to theurgic ritual, with Cybele.” Julian’s Against The Galilaeans understandably occupies a central position in Smith’s analysis of Julian’s objections to Christianity. Smith observes that Julian couches his attack on Christian revelation in long‐standing, derivative argumentation and suggests that Julian viewed Christian revelation based on a “once‐and‐for‐all” incarnation of God as impossible to square with a Neoplatonic notion of revelation reconcilable with traditional Greco‐Roman polytheism. Julian’s excoriation of the Old Testament god of the Jews reflects some of the same features. His comparison of the creation story of Genesis to Plato’s Timaeus, his charge against the Jews of a narrow, exclusive religiosity, and his indictment of the Jewish god in contrast to the classical theoi as a protector and provider, all have more to do, in Smith’s view with Julian’s traditional polytheism than with philosophy. The same is true of what Smith (p. 197) sees as Julian’s three charges against Christianity: the rejection of the good in Greek and Jewish traditions, the claim of Christ’s divinity, and the “repulsive and impious” nature of Christian religious practices. In sum, he maintains (p. 207) that Against The Galilaeans…”was written out of deep hatred for Christian thought and practice and the social effects they had had throughout the Empire. To Julian, these were most palpable in the indifference of Christians to the cult of worship of the ancestral gods, and in their assumption that they could participate in the Greek republic of letters and yet deny what he saw as its religious core: a multiplicity of gods manifesting themselves in helpful epiphanies in return for the honours paid to them by mortals.” The Emperor Julian had, after all, inherited Constantius’ administration, commanders, and legions that had fought under the sign of the cross and the labarum. However, once confident that he could act, Julian did. In a series of laws he revoked property and privileges granted the church by his Christian predecessors, working concurrently to restore the losses to the pagan cult. Julian’s anti‐Christian feelings intensified in Antioch—partly as a response to the provocations of the Antiochenes and in reaction to particular problems elsewhere, partly in his anticipation of the help from the gods required for success against the Persians—and his conception of his goal was unchanged. His aim was as it had ever been: “The eradication of Christianity as a social force in the Empire.” (p. 215). Thought and action became one as Julian, Hellene and Emperor, strove to merit the title restitutor of religio Romana, imperium Romanum, and ultimately, the orbis terrarum. Julian asks about Adam and Eve and the eating of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge at the instigation of the Serpent: “Is it not excessively strange that God should deny to the human beings whom he had fashioned the power to distinguish between good and evil...which knowledge alone seems to give coherence to the mind of man? God refused to let man taste of wisdom, but what could be of more value for man… so that the serpent was a benefactor rather than a destroyer of the human race.” Julian believed that the Bible was written in allegories with esoteric or hidden meaning important for understanding the scriptures. Julian was influenced by the Neoplatonic concepts of Plato, Pythagoras, and Orpheus, who he referred to as “the most ancient of all the inspired philosophers and founders of the most sacred of all the Mysteries.” In The Phenomenon Of Man (1955), Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit priest and paleontologist, tells us the following about Emperor Julian: “Julian commenced his reign at Constantinople in December, 361. During 362 he prepared for a renewal of the war with the Persians, and in March of the following year took the field, at first with success, but it was on June 26, 363 A.D., in the heat of battle, that he received a mortal wound from a spear thought to be that of a Christian regicide. His final hours, as he lay in his tent surrounded by the philosophers who had been his constant companions, have been likened to the last hours of Socrates, for they were largely spent in philosophic and lofty discourse. As morning dawned, according to witness accounts, he asked to be lifted to greet the first rays of the rising sun, and so passed into the care of great Helios. Others (Ammianus, etc.) give the hour of Julian’s death as midnight, but there are good reasons to accept the above version, for Julian was a sun worshipper. Julian’s brief but active reign was at an end; yet the impetus he had given his reforms carried their influence in some degree into the after years. History claims, however, that by the 6th century, “Neoplatonism was triumphantly crushed and its flame stamped out.” But was it really crushed as completely as appearances might suggest? The fact is that believers in the doctrines of Pythagoras and Plato and Iamblichus survived in the West, individually and in groups, throughout the centuries. Often they were branded as heretics and attempts were made to exterminate them, but the ideas they cherished lived on. The only sure way to arrive at a true

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 14 estimate of a man’s worth is to go to the writings of the individual himself; and in Julian’s case these are fairly voluminous, for he was a copious author and correspondent, and a fair amount of his work has survived. Here is internal evidence that he was a genuine representative of the guardians of human welfare.” Hagia Sophia In the year 988 A.D., Russia sent envoys to compare its religious services with those of other religions they were considering adopting. The Hagia Sophia was so beautiful that they believed they were “in Heaven itself.” The Hagia Sophia, a magnificently decorated church, was so magnificent that it became almost mythical, known to the far‐off Anglo‐Saxons of England, who borrowed not only aspects of Byzantine art but also the title of Basileus for their king. Even the Vikings in distant Scandinavia and in Russland referred to Constantinople as Miklegard or Tsargrad (the Emperor’s city), of which the chief jewel was Hagia Sophia, a beautiful cathedral. During the medieval period, the Hagia Sophia preserved a number of relics. Dating from the time of Christ or shortly thereafter, we discover that this church holds today what they believe is the true cross, the crown of thorns and the Virgin’s girdle and robe. The girdle and robe, were believed by the Byzantine populace to be the palladia (protectors) of Constantinople. Before the time of the schism in 1054 A.D., pilgrims from around the region came to participate in the liturgy held at Hagia Sophia, hypnotized by the remarkably moving chants of the patriarchal, antiphonal choirs. Some scholars believe that Pope Gregory The Great, after he was papal envoy in Constantinople (before 590), introduced into St. Peter’s at Rome the so‐called Gregorian chant in imitation of the chanting in Hagia Sophia. Since the time of Photios, changes have occurred. Differing views were given freedom of expression thanks to the Aggiornamento of Vatican ΙΙ. The words of our forefathers in the Faith at the Synod of Union (879‐ 880 A.D.) should be taken to heart. The holy Synod said, “Every church has certain old usages which it has inherited. One should not quarrel and argue about them. Let the Roman Church observe its usages; this is legitimate. But let also the Church of Constantinople observe certain usages which it has inherited from old times. Let it be likewise so in the Orient... Many things would not have happened if the churches had followed this recommendation in the past.” So all were allowed autonomy, with freedom to choose their own way of expressing this unity in the churches. The Divine Revelation vs. Historicism In the latter part of the 19th‐century, Christianity concentrated on the divine revelation around the “historical Jesus.” The reason for this was to oppose the metaphysical, idealistic and speculative Christology of the first half of the 19th‐century. The teachings concerning the Kingdom of God became central. This implied a purely historical figure of Jesus and his teachings according to the Gospel. However, upon a closer look at this line of thinking and this supposedly historical picture, it is in reality an invention. This conception of the Kingdom is not a return to Jesus’ strongly eschatological teachings according to the Gospel. Harnack’s work on the essence of Christianity, found in his famous book What Is Christianity appearing at the beginning of the 19th century, finds the essence of Christianity in Jesus’ teachings of the Fatherhood of God, the family of man and the value of the human soul. The theology of the Enlightenment is that “God, virtue, and immortality” are all found in the life of Jesus. With a careful reinterpretation of the historical, Harnack begins within certain standards by which the historical was judged, even though it is not clear just what the standard is. Reference is made to Jesus’ “inner life” at this time rather than to certain aspects of his teachings. This inner life of the Christ is idealism. Jesus represents “the moral ideal” as if the idea of moral goodness was incarnate in Jesus’ “inner life.” In Faith Of The Christian Church (1948), Gustaf Aulen says, “From the viewpoint of Christian faith there are essentially two defects in the thought of historicism. In the first place, revelation is understood as dated and static. When revelation is located at an isolated point in the past, an imaginary chasm is created between faith and revelation. Because of its one‐sided emphasis upon the ‘historical Jesus.’ In The True Nature Of The Second Coming (1971), Rudolf Steiner says, “The will of man must be fired by the divine wisdom, and the most powerful impulse for this will be to those who have truly prepared themselves. The sublime ether‐form of Christ Jesus becomes perceptible. To a man in whom natural clairvoyance has developed this will be like a Second Coming of Christ Jesus, just as the etheric Christ will appear again to men when they realize that they must use to this end of the faculties with which evolution itself will equip the human soul…” The “First Man” Jesus was marginalized in the Jewish community during his life and supposedly joined the Essenes at the age of 18. Jesus felt that Palestine was the best place in all the Roman world to live out the final scenes of his life

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 15 on earth. He was satisfied to reveal his divine identity among the Jews and gentiles of his native Palestine. He finished his life on earth in the same land where he was born, in Palestine and among the Jews. No mention is made of the “First Man” found in the Babylonian belief system that is seen as an intermediary between the gods of light and this earth. In the unfolding consciousness of the Age of Aquarius we find ourselves in now, Maria Roschl‐Lehrs examines the lives of the German poets Lessing, Goethe and Novalis: in her book The Second Man In Us (1977): “Souls have come to be at home in the preternatural, but usually they did so in a peculiar way…namely, through a body‐free expansion into extra‐human and extra‐terrestrial realms, mostly with the surrender, however, of their self‐consciousness, through a going‐out of themselves into space. And only very special individuals pierced, also in their own way, the boundaries of time, and so came to an understanding of repeated earthly lives, as did, for example, Lessing, Goethe and Novalis… This second, cloud‐like man is working so strongly, and thus giving rise to so many questions in the souls today, again points to one of those inner metamorphoses which the present age is bringing about; it is the development of a more intense consciousness of the soul and spirit of man, a development that begins in puberty. Of course a small child also has active in its astral, its star body the vehicle of its feelings and of musical experience, but with the child this astral body is around it, it envelops it, interlacing and weaving itself through it from the outside…” During the years of childhood, these forms of light merge with the organs of the human body. The astral body becomes a part of the young person, linking him with the cosmic forces and new organs of perception. The cloud‐like man is literally drawn into the human being and we see the birth of the astral‐ego member becoming more conscious. Today the human soul brings up many questions for us about eternal man, bearer of karmic development. SACRED CHRISTIAN TEXTS Aeon: Greek “emanation, divine power, cosmic time cycle.“ “Reefs of Aeonic dreaming.” (Gaia Mythos) An Aeon is a god understood in terms of the physics of consciousness. They are processes, great living currents, both self‐aware and in possession of sense abilities. The Goddess Sophia, who becomes embodied as Gaia, is an Aeon, hence the Aeon Sophia. Aeons are gendered. In some Gnostic scenarios the male counterpart to the female Aeon Sophia is the Aeon Christos. Gnostic’s, in first century Christianity, were a prominent segment of the new Christian community. They were the early followers of Christ, and held strongly to the beliefs of Christ and his message, and experienced a “special witness” or the revelatory experience of the divine as experienced in the Ein Solf of the ancient Kabbalistic mystery traditon. This spiritual experience is called “gnosis” by the Gnostics, which is believed by them to be the true way of Christ. Stephan Hoeller explains that these Gnostic Christians held a “conviction that direct, personal and absolute knowledge of the authentic truths of existence is accessible to human beings, and, moreover, that the attainment of such knowledge must always constitute the supreme achievement of human life.” In December 1945, near the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, Gnostic studies were reborn. A collection of ancient texts were discovered hidden away since the year 390 A.D., by monks of St. Pachomius, to escape destruction by order of the growing Christian Church that was at that time violently eradicating heresy. These thirteen papyrus codices containing fifty‐two sacred texts are now called the “Gnostic Gospels.” We learn from reading Mary Magdalene: Beyond The Myth (1993), by Susan Haskins, that there was a concerted effort on the part of churchmen of the early church to destroy the knowledge of any female contributions. Mary Magdalene’s may well have been victim to this legacy of deceit and repression. This book renders the theory that the Fourth Gospel, believed to be authored by John of Zebedee is really written by Mary Magdalene. Is the Beloved Disciple of the Fourth Gospel and founder and leader of what has come to be known as the Johannine Community really Mary Magdalene? According to Haskins there is more evidence pointing to Mary’s writing the Fourth Gospel than John writing it. The following are not official gospels that are included in the Bible, but to the Christian mystic they are important indeed and could be considered part of the Bible. The following is material from The Gospel Of Mary: Gospel of Mary Chapter 4 (Pages 1 to 6 of the manuscript, containing chapters 1 ‐ 3, are lost. The extant text starts on page 7...) ...Will matter then be destroyed or not?

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 16 22) The Savior said, All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots. 23) For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone. 24) He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 25) Peter said to him, Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world? 26) The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin. 27) That is why the Good came into your midst, to the essence of every nature in order to restore it to its root. 28) Then He continued and said, That is why you become sick and die, for you are deprived of the one who can heal you. 29) He who has a mind to understand, let him understand. 30) Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body. 31) That is why I said to you, Be of good courage, and if you are discouraged be encouraged in the presence of the different forms of nature. 32) He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 33) When the Blessed One had said this, He greeted them all, saying, Peace be with you. Receive my peace unto yourselves. 34) Beware that no one lead you astray saying Lo here or lo there! For the Son of Man is within you. 35) Follow after Him! 36) Those who seek Him will find Him. 37) Go then and preach the gospel of the Kingdom. 38) Do not lay down any rules beyond what I appointed you, and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be constrained by it. 39) When He said this He departed. Chapter 5 1) But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare Him, how will they spare us? 2) Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you. 3) But rather, let us praise His greatness, for He has prepared us and made us into Men. 4) When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior. 5) Peter said to Mary, Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman. 6) Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them. 7) Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you. 8) And she began to speak to them these words: I, she said, saw the Lord in a vision and I said to Him, Lord I saw you today in a vision. He answered and said to me, 9) Blessed are you that you did not waver at the sight of Me. For where the mind is there is the treasure. 10) I said to Him, Lord, how does he who sees the vision see it, through the soul or through the spirit? 11) The Savior answered and said, He does not see through the soul nor through the spirit, but the mind that is between the two that is what sees the vision and it is [...] (pages 11 ‐ 14 are missing from the manuscript) Chapter 8: ...it. 10) And desire said, I did not see you descending, but now I see you ascending. Why do you lie since you belong to me? 11) The soul answered and said, I saw you. You did not see me nor recognize me. I served you as a garment and you did not know me. 12) When it said this, it (the soul) went away rejoicing greatly. 13) Again it came to the third power, which is called ignorance. 14) The power questioned the soul, saying, Where are you going? In wickedness are you bound. But you are bound; do not judge! 15) And the soul said, Why do you judge me, although I have not judged?

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 17 16) I was bound, though I have not bound. 17) I was not recognized. But I have recognized that the All is being dissolved, both the earthly things and the heavenly. 18) When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, which took seven forms. 19) The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven powers of wrath. 20) They asked the soul, Whence do you come slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space? 21) The soul answered and said, What binds me has been slain, and what turns me about has been overcome, 22) and my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died. 23) In an aeon I was released from a world, and in a Type from a type, and from the fetter of oblivion which is transient. 24) From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season, of the aeon, in silence. Chapter 9 1) When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her. 2) But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas. 3) Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things. 4) He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us? 5) Then Mary wept and said to Peter, My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior? 6) Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot tempered. 7) Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. 8) But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. 9) That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said. 10) And when they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.

The Pistis Sophia In the Pistis Sophia, Jesus is everywhere pre‐eminent and central. He is here revealed as saviour and First Mystery, who knows all and unveils all, infinite in compassion. As such he is pre‐existent from eternity, and his ministry is not only earthly, but cosmic and supercosmic; indeed, it is the chief feature in the divine economy. Yet nowhere is he called the Christ. “Be calm, be loving unto others, be gentle, be peaceful, be merciful, give tithes, help the poor and sick and distressed, be devoted to Deity, be righteous, be good that ye may receive the Mysteries of the Light and go on high into the Light Land.”—Yeshu (Jesus) Pistis Sophia 102 The story presented in the Pistis Sophia is perfectly consistent with Gnostic beliefs. Forerunners And Rivals Of Christianity by Legge (1964) reminds us that this work “resembles the work of the Ophites and of Valentinus. An introduction in narrative form informs us that Jesus after rising from the dead spent eleven years in teaching his disciples the arrangement of the heavenly places “only so far as the places” of a power whom He calls “the first mystery” and declares to be “before all mysteries,” and to be “within the veil” being “the father of the likeness of a dove.” The result of this limitation was that the disciples were ignorant not only that any power existed higher than the First Mystery, but also the origin of the “places” or worlds of those material and quasi‐ maternal powers who, here as in the earlier systems, are responsible for the governance of the world and the fate of mankind.” Jesus is with the disciples on the Mount of Olives when He is carried away into Heaven by a “great power or shape of light which descends upon Him.” We learn that on His return, he informs the disciples about this shape describing it as “a vesture of light,” or, His heavenly nature laid aside before being born into this world. He tells them when he first came into this world before his incarnation, He brought with him 12 powers which He took from “the Twelve Saviors of the Treasure house of Light,” and transplanted them in the 12 Apostle’s mothers. His intention was to allow them to be born into the world where they were “given these

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 18 powers instead of receiving, like other men, souls from the archons (or rulers) of the aeons. Continuing, He describes how he appeared among the archons of this Sphere as a likeness of angel Gabriel, finding among them the soul of “Elijah the Prophet.” This soul He caused to be taken to “the Virgin of Light” that it might be planted in Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and He adds that he bound to it a power which He took from “the Little Iao the Good, who is in the middle.” The reason for this, we are told, is that John the Baptist is to prepare the way of for Jesus with the use of water for the remission of sins. In the Pistis Sophia, the Gnostic text, we see Jesus making a grand reappearance after his crucifixion to teach the disciples the inner mysteries of the soul. Mary Magdalene’s presence is heard in the dialogue with Jesus, and her questions as well as answers indicates again that she is a student of the Gnostic tradition. Point in fact nowhere is Jesus called the Christ in the Pistis Sophia. Rather Jesus is revealed as saviour and referred to as the First Mystery, viewed as pre‐existent from eternity with a non‐earthly ministry as well as an earthly ministry. Here are some excerpts from this sacred document. In the Pistis Sophia (p.37, Copt.), “Jesus says that the angels bound in the stars were, until His coming, in the habit of turning about and devouring their own matter, from which the souls of men and other animals were made, in order that their rule might endure the longer.” Let us look at the following significant transition or initiation points in Jesus’ life that indicate Mary Magdalene was not only present, but was the one who performed the most important ancient rituals, or rites of passage for Jesus. These rites would have been performed only by one initiated into the deeper mysteries, one who would have commanded a key position in the unfolding drama. Magdalene anoints Jesus with her alabaster jar of spikenard prior to his being captured and crucified, seeming to know the overall plan before it was clear to the other disciples. The following excerpt from Solomon’s Song of Songs, 1:12, implies that Magdalene was following a much more ancient ritual tradition in which the Bridegroom, or King is anointed by the Bride or High Priestess. This rite most likely even predates the passionate love poems of Solomon and Sheeba. “While the king sat at his table, My spikenard sent forth its fragrance. My beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh That lieth betwixt my breasts.” The Magdalene is present at the cross, along with Jesus’ mother Mary, the disciple Salome, and John the Beloved. The other disciples were in hiding, to overcome with grief and fear to even appear. According to Magdalene/Templar historian and author Lynn Picknett, when Magdalene goes back to find the male disciples and rally them out of their fear and total hopelessness after the crucifixion, she actually gave the church to Peter, although as the companion of Jesus the ministry should have reverted to her! “Peter, I’ll tell you not only what you don’t know, but what he kept from you.” Magdalene and Mary the mother anoint Jesus’ body with specific unguents, ones known to alchemically aid in Christ’s after‐death journey, and then wrap his body in linen in preparation for burial…certainly a task only to be entrusted to the ones closest to him. In three of the Gospels, Magdalene is the first one that Jesus appears to after the crucifixion. Jesus then says, “Noli mi tanger,” or “do not cling to me,” and as Margaret Starbird comments, the Greek translation of tangere, meaning “cling,” implies a more intimate relationship between them, rather than the Latin to “touch.” According to the Pistis Sophia, a Gnostic text in which Jesus makes a grand reappearance after the crucifixion and teaches the disciples deeper inner mysteries, it is Magdalene’s presence which dominates this dialogue with Jesus, and both her questions and answers indicate an “Apostle who knew the All.” “Mariham (Magdalene), this whom I shall complete in all the mysteries of the things of the Height. Speak in Boldness, because thou art she whose heart straineth toward the Kingdom of the heavens more than all thy brothers…you who will give light upon everything in accuracy and in exactness.” This was spoken by Jesus, recorded in the Pistis Sophia texts. Susan Haskins says in Mary Magdalene (1994) that Mary is a woman who definitely did not play a minor or casual role either during or after the life of Jesus. Although the historical documentation that refers to Magdalene following the crucifixion is interwoven with legend and myth, many scholars say that it is quite possible that she had been married to Jesus. According to her devout heretical followers, the Cathars of southern France, they were unmarried lovers.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 19 It appears that Magdalene continued the ministry that embraced the original purpose of Christianity in the years following the crucifixion. There are records of her having preached her message on the steps of the Temple at Marseilles dedicated to the Goddess Diana, and that she had a strong following in southern France. Legends of her escape from Palestine to Egypt, France and a further journey to Great Britain include her bearing the children of Jesus, being the figure‐head of the Magdalene‐Isisian Mystery Schools. They also include retreating into the deep caverns of France and the areas around Rennes le Chateau, Rennes les Bains, and even into Glastonbury, England, the coast of Wales, Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Isles of Mull and Iona. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library (250 BC to 100 A.D.) During the middle years of the twentieth century, two important collections of ancient religious texts were discovered in Palestine and Egypt: the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library (250 BC to 100 A.D.) The Dead Sea Scrolls are a very large number of scrolls—poorly preserved, many found only in tiny scraps—discovered in eleven caves near Qumran and the Dead Sea around 1947. Over 800 separate texts are among this find. The scrolls date from about 250 BCE to 100 CE, sometime after the writing of the Old Testament in today’s Bible, but before the forming of Christianity and rabbinical Judaism. The Nag Hammadi Library discovered in upper Egypt in 1945 consists of 13 ancient leather‐bound books containing 55 texts. They were all hidden together inside a large, sealed jar. After spending 1,500 years buried in the Egyptian sands, they were discovered in unbelievably good condition. They date from the first two or three centuries of the Christian era, comprising of lost and unknown Christian sacred writings. These writings are described as “Gnostic.” Included among the texts was an edition of the Gospel of Thomas and is possibly older than the four known canonical gospels. Some scholars believe these scriptures were originally composed by the Apostle Thomas Philip the Evangelist and Valentine of Alexandria. They came to us translated from the original Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. An excerpt from The Dialogue Of The Savior, Nag Hammadi reads: “Judas said, ‘Tell me, Lord, what is the beginning of the Path.’ He [Jesus] said, ‘Love and Goodness.’” 2,000 years ago, most of the Middle East was inhabited by the Jews. Later, there were many sects in Judaism. One well‐known sect at the time was the vegetarian group known as the Essenes. The historian, Josephus, describing the Essenes, said, “They are Jews by birth and are particularly attached to each other. They eschew pleasure‐seeking as a vice and regard temperance and mastery of the passions a virtue...They possess no one city, but everywhere have large colonies.” Sadly much of the Dead Sea Scrolls still remain locked up by government authorities and religious scholars. Authorities and scholars of all types think that the general public “is not competent enough to interpret” what is in the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, it might change Christianity as we know it if these documents were officially released as Christian teachings. From the Nag Hammadi: The Thunder, Perfect Mind, offers an extraordinary poem spoken in the voice of a feminine divine power: For I am the first and the last. I am the honored one and the scorned one. I am the whore and the holy one. I am the wife and the virgin... I am the barren one, and many are her sons... I am the silence that is incomprehensible... I am the utterance of my name In their book The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (1996), Michael Wise, Martin Abegg Jr., and Edward Cook say about the Enoch Dead Sea Scrolls, “It is fair to say that the patriarch Enoch was as well known to the ancients as he is obscure to modern Bible readers. Besides giving his age (365 years), the book of Genesis says of him only that he ‘walked with God,’ and afterward ‘he was not, because God had taken him’” (Gen. 5:24). This exalted way of life and mysterious demise made Enoch into a figure of considerable fascination, and a cycle of legends grew up around him. “Many of the legends about Enoch were collected already in ancient times in several long anthologies. The most important of such anthology, and the oldest, is known simply as The Book of Enoch, comprising over one hundred chapters. It still survives in its entirety (although only in the Ethiopic language) and forms an important source for the thought of Judaism in the last few centuries B.C. Significantly, the remnants of several almost complete copies of The Book of Enoch in Aramaic were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and it is clear that whoever collected the scrolls considered it

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 20 a vitally important text.” All but one of the five major components of the Ethiopic anthology have turned up among the scrolls. The most important of these is The Book of Giants. “Enoch lived before the Flood, during a time when the world, in ancient imagination, was very different. Human beings lived much longer, for one thing; Enoch’s son Methuselah, for instance, attained the age of 969 years. Another difference was that angels and humans interacted freely—so freely, in fact, that some of the angels begot children with human females. This fact is neutrally reported in Genesis (6:1‐4), but other stories view this episode as the source of the corruption that made the punishing flood necessary. According to The Book of Enoch, the mingling of angel and human was actually the idea of Shernihaza, the leader of the evil angels, who lured 200 others to cohabit with women. The offspring of these unnatural unions were giants 450 feet high. The wicked angels and the giants began to oppress the human population and to teach them to do evil. For this reason God determined to imprison the angels until the final judgment and to destroy the earth with a flood. Enoch’s efforts to intercede with heaven for the fallen angels were unsuccessful.” (1 Enoch 6‐16). “The Book of Giants…elaborates on the exploits of the giants, especially the two children of Shemihaza, Ohya and Hahya…Its exact contents and their order remain a matter of guesswork. Most of the content of the present fragments concerns the giants’ ominous dreams and Enoch’s efforts to interpret them and to intercede with God on the giants’ behalf. Unfortunately, little remains of the independent adventures of the giants, but it is likely that these tales were at least partially derived from ancient Near Eastern mythology. Thus the name of one of the giants is Gilgamesh, the Babylonian hero and subject of a great epic written in the third millennium B.C. Gospel of Thomas (140 A.D) Portions of Greek versions of the Gospel of Thomas were found in Oxyrhynchus Egypt about one hundred years ago and these can be dated around 140 A.D. or somewhat before. A complete version in Coptic (the native Egyptian language written in an alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet) was found in Nag Hammadi Egypt in 1945. That version can be dated to about 340 A.D. The Coptic version is a translation of the Greek version. Most of the Gospel of Thomas was written prior to 140 A. D. Steven Davies, Professor of Religious Studies at the College Misericordia in Dallas, Pennsylvania, spoke about this informative Gospel of Thomas. He states that the basic belief of this document, “is that the Kingdom of God is spread out upon the earth now, if people can just come to see it; and that there is divine light within all people, a light that can enable them to see the Kingdom of God upon the earth. Further, the perspective of Thomas is that the Image of God in the beginning (Genesis 1) still exists and people can assume that identity, an identity that is neither male nor female. The image of God is differentiated from the fallen Adam of Genesis. The Gospel of Thomas advocates that people should restore their identities as the image of God now, and see the Kingdom of God on earth now. Thomas reads the first two chapters of Genesis in a straightforward way, there were two separate creations of mankind; the first is perfect, the second flawed. Rather than waiting for a future end‐time Kingdom to come, Thomas urges people to return to the perfect Kingdom conditions of Genesis chapter one. For Thomas, Endzeit (the final culmination of things) already existed in the Urzeit (the primordial creative time of the past). Jesus teaches, in the Gospel of Thomas, that people have the potential to be as he is, to be a child of God, and therefore from that perspective Jesus is not a uniquely divine person but a role model for all people.” And for the question as to the Gospel of Thomas being a Gnostic text? He answers, “It all depends on what you mean by Gnostic. If you mean by Gnostic the belief that people have a divine capacity within themselves and that they can come to understand that the Kingdom of God is already upon the earth if they can come to perceive the world, that way then Thomas is Gnostic. But if you mean by Gnostic the religion upon which the Nag Hammadi texts are based, a religion that differentiates the god of this world (who is the Jewish god) from a higher more abstract God, a religion that regards this world as the creation of a series of evil archons/powers who wish to keep the human soul trapped in an evil physical body then no, Thomas is not Gnostic. This differentiation is very important, because some scholars reason that if Thomas is Gnostic (in the first sense) then it is Gnostic (in the second sense) and, as they believe, Gnosticism (in the second sense) is a second or third century heresy, they conclude that the Gospel of Thomas is heretical, late in date, and without very much historical value in regard to Jesus of Nazareth.” When asked if the views of Jesus are reflected in this Gospel, he replies; “Maybe. There was once a Q gospel and a Mark gospel. These were revised and combined into a Matthew gospel and a Luke gospel. So there were four interrelated texts that testify to a single view of Jesus; that he was a man who predicted the early end of

