History of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities of the School for Spiritual Science

by Christiane Haid, Ph.D.

(Goetheanum; Dornach, Switzerland)

Dr. Haid is the present leader of the Section at the Goetheanum. Her biography is discussed in this essay. She wrote this essay in 2017 with the title Sektion für Schöne Wissenschaften Geschichte und Aufgabenstellung. It will appear in English in a forthcoming book. It is presented here to encourage persons interested in the Section to take up questions similar to the ones posed in this essay and elsewhere on this website. The essay appears in anticipation of a planned Section conference in North America in 2024, an event that Dr. Haid will attend.

[Editorial comments, included in brackets such as these, are provided to assist the translation between the German and English versions of this essay and to add some material relevant to North America. For example, in German the name of the Section translates to “Beautiful Sciences” (Schöne Wissenschaften), but in English the name of the Section is “Literary Arts and Humanities.” There is clearly a difference; it is one that Dr. Haid discusses in her essay. Throughout this essay, the English-language Section name is used whenever possible. This essay by Christiane Haid provides a detailed overview of the Section’s history since its founding in 1923 by Rudolf Steiner. For a specific look at the history of the Section work in North America (work that began at the end of the 20th century), see the essay by Marguerite Miller on this website.]

“The connection to the spirit breaks if it is not maintained by beauty.

Beauty connects the ‘I’ with the body.”

— Rudolf Steiner

The literary arts and humanities are a discipline that only became possible after the start of the modern era and with the development of the consciousness soul. The event must be seen in direct connection with the growing autonomy of judgement of the human being and at the same time with the challenge to the human being’s continuing soul and spiritual development and the consequent inner need to fulfill this development with increasing independence from religious and worldly authorities.

Human beings might be said to be turning toward the fact of their humanity and toward the need to become conscious individuals in an historical sense as time beings.

“We are sometimes asked to say in a few words what Anthroposophy is. It is of course impossible. But let us in this context say that the kernel of Anthroposophy is the concept of the human being’s self-consciousness as a process in time — with all that this implies.”
— Owen Barfield

The testimony to such growing awareness is their scientific, cultural, and artistic achievements. In relation to the literary arts and humanities, this growing awareness includes the following priorities: literature, aesthetics, linguistics and language, philosophy, ethno-psychology/ethnology, culture and the wisdom-tradition of the Mysteries, and in a wider context the cultural and developmental history of the human being. The range of content is therefore wide, so that individual priorities must always be contextualized thematically.

The Literary Arts and Humanities create a bridge between art and science [the original German name of the Section is “Beautiful Sciences] — art and science working together in the creative capacities of individual human souls. Joseph Beuys’ remark that “every human being is an artist” is complemented by a scientific attitude, and thus also “every human being is a scientist.”

There is, however, an essential difference, one that touches on a question of methodology – a question only hinted at here— because the scientific attitude always starts from the general and seeks the law. In the human artistic process the individual stands foremost in the foreground. As Friedrich Schiller put it: the development of a ‘science of beauty’ requires an Aesthetic Education of the human being, and this, at its highest level, becomes an education toward ethics. In the bridging of the gap between science and art, a bridge constructed first and foremost by words and language, an unspoken process occurs that leads the human being toward humanism and culture. This formatively human process transcends a type of thinking that is hard-nosed materialist and bottom-line: a type of thinking and outlook that two fascist, totalitarian regimes of the 20th century and the recent events in the 21st century evidenced in their challenges to the human spirit. The recent challenges in our 21st century include an ever-increasing gravitational pull toward a mechanized technocracy, toward wars and social disasters worldwide. In this context, literature continues to provide a lens through which the challenges of the present age can be insightfully contemplated and understood. [2]

“A Rose by Any Other Name”

 I should mention that the name of the Section – ‘Literary Arts and Humanities’ in English, ‘Belles lettres’ in French, and ‘Schöne Wissenschaften [Beautiful Sciences]’ in the German –reveals three different nuances of meaning. While in German, “beauty” and “science” designate the two poles between which the bridge is built, the French name puts emphasis on the artistic and the beautiful, and the English-language name for the Section puts emphasis on the humanities and the human [as well as an emphasis on the literary arts]. [‘Wissenschaft’ can also be translated as academic scholarship or an academic discipline and, more broadly still, as a systematic body of knowledge.]

