The Fifth Gospel

Through his intuitive reading of the Akashic Record – the living

memory of Earth and cosmos – Rudolf Steiner described

dimensions of the life of Jesus Christ that extend beyond the four

canonical Gospels. After years of inner struggle and rigorous selfexamination,

Steiner began presenting these insights publicly in

1913. He spoke with great care and restraint, fully aware of the

responsibility involved, yet convinced that such knowledge was

necessary for a new, conscious understanding of Christ.

In this series of deeply moving lectures, given in Oslo and five

German cities, Steiner unfolds a coherent picture of Jesus’s earthly

mission. He describes the existence of two Jesus children, the

transfer of the Zarathustra-I, Jesus’s experience of the Essene

community, and the profound inner suffering that prepared the way

for the Baptism in the Jordan. Central moments – including the

temptations in the desert, the sorrow over the decline of ancient

Mystery paths, Jesus’s conversations with Mary, and the gradual

union of the Christ-Being with the sheaths of Jesus of Nazareth –

appear as stages in a cosmic drama of sacrifice and love. The Mystery

of Golgotha emerges as the decisive turning point of Earth

evolution: not merely an historical event, but the birth of a new

cosmic impulse through which Christ united with the Earth.

This complete edition – the first to feature all eighteen lectures on

the subject – includes an introduction by Tom Ravetz.