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 21 this world and its violent replacement by a future Kingdom of God. If these texts have it right, then Thomas is divergent from Jesus’ own perspectives. But there is also a John gospel testifying to the present reality of God’s Kingdom and the presence of the divine in the world. John’s gospel, like Thomas’ gospel, focuses on the actuality of the divine in the present. So one must decide for oneself whether the John/Thomas perspective reflects Jesus’ own ideas or whether Q/Mark, and then subsequently the revised versions called Matthew and Luke, do so.” So when we look at the modern factions of Christianity today for that Kingdom of God within we realize the significance of Sam Pascoes American scholar statement when he writes, “as Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.” Elaine Pagels comments in Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel Of Thomas (1981), “I am a historian of religion, and so, as I visited that church, I wondered when and how being a Christian became virtually synonymous with accepting a certain set of beliefs. From historical reading, I knew that Christianity had survived brutal persecution and flourished for generations, even centuries, before Christians formulated what they believed into creeds. The origins of this transition from scattered groups to a unified community have left few traces. Although the apostle Paul, about twenty years after Jesus death, stated ‘the gospel,’ which, he says, ‘I too received,’ it may have been more than a hundred years later that some Christians, perhaps in Rome, attempted to consolidate their group against the demands of a fellow Christian named Marcion, whom they regarded as a false teacher, by introducing formal statements of belief into worship. But only in the fourth century, after the Roman emperor Constantine himself converted to the new faith—or at least decriminalized it—did Christian bishops, at the emperor’s command, convene in the city of Nicaea, on the Turkish coast, to agree upon a common statement of beliefs—the so‐called Nicene Creed, which defines the faith for many Christians to this day.” She says in another online interview about the hypothesis that the canonical Gospel of John may have been written in response to Thomas’ gospel, to refute Thomas. “Yes. Many people have pointed out that the two gospels have a lot in common. They are both different from the other gospels we know, as symbolic and poetic interpretations of Jesus’ teaching. But they have a very different practical turn. They both speak about Jesus as the divine light of the world that comes into the world, and the divine energy of God manifested in human form. But the message of the Gospel of John is that Jesus alone is that divine presence among us. Thomas’ gospel suggests that Jesus taught something quite different, which is that everyone, in fact all being, came from that divine source [and that we can access that divinity on our own].” The Gospel of John speaks of Jesus as the “light of the world,” the “Divine One” who comes into the world to rescue the human race from sin and darkness, and basically says, “if you believe in him, you can be saved. You can have everlasting life. If you don’t believe in him, you go to everlasting death.” The Gospel of Thomas, on the other hand, speaks of Jesus as the “Divine Light” that comes from heaven, saying, “and you, too, have access to that divine source within yourself”—even apart from Jesus. That might suggest you don’t need a church, or a priest, or an institution. Elaine Pagels quotes Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (1981) that Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, “These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom.” They said to him, “Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?” Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom.” According to scholars, the 114 quotations in the Gospel of Thomas are as valuable as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for gaining understanding of the man Christians worship as Messiah. (111) Jesus said: The heavens shall be rolled up and the earth before your face, and he who lives in the living One shall neither see death nor (fear); because Jesus says: He who shall find himself, of him the world is not worthy. (112) Jesus said: Woe to the flesh which depends upon the soul; woe to the soul which depends upon the flesh. The Essene Gospel Of Peace: The Teachings Of The Elect The following excerpt is from Edmond Bordeaux The Essene Gospel Of Peace, Book Four (1981), found at the site (http://www.thenazareneway.com/essene_gospel_of_peace_book_4.htm). It has some very metaphysical ideas in it. When you read the following material, notice the metaphysical concepts that are found here in the very beginnings of Christianity. What is described here could also be called samadhi or enlightenment in Eastern

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 22 teachings, a deep meditative state or even the experience of an Alpha brain wave state. Read it and experience it for yourself: Into the innermost circle have you come, into the mystery of mysteries, that which was old when our father Enoch was young and walked the earth. Around and around have you come on your journey of many years, always following the path of righteousness, living according to the Holy Law and the sacred vows of our Brotherhood, and you have made of your body a holy temple wherein dwell the angels of God. Many years have you shared the daylight hours with the angels of the Earthly Mother; many years have you slept in the arms of the Heavenly Father, taught by his unknown angels. You have learned that the laws of the Son of Man are seven, of the angels three, and of God, one. Now you shall know of the three laws of the angels, the mystery of the three Holy Streams and the ancient way to traverse them; so shall you bathe in the light of heaven and at last behold the revelation of the mystery of mysteries: the law of God, which is One. Now in the hour before the rising of the sun, just before the angels of the Earthly Mother breathe life into the still sleeping earth, then do you enter into the Holy Stream of Life. It is your Brother Tree who holds the mystery of this Holy Stream, and it is your Brother Tree that you will embrace in your thought, even as by day you embrace him in greeting when you walk along the lake shore. And you shall be one with the tree, for in the beginning of the times so did we all share in the Holy Stream of Life that gave birth to all creation. And as you embrace your Brother Tree, the power of the Holy Stream of Life will fill your whole body, and you will tremble before its might. Then breathe deeply of the angel of air, and say the word “Life” with the outgiving of breath. Then you will become in truth the Tree of Life which sinks its roots deep into the Holy Stream of Life from an eternal source. And as the angel of sun warms the earth, and all the creatures of land and water and air rejoice in the new day, so will your body and spirit rejoice in the Holy Stream of life that flows to you through your Brother Tree. And when the sun is high in the heavens, then shall you seek the Holy Stream of Sound. In the heat of noontide, all creatures are still and seek the shade; the angels of the Earthly Mother are silent for a space. Then it is that you shall let into your ears the Holy Stream of Sound; for it can only be heard in the silence. Think on the streams that are born in the desert after a sudden storm, and the roaring sound of the waters as they rush past. Truly, this is the voice of God, if you did but know it. For as it is written, in the beginning was the Sound, and the Sound was with God, and the Sound was God. I tell you truly, when we are born, we enter the world with the sound of God in our ears, even the singing of the vast chorus of the sky, and the holy chant of the stars in their fixed rounds; it is the Holy Stream of Sound that traverses the vault of stars and crosses the endless kingdom of the Heavenly Father. It is ever in our ears, so do we hear it not. Listen for it, then, in the silence of noontide; bathe in it, and let the rhythm of the music of God beat in your ears until you are one with the Holy Stream of Sound. It was this Sound which formed the earth and the world, and brought forth the mountains, and set the stars in their thrones of glory in the highest heavens. And you shall bathe in the Stream of Sound, and the music of its waters shall flow over you; for in the beginning of the times so did we all share in the Holy Stream of Sound that gave birth to all creation. And the mighty roaring of the Stream of Sound will fill your whole body, and you will tremble before its might. Then breathe deeply of the angel of air, and become the sound itself, that the Holy Stream of Sound may carry you to the endless kingdom of the Heavenly Father, there where the rhythm of the world rises and falls. And when darkness gently closes the eyes of the angels of the Earthly Mother, then shall you also sleep, that your spirit may join the unknown angels of the Heavenly Father. And in the moments before you sleep, then shall you think of the bright and glorious stars, the white, shining, far‐seen and far‐piercing stars. For your thoughts before sleep are as the bow of the skillful archer, that sends the arrow where he wills. Let your thoughts before sleep be with the stars; for the stars are Light, and the Heavenly Father is Light, even that Light which is a thousand times brighter than the brightness of a thousand suns. Enter the Holy Stream of Light, that the shackles of death may loose their hold for ever, and breaking free from the bonds of earth, ascend the Holy Stream of Light through the blazing radiance of the stars, into the endless kingdom of the Heavenly Father. Unfold your wings of light, and in the eye of your thought, soar with the stars into the farthest reaches of heaven, where untold suns blaze with light. For at the beginning of the times, the Holy Law said, let there be Light, and there was Light. And you shall be one with it, and the power of the Holy Light Stream will fill your whole body, and you will tremble before its might. Say the word “Light,” as you breathe deeply of the angel of air, and you will become the Light itself; and the Holy Stream will carry you to the endless kingdom of the Heavenly Father, there losing itself in the eternal Sea of Light which gives birth to all creation. And you shall be one with the Holy Stream of Light, always before you sleep in the arms of the Heavenly Father. I tell you truly, your body was made not only to breathe, and eat, and think, but it was also made to enter the Holy Stream of Life. And your ears were made not only to hear the words of men, the song of birds, and the music of falling rain,

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 23 but they were also made to hear the Holy Stream of Sound. And your eyes were made not only to see the rising and setting of the sun, the ripple of sheaves of grain, and the words of the Holy Scrolls, but they were also made to see the Holy Stream of Light. One day your body will return to the Earthly Mother; even also your ears and your eyes. But the Holy Stream of Life, the Holy Stream of Sound, and the Holy Stream of Light, these were never born, and can never die. Enter the Holy Streams, even that Life, that Sound, and that Light which gave you birth; that you may reach the kingdom of the Heavenly Father and become one with him even as the river empties into the far‐distant sea. More than this cannot be told, for the Holy Streams will take you to that place where words are no more, and even the Holy Scrolls cannot record the mysteries therein. The Torah The Torah has both an oral and written tradition. The Oral Torah preceded the Written Torah when the Jewish people gathered at Mount Sinai 3,300 years ago. At this time God communicated the 613 commandments, along with a detailed, practical explanation of how to fulfill them. The teachings were entirely oral. Forty years later, before Moses’ death and the Jewish people’s entering the Land of Israel, Moses wrote the scroll of the written Torah, known as the Five Books of Moses, and delivered it to the Jewish people. The word “Torah” now refers to the Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The word “torah” can also refer to the Jewish bible, the body of scripture known to non‐Jews as the Old Testament and to Jews as the Tanakh or Written Torah. It is not the entire Old Testament of the Christian Bible, however. In the widest sense it refers to the whole body of Jewish law and teachings. To the Jews there is no “Old Testament.” The books of the New Testament are not a part of Jewish scripture. The so‐called Old Testament is known to us as Written Torah or the Tanakh. The Hebrew names of the first five books of the Torah (The Law) are: • Bereishith (In the beginning...) (Genesis) • Shemoth (The names...) (Exodus) • Vayiqra (And He called...) (Leviticus) • Bamidbar (In the wilderness...) (Numbers) • Devarim (The words...) (Deuteronomy) Torah in the Old Testament was understood as the will of God for His people. The significance of encountering in history the one and only true God is emphasized. It was a way of communicating the means by which the Jewish community defined itself as God’s people. The Torah was grounded in Yahweh himself and his self‐revelation in history. The Torah was the incarnation of a transcendent reality, the “flesh and blood,” a sign of their encounter with the God and liberator in the exodus. The Israelites and Jews saw torah as the governing influence of God in their lives. The Bible The Old Testament The Old Testament is, for the most part, a recounting of historical events. Of course, it also includes the poetic Psalms of David, as well as other whimsical portions that are not strictly historical accounts of previously oral stories handed down through the generations. Genesis 1‐3: “HE that cometh unto God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hence Holy Scripture, which contains the revealed record of God’s dealings and purposes with man, commences with an account of the creation. “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.” Four great truths come to us from the earliest Scripture narrative, like the four rivers which sprung in the garden of Eden. (1) The creation of all things by the word of God’s power; (2) the descent of all men from our common parents, Adam and Eve; (3) the connection with Adam as the head of the human race by which all mankind are caught in his fall; (4) that One descended from Adam, yet without his sin is able by His suffering to free us from the consequences of the fall. To these four truths is added a fifth which is the institution of one day in seven being a day of holy rest given up to God. The New Testament The Gospels and books of the New Testament were set down in Greek between 20 and 80 years after they were spoken. Greek was the vernacular of the West at this time and the language of business. The vernacular of the East at this time, Jesus’ language, was Aramaic. The only surviving complete text of the New Testament is the Codex Sinaiticus and dates back to the middle of the fourth century. The oldest fragments are the Bodmer and Beatty Papyri and Papyrus 52 which date back to the second century with only bits of the Gospel of John.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 24 The four canonical gospels did not begin as the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Various groups of early Christians maintained their own oral traditions of Jesus’ wisdom. Writing was a specialized skill and not every community had the services of a scribe at hand. When the written accounts of Jesus’ teachings did begin to circulate, the independent groups incorporated them with their own traditions and teachings. Each believing their own versions to be “the Gospel,” these expanded writings spread with some versions viewed as having more importance than others. It was not until the year 185 A.D., when Bishop Irenæus came to be accepted by Christians, that the four authoritative gospels were referred to by their modern titles. The rest of the New Testament developed more slowly. For the next two centuries, the four gospels would be coupled with many different epistles, stories and apocalypses, according to what the congregation judged as important about their understanding of Jesus Christ and his teachings. Catholicism was only one of the dozens of “denominations” within the early church. Gnosticism was prevalent throughout Egypt, Marcionism in Syria, and Montanism in Asia Minor. The Catholic Church was adopted as the state religion of the Roman Empire, and all other systems of belief were branded as heresies. The Epistle of Athanasius in 367 C.E., appeared when the Church reached agreement upon which writings were truly authentic and representative of apostolic tradition. This was the beginning of forming what we know today as the canonical New Testament. Most uncanonical writings were ordered to be destroyed by the Church, and in most cases the possession of heretical literature was punishable by death. Today, we are very fortunate to have some of these texts, preserved from the past millennia, which gives us insight into the development of various early Christian traditions. King James Version of the Bible It was at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558‐1603), in England, that we find the draft for an act of Parliament to create a new version of the Bible: “An act for the reducing of diversities of Bibles now extant in the English tongue to one settled vulgar translated from the original.” The Bishop’s Bible of 1568 was not more popular than the Great Bible yet was still rivaled by the Geneva Bible of this period. We learn that nothing ever became of this draft during the reign of Elizabeth, who died in 1603, and was succeeded by James I, as the throne passed from the Tudors to the Stuarts. James was born during the period between the Geneva and the Bishop’s Bible. James called the Hampton Court Conference in January of 1604 “for the hearing, and for the determining, things pretended to be amiss in the church.” He gathered clergymen and teachers to consider the complaints of the Puritans. Bible revisions were not on the agenda but the Puritan president of Corpus Christi College, John Reynolds, spoke up and “moved his Majesty, that there might be a new translation of the Bible, because those which were allowed in the reigns of Henry the eighth, and Edward the sixth, were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the Original.” King James answered that he, “Could never yet see a Bible well translated in English; but I think that, of all, that of Geneva is the worst. I wish some special pains were taken for a uniform translation, which should be done by the best learned men in both Universities, then reviewed by the Bishops, presented to the Privy Council, lastly ratified by the Royal authority, to be read in the whole Church, and none other.” Accordingly, a resolution came forth, “That a translation be made of the whole Bible, as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek; and this to be set out and printed, without any marginal notes, and only to be used in all churches of England in time of divine service.” The Gospels in the Bible It should be noted that not all gospels were written at the same time, and that they were written by independent authors. Experts agree that Mark was written first and that John was last…Matthew and Luke both were influenced by Mark’s writing as well as other sources…It is Mark who is most likely to contain the gospel message in its least embellished form. There are four official gospels called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament portion of the Bible. They are considered gospels because they present the actual words of Jesus Christ during his time on Earth. Jesus’ words are usually depicted in red ink in the King James Bible, and all other words are black. No one really knows how accurate these renderings of Jesus’ actual words are, since all teachings can be distorted by the listener later. The very fact that no recording devices existed in the times of Jesus proves that these references to his words can only be conceptual, and not actual. Because all words are written from the memory of the listener rather than transcribed from an actual recording device, this alone leaves room for ponderance of its accuracy. If one were to compare the gospels, none of them records Jesus’ words exactly the same way, although they are

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 25 close. One must also take into account that the gospels were written long after the event of Jesus’ death. Much clarity could have been lost during the time between the actual sermons and the time they were inscribed. Some scholars wonder if these are actual versions of the original manuscripts. It was known that the Essenes created decoy manuscripts so that raiding authorities who came to destroy Christian documents were duped into thinking they had destroyed the only copy of the manuscript. Some manuscripts were created purposely for confiscation, and many of them did not reveal the true, or the secret, teachings that were given to Jesus’ followers. As we can easily conclude, the Bible in its entirety is an issue of debate as to its accuracy in translations, including the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John because there is the unique translating style of the person translating the Bible, particularly St. Jerome who translated the Bible from Greek into Latin, and highly influenced the Bible as we know it today. As far as translations go, most translations are done from the actual Greek documents or the Latin documents of St. Jerome, rather than from translations after those. The error in translation would most likely be only that of the actual translator and his or her take on the Greek or Latin language itself, not in the “pass it down the line” syndrome. The “pass it down the line” syndrome would only be in effect with the original writers of the manuscripts, which later became the Bible. Gospel of Matthew It is believed by scholars that this gospel was written for the church at Antioch around 100 A.D., and perhaps as late as 200 A.D. It was originally thought to be the earliest gospel, but now it is believed to have been written after the Gospel of Mark, as it seems to draw material from Mark. Matthew differs from the other gospels on the topics of Jesus’ birth, some facts about the Sermon on the Mount, and the ideas about the end of the world. It is believed that this gospel was written for Jewish Christians because it makes more references to the Old Testament than any of the other gospels. It clearly details that Jesus is the messiah that the Jews have been waiting for, although many to this day still do not believe that the messiah has come yet. Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, and it is now believed to be the earliest of the four. It was most likely written around 70 A.D. Mark was the writer and St. Peter supplied the information, having been an eyewitness of the events. Perhaps he was too old in age to write, and his words were written by Mark for posterity. It is believed that not only the book of Matthew was influenced by Mark, but also the book of Luke, the third gospel. A large portion of this gospel is focused on the events during the week before Christ’s death. Gospel of Luke This gospel was written around 150 A.D. It is also considered the prequel to the book of Acts. This gospel used the material of Mark for inspiration and facts. However, the narrative is simple, unpolished, and most likely not done by a professional writer, as far as professional writing goes in that day and age. Luke emphasizes that salvation is available to all because of the establishment of the church, Jews and Gentiles alike. Gospel of St. John Some scholars believe that this gospel was written around 95‐115 A.D. after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. This gospel is distinctly different from the other gospels, and does not seem to be plagiarizing the material in Mark the way the other two gospels, Matthew and Luke, do. This gospel focuses on the dualism of darkness and light, a theme also found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This gospel expounds on Jesus’ insistence that he is the only way to salvation, and also has long accounts of the last supper and other events before Jesus’ death. John was the witness and guardian of the Lord’s revelation. In Revelation 21:24, he says “This is the disciple which beareth witness of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his witness is true.” Some consider this gospel to be the one great revelation, the soul’s guide from the false lower world into the true upper one. The Fourth Gospel is believed by many to be the best instance of this kind of literature. The truth depends not on the factual accuracy of the work but on the truth of the ideas. The gospel of John has had great influence on Christianity. Maria Roschl‐Lehrs writes in her book entitled The Second Man In Us (1977), “St. John’s Gospel holds a special place among the four gospels. Its symbol is the Eagle, which rises up into the luminous heights of divine wisdom.” She writes that the goal of the Gospel of St. John is to beckon the soul forward. Forward into the development of a “second man,” the higher aspect of humans, a birth of what the Gospels call the Son of Man. This birth takes place when our ego has been purified, its sheaths radiant as it unites with Christ. St John was loved by Jesus and the Gospel of John reflects this love. The modern human being is looking for one’s own higher being, longing to act out of the fully conscious power of his or her higher ego. Humans innately have the desire to

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 26 disentangle from the use of petty, mistaken individualism, and to join with the eternal laws, to endeavor towards the higher goals of humanity. Roschl‐Lehrs leads us through the construction of St. John’s Gospel. The first words speak of the Logos, the power of the divine cosmos. It is the light, the life of the world, and to the law of Moses it added love. She goes on to say that this gospel gives earthly humans the insight and power to become as Sun Gods. The whole of St. John’s Gospel is concentrated in these few introductory sentences which embrace our entire cosmic and human evolution: “John the Baptist has a vision of the Logos‐power entering the body of Jesus of Nazareth. ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him…the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost’ (John 1:32, 33). The first chapter of John’s gospel closes with the words: ‘Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’” It is this “second man” in us, the Son of Man, who is also a son of the heavens. “The messengers of God, ‘the second man,’ can descend upon us and the hierarchies will enjoin company with us, descending upon us from the heavens and ascended from us back to the spirit.” The human being is established as the lowest of the hierarchies yet is at the highest stage of development here on earth. It is believed that the human being will expand towards the higher stages of evolution as we become more fully aware of what we are called to be in the divine cosmic order. In The Second Man In Us (1977), Maria Roschl‐Lehrs writes: “If this goal is to be reached, the human ego will first have to cast off the bonds which confine it within blood‐‐ determined family connections, within a group soul that holds it back from individual development. And so we see Christ first turning to Galilee, whose people are despised as a mongrel community by the Jews. Just because of this, however, because they are less hampered by a bodily descent, their egos are readier for the spirit and more receptive for the Christ impulse than the Jews themselves.” EARLY CHRISTIAN SECTS The Great Hibernian Mysteries Eleanor Merry, in her informed and inspiring book The Flaming Door (1962), shares with us how Ireland has been regarded as a remarkable country. She shares a legend that tells about Paradise and how “Lucifer dwells there, and man was driven out into the world which is to be populated by only fallen human beings.” But Ireland is not part of this world, because it is an image put here by God of the ancient Paradise before Lucifer entered it. It was at that time when the “image” of Paradise was separated from the rest of the world and became Ireland, the legend tells us. At this time Lucifer could enter the real Paradise and Ireland became the place on Earth free from the effects and influence of Lucifer. It is for this reason that the Irish possess certain qualities of temperament not found anywhere else due to the peculiar influences of the Irish earth. We have learned from the work of Merry that people who inhabited the lost continent of Atlantis during the last great glacial meltdown, 12,000 years ago, later migrated all over the world after the Atlantean continent sank into the Atlantic Ocean. One area of the world survived the great flood was Ireland. Through special training passed from the Atlanteans to the early Irish monks they retained the ability to perceive the elementals that created the nature kingdoms on earth. The Hiberian initiates learned to work with the elementals and angels to harness spiritual forces. The Hibernian Mysteries As The Foundation Of Biodynamics by L.A. Rotheraine (www.biodynamics.com) describes Oracle Sanctuaries where ancient wise women and men were instructed in the mysteries of creation by angelic teachers. The highest was that of the Sun Christ Oracle. Rotheraine references Rudolf Steiner’s writings regarding the Sun Oracle as the most sublime of all the ancient Oracles, encompassing the Christ Mystery and all other oracles. The wisdom and mystery of the Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus and Vulcan oracles were intact in the Christ (Sun/Son) Oracle. Mr. Rotheraine describes the spiritual etheric force that permeated the earth at the time of the last great mystery schools and Hibernia as much more pure and alive than today. Alas, those forces were on the wane. As the Mysteries declined, so did the life force of the planet. It requires a spiritually conscious humanity dedicated to resurrecting the aging earth to create a similar etheric force today. The angelic hierarchies foresaw the consequences of the deterioration of the etheric force and prepared a group of souls to work jointly to co‐create a new reality. Today we have organic farmers doing the work of ancient angels of the Hibernian mysteries.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 27 Rudolf Steiner, in his book, Christianity As A Mystical Fact: The Essence Of Christianity (1972) writes that Christ and Jesus must be brought into relationship with each other. Divinity was taken from the human personality by church dogma and must be recovered in one way or another. “We must find it again through Jesus within,” he encourages, explaining that the mystic was experiencing divinity within and through his own human personality. This “mystical attitude of soul” is only possible “when the soul finds the higher spiritual element in itself and its spiritual eye is opened so that the light issuing from the Christ in Jesus falls upon it.” This union of the soul with its highest powers is also the union with the historical Christ. Mysticism, he explains, is a direct feeling and experience of the divine within the human soul. In reality it was only possible for a man or woman to find his/her own divine part; but this is a human‐divine part, that is, a divine part that is at a certain stage of development. The ancient mystic, Steiner informs us, did not wish to recognize a perfect God, but rather wished to experience the divine life. Wishing to become divine within himself, he does not strive for an external relationship to the Godhead. The Christian mystic rather seeks to behold divinity within oneself, but they must look to the historical Christ as his eyes do to the sun; just as the physical eye says to itself, the sun allows me to see what I have power to see, so does the Christian mystic say to himself, “I will intensify my innermost being in the direction of divine vision, and the light which makes such vision possible is given through the Christ who has appeared. He is, and through this I am able to rise to the highest within myself.” In this the Christian mystics of the ancient Mysteries were different from future mystics to come. The Pythagoreans The Mysteries were taught within a community founded by Pythagoras in lower Italy in the sixth century before Christ. The Pythagoreans saw the foundation of things in numbers and figures, whose laws they investigated mathematically. Rudolf Steiner says in Christianity As Mystical Fact: The Essence Of Christianity (1972) that Aristotle says of the Pythagoreans, “They were the first to advance the study of mathematics, and having been brought up in it they thought its principles were the principles of all things. Since of these principles, numbers are by nature the first, and in numbers they seemed to see many resemblances to the things that exist and come into being—more than in fire and earth and water, such and such a modification of numbers being justice, another being soul and reason, another being opportunity—and similarly almost all other things being numerically expressible; since, again, they saw that the attributes and ratios of numerical scales were expressible in numbers; since, then, all other things seemed in their whole nature to be modeled after numbers, and numbers seemed to be the first things in the whole of nature, they supposed the demands of numbers to be the elements of all things, and the whole heaven to be a musical scale and a number.” Iamblichus, 300‐330 A.D., was the founder of a Syrian School of Neoplatonism. History tells us that he was responsible for a systematic interpretation of Plato, best known due to his work in Neoplatonism, writing the “Life Of Pythagoras.” Iamblichus was one of the first thinkers to systematically examine the thought of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans. History notes that he was one of the “first men to not only look back on the thought of the Pythagoreans, but also to analyze it, and actually commit it to paper. His ‘Life of Pythagoras’ is one of the most important ancient documents in determining the doctrine and teaching of Pythagoras.” The Essenes The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1946 made the word “Essene” known to the world at large. Two thousand years ago, a brotherhood of holy men and women was formed. They lived in a community together and nurtured the seeds of Christianity and Western Civilization. The Beginning of the Essene Nazarean Path is Love and Goodness. The Essenes were persecuted, but brought people forward who would change the world and turn the course of history. The Essenes founded Christianity, essentially. Its founders were St. Ann, Joseph and Mary, John the Baptist, Jesus, John the Evangelist, and many unknown others. Essene Prayer Said by the Virgin Mary Within the Most High, my soul blossoms, Leaps for joy at the sight of the ascendant path. What is on high came to meet what is below, And the Most High has impregnated my soul through his radiant look. Out of all the generations, mine is blissful, For the Almighty did great things for me; He impregnated my soul.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 28 Holy is his name, through the centuries runs his blessing For those who, because of love, remain faithful to Him. The Essenes were a Jewish sect, thought by some scholars to have collected the Dead Sea Scrolls. At Ein Gedi, an oasis in southern Israel, 28 dwellings were discovered, possibly the home of the ancient Essenes. On the site was found a mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath. They survived by working the fields of the oasis. The Essenes flourished between the second century B.C. to the time when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. They were a tightly knit group of men and women who practiced communal ownership of property. This site was found to have one person dwellings that measured six by nine feet. Communal living was the likely reason for three stoves discovered in the kitchen. When the site was excavated, a complete lack of animal bones was noted. The Essenes were vegetarians, observed the Sabbath, did not swear and abstained from intoxicants and meat. Their diet consisted of raw fruits, grains and vegetables along with cooked bread. The similarities between Essenism and Christianity are numerous. “Seek first the kingdom of God” was the aim of the Essenes (Matthew 6:33, Luke, 12:31). Sell possessions and give to the poor (Matthew, 6:33). They turned away from riches (Matthew, 6:19‐21). As John would write about Christianity, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.” (I John 3:14). Essenes and Christians lived in Jerusalem in communities where each person had a common interest in the community’s possessions. Some biblical scholars believe that the Essenes and the early Christians were one and the same people. They lived in the villages surrounded by a low wall. They cultivated gardens and nature. Essenes were organized in a hierarchy. They lived pious lives in tune with the rhythms of the seasons, recognizing days of celebration, and dining with visitors. Other lived in the city, and their homes were used as inn and hospital. Healing the sick, hospitality for travelers needing a room, this was the Essene way. Being very well organized, the Essenes traveled the roads and spread the news throughout the lands, countryside and other countries. In their extensive travels, the Essenes could easily have come into contact with and be influenced by religions from the East, like Jainism or Buddhism. Other Essenes lived in monastery‐schools situated precisely at particular sites. They believed that these particular places were in resonance with the knowledge of the land of light and with the doors that exist between it and the earth. The Essenes who lived in these monastery schools were usually unmarried. Single women were in the Essene Community as well. Jesus taught that when a group of people gather together freely around a divine idea and begin to work on themselves in the direction of this idea, then, if there are enough of them, they carry within themselves all of humanity and they can bring into the world the divine idea and allow it to evolve. From the Essenes’ work emanated a communal, spiritual strength, like a sun in the soul of humanity and the earth. This sun, in turn, works throughout time to attract the divine idea and to bring it to life within the reality of the earth. And God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so.” Genesis 1:29‐30 The Essenes took gardening seriously! What Is a Gnostic? Stephan Hoeller states in an online interview at www.gnosis.org (1989) that the Gnostics posited an original spiritual unity so that the following characteristics may be considered normative for all Gnostic teachers and groups in the era of classical Gnosticism: 1. As a result of the precosmic division the universe was created. This was done by a leader possessing inferior spiritual powers and who often resembled the Old Testament Jehovah. 2. A female emanation of God was involved in the cosmic creation (albeit in a more positive role than the leader). In the cosmos, space and time have a malevolent character and may be personified as demonic beings separating man from God. The universe is a vast prison for man. He is enslaved both by the physical laws of nature and by such moral laws as the Mosaic code. Mankind may be personified as Adam, who lies in the deep sleep of ignorance, his powers of spiritual self‐awareness stupefied by materiality. Within each natural man is an “inner man,” a fallen spark of the divine substance. Since this exists in each man, we have the possibility of awakening from our stupefaction. What affects the awakening is not obedience, faith, or good works, but knowledge. Before the awakening, men undergo troubled dreams.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 29 Man does not attain the knowledge that awakens him from these dreams by cognition, but through revelatory experience, and this knowledge is not information, but a modification of the sensate being. The awakening (i.e., the salvation) of any individual is a cosmic event. Since the effort is to restore the wholeness and unity of the Godhead, active rebellion against the moral law of the Old Testament is enjoined upon every man. In Christianity As Mystical Fact: The Essence Of Christianity (1972), Rudolf Steiner writes about Gnostic experience and Jesus; “One thing was clear to all Gnosis: one must come to terms with the idea of Jesus as a personality… Divinity was taken from human personality and must be recovered in one way or another. It must be possible to find it again in Jesus. The mystic was dealing with a degree of divinity within himself, and with his own earthly material personality… Gnosis and all subsequent Christian mysticism represent the effort in one way or another to lay hold of that God and to apprehend Him directly in the soul… It is the gulf between knowledge and belief, between cognition and religious feeling. This gulf does not exist for a mystic in the old sense of the word… A mystic of this kind does not wish to recognize a perfect God, but he wishes to experience the divine life. He wishes to become divine himself; he does not wish to gain an external relationship to the Godhead.” It is of the essence of Christianity that its mysticism in this sense starts with an assumption. The Christian mystic seeks to behold divinity within himself, but he must look to the historical Christ as his eyes do to the sun; just as the physical eye says to itself, By means of the sun I see what I have power to see, so the Christian mystic says to himself, I will intensify my innermost being in the direction of divine vision, and the light which makes such vision possible is given in the Christ who has appeared. He is, and through this I am able to rise to the highest within myself. In this the Christian mystics of the Middle Ages show how they differ from the mystics of the ancient Mysteries.