Rudolf Steiner devoted many years of his life to the question of the relationship between science and art, a relationship that played a particularly prominent role in German idealism. While working in Weimar as Goethe’s editor, Steiner became acquainted through Goethe’s work with the productive interpenetration of these two disciplines. For Goethe, art and science were twin “revelations” of a universal principle that orders the world. Whereas the scientist or researcher explores the world to express its elemental forces as clear propositions, the artist seeks to imbue her artwork with such elemental forces. [3]

A first methodological basis for this question is provided by Steiner’s early work Goethe’s Theory of Knowledge. An Outline of the Epistemology of His World View [4] in which he sets out very concisely but fundamentally that in the humanities ‘our consciousness is dealing with spiritual content itself: with the individual human spirit, with the creations of culture, of literature, with consecutive scientific convictions, with the creations of art. Intellectual content is grasped by the spirit. Here reality already contains the idea, the law which otherwise only comes to appearance in intellectual understanding. What in science is the product of thinking about objects is here innate within them. [5]

[In German, the word “Geisteswissenschaft” is used to designate the humanistic sciences or liberal arts, as opposed to the natural sciences, for example. This creates some confusion in the English language realm, most especially when Rudolf Steiner uses the word Geisteswissenschaft in its more literal meaning “spiritual science.” While the words spirit, mind, and intellect once stood in a close relationship in everyday English, they have drifted apart in recent centuries. For example, in order to teach Shelley’s poem “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty,” a college instructor will first need to explicate the meaning of ‘intellectual’ as Shelley uses it in its older, traditional, and more Platonic meaning as ‘spiritual’ (and also, by the way, explain the word ‘spiritual,” which often comes freighted these days with New Age connotations that may span very disparate realms of culture and practice). Failing to do this risks that students likely will assume that Shelley is talking about “intellectual” in the sense of privileged, well-connected, highly degreed knowledge workers, elite members of the academy, think tanks, etc.]

Here Steiner bases the humanities on a completely different form of cognition [6] which he elaborates further in subsequent writings. Similar approaches can be found in Wilhelm Dilthey and Ernst Cassirer. In his The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Cassirer in his own way made a remarkable attempt to develop a cognitive method appropriate for the humanities. More recently, Hans-Georg Gadamer made an important contribution to this subject with his main work Truth and Method.

With regard to the central importance of beauty, reference must be made to the publication by the philosopher Byung-Chul Han, Saving Beauty. He currently lectures in Berlin. The book explains how in the age of digitalization the understanding of beauty as a supra-material value is of key importance and that its dimensions must be rediscovered and grasped.

In his book Vom Menschenrätsel [7] published in 1916 [7], Steiner’s intention to make productive use of the still unexhausted impulses of the age of Goethe is particularly evident. Here he looks at philosophers, scientists, poets and creative artists from Austria and Germany who still had a connection with the Idealism of the age of Goethe as it extended into the spirit and were untouched by the materialism emerging since the mid-nineteenth century. The spirit of the age of Goethe was to be rescued and carried over into the twentieth century and made productive in its key approaches. Steiner here saw the seeds for the anthroposophy which he went on to develop. Thus, the search for the buried spirit of Idealism is taken up again in 1921 in a series of essays entitled ‘Beiträge zur Wiederbelebung des verschütteten Geisteslebens – Goethe Studien’ [Contributions toward a Revival of a Forgotten Understanding of the Humanities: Goethe Studies]. [8] These essays by Steiner are an example of his work in a subject area which, then as now, has been forgotten and is not easy to communicate.

