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charismatic leader and the sect thrived. Around 1912 Charles Leadbeater, at Theosophy‘s
center in India, became enamored of a beautiful Indian boy. He convinced the other
Theosophical leaders that the boy, Krishnamurti, was a reincarnation of Christ. Steiner
couldn‘t go along with that. He‘d already integrated Christ into his cosmological system, and
Krishnamurti wasn‘t part of that system. Years later, when he grew up, Krishnamurti
repudiated his role in Theosophy and became a spiritual teacher in his own right.
Steiner split with Theosophy, forming his own group, which he called Anthroposophy. He
was a charismatic leader, and most of the German section came with him, forming an
instant cult. Later he claimed to have been teaching Anthroposophy all along, and
Anthroposophical presses went so far as to change ―Theosophy‖ to ―Anthroposophy‖ in
some of his earlier books.
Anthroposophy cobbles together a hodge-podge of spiritual traditions, claiming to teach
comprehensive truths which are only partially found in other religions. At its foundation are
the concepts of reincarnation, karma, and polytheism, which derive from Hinduism. Steiner
was something of a fundamentalist Platonist, saying that the real world was all illusion, that
objects are reflections of eternal essences in the spiritual world but for Steiner the
essences weren‘t abstractions, they were living beings. He also espoused Plato‘s political
philosophy and may well have imagined himself as the philosopher-king. From the ancient
Persian religion Zoroastrianism he took dual gods of light and dark. He identified the light
god as Lucifer, and created his own trinity of Lucifer, Ahriman (the dark god), and a Gnostic
conception of Christ, usually referred to as ―The Christ Spirit,‖ who dwelt in the body of
Jesus for only three years.
As if this weren‘t enough, Steiner stirred it all together with a liberal dose of European
occult traditions: Cabbalism, numerology, Rosicrucianism and Masonry, and spiced it with
vegetarianism and the pseudosciences of astrology, herbalism, and homeopathy. Steiner
claimed to make ―exact scientific observations‖ in the spiritual world, so nothing that he said
could be discussed substantially by his followers without questioning the foundations of the
faith.
Anthroposophy Today
A pamphlet of the Anthroposophical Society in America (1993) quotes Steiner‘s statement of
the purpose of the society given in 1923: ―an association of people who would foster the life
of the soul, both in the individual and in human society, on the basis of a true knowledge of
the spiritual world.‖ This reveals the religious nature of Anthroposophy. ―The life of the soul‖
is generally considered to be a religious matter, as is ―the spiritual world.‖ His assertion of
―true knowledge‖ marks Anthroposophy as a sect it implies that other paths are not true.
Many common references identify Anthroposophy as a religious movement. Merriam-
Webster‘s Collegiate Dictionary defines it as ―a 20th century religious system growing out of
theosophy and centering on human development.‖ (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-
bin/dictionary, 12/1/02) The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy calls it ―The Christian and
occultist movement associated with Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) stressing the cultivation of
spiritual nature and the way to gain spiritual awareness of a higher world‖ (Oxford, 1994, p.
75). Encyclopedia Britannica‘s article on Steiner defines Anthroposophy as ―a movement
based on the notion that there is a spiritual world comprehensible to pure thought but
accessible only to the highest faculties of mental knowledge‖ (Britannica, 2002).
More than any other sect of occultism, except perhaps Shrine, Anthroposophists apply
themselves to activities in the outside world. The pamphlet lists the activities of
―Anthroposophy at Work‖ as Waldorf education, adult education, healing dance, medical
practice, elder care, biodynamic agriculture, the arts, banking and financial consulting,

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health and hygiene, publishing, a formal church called Christian Community, and the
Anthroposophical Society itself.
These activities are usually referred to in Anthroposophical jargon as ―initiatives.‖ This
author observes that they are claimed as Anthroposophical activities when it is desired to
glorify Anthroposophy, but denied and called independent free associations when outsiders
question their connection to problematic Anthroposophical doctrines. They are wholly carried
out under Anthroposophical direction, ultimately taking guidance from divisions of the
Anthroposophical headquarters (the Goetheanum) in Dornach, Switzerland. Each activity
will, of course, have its own local non-profit corporation.
Waldorf Schools
In 1919 Emil Molt, an admirer of Rudolf Steiner, asked Steiner to set up a school for the
children of the workers of the Stuttgart Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory that Molt managed.
The school also served the children of Steiner‘s devotees, but, then as now, the great
majority of the students were from outside Anthroposophy. The school was progressive for
its time boys and girls were taught together, there were no separate tracks for work- and
college-bound students, and art was integrated into the curriculum. The school was
successful, and Anthroposophists founded more, first in Germany, then in England and the
United States. In the United States they are called Waldorf schools in Europe Steiner
schools or Free Schools. Steiner died in 1925.
Germany outlawed Anthroposophy in the second year of the Nazi period. In the author‘s
opinion, this wasn‘t because Anthroposophic philosophy was incompatible with National
Socialism rather it was because Anthroposophists promoted a rival political system,
Steiner‘s ―threefold social order.‖ According to education scholar Achim Leschinsky, The
Waldorf schools were harassed by local authorities. The schools fired all their Jewish
teachers, formed an association, and presented themselves to the government as
supporting National Socialism while they continued to do things their own way. They were
controversial within the Nazi party, but they survived for six years because of support from
leading Nazis, most notably from Deputy Fuehrer Rudolf Hess. Nazi education official Alfred
Baeumler argued that the Waldorf schools should be studied as a good example of a system
of indoctrination. After Hess flew to Scotland, Hitler cracked down on occultists and the
remaining schools were closed. (Leschinsky, 1983, p. 26). After the war the Waldorf
movement continued to grow, and today there are over 500 schools worldwide, including at
least 140 in North America (AWSNA, 2003).
In school brochures, Waldorf schools state that their purpose is to educate ―the whole
child,‖ ―head, heart, and hands,‖ or ―mind, heart, and will.‖ They often quote Steiner: ―Our
highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings, who are themselves able to impart
purpose and direction to their lives.‖ These aspirations aren‘t unique to Waldorf did you
ever see a school brochure that said they educate only part of the child?
Publications for insiders reveal other intentions: the advancement of Steiner‘s ―threefold
social order‖ and missionary activity for Anthroposophy. During World War I, Steiner
promoted his plan to reorganize society. He sent tracts to world leaders, but none bought
his vague plan to divide society into three independent spheres, spiritual, economic, and
rights. Disappointed, he told his followers that humanity‘s opportunity to take up the
threefold social order had passed, and the best that he could do would be to found a school
to prepare souls who would meet up again when they were reincarnated in the sixth post-
Atlantean epoch. A publication of AWSNA, the trademark holder of ―Waldorf‖ in North
America, describes their motives:
[I]t is important to bring out a point which is not often clearly realized. The
spiritual life forces of a Waldorf school are twofold or, we could also say,