EVIL AND LUCIFER The Meaning of 666 Patrick Bellringer discusses in his article 666, People Of The Lie the subject of the Mark of the Beast and the number 666. He describes, “Long ago a numbering system was established called the Roman Numeral System. In that system 666 is deciphered as VI VI VI. In the Latin language this refers directly to; Vini, Vidi, Vinci. These words have the distinct meaning of: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” The Latin word “Vini,” has since changed spelling to “Veni.” Thus, the abbreviation of Vini, Vidi, Vinci, is VI VI VI or 666. This number also appears on the front or forehead of the Pope’s Babylonian hatband as testimony that he is indeed the present Emperor of Rome. This places the Pope in the direct line of Julius Caesar, who was Pope prior to the birth of Jesus, from 100 B.C. to 44 B.C. He explains about the mark, in spite of resistance of Christians to the Mark of the Beast (666) being placed on a person. Most people have already accepted such a mark. The United States and other countries presently require everyone be assigned a social security number at birth. That number is used widely for tracking and identification purposes. Mr. Bellringer warns us not to become paranoid about all this. He believes Satan is doing an excellent job through our churches of teaching mind control in order that Christian people fear the Mark of the Beast. He calls it a trap of thinking so a small number can hold sway over our souls. As for condemning our souls to hell, only we can do that ourselves. Body marks like tattoos have nothing to do with our soul destiny. We are children of a Divine God, touched and marked by God long before arriving on Earth. Like splinters of God’s mirror we are each pieces of God’s Spirit. He writes, “God has already given to us a divine number as His creations.” Those who are now pilgrims of the Lighted Pathway have their names entered in God’s Book of Life. So, Satan’s Mark of the Beast and the number 666 are really “no big deal!” Bellringer introduces the numbering system that gives us the number 666. The Bible indicates that 6 is the number of man and/or Satan (666). Using the English Alphabet and the Babylonian numbering system (counting by sixes) and assigning man’s number 6 to the first letter A of the alphabet, a system was constructed giving each succeeding letter an increasing value of six. See the following chart: A B C D E F G H I J K L M 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 78

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 84 90 96 102 108 114 120 126 132 138 144 150 156

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 30 In this system numbers carry a certain meaning. The number 3 is a neutral number, depending on how it is used, it may have a good or an evil connotation. The number 6 is the number of man (Satan) and therefore a negative or evil number. The flip‐side of 6 is 9, thus 9 is a positive number of things that are good. In The End of the Millennium (2004) Richard Seddon shows how Steiner reveals the nature of Christ’s Second Coming. He identifies The Beast as “Sorath,”[Beast in Hebrew], the Sun‐Demon of the Apocalypse, whose influence peaks every 666 years, from the year 666 until the present including 1998. Steiner said that this being or beast will try to prevent mankind from seeing Christ’s manifestation in the etheric realm. This is what creates the anti‐Christ. According to the article, The Second Coming consists of two aspects: (1) the manifestation of Christ on the etheric plane, and (2) the attainment of etheric vision on an individual basis. In his lecture The Ahrimanic Deception, Steiner divulges, “Deep down in our souls, we know what is true, because when we sleep, our spirit leaves our body (the etheric body remains, or else we would die), and experiences the spirit world.” Having false beliefs creates inner conflict, a source of much of the “discord felt by modern man.” This discord mentioned by Rudolf Steiner about false beliefs again takes us back to the words of The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene “The Savior answered and said, He does not see through the soul nor through the spirit, but the mind that is between the two, that is what sees the vision.” While a “mark” does not dictate our destiny, it may influence the way we think. One such “mark” in our society is the dictionary. The dictionary tells us what the author wants us to believe concerning the meaning of the words in our language. The most commonly used English dictionary today is Webster’s Dictionary. Let us tally the value of the letters in the name “Webster’s.” (W‐138, E‐30, B‐12, S‐114, S‐114, T‐120, E‐30, R‐108, S‐114). When we added them together, we arrive at “666” the “Mark of the Beast!” We accept “Webster’s” word definitions and place them in our minds in the frontal lobe of our brain or forehead and we carry our “Webster’s” dictionary in our hand as a constant reference to verify the meaning of given words. And so we have the Mark of the Beast in our forehead and in our hand. How clever! This would appear to be a part of the “beast” system. Is Webster’s the person who is revealed as “The Beast” in the “Bible” in Revelation?” Maybe there is another person in today’s prophecies that is more evil than Webster’s. Let us try Kissinger (Henry). (K‐66, I‐54, S‐114, S‐114, I‐54, N‐84, G‐42, E‐30, R‐108) Surprise! Our total again is 666! Does Kissinger have such world‐wide influence over world leaders that he is the Beast of Revelation? Note that the words, Webster’s Dictionary rate a “6” (negative) while Strong’s Concordance rates a “9” (positive). Jesus and Christ separately each rate a “3” but put together to denote a specific entity which is not his name at all—Jesus Christ— they rate a “6” (negative). “God” is a neutral “3.” Webster’s words for “God” (Yahuweh) rates a “6” as does “Lord,” but the Strong’s Concordance definition for God (Yahshua) rates a “3.” The name is wrong. The proper name is Lord God (Yahshua) which then rates a “9.” If you accept Webster’s definition for Biblical words, then you accept the “Mark of the Beast!” These are solely the thoughts of Patrick H. Bellringer. Interesting speculations, but perhaps not something to be taken too seriously, or should they? “So once again we ask what is the significance of Biblical referrences to ‘The Beast’ and the number number 666. It seems that Rudolf Steiner has once again provided us with the truth about all of this. In the “End of the Millennium” by Richard Seddon (www.transintelligence.org/articles/), we find out what Steiner revealed about the nature of Christ’s Second Coming. Continuing with The Ahrimanic Deception Steiner says “the real Christ must be sought today through all that can be gained from a spiritual knowledge of the world.” He explains that we are to be wary of people who swear by the Gospel alone but reject all real spiritual knowledge. They will form the beginning of a congregation for Ahriman when he appears in human shape in this modern world. The repulse of concrete knowledge brought by spiritual endeavors by the professionals among us will be in turn the hosts that will develop as adherents of Ahriman. Steiner writes that this is now coming to pass. He tells us, “It is there, it is at work in present humanity and one who speaks to men today with the knowledge of spiritual science speaks into it, no matter whether he is speaking on social or other questions. He knows where the hostile powers lie, that they live supersensibly and that men are their poor misguided victims. This is the call to humanity: Free yourselves from all these things that form such a great temptation to contribute to Ahriman’s triumph!” Understanding The Significance Of Lucifier So now let us approach the subject of Lucifer. Let’s explore some insights from an esoteric studies class that Rudolf Steiner held in Munich, Germany 1912. The title of the work is Cosmic Ego And Human Ego: The Nature Of Christ, The Resurrected (this is a private work that is unavailable to the public, 1912) I understand the confusion

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 31 regarding these subject matters so it is with the utmost attention to accurate scholarship that I give you the following material. Read it with an open mind, understanding a novel and different point of view about this fallen angel Lucifer and the work of its hosts. The following are Steiner’s words: “Certainly it is fitting for the narrow, traditionally‐formed Christianity to call Lucifer the devil, and to hate him; but he who has an understanding of human evolution knows that the Luciferic principle works in the genius. It is the Luciferic spirits to whom we really owe the forward thrust, given because they seek thereby their own evolution, and through which we ourselves are enabled to grow out beyond our ego... We must free ourselves from narrowness, from all orthodox Christianity which calls Lucifer only a devil worthy of hatred. We must recognize the liberating character of the Lucifer principal, which has also been ordained by the good gods; for it drives us out beyond ourselves during the Earth evolution...” “[Christ] is fitted to lead the individual soul‐being of man more and more to itself… Practically, that will work out in the future so that through the admission of the Christ principle into human nature, this human nature will become more and more deepened, will take up more and more light and live into its own being; so that the human being will have to feel Light and Love as belonging to his very self.” As a sidenote, interestingly, the name “Lucifer” means “Bringer of Light.” Some speculate that in some ways Lucifer is a friend of humankind because it is Lucifer who won humankind the right to “know” what God knows, even if that will take millennia of evolution to achieve. In the process of doing that, humankind will go through much trial and error, but will eventually reach a state of Godself and realization of the mysteries of the universe. The Apocalypse Margaret Smith writes in her online article that Armageddon represents the last struggle between the worldly self and the spiritual self before they become as one. She says, “Doom and gloomers have taken St. John the Divine literally even though they are unaware of the symbolism encoded into the language in which it was written. The Revelation involves a series of events that occur in the spiritual world of the cosmos. In the first part of the account, John sees the scroll with seven seals, each which represents an aspect of vengeance that must come to pass before the last judgement. “Modern theologians are untrained into the mystery of ancient thought and they are unable to contend with the complexities of the Apocalypse, for him this divine message in the mystical writings is unreal and highly questionable. No book has been subject to more criticism in the New Testament than Revelations. The fact is that the whole Book of Revelation, no less than the Book of Job, is simply an allegorical narrative of the ‘Wisdom Schools’ and the description of the initiation of the initiate himself. In this case St. John the Divine is the Kabbalist. It’s quite possible that Revelation was written to appease the differences between early Christian and pagan religious philosophies.” “When the zealots of the primitive Christian Church sought to Christianize paganism, the initiates of the ‘Wisdom Schools’ answered with a counter offensive to paganize Christianity. The Church won the battle but not the war: With the decline of paganism the initiates transferred their symbols to the newly emerging Christianity and therefore saved the priceless wisdom of the ages. The Apocalypse shows clearly the subsequent fusing or melting of pagan and Christian symbolism and consequently is undeniable evidence of ancient minds at work in the formation of the Christian Gnostics.” Lucifer has often been considered a fallen angel, one who fell out of God’s favor when he began to have his own ideas about how to go about things. However, it may well be that Lucifer (Satan) was a friendly force that gave mankind the ability to think freely and learn in the world of cause and effect. Perhaps Lucifer is the name humanity has given its own tendencies toward evil rather than owning these itself. Daniel’s 70th Week: 7 Years of Tribulation Daniel wrote his prophecies during the 70 years that the people of Israel were held captive in the land of Babylon. Daniel served as part of the royal court of King Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned in Babylon from 605‐562 B.C. The prophecies came in the form of dreams, both the king’s dreams and Daniel’s dreams. An example of one of Daniel’s prophesies is as follows: “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. He shall destroy fearfully. And shall prosper and thrive. He shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people. Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; and he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of Princes [the Messiah]. But

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 32 he shall be broken without human means… 70 Weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy” (Daniel 9:27). “This period of 70 Weeks, or 490 years, is broken into two parts: a period of 483 years, which concluded with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in 33A.D., and one, final seven‐year period that leads up to Armageddon. This is where Christians get the seven‐year ‘tribulation period,’ which is more accurately called ‘the 70th Week of Daniel.’” The 70th week of Daniel culminates in the second coming.

FAMOUS SAINTS AND OTHER PERSONALITIES IN CHRISTIANITY Mary Sophia, Mother Mary The Flaming Door: The Mission Of The Celtic Folk‐Soul (1983) by Eleanor C. Merry gives us the following vision of “some heart’s deep brooding, born of the sea‐foam and the far horizons of the Western Isles.” The origins of the story are unknown. It begins with a “certain solitary, whose dwelling place was on a hillside of the mainland, not very far from Iona, sat one day in meditation gazing over the calm sea. Presently he saw, rising up majestically in the airy clouds, the glorified golden hued form of St. Columba. The Saint too was in meditation, and created in his thoughts a picture which by reason of the holy power in him that sent it forth, became endowed with immortality and purpose. It was a picture of the Virgin with the Christ‐Child in her arms. It floated away from the islands, came toward the mainland, and spread in lovely colors far and wide over the world. Yet it was more than a picture for it seemed to utter its meaning: ‘I am Mary Sophia, sent forth in this image over all the Earth to bring healing to men who will lose the power to see me as I really am. I will live in their Art till their thoughts raise me again to the Kingdom of the Heavens which are within them on Earth.’” In her book materials, Merry continues, telling us that esoteric Christianity sank under the burden of the power of Rome. Many devoted themselves to the strengthening of this Imagination; but it grew gradually weaker in proportion as the sublime figure of the Virgin became “popularized” in Art. But then a wonderful thing happened. Rafael, above all other painters, received the vision in the purest form, and his Sistine Madonna still has the power to heal. He painted it, this greatest of all pictures, within a few years of the European discovery of America. He placed on record, as it were, the counteracting force to the forces of the Double. Novalis, in the Disciple of Sais, says of great works of Art: “It is as though they might show me the path to a place where, slumbering, lies the Virgin for whom my spirit yearns.” She continues asking the question “Can we in this age whose mission it is to come to grips with the problem of evil, find the divine and pure Wisdom, Mary Sophia? Where is she to be found? Has she been banished so far and so irrevocable in our laboratories, and in the abstract mathematical calculations of Space? Has her voice been stifled by our ideas that man’s body is a mechanical contrivance, doomed to an unfree existence upon a dying Earth?” She ends the chapter asking if we can today “find that faith of the old Celtic peoples, expressed in the lovely Sheiling Hymn, allowing it to become a living reality once again for a humanity of the twentieth( and, I might add, into our present twenty‐first) century.” “Thou Father! Thou Son! Thou Spirit Holy! “Be the Three‐One with us day and night, And on the crested wave, or on the mountain side, Our Mother is there, and her arm is under our head. Our Mother is there, and Her arm is under our head.” Eleanor Merry tells us in The Flaming Door: The Mission Of The Celtic Folk‐Soul (1983), “One of the greatest of the Druid centers was where the Cathedral of Chartres now stands. The original church was raised above a crypt where rested an ancient pre‐Christian Druid statue of the Virgin with the Child in her arms. Her eyes were closed. Prophetically, the mother of the world was represented as having already passed into her long sleep, waiting, like the old heroes of the West, to be awakened by the touch of a new Initiate, and Isis‐Sophia would come again and kindle the light of cosmic wisdom once more in the eyes of men. ‘Notre dame de sous‐terre,’ the ‘Virgin of the under‐earth.’” “But also, this figure was a prophecy for a nearer future. A tradition tells how many centuries before the Incarnation the Druids in Chartres received a revelation that a Virgin would appear who would bear a Child, and this Child would bring salvation to the world. So they built an altar in her honor, and wrote upon it Virgini pariture, ‘the Virgin who will give birth.’ On the altar they placed a statue of her with the Child on her lap, founded a cult and offered sacrifices to her. Similar temples consecrated to the Virgin arose in many parts of Gaul. Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 33 Tradition tells us further that when at last the Druids found that many strange wonders were taking place—they knew that the Savior had been born; they made a hymn Gloriosa Domina, and publicly worshipped the Virgin in the Grotto where the Cathedral of Chartres now stands. The statue has long since disappeared we read “but the inspiration of her presence remained; and for hundreds of years Chartres was perhaps the greatest center of culture, learning, and spiritual life in the world. Chartres was a place above all others where the last echoes of the Mystery‐wisdom of the Greeks lingered on in the Christianity of the great Platonists, until the end of the twelfth century. St. Justin‐Martyr (120‐160 A.D.) Justin was born into a pagan, Gentile family around 120 A.D. in Palestine. He studied the wisdom of Plato, Aristotle, and other great Greek thinkers and eventually was to become a professional philosopher. While studying philosophy by the seashore, an old man started a conversation with Justin about philosophy and religion. The man was a Christian and spoke to Justin about Jesus, and how Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies in the Jewish holy books. Justin decided to investigate the matter and realized that this was the wisdom that he had been seeking. Converting to Christianity, he started teaching. He lived in Ephesus then moved to Rome. He continued with his writing and speaking about the Christ, even appearing before the emperor with two defenses of the Christian faith. He became an influential teacher in the 2nd century. Unfortunately, a rival philosopher, envious of his success, turned Justin in to the authorities for his beliefs. Justin was martyred around the year 165 A.D. Clement of Alexandria (150‐202A.D.) Clement was born in Athens, traveled widely and converted to Christianity. Origen was his pupil in Alexandria. Clement was a native of Athens and converted to Christianity after meeting Pantaenus, founder of the Catechetical School at Alexandria. He became head of the School around 180 A.D. For over 20 years he worked, teaching Christianity to the faithful. The Catechetical School gave students knowledge the Gospel of Christ and a sound liberal arts education. For Clement the science and philosophy of the Greeks was like the Torah of the Hebrews, preparing the way for the Gospel. With a scholarly defense of the faith, a willingness to meet and discourse with non‐Christian scholars, he established the good news of Christianity for the world of learning. He was executed in 202 A.D. Today Clement is found on both the Eastern calendar and the Anglican calendar. Origen (185/6 A.D. 254/5 A.D.) Origen was only seventeen when he took over as Headmaster (didaskalos) of the Christian Catechetical School at Alexandria. Origen was native to Alexandria and is considered one of the greatest of all Christian theologians. He was probably born in Egypt to a Christian family. He was famous for composing a seminal work of Christian Neoplatonism, his treatise On First Principles, Origen lived during a turbulent period of the Christian Church. Persecution was widespread. Little doctrinal consensus existed within the churches. Gnosticism thrived but Origen refuted its teachings, offering instead an alternative to this Christian system, one that was philosophically acceptable, but didn’t have the “mythological speculations” of the Gnostic sects. Origen took what he could use from the pagan philosophy of his era, for he was a master of the Greek philosophical tradition, and melded its most useful teachings to the Christian faith. Origen composed biblical commentaries and gave sermons, but his import in the history of philosophy comes from his two works, On First Principles, and his treatise, Against Celsus. In On First Principles Origen establishes his doctrines. They include the Holy Trinity (based upon standard Middle Platonic triadic emanation schemas); a pre‐existence and fall of souls; the multiple ages and transmigration of souls; and the eventual evolution of souls to a state of perfection in relation to the godhead. He is unique among Platonists because he introduced the history of this young religious belief system called Christianity into cosmological and metaphysical speculations. He believed resolutely in the freedom of each and every soul and rejected the fatalism found in the esoteric teachings of the mystery schools during his time. According to Origen, God’s first creation was a collectivity of rational beings which he calls logika. “Although Origen speaks of the logika as being created, they were not created in time. Creation with respect to them means that they had a beginning, but not a temporal one.” (Tripolitis 1978: 94). Further, Origen explains that the number of these rational beings is necessarily limited, since an infinite creation would be incomprehensible and unworthy of God. These souls were originally created in close proximity to God, with the intention that they should explore the divine mysteries in a state of endless contemplation. They grew weary of this intense contemplation, however, and lapsed, falling away from God into an existence on their own terms, apart from the

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 34 divine presence and the wisdom to be found there. This fall was not, it must be understood, the result of any inherent imperfection in the creatures of God. Rather, it was the result of a misuse of the greatest gift of God to His creation: freedom. The only rational creature who escaped the fall and remained with God is the “soul of Christ.” This individual soul is indicative of the intended function of all souls, i.e., to reveal the divine mystery in unique ways, insofar as the meaning of this mystery is deposited within them, as theandric (God‐human) potentiality, to be drawn out and revealed through co‐operation with God. As Origen explains, the soul of Christ was no different from that of any of the souls that fell away from God, for Christ’s soul possessed the same potential for communion with God as that of all other souls. What distinguished the soul of Christ from all others—and what preserved Him from falling away—was His supreme act of free choice, to remain immersed in the divinity. What are now souls (psukh) began as minds, and through boredom or distraction grew “cold” (psukhesthai) as they moved away from the “divine warmth” (On First Principles 2.8.3). Thus departing from God, they came to be clothed in bodies, at first of “a fine ethereal and invisible nature,” but later, as souls fell further away from God, their bodies changed “from a fine, ethereal and invisible body to a body of a coarser and more solid state. The purity and subtleness of the body with which a soul is enveloped depends upon the moral development and perfection of the soul to which it is joined.” Origen states that there are varying degrees of subtleness even among the celestial and spiritual bodies (Tripolitis 1978: 106). When a soul achieves salvation, according to Origen, it ceases being a soul, and returns to a state of pure “mind” or understanding. However, due to the fall, now “no rational spirit can ever exist without a body” (Tripolitis 1978: 114), but the bodies of redeemed souls are “spiritual bodies,” made of the purest fire. Heinrich Suso (1295–1366 A.D.) A German mystic and Dominican friar, he was influenced by Meister Eckhart, “whose writings he defended against charges of heresy…He emphasized detachment rather than mortification for his Christian practice and wrote in the literary romantic cult of the minnesingers. He was known as Sweet Suso as a result from his writings which include Das Büchlein Der Ewigen Weisheit [The Little Book Of Eternal Wisdom], an autobiography and a guide to beginners in the spiritual life; and Das Minnebüchlein (The Little Book Of Love). “And whatsoever he shall ask in my name, that I will do” (14.13). Suso writes of a soul that inquires what God gives to those who struggle spiritually towards the highest goal. The answer is “that at the highest stage of all, God gives them the three gifts of wish‐power, peace, and union with God.” This wish‐power “is to be understood in the sense that the human being has struggled through to a grasp of the cosmic laws that flow creatively through the world out of the being of God, so that all the wishes he has rising out of such a union cannot but be in harmony with these laws. It is an active knowing, it is creative, and that is able to bring an event about because it is in line with the forces of the true cosmic order. That is our wish. In the sense of St. John’s Gospel, it means asking for something in the name of Christ.” St. Thomas Aquinas (1225‐1274) St. Thomas, considering the Aristotelean idea, writes: “Sapientia est scientia quae considerat causas primas et universales causas; sapientia causas primas omnium causarum considerat”—Wisdom [i.e. philosophy] is the science which considers first and universal causes; wisdom considers the first causes of all causes,” (Metaphysics I, Lecture ii). Thomas Aquinas lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the Aristotelian Corpus was being translated into Latin, bringing the question of faith versus reason into the dialogue of the philosophers. Thomas was born in 1225 A.D. at Roccasecca, a hilltop castle from which the great Benedictine abbey of Montecassino located midway between Rome and Naples. At the age of five, he was put in the abbey, still in Montecassino. Battles broke out at the location and Thomas was removed by his family to the University of Naples. In Naples, Thomas made contact with the philosophy of Aristotle and the Dominicans. Becoming a Dominican he traveled to Paris to study and then off to Cologne and studied with Albert the Great. Thomas then went back to Paris, to become a Master, and sat in one of the Dominican chairs in the Faculty of Theology. He lived in various places in Italy, including the papal court and Dominican house. He was called back to Paris to debate Latin Averroism and Heterodox Aristotelianism for the next three years before returning to Naples in 1274. Early in this year, while on his way to the Council of Lyon, he became ill and died on March 7th at the Cistercian abbey at Fossanova.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 35 St. Francis of Assisi (1226‐1271 A.D.) St. Francis was known to have reached such states of bliss and union with the divine that he would begin to float off the ground, or levitate. He was a blessing to all he came into contact with. St. Francis of Assisi died on Saturday evening, October 3, 1226, Francis being then in the forty‐fifth year of his age, and the twentieth since his conversion to Christianity. Francis was canonized by Gregory IX, July 16, 1228, two years after his death. Thomas Merton the Trappist Monk writes about St. Francis in his Mystics And Zen Masters (1967) the following comments about the famous painting of St. Francis painted by Giotto. “We see his out stretched hands. They seem to tell us a story much like a face. One hand is down and open, to help, or receive. It displays peace, and the birds trust his presence and give him their attention. The other hand is raised with three fingers fully extended and the last two folded, symbol of the Trinity and making a sign of the cross, blessing the birds.” He notes that the hands of St. Francis are surrounded in black, and that just possibly Giotto had the hands glowing, with healing energy radiating from them, and that the Church objected. Nevertheless the black silhouette around the hands is unnatural and out of character with Francis who is painted with a halo. G.G. Sill, A Handbook Of Symbols In Christian Art (1975) defines the halo as follows. “Halos are the visual expression of a supernatural light, a mystical force... Halos form a symbolic crown. In ancient art, halos identified deities. In their circular shapes, their lightness and brightness, they resemble the sun.... The halo is the attribute of sanctity in Christian art, and identifies important personages.” In this famous painting the birds are portrayed as calm and standing near St. Francis. In life we notice how rare it is for wild birds to allow us to get close to them. His garments are touching the birds as they trust him so much. Jesus said; “look at” and thus learn from the “birds of the air” Matt. 6:26‐34. “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you ‐ [O] you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ …strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow.” St. Benedict of Nursia (480‐547 A.D.) Benedict was born at Nursia (Norcia) in Umbria, Italy, around 480 A.D. He studied in Rome but became disheartened by life in Rome and withdrew to a solitary life at Subiaco. Monks called upon him to be their abbot, which he agreed to do, founding twelve communities over the next few years. His primary abbey was Monte Cassino, which stands to this day and is the mother house to the now world‐wide Benedictine order. His biographer, St. Gregory the Great, pope from 590‐604, does not record the dates of his birth and death. St. Gregory wrote about St. Benedict in his Second Book Of Dialogues. Gregory’s purpose in writing Benedict’s life was to inspire readers, but he did not really write about the particulars of Benedict’s daily life. Gregory attempted to explain that the saints of God, and in particular St. Benedict, were still alive and well in the Christian Church. Benedict drew up a rule of life for monastics, a rule he calls “a school of the Lord’s service, in which we hope to order nothing harsh or rigorous.” This rule gives instructions how to organize a monastery and what the monks are to be doing with their time. An average day would include four hours in prayer (called the Divinum Officium—the Divine Office), then five hours was spent in spiritual reading and study, with six hours of labor, one hour was given eating, and then eight hours were permitted for sleep. The Book of Psalms was said in its entirety every week as a part of the Office. In Benedict’s time, the monks were both workers and scholars. Monks, after spending a few hours doing some laborious task by hand often would think to themselves, “There must be a better way of doing this.” The result was a development of windmills and water wheels for eradicating the labor of grinding grain, sawing wood, and pumping water. The monks also introduced the rotation of crops and other agricultural advances. The monks were displaying a dignity for laboring and the importance of planning. St. Bernard (1090‐1153 A.D.) The French churchman, St. Bernard of Clairvaux was a Cistercian monk, and founder and abbot of the monastery of Clairvaux. A theologian and Doctor of the Church, he dominated Europe through his eloquence and his counseling of popes and rulers. Of a noble family in Burgundy, Bernard was a tall, handsome, slender youth