They relate to the inner soul and spiritual life of the human being which is actively grasped in the I and which comes to expression in the philosophical and artistic works and other cultural creations which educate human beings and advance their humanity – originating in a single source, as described above, which is equally the property of art and science. It is much more starkly apparent today in our current culture that both art and science each display their own one-sided developmental tendencies which at their extremes can be inhuman. Hence bringing them together continues to be a central task of the future.

Albert Steffen

Section Leaders Since Its Founding by Rudolf Steiner During the Christmas Conference in 1923

1923 -1963 Albert Steffen

The establishment of the Section for “Beautiful Sciences” as part of the foundation of the School of Spiritual Science in December 1923 had a prelude which was important for the way the Section was set up. Albert Steffen (1884-1963), a writer who at the time was well-known and respected in Switzerland, had been appointed as the editor of the newly founded weekly Das Goetheanum [9] by Rudolf Steiner in 1921. His first novel Ott, Alois und Werelsche [10] had been published in 1907 by S. Fischer in Berlin and after the publication of a further three novels he, along with Robert Walser and Jakob Schaffner, was considered to be one of a potential up-and-coming generation of new Swiss writers. That same year, a lecture brought him into contact with Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy. Thus, he became a member of the Anthroposophical Society in 1910 and in 1920 moved from Munich to Dornach. At the first course of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum on The Boundaries of Natural Science in the autumn of 1920, he gave two lectures on ‘The crisis in the life of the artist.’ [13, 14]

The cognitive methodology contained in Schiller‘s Letters on the Aesthetic Education of the Human Being [15] was an essential part of his own work, which he also related to the current phenomena in painting and literature.

As the editor of the Wochenschrift, Steffen worked closely with Rudolf Steiner. It was his concern, as he wrote in the opening issue, ‘to identify the spiritual forces at work in Europe and to show, in doing so, that Das Goetheanum brings the form which predominates in the West and the life which flows in the East to a synthesis in the free spirit.’ [16] He continued as editor for forty-one years until his death in 1963. At the Christmas Conference of 1923/1924, during which the School of Spiritual Science and the General Anthroposophical Society were founded, Albert Steffen was then appointed by Steiner as the head of the Section for Beautiful Sciences, member of the executive council and deputy chair. The future direction of the work of the Section continued wholly in the spirit of what Steffen had contributed until then. Steiner called him a ‘magnificent representative of the Beautiful Sciences.’ [17]

In 1923, Steiner characterized the Beautiful Sciences, building on the eighteenth-century term ‘Belles lettres’, as a discipline which ‘has introduced beauty, aesthetics and the artistic into human knowledge’. [18] In addition, the bridging function contained in the task of the Section was important to him: ‘In earlier times there was a concept of [“literary arts and humanities”] which built a bridge between actual science and the works of the creative human imagination.’ [19] This linked the Section directly with the unity of art and science which was characteristic of Goethe’s work and in which spirit the Section endeavors to work.

Alongside his work as editor of the journal Das Goetheanum, in which he wrote about anthroposophy in essay form, Steffen produced numerous works of literature, above all plays, novels and poems as well as sketches and memoires. In his essays he examined Goethe [20] and Schiller intensively, whose works provided a methodological foundation for him, as well as other writers from that period. His dramatic works were devoted to the observation of contemporary events from a spiritual perspective. The aim was to make contemporary events more transparent in their deeper meaning to the members of the Anthroposophical Society. Steffen saw his leadership function as chair of the Anthroposophical Society among other things in the creation of dramas: in this sense it might be said that he led the Society through his art. The artistic picture and dramatic process were intended to stimulate understanding of the world and the self in the sense of an existential aesthetics which provided the audience not with normative prescriptions but images which left them free.

