We have been quite busy at SteinerBooks and, consequently, new additions to our Spiritual Research Center Archive have been slow in coming. We will do our best to rectify that in the coming months. We hope you enjoy these two new additions...

In both lecture series (herein collected for the first time in English as a single volume), Steiner explores the effects on the child of what he variously calls, on the one hand, sculptural or etheric formative forces and, on the other, musical or astral forces. These formative forces, like a sculptor taking hold of a handful of clay, work in the spirit of Apollo from the whole to the part. They act with a centripetal gesture—starting from the vast expanses of the periphery—to form and ground and center a child: in short, to incarnate the child into unique flesh and bone, distinct blood and nerve. The other forces, like a musician taking up a trumpet or drum, work in the spirit of Dionysus from individual elements to the whole. They act with a centrifugal gesture—starting with distinct parts, like individual notes—to build and expand and extend a child: in short, to excarnate it from the confines of the physical world and connect it with the whole periphery of the spiritual world. —Douglas Gerwin (from his introduction)

We are happy to announce that the archive now contains all of the currently published volumes in the Foundations of Waldorf Education series, the latest addition being the complete text of Rudolf Steiner's lectures, Balance in Teaching.

The nine lectures in this volume are important reading, particularly for Waldorf teachers and, perhaps more important, for those studying to become teachers. A unique value of the electronic versions of these books is that one can easily research the text with the Acrobat Reader, making it an invaluable tool for students and teachers.

“If we take a complete survey, at the beginning of Earth evolution we have three classes of beings: human beings, who were to bring their fourth principle to full development on Earth; a class of luciferic beings who were to evolve their sixth principle; and a class of luciferic beings who were to develop their seventh principle. These were beings who, because they were ready to develop their sixth and seventh principles, stood higher than humankind—indeed, far above human beings in this respect. However, they also ranged above Christ in this sense; out of devotion to humanity, the Christ was to bring his fourth principle to expression on Earth. It will not be the Christ, let us say, that will quicken human beings in the future to give expression to something other than the true ‘I,’ the innermost human being—to reach ever-higher stages. Rather, luciferic spirits will, in a certain sense, lead human beings out beyond themselves.” —Rudolf Steiner

In this lecture, Steiner speaks especially of the relationship of the Christ being to Earth and to humankind, as well as the important role of luciferic spirits for our future human development. It is an important lecture for understanding much of what Steiner described in The Interior of the Earth, as well as the collection of writings in The Inner Life of the Earth

This lecture in Munich on January 9, 1912, is currently unavailable in print. It was recently edited especially for the Spiritual Research Center Archive.