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 36 endowed with great charm, a talent for eloquence, sensitivity, and a passion for learning. When he was 23 he persuaded two uncles, his five brothers, and about thirty other young nobles to enter the forlorn Cistercian monastery of Cîteaux, founded in 1098 in a swampy area near Dijon. He chose it because, he said, “I was conscious that my weak character needed a strong medicine.” Their rules called for living in secluded communal prayer and adoration. The monasteries were founded in very remote places, and the Cistercians were to become agricultural pioneers. Practicing a strict diet, plus a vow of silence while practicing their religious traditions in austere churches and wearing simple vestments, were the marks of the Cistercians. Bernard died at the age of sixty‐three after forty years spent in the monastery. He had established one hundred and sixty‐three monasteries in different parts of Europe. At his death he had established three hundred and forty‐three in total. He was the first Cistercian monk placed on the calendar of saints and was canonized by Alexander III, January 18, 1174. Later, Pope Pius VIII bestowed on him the title of Doctor Of The Church. The Cistercians honor him today as the founder of the order because of the far reaching activity that he gave to the Order of Cîteaux. St. Gregory of Nyssa (birth unknown‐385 A.D.) St. Gregory of Nyssa’s date of birth is unknown. He died after 385 or 386 A.D. supposedly. He was educated in Athens and influenced by the works of Origen and Plato. He was married to Theosebeia. A professor of rhetoric, he dropped out to to become a priest and hermit. His mother and sister already lived in monasteries. He is the author of the Areopagite corpus. In this work he considers the One, i.e. the “absolute Goodness” or the “Real Being,” to be the ontological foundation of every existence. The One, or Goodness Itself, is the “origin” of all goodness. The One is “eternally beautiful,” “all things possess their existence, each kind being beautiful in its own manner.” The One is the “cause” of existence. This was St. Gregory of Nyassa’s belief and teaching. Most of his writings treat the Sacred Scriptures. As an admirer of Origen, he applied constantly the latter’s principles of hermeneutics. Gregory was a great student of allegorical interpretations and mystical meanings, which he believed were hidden in the literal sense of texts. As a rule, however, the “great Cappadocians” tried to eliminate this tendency. Gregory writes his “Treatise on the Work of the Six Days” which follows St. Basil’s Hexæmeron. Another of his works, “On the Creation of Man,” deals with the work of the Sixth Day and was translated into Latin by Dionysius Exiguus. In his extensive writings he defends the unity of the Divine nature and the trinity of Persons. In his teaching on the Eucharist he strikes an original cord, yet his Christological doctrine is based entirely on Origen and St. Athanasius. History reveals that his most important writings are his large “Catechesis,” or “Oratio Catechetica.” This is a defense in forty chapters of Catholic teaching which is aimed at heathens and heretics. The most extensive of Gregory’s works is his refutation of Eunomius written in twelve books and is a defense of St. Basil against that heretic Eunomius, and also in support of the Nicene Creed against Arianism. Hildegard of Bingen (1098‐1179) She was a remarkable woman, a “first” in many fields, at a time when few women wrote. Hildegard, known as “Sybil of the Rhine,” produced major works of theology and visionary writings. When few women were accorded respect, she was consulted by and advised bishops, popes, and kings. She used the curative powers of natural objects for healing. She also wrote treatises about natural history and medicinal uses of plants, animals, trees and stones. She is the first composer whose biography is known. She founded a vibrant convent, where her musical plays were performed. Although not yet canonized, Hildegard has been beatified, and is frequently referred to as St. Hildegard. Revival of interest in this extraordinary woman of the middle ages was initiated by musicologists and historians of science and religion. Today’s New Age music bears some resemblance to Hildegard’s ethereal airs. Her story is important to all students of medieval history and culture, an inspirational account of an irresisible spirit and vibrant intellect overcoming social, physical, cultural and gender barriers to achieve timeless transcendence. Her scientific views were derived from the ancient Greek cosmology of the four elements—fire, air, water, and earth—with their complementary qualities of heat, dryness, moisture, and cold, and the corresponding four humours in the body—choler (yellow bile), blood, phlegm, and melancholy (black bile). Human constitution was based on the preponderance of one or two of the humours. Indeed, we still use words “choleric,” “sanguine,” “phlegmatic,” and “melancholy” to describe personalities. Sicknesses upset the delicate balance of the humours, and only by consuming the right plant or animal, which had the quality the sick person was missing, could healthy balance be restored to the body. That is why in

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 37 giving descriptions of plants, trees, birds, animals, or even stones, Hildegard is mostly concerned in describing that object’s quality and giving its medicinal use. Thus, “Reyan (tansy) is hot and a little damp and is good against all superfluous flowing humours, and whoever suffers from catarrh and has a cough, let him eat tansy. It will bind humors so that they do not overflow, and thus will lessen.” Hildegard’s writings are also unique for their generally positive view of sexual relations and her description of pleasure from the point of view of a woman. They contain the first description of the female orgasm. “When a woman is making love with a man, a sense of heat in her brain, which brings with it sensual delight, communicates the taste of that delight during the act, and summons forth the emission of the man’s seed. And when the seed has fallen into its place, that vehement heat descending from her brain draws the seed to itself and holds it, and soon the woman’s sexual organs contract, and all the parts that are ready to open up during the time of menstruation now close, in the same way as a strong man can hold something enclosed in his fist.” She also wrote, “Strength of semen determined the sex of the child, while the amount of love and passion determine the child’s disposition. The worst case, where the seed is weak and parents feel no love, leads to a bitter daughter.” St. Teresa of Ávila (1515 –1582) St. Teresa of Avila describes prayer in its sublimity as “an intimate friendship, a frequent conversation held alone with the Beloved.” St. Teresa of Ávila was a 16th‐century Spanish mystic. Teresa of Ávila was born in 1515 in the kingdom of Castile in Spain. She was the youngest child in her family and born into a noble family. When she was seven years old, Teresa fled from her home with one of her young brothers, in the hope of going to Africa and receiving the palm of martyrdom. When brought back she said; “I want to see God, and I must die before I can see Him.” She then began, with her same brother, Rodriguez, to build a hermitage in the garden, and was often heard repeating, “Forever, forever!” Teresa lost her mother at the age of twelve years. Her father placed her in a boarding convent. The Sisters encouraged her to enter the Carmelite monastery of the Incarnation at Avila. From reading about her life we learn that at the age of thirty‐one, she gave herself to God. Teresa experienced a vision that showed her the very place in hell to which her very minor faults would take her. She was told by Our Lord that all her conversation must be with heaven. This was unsettling for Teresa and she lived in distrust of her vision. Nonetheless, she was named Prioress at the monastery of the Incarnation. She had a calming influence on even the most hostile hearts and placed a statue of Our Lady in the seat she would ordinarily have occupied, to preside over the Community. The Superior General gave Teresa her full permission to found as many houses as might be practical. She founded seventeen convents for the Sisters. Fifteen others for the Fathers of the Reform were established with the aid of her friend Saint John of the Cross. Journeying in those days was perilous, but nothing could stop Teresa from accomplishing the holy Will of God. When the cart she was traveling in was overturned one day and she had a broken leg, she is reported to have said, “Dear Lord, if this is how You treat Your friends, it is no wonder You have so few!” She died October 4, 1582, and was canonized in 1622. After nine months in a wooden coffin her body was perfectly preserved though the clothing had rotted. A fine perfume spread throughout the entire monastery of the nuns as they changed her clothing. Parts of the body were used as relics, including the heart and her left arm. At the last exhumation in 1914, the body was found to remain in the same condition as when it was seen previously, still recognizable and very fragrant with the same intense perfume. This is a sign of a very divine human being. St. Martin de Porres (1579‐1639) St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father was a Spanish gentleman and his mother a black freed‐woman from Panama. At age fifteen, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary at Lima and spent his whole life there. He worked as a barber, did farm labor work in the almond groves and worked in the hospice and hospital. Martin had many graces bestowed upon him by the spiritual world. He was able to experience aerial flights and bilocation. St. Martin’s love for humans and animals, including rodents, was well known. He created a shelter and a cats and dogs hospital at his sister’s house. St Martin was an exceptional personality and one of my favorite saints to study. His spiritual wisdom shines through his activities and is demonstrated with many examples. He solved his sister’s marriage problems, raised a dowry for his niece in the short period of three day’s and resolved many theological problems for the learned of his Order and for bishops. St. Martin was a close friend of St. Rose of Lima. Saint Martin died November 3, 1639 and was canonized on May 6, 1962. His feast day is November 3.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 38 Jacob Bohme (1575‐ 1624) Jacob Bohme (Boehme, Bohm, Behmen, Bome, Beme, etc.) is considered a central figure of Christian Mysticism. He was born in 1575 at Old Seidenberg, then German Prussia. From The Wisdom Of Jacob Bohme (1994) by Arthur Versluis, we read that legends abound about Böhme’s early life. It is said that he was visited by a stranger who predicted his spiritual illuminations in later life. We do know from his own writings that he had a profound spiritual illumination during his twenties, and “that although he led a fairly ordinary lay life as a man who married, had children, and worked as a shoemaker in Görlitz, Germany, (very near what in the twentieth century was divided by the iron curtain into Poland), he also developed very profound insights into nature and into the spiritual life.” He wrote down his initial insights in order to keep them fresh for his memory. Then he wrote a book entitled Aurora (1624). It began to circulate widely until the local Lutheran minister Gregorius Richter got a copy. “Richter was incensed against Böhme’s writings, perhaps not least because of Böhme’s warnings against what he called “Babel,” or the mere outward pretense of Christianity without any inner spiritual awakening.” Richter persecuted Böhme for more than a decade. Böhme ceased writing or publishing further books because he was pressured relentlessly. Later in his life Böhme was prevailed upon to write again. He wrote very complex spiritual and cosmological works and letters of spiritual advice to seekers. In 1624 he died. “Now I enter into paradise,” were said to be his last words. Versluis concludes, “Böhme’s genius lies, in part, in his ability to convey this spiritual advice in the larger context of his spiritual understanding. Böhme’s work reveals not only the human relationship to the natural world, but also the human relationship to the spiritual realms, most notably, to the various aspects of the divine. According to Böhme, during our brief lives on earth, we have the possibility of spiritual illumination that will have profound ramifications for us in the afterlife. For him, Christianity is not merely “Babel,” or outward show and belief in merely historical events, but a process of inward transmutation and illumination.” St. Paul (1‐60 A.D.) Paul of Tarsus was known originally as Saul of Tarsus, then as Saint Paul the Apostle. He is considered by many Christians to be the most important disciple of Jesus and the most important figure in the development of Christianity. The Apostle Paul was a Jew from Greece of that time and he made great efforts in his epistles to the Romans to show that God is for all the people, and not only for the Jews. God was a good‐hearted divinity and the Greek philosophers had prepared people for this idea. He told of a theraputic theology, telling of a Kingdom of God within us all. Paul is recognized by many Catholics and all Eastern Orthodox Christians as a saint. Paul did much to advance Christianity among the gentiles and is considered one of the primary sources of early Church doctrine. His Epistles form a fundamental section of the New Testament and it is believed by some in the Christian community that it was Paul that first made Christianity a new religion and not a sect of Judaism. Paul had several major impacts on the nature of the Christian religion. First was the concept that the death and resurrection of Jesus superseded the value of the Mosaic law, a belief that is often expressed as “Jesus died for our sins.” Related to this interpretation of the resurrection we find next his concepts of faith, which he explains through his explanation of Abraham. He also addresses righteousness and the forgiveness for sins, using language that Augustine of Hippo later elaborated on in his formulation of original sin. Paul’s epistles are the earliest extant Christian texts written. In the New Testament his writings clearly express the doctrine that salvation is not achieved by conforming to Mosaic law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul was also one of the first Christians to expound the doctrine of Christ’s divinity to the public. St. Photios (820–891 A.D.) St. Photios was a patriarch of Constantinople. He was considered the greatest of all Byzantine patriarchs. He was educated in ancient Greek literature and philosophy as well as Christian theology. He was a professor of philosophy at the famous University of Constantinople—the first university (or “higher school”) to be established in medieval Europe. The West at this time was stuck in the mire of the barbaric Dark Ages. St. Photios was born around 820 A.D. His parents, persecuted for defending icons, were exiled from Constantinople. He later became Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople during the middle of the ninth century. He is remembered for his defense of Orthodoxy against heretical papal practices of the time, his ability to love others, and for his meekness. He vigorously opposed the addition of the filioque clause to the Nicene‐ Constantinopolitan Creed, and wrote On The Mystagogy Of The Holy Spirit to preserve “the purity of our religion” and to hinder “those who chose to promote any other definition of dogma than the unanimous and common faith of the pious.”

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 39 For his stand against the church of Rome St. Photios was forced to become Patriarch of Constantinople. He took his work seriously and went to work as a man of God. One of his activities was to correct the error of Pope Nicholas of Rome, who enslaved the people of the West with threats of condemnation to hell for disobedience to the pope. Writing to Nicholas, “Nothing is dearer than the Truth.” In the same letter he noted, “It is truly necessary that we observe all things, but above all, that which pertains to matters of Faith, in which but a small deviation represents a deadly sin.” Photios was a scholar, clearly. He is believed to be responsible for a new codification of canon (church) law, the Collection of 14 Titles, and probably for a new legal code, the Epanagoge, which spelled out a new importance for the patriarch with respect to the Emperor. Photios is possibly best known for converting the Slavic peoples. It was Photios who in 862 A.D. went into the semi‐barbaric Moravian Slavs (in today’s Czechoslovakia), to convert them. Cyril (or Konstantinos) and his brother Methodios, two Greeks from Thessalonia, who were fluent in the Slavonic language, translated the Greek liturgy into Slavonic. The translations kept the Slavs tied to Constantinople instead of to Rome which also sought the Slavs conversion but would not permit the liturgy to be translated into Slavonic. Photios also converted the Bulgars who were undecided between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. It was Photios’ conversion of the Moravians and Bulgars, through the work of Cyril and Methodios, that later led to the Byzantine conversion of the Russian Slavs. Photios established a patriarchal school in Constantinople for the education of priests in literature and philosophy as well as in theology. He was considered by the Roman Church as the arch‐heretic, the one most responsible for originating the schism (split) between the Churches of Rome and Constantinople. He formulated the Orthodox Greek charges against innovations (kenotomies) in doctrine and practices of the Roman Church. It taught the doctrine of the flioque (that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and Son), contrary to explicit pronouncements of the early Ecumenical Councils that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, (Ekporevetai ek tou Patros) a belief considered necessary in the view of the Orthodox in order to preserve the unitary nature of God. There can be only one fundamental archic source for the Godhead, not two. If there are two sources, there would in effect be two Gods. However, pluralism in the Church can be attributed to Photios. Because of his work, human beings were allowed freedom of expression living their oneness of faith by local customs and language accorded by the region of the land that they lived in. Religious traditions could be replaced with a freedom of expression and a faith in unity. “The different expression, alternative (ετερότnς) does not hinder the unity (ενοειδή) of the Spirit’s grace.” St. Augustine (354–430 A.D.) St. Augustine was born on November 13, 354 A.D. in Tagaste, Algeria. His parents, Patricius and Monica, belonged to the financially imperilled middle class. They were well enough off, and had educational ambitions for their son, but they were too poor to finance those ambitions themselves. At the age of 17 the youth’s talents made Carthage a necessary place to live. Not long after, his father died and his mother was left with modest resources. Augustine met a young woman in Carthage and had a son with her. This woman was with Augustine for 10 years but we do not know her name. Eventually he had to give her up for a society marriage in Milan where he writes “his heart ran blood” with grief as she went off to Africa to enter a convent. Their son was named Adeodatus, and he stayed with Augustine until an early death took him in his late adolescence. The zeal for philosophy led Augustine to join a religious cult from Persia that had planted itself in the Roman world as a rival of Christianity. It was called the cult of Manicheism. Augustine was pulled between the conventional pleasures of an adolescence lived to the full and the conventional demands of philosophy. For this reason, Manicheism offered something refreshing and comforting. Augustine was not to blame that he felt this way, the Manichees told him. Security could be had without sacrifice, and guilt removed without atonement. Some Manichee friends arranged an audition before the prefect of the city of Rome, a pompous and inept pagan named Symmachus, who had been asked to provide a professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at Milan. Augustine received the job and headed north to take up his position in late 384 A.D. At age thirty, Augustine had won the most cherished academic chair in the Latin world and as a result gained ready access to political careers. Augustine’s talents became clear by later achievements. His fast climb to eminence as a professor proves that if Augustine had stayed in the public life he could have achieved advancement to very high political office. Nonetheless, he gradually became convinced of the truth of the Christian faith, though he was unable to break out of his “cruel slavery” to lust. His prayers reflect this, “Lord, give me chastity... but not yet.” He finally gives his life to God after “a long time.” One day he was praying in the garden and he heard a child singing “Take

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 40 and read! Take and read!” Augustine opened the New Testament and read St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (13:12, 13). It reads, “Let us throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness; not in sexual excess and lust; not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” We learn that he is moved to a deep conversion. He told his friend Alipius he had resolved to follow the Lord, and the two, both converted, went to tell Monica the good news. The year was 386 A.D. He was thirty‐one. After seven months of preparation, Augustine was baptized by St. Ambrose at the Easter vigil in 387 A.D. James O’Donnell’s online article Elements of Christianity: Augustine, (www.ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/twayne/ aug2.htm), tells us, “His elevation to the Bishopric of Hippo in 395 gave him full powers to preach and teach in the church. Not long after, he characterized the bishop’s life as one divided between looking after his flock, snatching a little rest where he could, and meditating on the scripture.” Augustine returned to Africa at age 35 and settled down at Tagaste in 389 A.D. with a few friends to form a monastery; where Augustine was happy. But Augustine was a talented individual and years later, while on a visit to the coastal city of Hippo Regius, he found himself virtually forced into the priesthood by the local congregation who recognized his talent. The story goes that he broke into tears as they laid hands on him in the church, as Augustine had avoided cities that needed bishops for some time now and lived in fear of just such a fate happening to him. Augustine begins with the trinity for his beliefs. His period in the history of the Church is critical as he lived at the end of the century that had worked out the church’s basic trinity or trinitarian doctrines which were established as Church doctrine at the ecumenical councils of Nicea in 325 and Constantinople in 381, both covered in this course. It was these councils that allowed Christians to have a universal vocabulary in which what they believed about the trinity of God, Christ, and the Spirit was clearly and concisely stated without error. In 391 A.D. Augustine was called to the priesthood as an assistant to Valerius, bishop of Hippo. In a house adjoining the church he again established a place of monastic prayer, accompanied by St. Alipius, St. Evodius, St. Possidius, and others. In the year 395 he was made bishop and when Valerius died Augustine was made bishop of Hippo. Augustine wrote about the Christian faith in his years as bishop. His works included the Confessions in which he tells his story of conversion, and The City Of God, a philosophical analysis of the world’s history showing it to be guided by God. Conscious of his duty, Augustine soon began to write four books on scriptural interpretation, which comes to us as his Christian Doctrine (395 A.D.) The first two books and part of the third were written 395/396 A.D. while the remainder was added c. 426/427. The main point that Augustine makes in Christian Doctrine is that divine revelation, the intervention in human affairs by a power preceding the human being in reasoning, is the necessary prerequisite of Christian theology. Perhaps when that revelation has dawned on humanity then the doctrines of Christianity can be taken on the faith of a rational faculty, the mind. Augustine’s primary belief from an ancient point of view was his insistence that communication is far more important than elegance. To be stylish is one thing to be intelligible is a greater thing. “What is the use of a perfect speech,” he asks, “that the audience cannot follow, when there is no reason for speaking at all if the people we are talking to do not understand us?” (4.10.24) To hear the preacher but not the teacher that was the problem, according to Augustine. He stated that late Roman education had nothing to “say”, or that it said a lot of “nothing.” He advocated a “diligent negligence,” and he was conscious of the lack of meaning in education at this time. Augustine, as preacher, preferred a direct style both artful and lucid. Augustine names the three levels of style. They are the humble, the ordinary, and the elevated. These suggestions were made to point out that there was more than one way to preach the Word, and that pious, scholarly teachings fell on deaf ears in the humble and the ordinary people. In 426, he had his successor elected, hoping to find time to write. He found little time, however, since soon thereafter the Vandals invaded Africa. During the siege of Hippo, on August 28, 430, Augustine died of old age. Shortly after his death the Vandals captured the city. Not long after, they captured Carthage and established a kingdom that lasted a century. To this day Augustine is probably the most quoted of all the saints. St. Joan of Arc (1412‐1431 A.D.) Joan of Arc was born at Domremy in Champagne, probably on January 6, 1412. She died at Rouen on May 30, 1431. The village of Domremy lay upon the confines of territory which recognized the suzerainty of the Duke of Burgundy, but in the protracted conflict between the Armagnacs (the party of Charles VII, King of

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 41 France), on the one hand, and the Burgundians in alliance with the English, on the other, Domremy had always remained loyal to Charles. Jacques d’Arc, Joan’s father, was a small peasant farmer, poor but not needy. Joan seems to have been the youngest of a family of five. She never learned to read or write but was skilled in sewing and spinning. The popular idea that she spent the days of her childhood in the pastures, alone with the sheep and cattle, is quite unfounded. All the witnesses in the process of rehabilitation spoke of her as a singularly pious child, grave beyond her years, who often knelt in the church absorbed in prayer, and loved the poor tenderly. Great attempts were made at Joan’s trial to connect her with some superstitious practices supposed to have been performed round a certain tree, popularly known as the “Fairy Tree” (l’Arbre des Dames), but the sincerity of her answers baffled her judges. She had sung and danced there with the other children, and had woven wreaths for Our Lady’s statue, but since she was twelve years old she had “held aloof from such diversions.” It was at the age of thirteen and a half, in the summer of 1425, that Joan first became conscious of her life purpose by hearing “voices.” She later came to call them her “counsel.” It was at first simply a voice, as if someone had spoken quite close to her, but it seems also clear that a blaze of light accompanied it. Later on, she clearly discerned in some way the appearance of those who spoke to her, recognizing them individually as St. Michael (who was accompanied by other angels), St. Margaret, St. Catherine, and others. Joan was always reluctant to speak of her voices. She said nothing about them to her confessor, and constantly refused, at her trial, to be inveigled into descriptions of the appearance of the saints and to explain how she recognized them. None the less, she told her judges, “I saw them with these very eyes, as well as I see you.” Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, condemned as a witch, but her legend lives on and inspires many. Angelus Silesius (1624‐1677) The Cherubinic Wanderer: Part 2, God In all eternity there is no lovelier Tone Than when man’s heart soundeth with God in Unison. 47 (I. 279) Now this, now that, thou striv’st to shape With thine own I for instrument. Ah, wouldst thou but let God shape all. 48 (IV. 143) Angelus Silesius was a German mystic of the Counter‐Reformation. He was born and baptized Johannes Scheffler in 1624 in the province of Silesia. In 1653, he converted to Catholicism from Lutheranism and spent the rest of his life avidly trying to reconvert the people of Silesia. Today, however, he is known primarily for his mystical poetry, cast primarily in the form of “Alexandrines,” which are simple, rhymed couplets. Of course, they lose much in translation, and many seem quite naïve, but the depth of feeling cannot be denied, and many more can be seen to approach haiku and other short, mystical poetry from around the world. He published, in 1657, two poetical works. “The Soul’s Spiritual Delight” (Heilige Seelenlust) is a collection of approximately two hundred religious songs that have found their way into Catholic, and Protestant hymn books. “The Cherubic Pilgrim” (Der Cherubinische Wandersmann) is a collection of more than sixteen hundred rhymed couplets, full of deep religious thought expressed in poetic form. St. Dominic (1170‐1221) From the Dominican Central web site we learn the following about St. Dominic: he was the founder of the Friar’s Preachers and was born of a Castilian family. His early years were uneventful. When he was about twenty‐ six he became one of the Canon’s regulars, who formed the cathedral chapter at Osma. In 1206 the turning‐point of his life came, when his bishop, Diego, became unofficial leader of a papal mission to the heretical Albigenses, who were firmly established in Languedoc. The bishop chose Dominic as his companion. They lived simply, in poverty, and undertook discussions with their opponents for which they prepared very carefully. These methods contrasted with the formality and display of the official missioners, and a house of nuns founded at Prouille became the center for the new preachers. The death of Bishop Diego at the end of 1207 coincided with the murder of the papal legate Peter de Castelnau by the Albigenses. Pope Innocent III ordered a military campaign against their leader, Count Raymund of Toulouse. There followed five years of bloody civil war, massacre, and savagery, during which Dominic and his few followers persevered in their mission of converting the Albigenses. In 1215 Dominic established his headquarters in Toulouse, and the idea of an order of preachers began to take shape. They were a body of highly trained priests, bound by vows with emphasis on poverty, and devoted to the work of preaching and teaching anywhere and everywhere. The enterprise was formally approved in Rome in 1216, and in the following year the founder sent eleven of this brothers, over half the total at that time, to the

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 42 University of Paris and to Spain. He himself established friaries at Bologna and elsewhere in Italy, and traveled tirelessly to superintend the nascent order, preaching as he went. St. Dominic always gave importance to the help of women in his work. One of his last undertakings was to install nuns at San Sisto in Rome. Another was to send thirteen of his friars to Oxford. St. Dominic was a man of remarkable attractiveness of character and broadness of vision. He had the deepest compassion for every sort of human suffering; he saw the need to use all the resources of human learning in the service of Christ. His constant reading was St. Matthew’s gospel, St. Paul’s letters and the Conferences of St. John Cassian. The order that he founded was a formative factor in the religious and intellectual life of later medieval Europe. Its diffusion is now world‐wide. This saint was the subject of the song “Domininque” that was so popular in 1963‐4. His emblems are a star and a dog with a torch in its mouth.

Other Famous Christian Thinkers Sir Isaac Newton (1642‐1727) Let us look at the life of another Christian, Sir Isaac Newton. He was a mathematician, physicist, and one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time, but he was also a practicing Christian. Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire. There, he attended school before he entered Cambridge University in 1661. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1667, and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669. He remained at the university, lecturing until 1696. In these Cambridge years, Newton was at the height of his creative power. He said that 1665 to 1666 (spent largely in Lincolnshire because of plague in Cambridge) was “the prime of my age for invention.” During two to three years of intense mental effort, he prepared Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) commonly known as the Principia. It was not published until 1687. Newton also wrote about Judaeo‐Christian prophecy, and decipherment was essential, he thought, to the understanding of God. Newton’s book on the subject, which was reprinted well into the Victorian Age, represented lifelong study. Its message was that Christianity went astray in the 4th century AD, when the first Council of Nicaea propounded erroneous doctrines regarding the nature of Christ. The full extent of Newton’s unorthodoxy was recognized only in the present century. Although a critic of accepted Trinitarian dogmas and the Council of Nicaea, he possessed a deep religious sense, venerated the Bible and accepted its account of creation. In late editions of his scientific works he expressed a strong sense of God’s providential role in nature. Newton hoped that his entire work in physics would inspire men to believe in God. He stated, “When I wrote my treatise about our system I had an eye upon such principles as might work with considering men for the belief of a deity and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose.” He spends the first part of his book showing that while many of the other books of the Old Testament contain a wonderful and sacred history of God’s dealings with men, the Book of Daniel holds a special place, containing many detailed revelations directly from God about the kingdoms of the earth. Those kingdoms can be traced in history, verifying the foreknowledge of God. Even in his day people doubted the authenticity of the book (and of course even more so today) but as far as Newton was concerned, anyone who rejected the Book of Daniel rejected Christianity. “An angel must fly through the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospel to preach to all nations, before Babylon falls and the son of man reaps his harvest.” Quoting Rev. 14:6, Newton continues, “For as the few and obscure Prophecies concerning Christ’s first coming were for setting up the Christian religion, which all nations have since corrupted, so the many and clear Prophecies concerning the things to be done at Christ’s second coming are not only for predicting but also for effecting a recovery and re‐ establishment of the long‐lost truth, and setting up a kingdom wherein dwells righteousness. The event will prove the Apocalypse, and this Prophecy, thus proved and understood, will open the old Prophets and all together will make known the true religion, and establish it.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881‐1956) As Sir Julian Huxley writes in The Introduction To The Phenomenon Of Man (1955), simply by looking at the facts of Pierre Teilhard’s life will give us a better understanding of his thought. Pierre was born in 1881, the fourth child of eleven. At age 10 he went to a Jesuit College in Auvergne where he grew up on the farm with his father, a gentleman and small land owner. His father was also an archivist with an interest in natural history. At the age of 18, Pierre decided to become a Jesuit and entered the order. Six years later, at 24 years old, he was sent to teach physics and chemistry at a Jesuit College in Cairo, Egypt for three years. He then moved to Sussex, England where he studied theology for four more years. Pierre Teilhard became a Jesuit priest in 1912. His main Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 43 inspiration up to this point in his life was reading Bergson’s Evolution Creatrice, inspiring him in his life long passion for both the facts and theories of evolution. While living in Egypt, Teilhard experienced the spark of divine life in the Egyptian desert. This force he believed was present throughout all of the evolutionary process. It guides, shaping the evolutionary thrust as much as the mechanistic forces of the physical sciences he believed. In Toward A Science Charged With Faith: Chapter 5, God and Science (www.crosscurrents.org/chardin.htm) Charles P. Henderson is used as a referrence for this online discussion. “Teilhard would later codify this force into two distinct, fundamental types of energy, ‘radial’ and ‘tangential.’ Radial energy was the energy of Newtonian physics. This energy obeyed mechanistic laws, such as cause and effect, and could be quantified. Teilhard called radial energy the energy of ‘without.’ Tangential energy, on the other hand, was the energy from ‘within,’ in other words, the divine spark.” Henderson goes on to explain that Teilhard described three types of tangential energy. “In inanimate objects, he called it ‘pre‐life.’ In beings that are not self‐reflective, he called it ‘life.’ In humans, he called it ‘consciousness.’ As Teilhard began to observe the world described by science, he noticed that in certain things, such as rocks, the radial energy was dominant, while the tangential energy was barely visible. Rocks, therefore, are best described by the laws that rule radial energy…physics. But in animals, in which tangential energy, or life, is present, the laws of physics are only a partial explanation. Teilhard concluded that where radial energy was dominant, the evolutionary process would be characterized by the traditional scientific laws of necessity and chance. But in those organisms in which the tangential energy was significant, the forces of life and consciousness would lead the laws of chance and natural selection.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, says in The Divine Milieu: An Essay On The Interior Life (1960), “All around us, to right and left, in front and behind, above and below, we have only to go a little beyond the frontier of sensible appearances in order to see the divine welling up and showing through. But it is not only close to us, in front of us, that the divine presence has revealed itself. It has sprung up universally, and we find ourselves so surrounded and transfixed by it, that there is no room left to fall down and adore it, even within ourselves.” “By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us and moulds us. We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its burning layers. In eo vivimus. As Jacob said, awakening from his dream, the world, this palpable world, which we were wont to treat with the boredom and disrespect with which we habitually regard places with no sacred association for us, is in truth a holy place, and we did not know it. Venite, adoremus.” Chardin is not an official saint, but he is considered by many to be one of the most unique thinkers in Christian thought. Some would call him a saint while others would call him blasphemous. It was at the height of his career in paleontology, while he was studying bones and fossils in northern China (in 1927) that Teilhard wrote what he called “a little book on piety” designed to convey both the sincerity and the orthodoxy of his faith to his superiors in Rome. In this book Teilhard speaks of The Divine Milieu. Its very title suggests his theme: the whole material world as the setting for a profound, mystical vision of God. It is in the world itself, as it is seen through the eyes of science, that the workings of God are most apparent. Needless to say, writing this type of material did not reassure the religious authorities in Rome, for Teilhard affirmed the material world as a source of mystical illumination. Though Teilhard did not directly criticize any specific doctrines of the church in his little book of piety, this work constitutes an assault upon the skeletal supports of traditional theology. Teilhard was just as provocative when he was trying to reassure as when he was trying to stir up debate. Early on, he describes his book in two sentences, which were intended to convey the modesty of his position but in reality contained a theological time bomb. Teilhard says that he intends no more than to “recapitulate the eternal lessons of the Church,” but he goes on to assert that he is actually teaching the church how to see! As a scientist and an individual thinker, he is suggesting that the primary source of religious truth is to be found in the material world rather than in the magisterium of the church. In a real sense, it shall be science which shows theology how to see. It shall be the personal experience of a single priest, which will indicate to the highest ecclesiastical authorities what is essential in Catholic teaching. Teilhard tried to accomplish the difficult task of turning theology downside up. He tried to demonstrate that the material world, the world of rocks and trees, stars and planets, plants and animals, rather than being the neutral subject of scientific investigation, was in fact the soil from which would spring a new vision of the holy. The very subject matter of pure science was nothing less than a mirror in which one could see reflected the face of God. Hence Teilhard did not succeed in calming the anxious theologians at the Vatican, and they were rightly worried. He had raised the material world to a level of importance it had seldom held for theologians, Catholic or

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 44 Protestant. In a more candid statement of faith, written at the request of his confidant and colleague Bruno de Solages, rector of the Institut Catholique in Toulouse, Teilhard put the issue on a personal, even confessional plane: “If, as the result of some interior revolution, I were to lose in succession my faith in Christ, my faith in a personal God, and my faith in spirit, I feel that I should continue to believe invincibly in the world. The world (its value, its infallibility and its goodness) that, when all is said and done, is the first, the last, and the only thing in which I believe. It is by this faith that I live. And it is to this faith, I feel, that at the moment of death, rising above all doubts, I shall surrender myself.” We must now ask what led Teilhard to believe so deeply in the world, and what in the world is worthy of belief in the first place? For the vast majority of us, the material world provides the raw material for scientific research, not mystical illumination. Yet here is a professional scientist working at the frontiers of research, part of an international team of geologists, paleontologists, and anthropologists, writing from an outpost of science in northern China. He boldly asserts, “If we Christians wish to retain in Christ the very qualities on which his power and our worship are based, we have no better way, no other way, even, of doing so than fully to accept the most modern concepts of evolution... Surely, the solution for which modern mankind is seeking must essentially be exactly the solution which I have come upon.” One can easily see why Teilhard raised cries of alarm within the hierarchies of both the church and the academies. Ralph Abraham is one of the founders of chaos theory and co‐author of The Web Empowerment Book: A World Wide Web Primer. In an online interview, Ralph Abraham says, “Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in the early 1920s, while conducting research in the Egyptian desert, scratching around for the remains of ancient creatures, had a vision. He turned over a stone, dusted it off, and suddenly realized that everything around him was beautifully connected in one vast, pulsating web of divine life. Teilhard soon developed a philosophy that married the science of the material world with the sacred forces of the Catholic Church. Neither the Catholic Church nor the scientific academy, however, agreed. Teilhard’s premise, that rocks possessed a divine force, was seen as flaky by scientists and outright heretical by the church. Teilhard’s writings were scorned by peers in both camps.” Teilhard de Chardin gets too little credit for the quality of his insights. He was successfully deprived of his influence by the popes. Throughout the ‘40s and ‘50s, the Catholic Church was on the verge of excommunicating Teilhard. But the philosopher was committed to his perspective, refusing to stop writing or leave the Church. As his problems with the Church escalated, Teilhard became something of a cause célèbre within his small circle in Europe. The Church responded by forbidding him to publish, and posted him to China, where he lived in a state of semi‐exile, trekking through the Gobi desert and developing his philosophy in isolation. (His paleontological studies continued to circulate and were highly regarded.) The rest of his work was not published until after his death on Easter Sunday, 1955, when it caused a small stir in the theological world. It was read widely for only a short time. In the postmodern climate of today’s theology, Teilhard is once again out of favor among theologists, evolutionary biologists, and scientists, who view his work with derision. Thomas Merton Thomas Merton, who lived from 1915 to 1968 was an American writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Trappist, Kentucky. His writings include such classics as The Seven Story Mountain (1941), which remains in print after more than fifty years, New Seeds Of Contemplation (1974) and Zen And The Birds Of Appetite (1968). Merton is the author of more than seventy books that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism and writings on peace, social justice and ecumenicism. He is distinguished among most contemporary spiritual writers by the depth and substance of his thinking. He distilled the best ideas and concepts of the best theologians, philosophers and poets throughout the centuries, from both the West and the East. He presented their thinking in the context of the Christian worldview. Thomas Merton is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential American spiritual writers of the past century. Thousands of readers have drawn strength from his words as well as the witness of his life, which was essentially the living out of a contemplative vision. His autobiography, The Seven Story Mountain (1978) appears on lists of the 100 most important books of the century. Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Steiner was born in Austria in 1861. He received recognition as a scholar when he was invited to edit the Kürschner edition of the natural scientific writings of Goethe. In 1891, Steiner received his Ph.D. at the University of Rostock. He then began his work as a lecturer. From the turn of the century to his death in 1925, he

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 45 delivered well over 6000 lectures. He wrote fifty works providing an understanding of the human being and our place in the universe. Among the activities springing from the work of Rudolf Steiner are the Waldorf Schools, Bio‐Dynamic Farming and Christology. Steiner’s Anthroposophical Society funds and operates homes for the treatment of mentally challenged children as well. Music therapy, drama and speech are worked with as well. Christian metaphysical thinker Rudolf Steiner gave a lecture in Europe in 1923 on the nature of “Love And Its Meaning In The World” He speaks about the significance of Apostle Paul’s declaration, “’Not I, but Christ in me.’ Now man can so direct his inner life as to let the Christ‐impulse come to flower in him; he can let Christ’s life flow and breathe through him. He can absorb the stream which has come to us from pre‐earthly life and bring it to fruition in his life on earth. “A first stage in the reception of this stream consists in man noticing that at a particular point in his life he feels something flowering and coming alive in him. Previously it sat under the threshold of his consciousness, and he notices for the first time that it is there. It rises, filling him with inner light, inner warmth, and he knows that this inner life, inner warmth, inner light, has arisen in him during life on earth. He acquires a greater knowledge of life on earth than was his birthright. He learns to know something which arises within his humanity during his life on earth. And if man is sensible of the light and Life, of the love arising in him, and feels there the flowing, living presence of the Christ, he will receive strength to grasp the fully human, the post‐earthly, in the free activity of his own soul. Thus the Mystery of Golgotha and the Christ‐impulse are intimately bound up with the attainment of human freedom, of that consciousness which is able to suffuse with inner life and warmth, our mere thinking that is otherwise dead and abstract. The exhortation ‘Know Thyself—bring your humanity to fruition in your own inner life,’ has been addressed to humanity through all time, and is still in force today. But the experience of Christ in man is essential to our own day. It takes its place alongside the injunction ‘Know Thyself,’ and must be given its full weight.” Matthew Fox Matthew Fox is a spiritual theologian who was an ordained priest since 1967 in the Catholic Church. He now holds Masters degrees in philosophy and theology from Aquinas Institute and a Doctorate in Spirituality, summa cum laude, from the Institut Catholiques de Paris. A liberation theologian and progressive visionary, he was silenced by the Vatican and later dismissed from the Dominican order. After dismissal he was received as an Episcopal priest by Bishop William Swing of the Diocese of California. Steve Turner interviewed Matthew Fox for Third Way in June of 1995 and also printed the article in the (UK) Times 8/25/95. He explains the tradition of original blessing, rather than original sin. He goes on to explain in the interview that the idea of “Original Sin” was not used until the fourth century, by Augustine. It is the tradition of the great mystics of the West: Hildergard, Francis, Aquinas, Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, it is the tradition of the anawim itself. It does not fit into the empire building ambitions of Christianity. Matthew Fox goes on to say that the experience of the divine all around us and through us is “what it’s all about. Existence is Holy and it’s about beginning our spiritual journey with awe and wonder instead of guilt. It’s about discovering the deep down goodness in things. Christ is alive in all things and all things have a being, and as a result are bearers of the Holy.” He tells Mr. Turner that when the human being gets out of balance, “cancer can set in, even Aids. We don’t know enough about the biological tales of our universe to pass judgement.” Matthew Fox is asked by Steve Turner if beauty and terror go together. He replied, “Absolutely: that’s the meaning of the crucifixion. That’s the beauty of Christianity and of the Cosmic Christ. Christ is in the wounds as well as the light.” Continuing, Fox makes an analogy using physics, explaining that the proton is found in every atom of the universe. John 1 states the same, that Christ is alive in all things. He shares with us the German mystic Hildergard’s quote that “every creature is a glittering mirror of divinity.” Fox states emphatically, “That’s the Cosmic Christ.” He recounts the terror of human history, empires that have come and gone, and yes, our religious folly. Our great leaders like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and many others standing for human compassion, have been assassinated. Fox says, “If you cannot acknowledge the Holy in things, the holy in all things, the sacred in all things, and the right for all things to be here far beyond the human agenda, then we are involved in a self‐ destructive path.” He bemoans the fact that we are the first civilization to set up a desacrilation world society. He tells us to look at the psychology industry and pharmaceutical companies, “trying to pump a little life into these depressed souls.” He looks at entertainment in America and the fact that we are living vicariously, slipping into couch potato lifestyles. He fears the desire to live will evaporate if we do not change. The consequences of this

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 46 desacrilation of life are ultimately dragging all species down with us on Earth today. It is imperative that we recover a sense of the sacred or he warns, “we’ll never know what life is about and we’ll have nothing to teach our young people.” Matthew Fox says in this online interview, “I would like to see Christianity move from being a religion, to being a way of life and spirituality again. It doesn’t have to be a religion anymore. The empires are over.” An awakening of the human species is called for, he feels, and the Gospels, along with the Christian mystical tradition, can help us. “We need to become aware of the Cosmic Christ, which means recognizing that every being has within it the light of Christ. This is a source of both revelation and reverence. If we have that awareness we can no longer take things for granted. The grace of gratitude is what will save us from an ecological crisis and the malaise that is upon us now.” The theologian makes the point that people live their whole lives externally and this in turn allows for addictions. The economic system itself is based upon feeding these addictions, he surmises. He warns that the species has to do better. He also touches on the good works that Christianity accomplishes, like charities, prison programs, shelters, food banks, these are all charitable works that other religions could emulate. Christian charities set the standard, and metaphysicians would do well to follow this example.

DENOMINATIONS OF CHRISTIANITY By the late 20th century, Christianity had become the most widely disseminated faith on Earth. Virtually no nation has remained unaffected by the activities of Christian missionaries, although in many countries Christians are only a small fraction of the total population. There are over 34,000 different denominations of Christianity found on the planet today. Currently there are over 12,000 in North America alone. Most of the countries of Asia and Africa have Christian minorities, some of which, as in India and even China, number several million members. The concentration of Christians are still found in Western cultures. Each major division of Christianity—Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism are covered in this section of the course. Christianity covers the full spectrum of religious traditions, from the Amish who have chosen to withdraw from the world, setting aside modern conveniences such as electricity and automobiles, to the Unitarians who most Christians don’t even consider Christians because they do not believe in either the concept of Jesus being the son of God or part of the trinity. From January18th through the 25th, each year, however, a revival is happening in Christianity with a “Week of Universal Prayer of Christians for Christian Unity.” Anglicans, Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Lutheran and Calvinist, all pray in the spirit of St. Paul. It would take a great book to cover all the branches of the Christianity tree today. The information for the 12 denominations covered here in some cases is provided verbatim from the Ontario Consultants On Religious Tolerance website (www.religioustolerance.org). It is possibly the most comprehensive site today for researching different denominations of Christianity. On it’s index page it states that this site is “dedicated to promoting religious freedom, tolerance and diversity as positive cultural values.” The url is provided for your future studies if you would like to know more about the various denominations of Christianity. Amish There is no consensus on exactly where the Amish fit within Christianity. Some consider them conservative Protestants. Most Amish would probably consider themselves to be Anabaptists. J. Gordon Melton, head of the Institute For The Study Of American Religion, classifies them as part of the European Free‐Church Family along with Mennonites, Brethren Quakers and other denominations. The Amish movement was founded in Europe by Jacob Amman (1644 to 1720 A.D.), from whom their name is derived. In many ways, it started as a reform group within the Mennonite movement—an attempt to restore some of the early practices of the Mennonites. The beliefs and practices of the Amish were based on the writings of the founder of the Mennonite faith, Menno Simons (1496‐1561), and on the 1632 Mennonite Dordrecht Confession Of Faith. The Amish, who split from Mennonites, generally lived in Switzerland and in the southern Rhine river region. During the late 17th century, they separated because of what they perceived as a lack of discipline among the Mennonites. Some Amish migrated to the United States, starting in the early 18th century. They initially settled in Pennsylvania. Other waves of immigrants became established in New York, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri Ohio, and other states. The faith group has attempted to preserve the elements of the late 17th century European rural culture. They try to avoid many of the features of modern society by developing practices and behaviors which isolate themselves from American culture. Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 47 Membership in the Old Order Amish Mennonite Church and other Amish denominations is not freely available. They may total about 180,000 adults spread across 22 states, including about 45,000 in Ohio and smaller numbers in Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and more. About 1,500 live in south‐western Ontario, Canada. Almost all members are born into and raised in the faith. Converts from outside of the Amish communities are rare. Some Amish groups have a very restricted gene pool and are experiencing several inherited disorders. Seventh‐Day Adventists The origin of the Seventh‐day Adventists (SDAs) can be traced to the Millerite Movement of the 19th Century. This movement was largely responsible for what has been called the Great Second Advent Awakening. William Miller (1782‐1849) was a farmer who settled in upstate New York after the war of 1812. He was originally a Deist (a person who believes that God created the universe but has not been actively involved since). After two years of private Bible study, Miller converted to Christianity and became a Baptist lay leader. He was convinced that the Bible contained coded information about the end of the world and the Second Coming of Jesus. He also realized that he had an obligation to teach his findings to others. In 1831, he started to preach; the next year, he wrote articles. In 1833, he published a pamphlet on end‐time prophecy. In 1836, his book Evidences From Scripture And History Of The Second Coming of Christ (1843) was published. He expounded on Natural hygiene, raw food diets, water fasting, a vegetarianism diet, and an admonition to do no harm to other forms of life. We can see some of the same lifestyle today with the Seventh Day Adventists that was practiced by the Essenes 2,000 years ago. Baptist The Baptists form one of the largest Protestant denominations, with worldwide membership of nearly 35 million. The following distinguish the Baptists from other Protestant communions: (1) Their insistence on baptism of adult believers only; (2) Their concern for freedom of speech and conscience and for freedom from interference by any civil or ecclesiastical authority; (3) The primacy they seek to give to Scripture in matters of faith, doctrine, and morals. (4) The authority they give to the congregation in church affairs. Forerunners to the Baptist tradition were the Anabaptist congregations, settled in Holland in the early 17th century with groups of Puritan Independents, or Congregationalists that fled from England to Holland. Baptism for adults only was accepted at this time. Returning to England, this group formed the first Baptist congregation in 1611. Shortly thereafter, Roger Williams (1639) formed the first Baptist congregation in Providence, RI. The Baptists grew rapidly in the United States. The democratic, informal, Scripture centered, relatively untheological mode of Baptist service was ideal for any unsettled, rural, or frontier situation. Thus the South, the Midwest, and the Far West were heavily populated, more than were the Northeast or the Middle Atlantic, by Baptists, a pattern that remains true to this day. On the other hand, because of their emphasis on freedom of conscience and personal beliefs, the importance of Christian life and works, rather than on ritual, their distaste for creeds, dogmas, and ecclesiastical authority, Baptists have also been leaders in theological and social liberalism. Many Baptist seminaries and churches are known for their liberal theology, style of worship, and social attitudes. Baptists were consistently important leaders in establishing the ecumenical movement of the early 20th century. In the controversies that have dominated 20th century American religion, the modernist‐fundamentalist, the social gospel‐individualist, and the ecumenical‐exclusivist controversies, Baptists have appeared in leading roles on both sides. Christian Science Mary Morse Baker Eddy (1821‐1910) founded Christian Science. She was raised in a strict, deeply religious home, from which she derived her lifelong interest in Christianity and the Bible. She had been plagued with ill health through her childhood and into adult years. This motivated her to study alternative methods of healing, which deviated from the then current medical techniques, which had failed her. Shortly after her first marriage, her husband died and she began to study a number of healing ministries. She remarried in 1853 in an unsuccessful attempt to gain control of her son who had been placed in another home by her family, who believed that she was physically incapable of caring for him. At the age of 41, she sought a cure from a healer, Phineas P. Quimby (1802‐1866). Quimby had been a clockmaker, with relatively little education, but he had developed a method of natural healing that involved techniques of hypnotism and animal magnetism. He emphasized the role of the human mind in achieving bodily health. Quimby felt that the key to healing lay in the confidence by the healer in the patient’s recovery, and also in the confidence the patient has in the healer’s ability.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 48 Mrs. Eddy (as she is referred to by church members) was a student‐associate of Quimby until his death in 1866. Her health initially improved under his care, but she later suffered a relapse. Shortly afterwards, she fell on an icy sidewalk and severely injured herself. Some did not expect her to survive. On what she believed to be her deathbed, she read one of Jesus’ healings. She suddenly realized that healing comes not from internal bodily processes, or from the power of a person’s mind, but from the Divine Mind, God. She was instantly cured! Mrs. Eddy withdrew from society for three years in order to concentrate on a deep search through the Bible and discover precisely how her healing had taken place. She wished to share this knowledge with others, and to give them the tools to take away sin and achieve health. Mrs. Eddy then wrote her main book, Science And Health, later called Science And Health With Keys To The Scriptures. The book has since been published in 17 languages, and is available in English, Braille, on audio cassettes and CDs. Messianic Judaism Messianic Judaism is a religious movement, whose membership is primarily made up of ethnic/cultural Jews. They differ from Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Ultra‐Orthodox Jews concerning their beliefs about the Messiah. This difference is sufficient for Morton Klein, the President of the Zionist Organization Of America (ZOA), to have allegedly declared that a Messianic Jew is a “former Jew.” There are many references in the Hebrew Scriptures to the coming of a Messiah who would inspire Jews in Israel to rise and throw off oppression from occupying military powers. Most Jews believe that the Messiah has yet to come; Messianic Jews believe that Yeshua of Nazareth was the expected Messiah. (Yeshua is called Jesus Christ by Christians.) Messianic Jews consider themselves to be fully Jewish. They maintain a “Jewish lifestyle of faith....[they] celebrate all of the biblical holidays (i.e. Passover, Succot, etc) as well as many of the customs which are consistent with the Scriptures.” An “Evangelical Protestant” wing of Messianic Judaism has also accepted Yeshua (Jesus Christ) as the Messiah. They have also adopted the theology of Evangelical Christianity. Some add an additional criteria: the belief “that God wants the Jewish people to remain a distinct and obedient nation until the end of time. Messianic Jews retain their Jewish symbolism, heritage, culture, seasonal days of celebration and many details of religious observance. They also regard themselves as an integral part of the “Body of Messiah”—what countless conservative Christian denominations refer to as the “Body of Christ.” The followers of Yeshua have accepted and worship him as Lord and Savior. The doctrinal statement of the Christian Jew Foundation, for example, is indistinguishable from that of other Evangelical faiths. Messianic Bureau International’s essay, “Why You Need Messiah,” similarly supports Evangelical Christian beliefs when it states, “Those who hear and place their trust in Him [Yeshua] as Savior and Lord are rescued (redeemed) from the curse of sin and death and will live eternally. The full promise will appear when Messiah returns and the resurrection of the dead takes place. If you do not know Yeshua as your Messiah and/or Savior, you can receive Him now by confessing your sins to Him, then asking Him to come into your life and make you a new person. Your entryway to God’s throne will be made clear and you can then learn all that His Word says, because you will have the strength through His presence in you.” What might be called a “Jewish Christian” wing of Messianic Judaism closely resembles the Jewish Christian movement. This was the group of reform‐minded Jews who were followers of Yeshua. They formed a group in Jerusalem immediately following Yeshua’s execution around 30 B.C. under the leadership of James, Yeshua’s brother. They worshiped and offered sacrifices in the Temple; they circumcised their male children; they followed all of the Jewish festivals; they observed Jewish dietary laws. Later, around 36 B.C., Paul introduced Pauline Christianity to the Gentiles. Eastern Orthodox Churches: The Eastern Liturgical Family Of Christianity The Eastern Orthodox Church consists of a communion of autocephalous, (ecclesiastically independent) Christian faith groups which (1) Recognize the four Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. (2) Recognize the Patriarch of Constantinople as first among four equals. (3) Accept the validity of the first seven Ecumenical Councils. (4) Regard Orthodoxy as the true Church of Christ on Earth. It consists of churches in: Nine countries where Eastern Orthodoxy is the dominant religious body: Bulgaria, Belarus, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine. Ten countries where Orthodoxy plays a smaller role are: Albania, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Lihuania, Poland and the U.S.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 49 The Orthodox Church has an Episcopal organizational structure. Consecrated bishops are the chief ecclesiastical officers in each diocese. They, in turn, ordain priests. The church believes in the Apostolic Succession—that the consecration of its bishops can be traced continuously back to Jesus’ apostles. The Orthodox Church is often referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church. This is not strictly true, because not all Orthodox churches are eastern. They refer to their organization as the “Holy Orthodox Church,” or the “Orthodox Church of the East,” or by the name of the specific church, such as “Greek Orthodox,” or “Russian Orthodox.” Roman Catholic Roman Catholicism has been a decisive spiritual force in the history of Western civilization. There are more Roman Catholics in the world than there are believers of any other religious tradition—not merely more Roman Catholics than all other Christians combined, but more Roman Catholics than all Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus. They venerate saints and the mother of Jesus. The “host” during their communion service is said to become the actual body of Christ, the wine his actual blood, when blessed by the priest. The papacy is the oldest continuing absolute monarchy in the world. To millions, the pope is the infallible interpreter of divine revelation and the vicar of Christ. The Roman Catholic does not pray to saints to ask them to predict the future or use any preternatural means. The Catholic prays for their help in praying to God for us. One must ask for assistance, the Roman Catholic believes. The act of necromancy, or communicating with the dead, forbids Catholics from communicating with spirits in order to find out the future. The Catholic uses no magic at all. Rather the Roman Catholic prays for the Saints’ intercession in the individual’s life. Scriptures depict God’s people in heaven not only interceding for those on earth, but accepting prayers from those people on earth who are in Unity with the body of Christ. Roman Catholicism established a belief that the body of Christ is now here in the earth and is intimately linked with brothers and sisters who are in heaven. It is the Catholic opinion that to pray to them is effective because they are the just men made perfect who are witnesses for us, and lend us aid (Hebrews. 12:1‐2, 23). Jesus called the people in heaven alive and they express joy when the believers become followers of Christ (Mk. 12:24, 27, Lk. 15:7). Those in heaven are constantly making prayers, and are concerned for those on earth (Rev. 5:8‐10, 6:9‐10, 11:13‐14, 19:18) and we also see specific examples of prayer of named individuals in heaven who intercede for those on earth (Jer. 15:1, 2 Macc. 15:12‐16). The effect of prayer is virtually guaranteed from a Roman Catholic’s point of view. Hebrews 12:23 says that we come to the spirits of those just men made perfect, and we know that in the epistle of James that the prayers of the righteous are of great power (Jm. 5:16‐18). Roman Catholic Christians have an active ongoing dialogue with the saints in heaven. They believe and know from first hand experience that prayers do much good. The Pentecostal The Pentecostal family of denominations form one branch within conservative Christianity. A major defining feature of Pentecostalism is their belief in Glossolalia, or the ability to speak “in tongues.” Another is the unusual freedom and spontaneity exhibited during their religious services. Otherwise, their beliefs, practices and social policies are similar to those of other conservative Christians. Pentecostalism is a highly fragmented family within Christianity. One source lists 177 separate denominations Pentecostalism is a relatively modern branch of Christianity. It grew out of the Holiness movement, which in turn had roots in Methodism. Robert Longman Jr. has listed a number of mid to late 19th century writings from within the Holiness movement which laid the foundations for Pentecostalism. During the last two decades of the 19th century there were reports of xenoglossia breaking out at revival meetings, particularly in North and South Carolina. Xenoglossia is the speaking of a foreign language by a person who has no familiarity with it. For example, an American with no ability to speak any language other than English suddenly becomes capable of speaking fluent German. There may also have been some instances of glossolalia (ecstatic speech), which might or might nor be intelligible. The year 1899 saw a great rise in religious fervor as people speculated about the second coming of Jesus and the end of history as they knew it during the year 1900. Many books were written about the power of the Holy Spirit. Charles F. Parham, a Holiness preacher and head of the Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas conducted a revival meeting in that city. Agnes Ozman, a Methodist, shocked the meeting by speaking fluently in a number of foreign languages that she had never previously learned. This happened on January 1, 1900. This event is often regarded as the founding of the Pentecostal movement. Some days later, many spoke in tongues. Then Parham did as well.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 50 One of Parham’s students, an Afro‐American named William Seymour started a home church in Los Angeles, CA. It was attended by members of the two Baptist churches and one Holiness church in that city. On April 9, 1906, Seymour’s landlord, Edward Lee, and closest co‐worker, Jennie E. Moore broke out in tongues. Attendance increased precipitously. This made it necessary to find new quarters in which to hold their meetings. They rented an empty warehouse on Azusa Street in Los Angeles and founded the Apostolic Faith Mission. The movement spread to other cities in California, and into the Northwestern and Southeastern sections of the US. Many churches were organized, particularly among immigrants. Some Holiness churches switched to Pentecostalism. The movement subsequently spread across North America, and finally blanketed much of the world. Until 1914, the movement worked primarily within the Holiness churches. But increasing friction motivated the Pentecostals to form their first denomination, the Church Of God In Christ. Although the movement was racially integrated in its early years, white clergy subsequently left to form the Assemblies Of God. Quaker Quaker history begins in the mid Seventeenth Century. This period saw the political revolution in England that subsequently leads to our Civil War. The scientific revolution follows, with change occurring in the religions and thinking of humanity, we learn to question our leaders’ thinking. Science produces Galileo’s wisdom of the ancients to the world. Aristotle studies the sky’s mechanics and celestial bodies while Ptolemy studies the motion of the planets. And yes the entrenched thinking of the church was threatened with these discoveries of science. The church tried to suppress these findings. The year was 1620 when a group of religious dissenters from Holland sailed to America in the “Mayflower.” Historians have called this the “Century of Dissent,” a period in history that saw people not willing to accept the established authority’s dictates. Rather, they claimed the right to investigate for themselves what the truth is. So we see in science and in religion that personal experiences as the observer were coming forward in the mind of humanity. Dissatisfied with the Church and unable to dissent freely, Quakers formed small groups meeting to worship and talk. They became known as Seekers. Leaderless at this time, the loose knit group of believers lacked inspiration. The leader arrived by the name of George Fox. When George Fox arrived in 1652 it became known as the “birth of Quakerism.” Traveling around the country, preaching for five years and spreading his message, he was welcomed by some but opposed by others. He was jailed in Derby on charges of blasphemy and treated harshly. He did not start any movement at this time. In May of 1652 in Lancashire he hiked up to Pendle Hill, near Clitheroe. Hiking in those times was not done for leisure or fun, and the site George Fox picked to hike to was well known as a haunt for witches back then. Fox was an unpredictable individual though and found the view from the summit of Pendle Hill inspiring. Then he had a vision of “a great people to be gathered.” A significant visit occurred at Swarthmore Hall in a large house occupied by Judge Fell and his wife Margaret. Both liberal in outlook regarding religious matters, Margaret Fell welcomed George Fox into their home and was quickly converted to his teaching. Meetings followed in the Hall and because of Judge Fell’s position of authority in the county, the group meetings were not harassed by the Law, a common practice in those days. Swarthmore Hall became the headquarters of the Quaker movement. From here, the early Quaker “missionaries,” in small groups, spread the new message to other parts of the country. Lutheran Most Lutheran churches accept conventional Protestant theology. This version of Christianity is distinguished by a belief that the Bible is the inspired word of God, the priesthood of all believers, a belief in infant baptism, a sung liturgy, and an emphasis on faith in God as the basis of Christian experience. The founder, Jan Hus had a vision (his name means “goose”). A swan is the traditional symbol of many Lutheran congregations. In Europe, Luther’s Rose is the preferred symbol. Legend has it that when Hus was being burned at the stake he said, “Today you burn a goose, but in a hundred years will come a swan whose voice you will not be able to still.” One hundred years later Martin Luther emerged into the public arena. Luther is said to have posted his Ninty‐Five Thesis on the door of the Castle Church, Wittenberg, on Oct. 31, 1517, the eve of All Saints’ Day, which is the traditional date for the beginning of the Reformation. Luther was a German priest and scholar whose questioning of certain church practices led to the Protestant Reformation. He is one of the pivotal figures of Western civilization, as well as Christianity. By his actions and writings he precipitated a spiritual movement much like Jesus did in his lifetime and was to yield not only one of the three

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 51 major theological branches of Christianity along with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, but was to become a social seedbed for centuries after his death. Music is a very important part of the Luthern tradition. Martin Luther said, “Why should the devil have all the good tunes?” He himself composed “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (Ein Feste Burg). Lutheran churches are generally active musically, with choirs, children’s choirs and bell ringing. J.S. Bach, a famous classical composer composed music specifically for the Lutheran church. Protestant One of the many objections that Protestants have to Catholics praying to saints is that it is impossible for those in heaven to hear us. Another claim is that by saying that Saints in heaven can hear us, we are claiming omnipotence or omniscience for them. The Catholic premise behind praying to saints is that saints in heaven have more abilities than we do on earth, and their spirits can respond to our prayers, even if many people are praying to them at the same time. The Protestant premise is that they are unaware of what is happening on earth, therefore it doesn’t do any good to pray to them. Whose premise is correct? Tradition shows us that prayers to saints were performed from the very beginning. The Orthodox Church prays to saints. The Coptic Church prays to saints. The Catholic Church prays to saints. There were no Protestant type objections in prayers to saints by the early Fathers. So, since Protestants do not accept the authority of tradition, I will operate on their criteria of using the Bible to establish the answer to this question. In 1517, the Protestant Christians came into being with differences from the Catholic church. The Catholics liked ornate and elaborate churches and church services. The Protestants kept it simple. The movement that began in northern Europe in the early 16th century was a reaction to Roman Catholic doctrines and practices. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestants became the three major forces in Christianity, and there were series of European religious wars in the 16th and 17th century, and especially in the 19th century. Protestantism spread throughout the world. Wherever Protestantism gained a foothold, it influenced the social, economic, political, and cultural life of the area. The Encyclopedia Britannica tells us, “Protestants believe that humans are justified before God by grace and through faith, and it was this grace through faith that separated the first Protestant reformers from the Roman Catholicism of their day. And despite the subtle differences that rose in the various Protestant church bodies, devotion to this teaching has been central to Protestantism throughout its history… Sacramental doctrine exists among Protestants, but most limit the number to the two “sacraments of the Gospel,” baptism and Holy Communion.” There are many groups included in Protestantism that might not be the true definition of Protestantism. The Encyclopedia Brittanica explains: “A great variety of doctrinal views and politics exist among so‐called Protestants, and not all Western non‐Roman Catholic Christians accept the label Protestant. Some Anglicans, for instance, stressing their continuity with the historic Roman Catholic church and their distance from Protestantism, have asked for a separate designation. Courtesy suggests that such appeals be taken seriously. However, habits of speech and sociological usage tend to predominate, and despite their objections these groups are usually included in the Protestant cluster. The Unification Church Reverend Moon and Mrs. Moon are heads of the Unification Church, and have also founded and supported dozens of initiatives for world peace, such as the Inter–Religious Federation for World Peace, The International Federation for World Peace and the Women’s Federation for World Peace. The teaching that guides the Unification community is known as the Divine Principle, which Sun Myung Moon wrote over a nine year period from researching the Bible, the spiritual world, and the natural world. Reverend Moon was born in a period of brutal Japanese occupation in the 1920’s. His family was well respected for their generosity and his religious foundations were a combination of the ancient traditions of Korea and of messages brought by Christian missionaries. According to Reverend Moon, on Easter 1936 he was in deep prayer and Jesus appeared to him. Jesus then asked him to complete the responsibility left unfinished since the origin of humankind. The Divine Principle is divided into three sections which are, Creation, Fall, and Restoration. It says that God’s original ideal is expressed in “the three great blessings” found in the Genesis account of human origins. Dr. Frank Kaufmann explains further in the Sourcebook Of The World’s Religions (2000), “To ‘be fruitful’ is understood as the commission for each person to perfect his or her unique individuality by uniting mind and body and being in full union with God. These perfected individuals, man and woman, were to ‘multiply,’ forming families born of

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 52 the unconditional love of a husband for his wife, of a wife for her husband.” The idea is that this ever‐expanding family should “have dominion,” and begin a perfect ecological relationship with the natural universe. The first human ancestors did not achieve this ideal, they violated God’s commandment and “ate the forbidden fruit” by engaging in physical love without receiving God’s blessing to do so. The Archangel Lucifer played a part in this act of disobedience and it created the personage of Satan and bound the first humans with him. Salvation providence reveals God’s work to first recreate the conditions to bring fulfillment of the original three blessings, and to liberate the descendants of Adam and Eve from their bondage to Satan. Dr. Frank Kaufmann expands on this by saying, “This task constitutes the mission of the Messiah, who by fulfillment of his own responsibility obeys the commandment and fulfills the purpose of creation. Thus Jesus came both as ‘Adam’ and as the Savior to fulfill the three blessings and to liberate all of humankind. The faithlessness of those around Jesus led to his crucifixion, thus preventing him from his opportunity to fulfill the three great blessings.” Jesus told of a second coming. He knew that the original will of God, the three blessings, were still unfulfilled. Sun Myung Moon claims that this is the mission Jesus asked him to finish fulfilling. He came as the return of Christ at the end of World War II, in 1945, and was rejected. When this occurred Reverend Moon had to start a religious community to carry out the mission of Christianity and serve as the Bride of Christ. The community became known as the Unification Church, it was founded in 1954. In 1960 He married Hak Ja Han Moon, and believed that he was fulfilling the original mission of True Parents for the first time in human history. Members of the Church and members of other religions have their marriages “blessed” by Reverend and Mrs. Moon. They believe this gives them the potential of becoming True Parents. The Unification Church does not strive to be just an enduring religious body. The Unification Church believes they exist to teach the Divine Principle and help in the effort of the True Parents to freely give the blessing. The Unitarian Universalist Church This association is the modern institutional embodiment of two separate denominations that came from movements and faith traditions that extend back to the Christian Reformation era, around the 14th–16th centuries A.D. and well beyond. The convictions of Universalists have been found as early as the church father Origen, declaring that everything in creation would ultimately be drawn back to its divine source and that no one would be forever excluded. Unitarian thought has been a recurring heresy within the established church since the 1st century of the Christian era, because of its conviction that God is ultimately and absolutely One. The Roumanian– Transylvanian Unitarian Church is more than four centuries old and originally stems from the skeptical and evangelical rationalist movements that were within the Roman Catholic Church and the openness engendered in the Reformation era. In the Sourcebook Of The World’s Religions (2000), Rev. David A. Johnson explains this faith: “[Its] struggles, and that of Socinianism in Poland and the Low Countries became fertile seeding ground for the beginnings of British Unitarian thought and structure.” Having its own primary roots in the liberal Christian movement within New England’s old Puritan establishment is American Unitarianism. A formal break from that tradition produced the American Unitarian Association in 1825. The belief that original sin fatally flaws all human character, a Calvinist double predestination, and the doctrine of the full and absolute personhood of each member of the Trinity is something that the Unitarian faith rejected. They instead affirm the just and loving character of God, the moral and reasoning capacity of all people, working out one’s salvation through both diligence and God’s grace, and, above all, one God. Their institutional roots are in the Radical Reformation, intertwining with the histories of several movements, such as Anabaptist, Separatist, and Pietist. An offshoot of the Wesleyan Methodists, the Universalists first organized separately in Britain. The beginnings of the Universalist Church of America first started with a gathering in September of 1793. It found supporters mainly in Protestants disaffected by the bitter sectarian enthusiasms of much of American Protestantism, having theologies that condemned the great mass of humankind to eternal perdition. Many people who did not believe that a fiery hell awaited all those who didn’t have the proper faith and salvation joined the Universalists during the large revival era of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Both the Universalist and Unitarian denominations had church policies and organizational structures that were democratic in nature. They rejected absolute and binding statements of faith, and affirmed freedom of personal belief within the disciplines of democratic community, as well as the freedom of each congregation to decide how they would express their faith and worship, and choose their own clergy. These two associations of churches were unitarian in theology even before they merged in 1961. In the last few decades the Unitarian

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 53 Universalist Association has grown into an international association of churches with congregations in several countries. This movement is very open and encompasses persons of liberal Christian persuasions. Their ritual is as diverse as their congregations and some may include any number of different ceremonies, a Jewish high holy days service, a tea ceremony, a Muslim Prayer, a Hindu Festival Of Lights, or a Wiccan ritual in a Unitarian Universalist church. No single symbol has been assigned them, but in recent years the flaming chalice has become the most frequently used, and originates from the movement that spread from the martyrdom of Jan Hus in the 13th century. In the Sourcebook Of The World’s Religions (2000), Rev. David A. Jonson tells this story: “The flame in the communion cup symbolized the enduring flame of his faith, burning up from the chalice, together forming the shape of a cross. Over time, the flaming chalice has been reshaped in many forms as congregations have used and adapted it; its most common meaning today is the light of knowledge and the search for truth.” Unitarian Universalism is a small, gradually growing religious body that is loosely connected to Protestant Christianity, although many members see themselves as separate and different from that tradition. The UUA is a strong supporter of the International Association For Religious Freedom, an interfaith organization with seventy member groups in more than twenty‐five nations, and is a member of a new coalition of Unitarian movements worldwide. CHRISTIAN PRAYER Unlike prayers, mantras are not necessarily based on meanings of words, but on the energy inherent in a sound. It is that energy, and not the meaning of the sound, that mantras draw their power. Ancient languages such as Sanskrit, Hebrew, and Aramaic are believed to be energy‐based languages. The Hebrew mystics, like the Vedic gurus, thought of the spoken word as alive and as “a unit of energy charged with power,” according to William Barclay’s commentary on the Gospel of John. It is thought that the vibrations of the sound of each word in the mantra evoke certain specific vibrations and energies within us, much like the vibration of a tuning fork making other tuning forks of the same frequency vibrate in unison Paul and Prayer Paul’s contribution to the revolutionary success of prayer is well known. He was a Clinician of Jewish origin, and was born at Tarsus, a crossroads town situated not far from Antalya. Although proud of his Roman citizenship (he is known in Turkish by his Latin name of Paulus), he had nevertheless received a classical Greek education. It was this background, combined with his outstanding abilities and talents, which undoubtedly helped Paul break the shell of the new religion. Although he also preached Christianity outside Anatolia, it was in this region that Paul was most active. He succeeded in spreading Christianity through pagan Anatolia, which at that time was still a country of classical Greek culture. Paul teaches us that no one can say the name of “Jesus” except by the Spirit of God. To say the name of “Jesus” is to express a prayer, a soaring, a lifting‐up of the soul towards the Father, for the true utterance of this Name is an act, a “yes.” This “yes” can echo far within the unexplored regions of our spiritual being. It may be partial, or almost complete, without ever being able to reach true completeness. The more we Implore God to strip us of ourselves the more we enter into the divine surrender (“He who loses his life shall save it”), the more able we become to hear Christ praying in us by his Spirit. An ineffable change takes place by which our prayer is stripped to be re‐clothed in his prayer. In the silence of our listening soul, our attachment to him is affirmed with our whole will, not only in our words, feeling and desires. The more we find ourselves in him, in whom we truly live, or he in us, in whom he truly lives, the more effectual does our prayer become, since it is he who prays in us, free from our burden of self. Such a state of mind is the work of God, gift of the divine generosity: it is a pearl of great price, bought at the royal price of renunciation. It sets us at the antipodes of inert passivity of the spirit. Vocal prayer, either private or public, will be permeated by this attitude, provided that it can be surrounded by deep silence, and have a certain deliberation of utterance. Catholic doctrine on prayer and healing Catholic doctrine dictates that prayers must go through saints in heaven first, not straight to God through humans. Saints are praying for us. One may say, “those are only prayers of those on earth!” In Revelation 5, the context is heaven. At God’s side there are 24 elders in heaven. They represent the Church in heaven, since they are with the Lamb. In verses 9‐10, we see that not only are they receiving prayers from those on earth, but they are vitally concerned with what is happening on the earth. The prayers of the saints are only for those on earth Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 54 praying. Those who do not pray are not represented. Thus, prayers are coming from those on earth, going directly to the saints in heaven, and they in turn present prayers to God. Thus, regardless of how this passage is interpreted, this passage reflects Catholic doctrine. Saying The Rosary It is believed that one should pray the Rosary regularly. Our Lady even asked us to pray the Rosary daily when she appeared at Fatima. St Louis de Montfort in his book The Secret Of The Rosary (1976) tells us that when we pray the Rosary with others, we do not pray and receive the graces of only that one Rosary. He believes that if we pray with another person, then it is as if both had said two Rosaries. Pray with 100 others and it is as if one had said 100 Rosaries each! To say the rosary, begin by making the sign of the Cross. Then, holding the crucifix, recite the Apostles’ Creed. This is followed by an Our Father on the large bead, a Hail Mary on each of the three small beads, and then Glory Be To The Father on the chain between the third small bead and the medal. The fifteen mysteries are divided into three groups: the Joyful, the Sorrowful and the Glorious. Commence with one of the sets of five mysteries, moving around the beads. At the beginning of each decade, state the intentions for which you are praying, state what the particular mystery is and then commence on the prayers while thinking about that mystery: One Our Father on the large bead, one Hail Mary on each of the ten small beads and then one Glory Be To The Father on the chain between the last small bead and the next large bead.

Hail Mary Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Our Father (also known as the Lord’s Prayer) Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, On earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, Our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those Who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen. (This information on the Holy Rosary is provided by Catholic‐pages.com website)

The Lord’s Prayer Avinu Sheba‐Shamayyim: Our Father Who art in the heavens. When Jesus was asked by his disciples, “How should we pray?” the Lord’s Prayer (also known in Catholicism as the Our Father prayer cited in the previous lines before this paragraph) was what Jesus gave them as an example in Luke 11:1. All sorts of official Christian prayers and recitations have been structured in the same format as the Lord’s Prayer. The first two lines give praise (hallowed be thy name, the second two lines show surrender to God’s will (thy will be done), the next two lines ask for what is wanted (daily bread), then there is a request for forgiveness (forgive us our trespasses), and finally an affirmation to be “good” (deliver us from evil). The Lord’s Prayer is known by heart by almost every Christian, and is a treasured part of Jesus’ teachings.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 55 Dr. J.J. Hurtak writes in his The Lord’s Prayer (1983) that this “Divine Language” of The Lord’s Prayer can move our consciousness towards spiritual growth. The first step in this unfoldment of consciousness Hurtak writes is to acknowledge our “Oneness with the eternal Family of Light that exists in all heavens, a sharing of the same God, and the same Divine Mind.” We are able to pray to our Creator in the image of whom we are created with this living Word. The writer explains that in most Bibles today the translations “heavens” (plural, Hebrew: shamayyim; Greek: ouranois) is written out and replaced with the singular tense heaven: “Our Father Who art in heaven.” As a result the many hierarchies and dimensions pointed out in the original language vibrations of the prayer have been lost to this conscious or unconscious mistranslation. Avinu sheba‐shamayyim. This holy, sacred language is given to the “evolutionary energy matrix that exists in the many heavens (shamayyim) with its eternal capstone, the ‘House of Many Mansions (Hebrew: hekaloth).” The prayer allows all who say it to “connect with all levels of creation.” Jesus knew his work was not limited to this world alone, but was opening gates to communications between the higher and lower vibratory rates and dimensions found in His Creation, all 24 dimensions according to Hurtak in The Lord’s Prayer (1983). This “cosmology of consciousness,” as Hurtak so eloquently states, allows us all to pass through these dimensions, even ones captured and controlled by the lower hierarchy. This control of the lower dimensions is referred to in the Revelation (Apocalypse) of John the Divine and also found in the Old Testament writing and prophecy of Daniel. It is revealed in these scriptures that it was only through the intercession and cooperation of Archangel Michael along with the higher Hierarchy that the Office of the Christ could save the lower material worlds from the fallen Hierarchies. We learn from this scholar that the fallen Hierarchy attempted to break up the Divine Language system that connected above with below.

Other Christian Prayers

Prayer of St. Jude O most holy apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the church honors and invokes you universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, I am so helpless and alone. Make use, I implore you, of that particular privilege given to you, to bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly (state your request) and that I may praise God with you and all the elect forever. I promise, O blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, to always honor you as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you. Amen.

The Peace Prayer of Saint Francis “O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace! Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, harmony. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sorrow, joy. Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.”

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 56 Prayer of Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910‐1997) Give us a heart as beautiful, pure, and spotless as yours. A heart like yours, so full of love and humility. May we be able to receive Jesus as the Bread of Life, to love him as you loved him, to serve him under the mistreated face of the poor. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICES FOR ESOTERIC CHRISTIANS In The Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates The Material World (1995), Amit Goswami, Ph.D. says, “Meaning arises in the universe when sentient beings observe it, choosing causal pathways from among the myriad transcendent possibilities. If it sounds as if we are re‐establishing an anthropocentric view of the universe, so be it. The time and context for a strong anthropocentric principle has come—the idea that ‘observers are necessary to bring the universe into being.’” It is time to recognize the archetypal nature of mankind’s creation myths (found in the Book of Genesis in the Judeo‐Christian tradition, the Vedas of the Hindu tradition, and many other religious traditions). The cosmos was created for our sake. Such myths are compatible with quantum physics, not contradictory.” Here is an example of a one‐pointed meditation practice: do diaphragmatic breathing and stay focused on your breath, especially the out‐breath, for 15 to 20 minutes daily. Breath is very important, as the Book of Genesis 2:7 suggests: “And the Lord God formed Adam out of the soil of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” In Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Sanskrit, the word for “breath” also means life and/or spirit—Ruha (or Ruach) in Hebrew/Aramaic, pneuma in Greek, and Prana in Sanskrit. Say the word Ruha aloud first, and then repeat it mentally in synchrony with each breath—Ru as you inhale and ha as you exhale. Similarly, you can use the word Abwoon (Ab‐woon) or Amen (Aa‐men) in synchrony with your breathing. Abwoon means Father, the Breathing Life of all, the Source. Amen asserts focusing on the present moment. The sounds Yahwe and Alleluia are other mantras Christians and Jews may chant. Yesu and Yahshua are Aramaic/Hebrew names for Jesus and those names can be used by Christians as mantras. If Jesus resonates with you better then use “Jesus.” Meditation is now in the hands of the people and out of the exclusive domain of the monks. The spiritual benefits are readily noticeable, and now there is mounting evidence that with regular practice of meditation we can experience health benefits like lowered blood pressure and heart rate, an improved immune system and mental peace of mind. Brainwave changes occur during deep meditative states. The inner experiences evoked by such neurological alterations do resemble the transpersonal experiences of historical mystics. These experiences allow us to experience the unity of life and how we are connected to all humanity while in touch with this universal part of ourselves. Nuns, studied during meditation, show that the location of the brain associated with concentration becomes more lively. The brain activity in the area responsible for a sense of self tends to become quiet. The individual who meditates tends to be more altruistic, considerate of all living beings and experiences them as a part of his/her own being. Michael Angelus, a teacher of sound and consciousness, wrote this about the YHSVH chant: “The YHSVH (Yod Heh Shin Vav Heh) is the name for Jesus spelled in Hebrew. The name works best when used and pronounced the way it would have occurred in Hebrew. The vibration of the name in English (Jesus) may not be as effective. In the New Testament it states that the disciples cast out demons with the bibration of the name of Christ. The sacred Hebrew chant of YHSVH works in rather miraculous ways. This Divine Name of YHSVH (Yod He Shin Vav Heh) also represents the Intelligent Spirit entering into the Elements and is the 5‐fold name of the Divine. The Divine name from the Old Testament is the 4‐fold name, known as the Tetragrammeton; YHVH (Yod Heh Vau Heh). This is Divine power expressed through the elements of fire, water, air, and earth that create the fabrics of time, space, and matter. The 5‐fold name, YHSVH, (Yod Hey Shin Vav Hey) utilizes the addition of pure Spirit into the Elements, giving life. YHSVH (sometimes chanted as Yeshua or Yehoshua) is seen as the ‘God’ or the Divine life in matter. This YHSVH chant creates a living intelligence of Spirit that manifest in matter.” In “St. John of the Cross”, Thomas Merton tells us that St. John of the Cross (www.cin.org/saints/jcross‐ merton.html) spent time in prison, but reached bliss, even in the darkness of a jail cell. He writes like a poet, explaining, “Only the saint and God can tell what distant echoes of an utterly alien everyday common life penetrated the darkness of the jail cell and the infinitely deep sleep of the peace in which his soul lay hidden in God. Touch not the wall… but the religious police could not disturb the ecstasy of one who had been carried so far

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 57 that he was no longer troubled at the thought of being rejected even by the holy!” This again explains that transcendent place that we can access if we so desire. Merton continues to explain that no one can become a saint without “solving the problem of suffering.” He states that “No one who has ever written anything, outside the pages of Scripture, has given us such a solution to the problem as St. John of the Cross. Sanctity,” he writes, “can never abide a merely speculative solution to the problem of suffering. Sanctity solves the problem not by analyzing but by suffering. It is a living solution, burned in the flesh and spirit of the saint by fire.” He concludes that Scripture itself teaches this lesson with Proverbs 17:3 “As silver is tried by fire and gold in the furnace, so the Lord trieth hearts.” The Spiritual Canticle was written in a dungeon. The following is from Thomas Merton’s translations of the writings of St. John of the Cross while he was detained in prison. My Beloved is like the mountains. Makes us a purple tent, Like the lonely valleys full of woods Is built of peace. The strange islands Our bed is crowned with a thousand shields of gold! The rivers with their sound Fast‐flying birds The whisper of the lovely air! Lions, harts and leaping does The night, appeased and hushed Mountains, banks and vales About the rising of the dawn Streams, breezes, heats of day The music stilled And terrors watching in the night: The sounding solitude By the sweet lyres and by the siren’s song The supper that rebuilds my life. I conjure you: let angers end! And brings me love. And do not touch the wall Our bed of flowers But let the bride be safe: let her sleep on! Surrounded by the lions’ dens (from the translation by Professor E. Allison Peers.)

Meditation Practice For Christians Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and Zen Master, popularized walking meditation as a form of mindfulness meditation in America. It was also a meditation the Christian monks used as they performed their daily tasks. While walking, practice conscious breathing by counting your steps. He suggests that you count the number of steps you take during each in‐breath by silently counting 1‐2‐3 as you breathe in, and count your steps 1‐2‐3 as you breathe out. The counting will help keep your attention focused on the synchronized breath‐ step walking. When you have gained enough experience in walking meditation you can drop the “counting” practice. Mindfulness meditation can be practiced with any activity, having one‐pointed attention on walking, cooking, or gardening. Staying fully present in whatever you do is the important aspect of this meditation practice. This meditation technique may sound very simple and easy, but in practice it is complex and its effect can be pervasive and profound in one’s daily life. One week of intensive training with Thich Nhat Hanh gave me only a glimpse of its spiritual potentials. It should be mentioned that this Buddhist meditation has no reference to God or soul. The goal of this meditation is not to find God, but to find joy in one’s own life, and to develop love and compassion for all forms of life. Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us that the Kingdom of God is within us, but we have to be ready to welcome it. Those who connect mindfulness with the presence of God in everything they do can experience what St. Paul describes as “praying ceaselessly.” What of active, one‐point focused meditation such as meditating on a selected imagery or a word? Though there is plenty of literature in the Judeo‐Christian tradition on Contemplative Meditation, we rarely come across books or instructions on one‐pointed meditation. Some religious people perceive it suspiciously and hostilely as though it were an unwelcome infiltration of religious faith. As a matter of fact, one‐pointed meditation does not work against analytic/contemplative meditation. In reality, one complements the other and both methods have been practiced in Christianity. An example of one‐ pointed meditation would be chanting Jesus’ name, as mentioned in the previous section about YHSVH. People have different personalities and may use different tools for experiencing God. Some love ritualistic forms of worship, services with a community of believers, reciting prayers and singing devotional songs in unison. Others prefer solitary places to find sacred space to commune with God. Jesus and The Prophets were not against those who practiced either method of devotion. Jesus attended Synagogue and took time alone

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 58 in private to experience God. Spiritual aspirants have to find out themselves what works best for them. The goal of meditation is to find joy in one’s own life, and to develop love and compassion for all forms of life. Listening To Sacred Sounds And Music: Alternative Technologies For Spiritual Experience I would like to share some of my own personal experience here with Alpha states. I have discovered that sacred music, chi energy, positive emotions and prayer can all help a person toward spiritual liberation. I like the work of Steven Halpern and Jonathan Goldman in particular. Healing Harmony (2002) by Jonathan Goldman, using 9 tuning forks said to be “the Divine frequencies of creation,” combined with hidden healing codes he claims have been discovered in the Bible. Along with a chanting of YHSHV (Yod Hey Shin Vav Hey), an ancient Name of the Christ which is claimed by the artist to resonate with Christ energy. The music carries the listener to states of Alpha that both heal and liberate the soul. I listen to this sacred music while lying on my back using my Chi Machine. I also work with “Mind Gear,” a light and sound machine that provides me with visual mind stimulation and entrains my mind to hold wave frequency patterns such as the Shuman resonance found at 7.83 Hertz. This frequency is located between the Theta Wave 3‐7 Hz range and the Alpha Wave 8‐12 Hz range. James Lovelock in his Gaia: The Practical Science Of Planetary Medicine (2000) proposes that the earth is a dynamic entity able to control its own life processes. Here is a new view about life of the earth, which has changed the view of our human presence on the planet today. With living descriptions of the geophysiology of our planet, Lovelock claims that the earth’s “biota,” tightly coupled with its environment, acts (and has acted since life on earth developed complexity) as a single, self regulating living system in such a way as to maintain the conditions that are suitable for life. The system includes the near‐surface rocks and atmosphere. In particular, it regulates the chemistry of the oceans, composition of the atmosphere and surface temperature. This is the Gaia (Earth) heartbeat that Lovelock writes of at 7.83 Hertz. When I use my Chi machine in conjunction with the Schumann Resonance frequency the Mind Gear provides, I can experience a breaching of the sublime, an experience of my higher self. I experience a flush of positive emotions, and the resulting body flush of neuropeptides in my chemistry moves me into my transpersonal self found in the 4th, 5th, and 6th dimensions of time and space. These practices are extremely healing and transformational. With regular practice of spiritual techniques like these we can experience health benefits like lowered blood pressure and heart rate, improved immune system, peace of mind and eternal youth. Brainwave changes occur during deep, meditative states, and our daily emotions, as we have learned. The inner experiences evoked by such neurological alterations resemble the transpersonal experiences of Christian saints and other mystics throughout the ages. These experiences can allow us to experience the unity of life and how we are connected to all humanity and the universe. While in touch with this universal part of ourselves we have wisdom that transcends all worldly knowledge itself.

CHRISTIANITY AND SIMILAR BELIEFS IN METAPHYSICS “Man has two eyes One only sees what moves in fleeting time The other What is eternal and divine.” The Book of Angelus Silesius Rudolph Steiner says in The Reappearance Of Christ In The Etheric (1983), “We will now apply the law of correspondence between macrocosm and microcosm, between the large and small worlds, to another important matter. Just as an ordinary life, we have our humdrum days—waking up, going to bed, waking up again, going about our usual tasks—so it is also in the far reaches of space. There, too, everything goes about its usual course; the rising and setting of the sun are repeated in a regular rhythm. However, just as the family’s methodical pace is interrupted when a child appears, completely new impulse enters earthly existence with a new spiritual being, such as a comet, has the same effect in space. All material is the expression of something spiritual, and occult science is able to indicate what lies behind phenomena. The way in which modern science tries to occupy itself with comets is similar to a fly observing the Sistine Madonna. It crawls over the Madonna, it certainly sees the colors, sees a spot of red here, a spot of blue there, but beyond this it sees nothing at all. “A man rises to true human dignity only when he grasps the depths of relationships that lie at the foundation of the spiritual. People should not rush so blindly past what the heavenly signs have to show them. Wisdom should inflame and enlighten its association both small and great. Take as an example of this the Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 59 wisdom filled organization of an anthill. There, the whole has the meaning; every ant feels itself to be a member of the whole. Human beings, however, regulate their social life according to what each individual considers useful for himself. They run around each other senselessly, without understanding. Human life is really nonsensical in many ways. “Whenever a person takes on an inner discipline, however, he makes himself ripe for what should be brought forward as a third fact: the possibility of looking out into the etheric with newly awakened faculties. There the soul will see what Paul once saw: Christ in His etheric body. Without books and documents this great event—the second coming of Christ—will take place for those who have made themselves worthy of it. It is the obligation of anthroposophy to announce this. There are already human beings who sense that we have overcome the Dark Age and are approaching a more luminous era. The Anthroposophists must walk this path consciously. Anthroposophy must bring its fruits to humanity, so that souls are made capable of uniting themselves with Christ. Whether these souls inhabit a physical body or not makes no difference; He has descended to the dead as well as to the living. The great and sublime event of Christ’s appearance in the etheric thus has significance for all the world.” The Goddess and Mary Margaret Starbird, author of the The Goddess In The Gospels (1998) speaks about the process of her discovery of the lost goddess in Christianity. Her ideas are covered at www.awakenedwoman.com by interviewer Sarada. In the interview she shares the following insights that I think might bear some light on the Goddess issue in Christianity today. “In ‘The Goddess in the Gospels’ you refer to synchronicities around the current pope, John Paul II, naming him as the pope who presides over the time of the re‐emergence of the Goddess, and predicting that he could re‐instate the feminine in the Catholic Church. Since you wrote this in 1998, do you still feel that he will do this?” “Well, he brought the black Madonna image from Czestochowa, the patroness of Poland, in 1978. Everyone started looking for the goddess like crazy after that. What made me sad though, is that they all went searching outside of Christianity for Her, into the ancient past for the images of the dark goddess, Isis and others, when She was right there in the scriptures all the time.” The following is Margaret’s description of The Black Madonna from The Goddess in the Gospels. “The Black Madonna is a mighty patroness! But do we have any inkling of the full scope of her reality? In southern France alone there are several hundred Black Madonna shrines where she is honored as the Virgin Mary with her son Jesus on her lap. But the image of the beautiful dark mother is much older and far deeper than medieval Christian interpretations and traditions reflected in these statues. The image of the dark feminine goes back to the ancient Neolithic representations of Earth as the Great Mother, the eternal ‘vessel’ or ‘Grail.’ “Like the face of Helen that ‘launched a thousand ships,’ it was the desecrated face of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa that launched my quest for the lost Grail. In researching the image of the Black Madonna and her ancient renderings in pagan myth and artifacts, I encountered the ancient lore of the Triple Goddess as well as the neglected and forgotten Bride and the cult and mythology of the Sacred Marriage. Taken together, these have become the cornerstone of my life—the partnership mandala urging me to seek balance at every level of my experience. “But John Paul doesn’t understand all this. The synchronicity that I see relates to an old prophecy that is well known in Catholic and Irish Celtic circles. One hundred and sixteen papacies are written about, with each one’s significance. The next to the last one, John Paul II’s, is referred to as “the eclipse of the Sun.” Thinking that the Sun/Son of the church might be eclipsed, church fathers worried that the feminine, the moon, would eclipse the Sun/Son, the masculine. What they don’t realize is that the eclipse of the sun symbolizes the conjunctional marriage, the sun and moon coming together—it’s so beautiful, a partnership model. So, even though John Paul might not be aware of the importance, he has presided over this period of awakening.” Sarada mentions the rising goddess culture in the United States, with many women looking to the ancient past for goddess archetypes. Metaphysical beliefs systems include the feminine (Goddess) as well. “Yes, wouldn’t it have been easier from the beginning, in grade school if they’d just taught us that Jesus had a wife! Paul’s letters are the earliest, the first. He says that the apostles traveled with their ‘sister wives.’ Jesus sent out disciples in pairs. We with our Christian overlay think of pairs of men, but I think that he was sending out pairs of men and women, couples, as models of the way it should be. Think of Noah’s Ark for example. He was to collect pairs of animals, not pairs of males!” Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 60 “The model of the sacred union, the heiros gamos, is the model for Life. I believe that Jesus was trying to incorporate that model.” “Was Mary Magdalene the feminine counterpart of Jesus, the feminine side of God?” Sarada, the interviewer, asks. “Yes, they become counselors, chaplains, fulfill all sorts of functions. A hundred different ways they find to serve. Once a priest, always a priest—it’s a calling. They just cannot officiate at the mass. Of course they do say mass, for their own families and friends at home. It’s like the early Church, breaking bread together, meeting in people’s homes. Nuns say mass as well. Christ wouldn’t have minded at all. The main point though is the blood royal, the sang raal, the Holy Grail. The chalice, the cup of blood, is the ancient symbol of the womb, the feminine. If they would just restore the Bride to the Bridegroom, everybody could live happily ever after. Even in the fairy tales, the lost feminine is expressed. The prince is always longing for her, searching for the lost bride. In the book of Revelations they speak of the nuptials of the Bride. There are countless references to the wedding feast, the Bride and Bridegroom, in the New Testament.” “It’s hard to change your software. Christian women really want to know this. To give them a sense of their own being. Someone did a job on us, marginalized us. They stole Magdalene’s voice and called her a prostitute. The scripture speaks of her as having “seven devils.” Really, she could have been manic‐depressive. But the important thing is that she represented her oppressed people. They were an occupied territory, an oppressed people, and women were subject to rape. No wonder she was sick, her whole nation was sick.” Stephan Hoeller in The Feminine And The Multi‐Centered God Image (1989)shares with us that, “Archetypes, on the other hand, behave very much as gods and goddesses might be expected to behave, and it must be remembered that many of these archetypal images are female. In this way the goddesses of the soul have reentered the arena of contemporary interest. Their triumphal march, initiated by Jung and acclaimed by mythologists such as Kerényi, Eliade, and Joseph Campbell, is taking place before our eyes.” Continuing, he says, “Some may ask if it is realistic to expect people who were nurtured by the Christian myth to shift allegiance to the deities of Homer and Xenophanes. Yet many early Christians, especially those of the Gnostic variety, saw no contradiction in recognizing the gods and goddesses as carriers of valid imagery and power. The Church Fathers described how Alexandrian Gnostics carried the statue of Persephone in procession from an underground crypt to their church on the eve of the Epiphany. Even orthodox Christians accepted the form of Bacchus as a legitimate disguise for Christ. To this day, Catholicism is chastised by Protestants for worshipping Mary as a pagan goddess, and it can be argued that early Christianity represented an attempt to substitute a sacred polyarchy for the tyranny of the Old Testament God. We must also remember that the Kabbalah (called “Jewish Gnosticism” by Gershom Scholem) possesses a polytheistic myth in its ten sephiroth, at least three of which qualify as goddesses by any reasonable standard. He believes that “the discovery and assimilation of early heterodox Christian scriptures (such as the Nag Hammadi library) will also facilitate the revival of goddess figures within a new Gnostic Christian mythos. Goddesses such as Barbelo and Sophia, demigoddesses like Eve, Zoe and Norea, and heroines such as Mary Magdalene are emerging from exile and are awaiting reincorporation into Christian scriptures and liturgy. Things have never looked so good for a recovery of our polytheistic heritage and of our beautiful and mighty goddesses of old. One even feels that Christ, the incarnate paradigm of the Fullness, would be pleased by the coming of a new polytheism.” Warning us, Stephan Hoeller says, “Aeschylus, in his tragedy Aetnae, writes of Talia, daughter of Hephaestus. Having received the amorous attentions of Zeus, this divine maiden was persecuted by Zeus’ divine consort, Hera. To save her from harm Zeus hid Talia in the depths of the earth, where she gave birth to two sons, the Palikes, who to this day are responsible for emitting destructive streams of volcanic fire into this world. Marie‐Louise von Franz reminds us that if we forget the goddesses and gods they will burst forth from the depths of the unconscious in destructive ways.” He concludes by saying, “Our attachment to the monotheistic god image has caused us to repress many splendid archetypal deities. The wholeness, not only of our souls but of the world, requires us to invite these numinous beings to take their places in our religious and cultural lives. It would be best if in doing this we could refrain from trying to evoke a monotheistic feminine deity fashioned in the image of Jehovah, our long‐time afflictor. Nietzsche’s Olympians exclaim in Thus Spake Zarathustra, “Is not just this godlike, that there are gods but no God?” To which we may add, “and that there are goddesses, but no Goddess!”

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 61 Archangel Michael The current Age of Michael began in 1879 A.D. according to Rudolf Steiner in his book The Archangel Michael: His Mission And Ours (1994) He informs us in this incredible series of 23 lectures that in the English language we pronounce “Michael” with only two syllables, “MY‐KUL,” but the final syllable “el,” the name of God, is the last syllable of all the seven Archangels’ names. Saying it with the correct three syllables we say: Mi‐ cha‐el or ME‐KA‐ELL. The Christian metaphysician Steiner gives us the following neural linguistic tip in regard to our language patterns when we speak of Michael “We must become aware in the midst of this great Michael Age that what we think and say becomes reality.” Humanity lives in a time when anxiety, fear, and hate can become endangered species with a shift in consciousness from now on, due to this current Age of Michael. As the Perseid meteor showers pass by, Steiner tells us that this shower of meteoric iron can be pictured as the “iron of Michael’s sword” with the effects radiating into our very life’s blood as small minute tiny meteorites into the iron of our hemoglobin. We serve Michael by overcoming the Dragon that is trying to grow to its full height and strength in today’s ideas, which during the past epoch produced mass consumerism and rampant materialism, and in turn are now so persuasive as to engender a life of their own, living out into our futures unabated. To defeat this dragon means to stand in the service of Mi‐cha‐el. That is the victory of Michael over the Dragon of world materialism. Elijah of Tishbe The Prophet of the Chariot of Fire lived in 870 B.C. He is the prophet who stands up for the poor and lost souls of his land and defended those who suffered violence and injustice. The following insights to the significance of Elijah’s revelations are found at (www//144000.net/chariot.htm). I share them with you now. In the Gospel of Mathew, Jesus tells His disciples that Elijah, who was to come according to the prophecy of Malachi, at that moment had already come, and the disciples understood that He was talking of John the Baptist.” He quotes Luke 1:17, telling us that an angel appears before Zacharias to announce that, regardless of the advanced age of his wife and him, a son would be granted to them by God...and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah...” Reincarnation of the spirit was held by many religious beliefs systems before the time of John the Baptist. When he is questioned by priests and Levites (priests were like the Sadduceans of later time) if he was Elijah, the prophet answered, “I am not.” At this moment he was John the Baptist, but within him was the power and spirit of Elijah and Jesus would later reveal this to the apostles. Isaiah 62:2 sees this incarnation to come when he says, “and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name...” Refusal to accept the reincarnation or embodiment of the spirit of Elijah in John the Baptist which was accepted by most important early Fathers of the Church, does not deny the fact of this prophesy and it’s fulfillment did seem to happen. Prayer and Healing I wish to mention here the work of Larry Dossey, M.D., Healing Words (1993). He writes about use of language and the natural, non‐miraculous psychosomatic cures brought on by words of warmth and love. The placebo effect, and, more recently, the neurochemical connections between mood and the immune system which when experienced with positive emotions, can in fact bring about spontaneous remission of cancers and other miracles. Healing Words is devoted to prayer and healing. The author firmly believes that prayer brings about real and beneficial effects. Dr. James V. Hardt (www.biocybernaut.com/tutorial/alpha.html) explains what Alpha is and what makes it appear and disappear in our brains. Yes, he says, the Alpha state does appear and then disappears. It is not a constant and we have to apply ourselves to get into this state, as it is not always present. In deep sleep there is no Alpha with fear and anger chasing it away. Delta is experienced in deep sleep (sleep stages 3 and 4) and Theta is seen in light sleep and drowsiness (sleep stages 1 and 2). Alpha is experienced when we are awake and in a state of relaxation. When we close our eyes we go into Alpha, easy as that. If we experience positive emotions and attitudes while in Alpha, Dr. James V. Hardt believes we can communicate with our immortality gene that in turn communicates with our chromosome number 1, thus allowing us the treasure of a long‐lived youthfulness. Beta is experienced with stress in our lives and makes for difficult mental concentration. Delta waves are the slowest oscillating waves (0‐4 cycles per second). Theta waves oscillate somewhat faster (4‐7 cycles per second). Alpha waves oscillate 8‐13 times per second. Beta waves oscillate still faster (13‐40 cycles per second). There are many other kinds of electrical activity in the brain, especially the short‐lived evoked Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 62 potentials that occur when the brain responds to sensory input (like a sound, or a touch, or a flash of light). However, the four basic EEG waves of Delta, Theta, Alpha, and Beta constitute the standard lineup of EEG activity. Perhaps just the act of closing one’s eyes in the act of prayer triggers the Alpha state where healing happens. Perhaps being in the alpha state is why prayer and healing are so connected. Noosphere: The Net Of Consciousness Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, writes in The Phenomenon Of Man (1955), “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is possibly the most inspired Christian writer of the 20th century. Unfortunately many thinkers have not taken his innovative thinking seriously today. However, his work bridges science and religion, ushering in a new age of creativity and Christianity itself. Teilhard de Chardin explains that there are three major phases of evolution here on earth. The first phase he believed started when life was born from the development of the earth biosphere. The second phase began at the end of the Tertiary period as humanity developed its ability to be a reflective thinker. With thinking comes communication and then the third phase of evolution occurred. This is where Teilhard gets metaphysical, believing that a “thinking layer” of the biosphere is this third phase of evolution and it is called the noosphere (from the Greek noo, for mind). Starting small at first, this noosphere continues to grow, and will continue to grow, in the age of electronics. “Earth crystallization” is how Teilhard described the noosphere around Earth, “A glow rippled outward from the first spark of conscious reflection. The point of ignition grows larger. The fire spreads in ever‐widening circles…till finally the whole planet is covered with incandescence.” He is describing a thinking membrane covering the planet, the living earth which we hear of so much today, Gaia, a biological entity with a brain. Teilhard wrote that the noosphere “results from the combined action of two curvatures—the roundness of the earth and the cosmic convergence of the mind.” This cosmic mind is the mind of God and all creatures are a part of this God. In a way, the noosphere could be thought of as “mass consciousness.” Teilhard was a visionary who perhaps saw the Internet coming 50 years before the actual electronic web encircling the Earth today appeared. The internet itself could be considered a noosphere of sorts. He visualized a vast thinking membrane coalescing into “the living unity of a single tissue” which envelopes our collective thoughts, experiences and feelings. In The Phenomenon Of Man, Teilhard wrote, “Is this not like some great body which is being born—with its limbs, its nervous system, its perceptive organs, its memory—the body in fact of that great living Thing which had to come to fulfill the ambitions aroused in the reflective being by the newly acquired consciousness?” What Teilhard saw evolving for the world of the future was a collective organism of mind. The internet itself may not be a sentient noosphere in the true definition of the word, but it is at least a collection of experiences and information much like the mass consciousness (noosphere) of the entire human race, past, present, and future. In the section “The Illumination” of this work, The Phenomenon of Man (1955), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin informs us, “Certainly in our innermost being we feel the weight, the stock of good or bad obscure powers, the sort of definite and unalterable quantum handed down to us…from the past. With no less clarity we see that the further advance of the vital wave beyond us depends on how industriously we use those powers. How could we doubt this when we see them directly before us through all the channels of tradition, stored up irreversibly [in the] collective memory and intelligence of the human biota? Even under the influence of our tendency to disparage the artificial, we are apt to regard these social functions—tradition, education and upbringing—as pale images, almost parodies, of what takes place in the natural formation of species.” He continues, “In short, the living being emerges from the anonymous masses through radiation of his own consciousness. His activity can be stored and transmitted by means of education and imitation. From this point of view, man represents an extreme case of transformation. Transplanted into the thinking layer of the earth, heredity, without ceasing to be germinal or (chromosomatic) in the individual, finds itself by it’s very life center settled in a reflecting organism, collective and permanent, in which phylogenesis merges with ontogenesis. From the chain of cells it passes into the circumterrestrial layers of the noosphere. Hence we were not saying enough when we said that evolution, by becoming conscious of itself in the depths of ourselves, needs only to look at itself in the mirror to perceive itself in depth, thereby deciphering itself. Free to dispose of itself, it can give of or refuse itself. If we are God itself, we can hold no outside influence or entity responsible for our success or failure.”

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 63 Bobby Metherne (www.doyletics.com/arj/cmfrvw.htm, 1998) touches on this evolutionary theme of the “thinking layer of the earth: “To understand the process that unfolds in the blossoming of a flower is to understand the entire evolution of the universe. For this process of flowering, in which the leafy plant reaches to create something that is unlike itself, requires it to reach into a higher plane, the astral world, for help, and when that help is bestowed on the plant, the flowering stage may proceed.” What would a romance, a birth, or a wedding be without flowers. We all respond to the flower’s astral light and this is what draws us to use them for these significant events in our lives. Metherne writes that “we humans are always like the leafy plant reaching above ourselves for the guidance and assistance to move into our flowering stage.” Steiner writes in Christianity As Mystical Fact (1910) “To attain insight is to unfold a new organ, an event comparable to a plant unfolding the color of its blossom out of its former green and leafy state.” Paul Davies says in his book In The Mind Of God (1992), “The great diversity of forms and substances found in the physical world reflect the limitless variety of intrinsic properties. Set against this way of looking at the world were the monotheistic religions. The Jews conceived of God as the Lawgiver. This God, being independent of and separate from his creation, imposed laws upon the physical universe from without. Nature was subject to laws by divine decree. One could still assign causes to phenomenon, but the connection between cause and effect was now constrained by the laws of science. When we look at the relatively sophisticated society of Greek gods, we do not find the notion of an all‐powerful cosmic lawgiver very evident. Creation is moved by the Gods rather than a God. Creation proceeds by committee rather than fiat. The view that laws are imposed upon, rather than inherent, was eventually adopted by Christianity and Islam too, though not without a struggle.” St. Thomas Aquinas viewed the innate Aristotelian tendencies as aspects of the natural world which were providentially employed by God. However, in this cooperative enterprise, their basic character was inviolate. According to this view, God’s relationship with nature is that of a partner rather than that of the sovereign. However, Aristotelian ideas were condemned by the Bishop of Paris in 1277, to be replaced in later doctrine by the notion of God the Lawmaker. Newton believed that the designer of the universe used fixed mathematical laws. The divine machine was constructed by God itself. But did this Divine Mathematician simply build this world and then leave it to evolve on its own, to take care of itself? Does God actually watch over its running from moment to moment, day to day? Newton believed that the universe was saved from gravitational disintegration only by the grace of God, divine intervention. Descartes and Leibniz believed God was the fountainhead and that “rationality that opens the door to the understanding of nature by the application of human reason, is itself a gift from God.” In Renaissance Europe, the justification for what we today call the scientific approach to inquiry was the belief in a rational God whose “created order” could be discerned from a careful study of nature. God’s laws came to be seen as immutable. Paul Davies, in his book The Mind Of God (1992), says that the traditional God of Christian theology was developed, for the most part, by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. For St. Thomas Aquinas, God is a necessary, timeless, immutable, perfect, and unchanging being on which the universe depends utterly for its existence, but who in contrast is completely unaffected by the existence of universe. There is difficulty relating this God to a changing universe, a universe with beings of free will. The global mind, the Net, that Teilhard wrote of in 1955, has come to pass. Teilhard was aware that evolution moves at a snail’s pace with dead ends and detours along the way. Connecting our neurons to the global net rising in the noosphere to the Omega point of global unity, he wrote, “expands our own awareness and allows us to embrace our collective unfolding complexity together.” Teilhard’s vision of the Net as a necessary component of humanity’s assent on the evolutionary ladder is now all but proven. Now the earth needs all humanity to build the envisioned noosphere of Teilhard de Chardin. This group mind found on our Internet today must translate to an inlivened relationship with our earth. When this happens, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Phenomenon Of Man (1955:293‐294, 296) tells us, “we have the beginning of a new age. The earth ‘gets a new skin.’ Better still, it finds its soul.” This is definitely a metaphysical idea as well as an idea had by Christian thinkers. He continues, “As early as in St. Paul and St. John we read that to create, to fulfill and to purify the world is, for God, to unify it by uniting it organically with himself. How does he unify it? By partially immersing himself in things, by becoming ‘element,’ and then, from this point of vantage in the heart of matter, assuming the control and leadership of what we now call evolution… And when he has gathered everything together and transformed everything, he will close in upon himself and his conquest, thereby rejoining, in a final gesture, that Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 64 divine focus he has never left. Then, as St. Paul tells us, God shall be all in all.” Chardin considers this a superior form of “pantheism” without extraneous implications. “If the world is convergent and Christ occupies it’s center, then the Christogenesis of St. Paul and St. John is nothing else and nothing less than the extension, both awaited and hoped for, of that noogenesis in which cosmogenesis—as regards our experience—culminates. Christ invests himself organically with the very majesty of his creation… Evolution has come to infuse new blood, so to speak, into the perspectives and aspirations of Christianity.” “Christianity shows itself able to reconcile, in a single living act, the All and the Person. Alone, it can bend our hearts not only to the service of that tremendous movement of the world which bears us along, but beyond, to embrace the movement in love… In other words can we not say that Christianity fulfills all the conditions we are entitled to expect from a religion of the future; and that hence, through it, the principal axis of evolution truly passes, as it maintains?” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Phenomenon Of Man (1955) sums it up in the following: “i. Considered objectively as a phenomenon, the Christian movement, through its rootedness in the past and ceaseless developments, exhibits the characteristics of a phylum. ii. Reset in an evolution interpreted as an ascent of consciousness, this phylum, in its trend towards the synthesis based on love, progresses precisely in the direction presumed for the leading shoot of biogenesis. iii. In the impetus which guides and sustains its advance, this rising shoot implies essentially the consciousness of being in actual relationship with a spiritual and transcendent pole of universal convergence. Similar To Buddhism Rudolf Steiner writes, in The Stages Of Higher Knowledge (1967), about some spiritual practices that we can use to become more self‐aware. They are very simple and help us to locate that a “spiritual center of gravity” within. Steiner tells us that we must first be fully conscious in everything we do, being attentive to distinguishing between that which is everlasting and that which is transitory. For instance, if one observes a plant, observe it as it presents itself to the senses and make oneself familiar with its perisable aspects while at the same time observing its eteral aspects. One can notice what would reappear in a new plant when the present plant has perished. This is the first adjustment of one’s perspective that must take place, the focus on that which is eternal even as it incarnates in the perishable. Steiner’s second pointer that helps us become more self aware is that the heart must be focused on what is “valuable and genuine” as opposed to the “fleeting and the insignificant.” His third pointer tells us that we should develop six qualities in particular: “control of the thought world, control of actions, endurance, impartiality, trust in the surrounding world, and inner equilibrium.” The first quality, control of the thought world, is attained by learning how to stop the mind from constantly moving. Most people have very little mastery of this, but it is essential for being able to be truly present and self aware in any given moment. Steiner says, “If a higher world is to be approached, at least brief periods must be set aside in which one makes oneself ruler of one’s thought and feeling world.” The second quality, control of actions, is attained through self‐discipline, vigilance, and diligence. This takes powers of self observation and the ability to notice when one is acting out incorrectly. The third quality, endurance, entails resisting whims, moods and pleasure seeking. “He who seeks the path to higher knowledge must be able to mitigate joy and also grief… surrender to pleasurable impressions and also painful experiences; he must move with dignity through both… It brings man to the steady center within the ebbing and flowing tide of life around him.” The fourth quality, impartiality, suggests that we let go of our personal opinions and any judgments that we might have. This is necessary to attain the open mindedness that is necessary for observing the world in a tolerant and accepting fashion. This keeps one open to all that is unfamiliar and new, therefore making it possible to have new opinions. The fifth quality, trust in the surrounding world, entails believing that this is a friendly universe with a loving force behind it. This is a trust that the Godself has everyone’s well being in mind. The sixth quality, inner equilibrium, addresses one’s ability to stay centered, no matter what is going on. “The human being must find within himself a spiritual center of gravity that gives him firmness and security in the face of all that would pull him hither and thither in life.” Faith Healing Faith healing is the use of solely “spiritual” means in treating disease, with the refusal of modern medical techniques. There are groups of people that believe in faith healing as the sole intervention method in any health problem. The term is usually used by Christians who believe God heals people through the laying on of hands Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 65 and prayer. Faith healing has not scientifically been proven effective, although its practitioners often cite much anecdotal evidence of cases where it has been successful. Doctors often ascribe any success to the placebo effect or to spontaneous remission. (A placebo is a “fake” pill or technique to test whether a cure works or not in a control test group, part of the group receives the placebo, and the other part receives the “real” cure.) Some people will heal with or without treatment. It is natural to credit the most recent treatment for the cure (this form of reasoning is called post hoc ergo propter hoc). The majority of people who practice faith healing do so in cases of otherwise incurable disease. Faith healing can pose serious ethical problems for medical professionals when parents refuse traditional medical care for their children. In some countries, parents argue that they have a constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that gives them the right to refuse medical care and rely on faith healing, but many argue that because faith healing has not been proven effective, it would be unethical to rely on it. Doctors consider it their strict duty to do everything that they can in the interests of the patient. If they judge that modern scientific treatments are required to save the child’s life or health it is their duty to use them, in direct contradiction to the parent’s wishes. In the year 2000, in Britain, a government ruling mandated that a child, against much protest from parents who preferred faith healing, be treated by doctors. The beauty of contacting the sacred order, which divination is supposed to put us in touch with, is that it allows for a changed relationship within ourselves. As we work with divinatory practices, how are we to do it in a way that is modern, a way to the future rather than back into the loop of the past? The mystical elements of this tradition were taken very seriously by the professional philosophers of the time. In the 3rd century B.C. Iamblichus promoted the practice of theurgic ritual to recover this experiential aspect of philosophy to profound transforming theurgic experiences. The theurgist works “like with like” at the material level, with physical symbols and “magic” at the higher level. Mental and spiritual practices are, “Correspondences of the divine in matter,” the theurgist then strives to reach the level where the soul’s inner divinity unites with God. This is when healing miracles are the product of a natural healing process. New Human Abilites and Awarenesses Humans are developing the ability to see the unseen and Shamballa (the spiritual worlds of the upper astral planes). This process has gained momentum over the most recent decades, particularly since the mid 19th century. Rudolf Steiner says in The Reappearance Of Christ In The Etheric (1983), “We occupy ourselves with spiritual science so that these newly appearing facilities, which are at first barely perceptible, may not be overlooked and lost to humanity, and that those blessed with this new power of vision may not be considered dreamers and fools but may instead have the support and understanding of a small group of people who in their common purpose may prevent these delicate soul seeds and soul qualities from being roughly trampled to death for lack of human understanding. Spiritual science shall indeed prepare the possibility for attaining this development.” Steiner suggests that Christ is not going to reappear in the flesh, but in the etheric body instead. This is perhaps why humanity is developing these new abilities to see that which was formerly unseeable. Anyone who proclaims to be the returned Christ in the flesh is not to be believed. Christ will appear in the etheric body and only those who have developed the new abilities will be spared the confusion of not knowing the truth about Christ’s return. Steiner continues, “We are thus approaching an age in which man will feel himself surrounded not only by a physical, sensible world but also, according to the measure of his knowledge, by a spiritual kingdom. The leader in this new kingdom of the spirit will be the etheric Christ.” Even those from other religions can accept this event, for the Christ energy itself transcends all religions and belief systems. “It will, in fact, be man’s task to develop… an understanding for the possibility of entering the spiritual world independently of any religious denomination but simply through the power of good will… It will lead us into that spiritual land, described in ancient Tibetan writings as a remote fairyland, which means the spiritual world, the land of Shamballa. Not in a trance but in full consciousness man should enter this land under the guidance of Christ. Even now the initiate can and must go often to the land of Shamballa in order to draw from there new forces. Later, other human beings, too, will enter the land of Shamballa. They will see its radiant light, as Paul saw above him the light that streamed from Christ. This light will stream toward them, also. The portals of this realm of light will open to them and through them they will enter the holy land of Shamballa.”

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 66 The Fourth Dimension The metaphysical approach to this transpersonal realm, this Holy Stream of Light can be experienced in the 4th and higher dimensions according to Rudolf Steiner in his The Fourth Dimension: Sacred Geometry, Alchemy And Mathematics (2001). He writes that when we consider water that has been allowed to freeze, the substance is the same yet water and ice are very different in form. He explains that we can imagine a similar process taking place with regard to “the three higher human dimensions of self‐awareness, feeling and time, and that these dimensions are reflected in the three ordinary dimensions in the physical world.” Fourth dimensional consciousness realizes all beings as One Self. The Pleroma John Lash (www.metahistory.org/lexicon) extrapolates the Gnostic mythology of the Pleroma to the central bulge of our galaxy, while at the same time proposing there are many Pleromas, as Gnostic teachings assert. He writes, “Hence a Pleroma is a center of a galaxy, not the center of the Universe in its totality. I would not presume to say what or where the center of the Universe, the totality of galaxies, is, but based on current astronomical research I can confidently say that the center of the galaxy we on Earth inhabit is located about 26,000 light‐years away in the direction of the constellation of the Archer. The exact point of the galactic center is not known, and cannot be known, because it is a region rather than a point‐source.” Astronomy now informs us that the galactic center is at 27‐8 degrees of the Zodiacal Sign Sagittarius, or 267‐8 on the Ecliptic. In Gaia Hypothesis by Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock, the authors propose “that the center of the galaxy is a vortex of mass‐free, high‐porosity light, including black light. These are Organic and Superorganic Light, respectively. Insofar as it can be described in terms comparable to anything we know, this light is a substance like foam from a fire‐extinguisher. The eruption of Pleromic Light is compared to an overflowing wellspring in Gnostic texts.” This light is not only alive but “possessed of intention.” Aeons in the Gnostic cosmology, John Lash believes, are “self‐aware currents in the core light field.” He is convinced that Gnostic seers were able to communicate with the galactic center by standing in the wash of currents from this Organic and Superorganic Light, being able to receive these impulses and frequencies from the Aeons. They were called “the immovable race” because they were able to withstand the streaming of this cosmic insight and revelation while remaining still without turning away or losing one’s center of focus. The Gnostics recognized a three‐level or threefold capacity to receive this Pleromic Light. (1) The Gnostic adept attunes to the presence of Aeonic currents operating within the natural light of the Earth’s atmosphere, (2) He or she tunes into the streaming of Aeonic currents from the galactic core into our Earth’s atmosphere, (3) The Gnostic adept then receives directly the currents from the galactic core. Lash informs us that the seer who is able to attune to all three levels was called Trimegistus, “Thrice Great,” a title for the supreme heirophant in the Egyptian Mystery Schools. Cosmic Rays From The Center Of Our Galaxy (www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GospJohn/19090701p01.html) In 1983, Paul LaViolette (www.etheric.com/GalacticCenter/Galactic2.html) presented evidence to the scientific community indicating that Galactic core explosions actually occur about every 13,000‐26,000 years with major outbursts, and more frequently with lesser events. He says that emitted cosmic rays escape from the core virtually unimpeded. As they travel in a radial pattern outward through the Galaxy, they form a spherical shell that advances at a velocity approaching the speed of light, with electromagnetic pulses and a gravity wave that can trigger tsunamis, earthquakes and cataclysmic events on our planet. Paul LaViolette thinks this is what happened to Atlantis and could very well be happening today. Cosmic rays are energetic particles coming from all directions in space, producing the ionization in our atmosphere. Cosmic rays also have an extreme energy range of incident particles that allow for access and the availability to study aspects of their field, which cannot be studied in any other way. The sun discharges a significant amount of these high‐energy particles. “Solar cosmic rays” originate in the sun’s chromosphere. Most solar ray events occur after solar flares. Scientists now believe that cosmic rays can affect our weather. Cosmic rays cause clouds to form in the upper atmosphere, after the particles collide with other atmospheric particles in our troposphere. A cosmic ray shower is the process of a cosmic ray particle colliding with particles in our atmosphere and disintegrating into smaller pions, muons, etc. which is called a cosmic ray shower. The tradition of the Sun Path revelations was lived by the ancient Persians as they looked up to the Sun and addressed the high Sun‐spirit as `Ahura Mazdao’ The mystery traditions teach us that “the soul who appeared in Jesus of Nazareth had gone through various earlier incarnations in various parts, and we are led back Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 67 to the time when this bearer of the later name `Jesus of Nazareth’ had attained, in the Persian world, a remarkably high state of initiation and performed a work of the highest significance. The Akashic record shows how this individuality had already worked in the spiritual world of the ancient Persians, how he looked up to the Sun and addressed the high Sun‐spirit as `Ahura Mazdao.’ We must realize that it was into the bodies of this individuality, who had gone through these incarnations, that Christ entered. What does that mean, `Christ entered into the bodies of this individuality?’ It simply means that the Christ used these three bodies—the astral, the etheric, the physical—for His life and work upon Earth.” Steiner writes that all we think, feel and put into words depends upon the astral body that we all have, and that it bears all of these aspects of our being. Neural Linguistic Programming (NLP) We learn from Modeling The Wisdom Of Jesus, Robert Dilts’ online article, Neural Linguistic Programming (NLP) began when Richard Bandler and John Grinder modeled patterns of language and behavior from the works of Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir and Milton H. Erickson, M.D. The first techniques of NLP were derived from key verbal and non‐verbal patterns Grinder and Bandler observed in the behavior of these exceptional therapists. Bandler and Grinder’s first book was titled The Structure Of Magic (1975) The implication of this title was that what seemed magical and unexplainable often had a deeper structure that, when illuminated, could be understood, communicated and put into practice by people other than the few exceptional wizards who had initially performed the magic. In the article, Dilts tells us, “A number of years ago it occurred to me that perhaps a similar kind of modeling could be done with respect to the records of Jesus’ teachings and works of healing. My first study, Cognitive Patterns Of Jesus Of Nazareth, explored the structure of the cognitive strategies employed by Jesus in his various works and teachings and how we might apply Jesus’ strategic thinking abilities to our own lives. A forthcoming work, Epistemology Of Jesus Of Nazareth, will explore the beliefs, values and assumptions that lie behind the words and works of Jesus as viewed from the perspective of NLP and systems theory. For the past several years I have been examining the reports of Jesus’ acts of healing through the filters of Neural Linguistic Programming, culminating in my seminars and video tapes on The Healing Patterns Of Jesus, and Modeling The Wisdom Of Jesus.” Dr. J.J. Hurtak The Age of Miracles (www.lightnet.co.uk/informer/interviews/hurtak0004.htm) Dr. Hurtak encourages all “New Age thinkers to see ourselves as an unfoldment of a greater era—the Age of Miracles—which is also part of a greater unfoldment into the Age of the Holy Spirit and through which the dimensions of vitality will take place with the reappearance of what the Keys call the collective Messiah—the Cosmic ‘Christ’ as the divine experience.” Hurtak, like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin before him, emphasizes metanoia–referring to it as “the inner substance that must be changed to a Christed life.” It is the power of Higher Knowledge (the word “data” in the biblical language) directly from the Creator that is able to influence humanity’s behavior and qualities he believes. People in the 21st century will need an expanded “wisdom” to go along with their “faith.” This will lead to experiences that are beyond our dualistic world view we have today, and evolve into inclusive systems of knowledge that move beyond traditional intellectual and political bias. Today we are seen as nothing more than mechanisms to be easily manipulated. Historically, Hurtak shares with us, “It was recognized that Faith (‘emunah’ in the Hebrew writings, ‘pistis’ in Greek writings) is not enough in the world commons, which is why inspiring Wisdom writings were handed down through the centuries, even after the close of the New Testament period, from Plotinus and Nagarjuna to Boehme to Barth in seeking answers to the perennial questions of Life and awaken themselves to the Infinite Splendor of the Divine.” He concludes by saying that the answers will come to us from the Wisdom of our place in the larger universe which we all have come to understand is full of multiple levels of intelligence. Our ability to integrate our body‐mind‐spirit in daily practice and helping one’s fellow human beings with our spiritual insights is how we can learn to be a spiritual family, one working together in a higher divine plan. Time, Space And Physical Reality In The Reappearance Of Christ In The Etheric (1983), Rudolf Steiner writes, “It is of course a strange fact that man, in his ordinary consciousness as a physical, earthly person, experiences clearly only his sense perceptions and his thoughts. Waking consciousness only exists in this perception and thinking. Feelings are actually only dreamt, and the will is generally slept through. No person knows what happens when he just raises a hand, that is, when the will plays into his bodily organism, in the same way that he knows his thoughts. There is also the rule of the feelings; although this is somewhat clearer in consciousness than the rule of the will, it is still dark; it is no brighter than the pictures we have in our dreams. Passions, emotions and feelings are in truth only dreamt; Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 68 they are not experienced in the light of consciousness that lives in the sense perceptions and mental pictures, and our will is not experienced consciously at all. So where do we go from here?” I wish to share some quotes from a Rudolf Steiner lecture now in print, “The Fourth Dimension; Sacred Geometry, Alchemy and Mathematics” (2001). Steiner was asked if the concept of three‐dimensionality applies to the spiritual hierarchies, since we speak of their “areas” of dominion. Question: “Can we say that a human being’s essence is realized in space?” Answer: “space itself, from the esoteric perspective, must be seen as something produced as a result of creative activity. Its creation precedes the working activity of the highest hierarchies, so we can presuppose the existence of space. We should not imagine the highest Trinity in spatial terms, however, because space is a creation of the Trinity. We must imagine spiritual beings without space, because space is a creation.” Question: “Does time apply to spiritual processes?” Answer: “Certainly, but the highest spiritual processes in the human being lead to the concept that they run their course timelessly. The activities of the hierarchies are timeless. It is difficult to talk about how time came about because the concept of time is implicit in the words ‘to come about.’ Instead, we would have to talk about the essence or being of time, which is not easy to discuss. No time would exist if all beings were at the same level of development. Time arises through the interaction between a number of higher beings and a number of lower beings. In timelessness, various levels of development are possible, but their interaction makes time possible.” The Trinity Paramahansa Yogananda, in Man’s Eternal Quest (1975), writes in a section titled “Concepts Of God And Trinity Agree,” “Uniformed Westerners conclude that Indians as a whole worship idols. We worship only Brahman, spirit. The concept of one God is the same in Hinduism as in Christianity… the concept of the Trinity is also exactly the same in the Hindu and Christian scriptures. The Trinity is not a negation of the one God; it illustrates a metaphysical truth, that the One became Three when God made this creation. “In the beginning—when there was no creation—there was Spirit. But Spirit wanted to create, and by His wishful thought He projected a great sphere of light, or cosmic energy, which became the universe. That cosmic energy is the Holy Ghost. ‘Ghost’ means something indivisible and intelligent. Holy Ghost refers to the spiritual vibration or energy of creation in which the intelligence of God is immanent as Christ Consciousness, ‘the only begotten Son,’ God’s pure reflection in creation. God the Father is the Intelligence beyond creation; the Son or Christ Consciousness is His Intelligence in creation, and the Holy Ghost is the intelligent vibration of creation itself. Long before Christ spoke of it, the Trinity was described in the Hindu scriptures: ‘Aum, Tat, Sat,’ Cosmic Vibration, Christ Intelligence, and God the Father.” Paramahansa Yogananda says that the Bible tells us of Jesus Christ’s promise that when “he was gone from this world he would send the Comforter, the Holy Ghost.” He continues, saying, “The Holy Ghost is the cosmic intelligent vibration, whose sound is the Aum or Amen heard in deep yoga meditation. Saint John spoke of it when he said, ‘I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.’ That sound is the Holy Ghost. In its vibration is our comfort…we’re living in a new age in which God’s voice of cosmic vibration, of Aum or Amen, can be heard from the ends of the two hemispheres in the scriptures of Krishna and Christ. It was in the land of India that Krishna spoke of the Aum sound and it was another Oriental Christ who spoke of this same vibration, calling it Amen or Holy Ghost, as the means of communing with God.” He concludes, saying that by attuning our consciousness in meditation, we hear and commune with the Aum or Amen vibration in which we meet the great Comforter. In communion with the holy Comforter we realize the immanent Christ consciousness. In deeper communion with the Christ consciousness we realize we are one with God. As soon as we know the Holy Ghost we know Christ consciousness. When we know Christ Consciousness, we know that “you and your Father, Cosmic Consciousness, are one.” The divine Christ Consciousness hidden in every atom of creation is the same as the Cosmic Consciousness of the Father beyond creation. First, we must know how to commune with the Trinity. Through such communion, we become one with Spirit; then there is no longer a Trinity. Rather, Father, Son and Holy Ghost are seen to be one Spirit.

CONCLUSION The Second Man In Us (1977) by Maria Roschl‐Lehrs tells us, “First of all there is the great cycle of transformations along each individual’s path of development, the transition from a purely spiritual existence to physical life on earth. The earth and the universe work together here also, when a human ego, ready for its task on earth, takes possession of the physical body prepared for it. Its body of light and warmth approaches union at Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 69 birth with the physical body that is already pulsating with life and has been prepared for it on earth through the workings of destiny as the seed, the bud for its impending earthly activity.” This body of light and warmth is in particular the vehicle of a person’s individuality. It has its being in the world of the spirit, and in its spiritual state it existed in tune with entirely different laws. The transformations are enormous, which this spiritual being undergoes when it leaves the world of spirit to inhabit the world of matter. If we are to kindle true spiritual life on earth, if the light that unceasingly incarnates from the spiritual into the earthly world is to win the victory and prevail, then we must gradually extend our consciousness to that world which is the home of the spiritual second man in us. We have already seen that the present epoch, as the first phase of the Light‐Age, stands out in human history. In it we are gradually beginning to perceive the forces coming out of our home of light. The second man in us is entering our consciousness more and more. If we understand him, we can experience this human metamorphosis, or at least we can divine some gentle intimations of it. If human development is to continue in the right way, the oil must be lit in the earthly lamp in order to shed light and warmth on the deeds of men. The lamp must not be left standing empty and dark, while the oil wastes itself in flames elsewhere. That is what we are struggling for. We must learn in full consciousness to unfold thoughts that are spiritually true, which are more and more able to build a bridge between the second man in us and our ordinary earth‐conscious selves. Then these living thoughts will begin to kindle our soul‐experience, and the great human task of our time, the metamorphosis of consciousness, will be carried through. Today we live in a time when human beings will say that it seems to them as if they saw something in physical men like a second man; yet, the prophets of our age warn us that if materialistic consciousness goes so far as to declare that a spiritual science is un‐Christian or occult nonsense and attempts to thwart this consciousness of the spiritual world then people will not comprehend these capacities of clairvoyance or astral bodies. Again and again we are told that we must not miss this opportunity we have to rise up to Christ Consciousness to understanding the “second man” within us all. On the subject of evolution, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says in The Phenomenon Of Man (1955), “If progress is a myth, that is to say, if faced by the work involved we can say, ‘What’s the good of it all?’ With that, the whole of evolution will come to a halt, because we are evolution. Either nature is closed to our demands for futurity, in which case thought, the fruit of millions of years of effort, is stifled, still‐born in a self‐abortive and absurd universe. Or else an opening exists—that of the super‐soul above our souls. In that case, the way out, if we are to agree to embark on it, must open out freely onto limitless psychic spaces in a universe to which we can unhesitatingly entrust ourselves.” Chardin continues to explain that between the extremes of optimism and pessimism, the natural process of life does not endorse a middle path. It is all or nothing when it comes to evolution. Evolution is, in some respects, involuntary because life is always moving toward evolving itself even if it does not appear to the human mind in such a way. Even seeming setbacks are steps toward evolving into a better life‐form. “In the last analysis, the best guarantee that a thing should happen is that it appears to us as vitally necessary… Life…having once been lifted to its stage of thought, cannot go on at all without requiring to ascend ever higher…This is enough for us to be assured of two points of which our action has immediate need. The first is that there is for us, in the future, under some form or another, at least collective, not only survival but also super‐life.” In conclusion we have learned that the evolution of the cosmos, earth, and man are undergoing transformations and the appearance of Christ in the history of humanity is part of that evolution. With consciousness of spiritual realities we come to a better understanding of nature in her spiritual aspect, but also Jesus Christ. In grace and freedom we human beings can now meet our destiny. The power of the Christ is with us all and we need only look into the clouds above and to our hearts within to see Him as the ascending line of evolution through the spiritual hierarchies. We are already living in the reversed direction of normal evolution for humanity as our ether body is slowly passing out of the physical body. Stride forward with confidence as we develop a being who is capable of living in full consciousness on both this side of life as well as the other side of the threshold, the spiritual world, as Christ did. With the Archangel Michael leading nations forward and Christ uniting us within both our cosmic and earthly consciousness we can now enter the Kingdom of God to create the City of Love within our own self aware beingness now.

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 70 Bibliography, Armstrong, Karen 1994 A History Of God: The 4,000‐Year Quest Of Judaism, Christianity And Islam. Ballantine Books, New York, NY Aulen, Gustaf 1948 The Faith Of The Christian Church. Muhlenberg Press; Philadelphia, PA Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de 1960 The Divine Milieu: An Essay On The Interior Life. Harper; New York, NY Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de 1955 The Phenomenon Of Man. Harper and Row; New York, NY Davies, Paul 1992 The Mind Of God. Simon and Schuster; New York, NY Dossey, Larry M.D 1993 Healing Words: The Power Of Prayer And The Practice Of Medicine. Harper San Francisco; San Francisco, CA Goswami, Amit Ph.D., Richard E. Reed and Maggie Goswami, 1995 The‐Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates The Material World. G.P.Putnamʹs Sons; New York, NY Haskins, Susan 1993 Mary Magdalene: Myth And Metaphor. Harper Collins; New York, NY Hurtak, Dr. J.J. 1973 The Book of Knowledge: The Keys Of Enoch. The Academy for Future Sciences Press; Los Gatos, CA Hurtak, Dr. J.J. 1983 The Lord’s Prayer. The Academy for Future Sciences Press; Los Gatos, CA Legge, Francis 1964 Forerunners And Rivals Of Christianity From 330 B.C. to 330 A.D. University Press; New York, NY Lovelock, James 2000 Gaia: The Practical Science Of Planetary Medicine. Oxford University Press; New York, NY Merry, Eleanor 1983 The Flaming Door: The Mission Of The Celtic Folk‐Soul. Floris Books; Edinburgh, Scotland Norbu, NamkHai 1992 Dream Yoga. Snow Lion Publications; Ithaca, NY Merton, Thomas 1967 Mystics And Zen Masters. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux; New York, NY Pagels, Elaine 1981 The Gnostic Gospels. Vintage Books; New York, NY Roschl‐Lehrs, Maria 1977 The Second Man In Us. St. George Book Service; Spring Valley, NY Ross, Floyd and Tynette Hills 1961 The Great Religions By Which Men Live. Premier Book; New York, NY Shaw, Gregory 1994 Theurgy And The Soul. PSU Penn State Press Sill, Gertrude Grace 1975 A Handbook Of Symbols In Christian Art. Macmillan; New York, NY Smith, Huston 1958 The World’s Religions. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Smith, Rowland 1995 Julianʹs Gods: Religion And Philosophy In The Thought And Action Of Julian The Apostate. Routledge; NY, NY Starbird, Margaret 1993 The Woman With The Alabaster Jar. Steiner, Rudolf 1983 The Reappearance Of Christ In The Etheric. Anthroposophic Press; Spring Valley, NY Steiner, Rudolf 1967 The Stages Of Higher Knowledge. Anthroposophic Press; Spring Valley, NY Steiner, Rudolf 1972 Christianity As Mystical Fact. Anthroposophical Press; Great Barrington, Mass. Steiner, Rudolf 1971 The True Nature Of The Second Coming. Anthroposophical Press; Great Barrington, Mass. Steiner, Rudolf 2001 The Fourth Dimension Sacred Geometry, Alchemy And Mathematics. Anthroposophical Press; Barrington, MA Steiner, Rudolf 1994

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 71 The Archangel Michael: His Mission And Ours. Anthroposophic Press, Great Barrington, Mass. Steiner, Rudolf 1971 The Sun‐Mystery In The Course Of Human History. Oral Lecture Series, not published. Wise, Michael, Martin Abegg Jr., and Edward Cook 1996 The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation. Harper Collins San Francisco, CA Yogananda, Paramahansa 1975 Man’s Eternal Quest. Self Realization Fellowship; Los Angelos, CA Le Violette, Paul 1997 Earth Under Fire. Starlane Publications; Fresno, CA (un‐named author) Channeled Material 1955 The Urantia Book. Urantia Foundation, Uversa Press; Chicago, IL

Internet Resources Bratcher, Dennis 2004, online article I Am. (www.cresourcei.org/IAM.html) Bordeaux, Edmond 1981, online article The Essene Gospel Of Peace: Book Four. (www.areneway.com/index_essene_gospels_of_peace.htmIt) Dilts, Robert 1996, online article Modeling The Wisdom Of Jesus. (www.nlpu.com/Articles/article5.htm) Dispenza, Dr. Joe 2004, video and online article The Brain Where Spirit And Science Meet. (www.ramtha.com/) Drob, Sanford L. 2003, online article The Lurianic Metaphors, Creativity, And The Structure Of Language. (www.newkabbalah.com/FormProp.htm) Hardt, Dr. James V. 2000, online article Alpha Brain Waves And Brainwave Science. (www.biocybernaut.com/tutorial/alpha.html) Hoeller, Stephan 1989 online interview found at the Gnosis Archives Goddesses Yes, Goddesses No! The Feminine and the Multi‐Centered God Image. (www.gnosis.org/goddesses.htm) Hurtak, Dr. J.J. 2004, online interview, Talk Spirit The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch. (www.lightnet.co.uk/informer/interviews/hurtak0004.htm) Lash, John 2002, online article Beyond The Tyranny Of Beliefs. (www.metahistory.org/lexicon_P.asp#Pleroma) Merton, Thomas 1952, online article St. John Of The Cross. ( www.cin.org/saints/jcross‐merton.html) Seddon, Richard 2004, online article End Of The Millenium And Beyond. (www.transintelligence.org/articles/EndoftheMillennium&Beyond.htm) Setzer, Claudia online review by Ramon K. Jusino, M.A. 1997 “Excellent Women: Female Witnesses To The Resurrection” (www.members.tripod.com/Ramon_K_Jusino/magdalene.html) Steiner, Rudolf 1910, online article Christianity As Mystical Fact. (www.doyletics.com/arj/cmfrvw.htm) Steiner, Rudolf 1921, online article The Sun‐Mystery in the Course of Human History. (wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/SunMys_index.html) Steiner, Rudolf 1909, online article The Gospel Of St. John. (www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GospJohn/19090701p01.html) Steiner, Rudolf 2004, online article The Ahrimanic Deception. (www.econcrisis.homestead.com/SecondComing.html) no author noted 2004, online article The Prophet Of The Chariot Of Fire. (www//144000.net/chariot.htm) Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (www.religioustolerance.org/

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 72 Christian Studies Exam Questions

Name ______Phone # ______

Address ______(Please supply name, phone #, and address as identifying factors for giving credit properly)

1. From 330 B.C. to 330 A.D. no religions existed at all. T F

2. The Gaia Hypothesis is that the Earth is a living being, and very complex. T F

3. “I Am” became a functional name for God. T F

4. Most theologians and religious historians believe that the approximate birth date of Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus) was in the: A. Spring B. summer C. fall D. winter

5. After the death of Jesus, by the end of the 1st century, three main groups of Christians remained: A. Pauline Christians, Gnostic Christians, and Jewish Christians B. Baptists, Protestants and Catholics C. True Christians, False Christians and Neutral Christians D. Neither A, B or C

6. Jesus believed that God sent his blessings to some and withheld them from others. T F

7. The kingdom of God is within us all. T F

8. Parmahansa Yogananda suggests that the ideals of Christ are the ideals of the scriptures of: A. Africa B. India C. China D. Neither A, B or C

9. It is a common belief among scholars that Jesus Christ traveled in India before he became a spiritual teacher. T F

10. The concept of the Supreme Being as a triune (three‐fold) was a very old concept in Egypt. T F

11. Alexander The Great did very little to prepare the way for Christianity and monotheism. T F

12. The Council Of Nicaea was held in 2003 to come to a unified definition of the relationship between Jesus and God, Father and Son. T F

13. The Hagia Sophia is a magnificently decorated church that preserved a number of relics, including what they believe is the true cross, the crown of thorns and the Virgin’s girdle and robe. T F

14. Jesus was believed to have joined the Essenes at the age of: A. 33 B. 18 C. 21 D. Neither A, B or C

15. In December 1945, thirteen ancient papyrus codices containing fifty‐two sacred texts were discovered by the monks of St. Pachomius. These sacred texts were called the: A. Gnostic Gospels B. Nag Hammadi C. The Bible

16. The Gospel of Mary was written by: A. Mother Mary B. Mary Magdalene C. St. Augustine

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 73 17. The Pistis Sophia is consistent with Gnostic beliefs. T F

18. The Dead Sea Scrolls have been very well preserved, among the best preserved of all the Christian sacred texts. T F

19. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in eleven caves near Qumran and the Dead Sea around 1947. How many separate texts were found? A. 10 B. 234 C. 800 D. 1,046

20. The Torah consists of: A. The Five Books Of Moses C. The entire old testament in the Bible B. Various writings by Jewish Scholars D. Neither A, B or C

21. As for the Gospels in the Bible, it is believed that John is the most likely to contain the gospel message in its least embellished form. T F

22. Pythagoras founded a community in lower Italy in the sixth century before Christ. The Pythagoreans saw the foundation of things in numbers and figures. T F

23. The Essenes were a non‐Jewish sect and were avid meat‐eaters, believing meat was necessary in their diet in order to “get closer to God.” T F

24. The number 666 refers to Vini, Vidi Vinci in the Latin language, meaning: A. I came, I saw, I conquered C. I think, I speak, I am B. I believe, I trust, I surrender D. Neither A, B or C

25. 666 is considered by Christians to be the: A. Mark Of The Beast C. The number for love and compassion B. A lucky number D. Neither A, B or C

26. The name “Lucifer” means: A. Old and Wise C. Wisdom and Knowledge B. Bringer Of Light D. Neither A, B or C

27. Mother Mary is also called Mary Sophia. T F

28. St. Thomas Aquinas was born in 1325 A.D. in Naples. T F

29. Saint Benedict resided primarily at the abbey called: A. Timaste Monastery C. Nursia Monastery B. Monte Cassino D. Neither A, B or C

30. Saint Paul is considered by many Christians to be the least important disciple of Jesus, and had nothing to do with the development of Christianity. T F

31. Saint Dominic was the founder of the: A. Friar’s Preachers C. The Chartres Cathedral B. Lutheran Brotherhood D. Neither A, B or C

32. There are more than 34,000 different denominations of Christianity today. T F

33. The Baptists form one of the largest Protestant denominations. T F

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 74 34. Christian Science was founded by: A. Jesus C. St. Augustus B. Martin Luther King D. Mary Morse Baker Eddy

35. Roman Catholics pray to saints to ask for predictions of the future. T F

36. The three major forces in Christianity were Roman Catholocism, Wiccans, and Protestants. T F

37. In the section Christianity And Similar Beliefs In Metaphysics, according to Rudolf Steiner, the Age Of Michael began in: A. 1230 A.D. B. 1652 A.D. C. 4 B.C. D. 1879 A.D.

38. The noosphere could be thought of as “mass consciousness.” T F

39. Faith Healing is a “spiritual” means of treating disease, and God heals people through the laying on of hands and prayer. T F

40. The four Gospels of the Bible are: A. Matthew, Mark, Luke & John B. Leviticus, Exodus, Genesis & Psalms C. Corinthians, Romans, Hebrews & Revelations D. Neither A, B or C

41. Rudolf Steiner was born in Russia in 1861. p T F

Christian Studies ©2005 University Of Metaphysical Sciences 75