He also saw as ‘therapeutic writing’ his examination of the issues relating to the politics of his time and the history of consciousness, in which he aimed for a diagnosis of the Zeitgeist. Several plays can be cited here as examples which treated historical events in an impressive way as a critique of his time: Hieram und Salomo [21] for the first time brought the Temple legend to public attention in dramatic form. Der Chef des Generalstabs [22] illustrated the dramatic life situation and the background to the life of Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke and the question of who was responsible for the war. A gripping look-forward to Hitler and fascism was created by Steffen in the dramatic sketch Der Sturz des Antichrist. [23] Das Todeserlebnis des Manes [24] stages in its opening scene the crucifixion of a Jew who is freed by Manes, a daring scene in 1935. Die Friedenstragödie [25] deals with the life of Woodrow Wilson and the consequences of his Fourteen Points, and Ruf am Abgrund [26] takes up the subject of humane killing and euthanasia, something that required considerable courage in 1942. The criticism of National Socialism which is clearly evident in Steffen’s plays and poems provided guidance and clarification for many readers, above all in Germany.

Steffen’s essays contain both important contributions on the literary arts and humanities as well as many contributions relating to events of his time and cultural, historical, and scientific questions such as technology, the humane killing of human life [27] and the danger of the atom bomb. A selection of essay volumes [28] is devoted to the literary arts and humanities in a narrower sense, of which Wiedergeburt der Schönen Wissenschaften [Rebirth of the Beautiful Sciences] is the central basic work [30] in this respect. Subjects tackled in this volume include ‘The renewal of the Mysteries and the literary arts and humanities’; ‘The encounter of art and science’; ‘Critical and creative abilities’; ‘Aristotle as father of the literary arts and humanities’; ‘The message of Novalis’; ‘Forces of death and resurrection in the creative human being’; ‘Artists on the path of initiation’; ‘The descent into the world of the dead as the motif of great poetic writings’; ‘Intuitive judgement and the ordering of fate as the basis of contemporary poetic writings’; ‘Thoughts about the Zeitgeist’. It can be clearly recognized here that for Steffen the continuation and deepening of the legacy of Idealism from the time of Goethe as well as antiquity provided important starting points and impulses for his work which, in its inner orientation, almost always sought meditative deepening as well as making it productive in the concrete situations of life.

In addition, Steffen’s commitment to peace policy, following on from Henry Dunant’s Swiss impulse of the Red Cross, deserves to be highlighted. In June 1946, he drew up an appeal to the Swiss people [31] which was presented to the Swiss Federal Assembly and the Federal Council on 18 December by national councilor Emil Anderegg, supported by forty-six national councilors and nine councilors from the Council of States. Steffen calls for the creation of neutral zones, by which he meant towns and certain territories which were intended to be oases of humanity. These should be set up as far as possible in all countries of the world and be given legal status to alleviate the suffering of war; that is, they should ensure that the injured could be treated, women, children and the elderly protected, and the flows of refugees prevented.

Albert Steffen was principally an artist but, starting from his writing, he also engaged in intensive cognitive work. As the first head of the Section, he embodied the artistic and creative side of the literary arts and humanities. The first forty years of the Section were determined primarily by Albert Steffen and his literary work. This came to expression, on the one hand, through his editorial work as editor of the journal Das Goetheanum, and, on the other hand, through his creative work of plays, novels, essays, and poetry. In his literary work, Steffen endeavored to make the constructive forces of literature, which strengthened the personality, productive and to encourage his readers to engage in meditative, internalizing and culturally transformative work.

As a PEN Club member, he also involved himself in the public literary life of his time. His works were reviewed in the daily newspapers and literary journals, even if his connection with anthroposophy was often critically judged. The well-known Basel German scholar Walter Muschg summed up the importance of Steffen’s work in the foreword to a volume of poetry which he published in 1945:

‘In Steffen, the sorrow about the desecration of the world was paired with a spontaneous power of language. As a storyteller and dramatist, he did not shy away from the trivialities of everyday life, instead elevating them in particular with apostolic power to the pure air of his knowledge. He combined a view of real things – with a sense of the spiritual and supersensory. His words, too, oscillated in truthfulness between the spiritual and sensory sphere so that we experienced this poet as thoroughly modern but in addition – something that made him different from many others – as someone who was genuine in every fibre. [32]

— Walter Muschg, Germanist

Existing sources have not so far revealed the existence of working groups or joint work within the Section, apart from individual contact. Steffen worked as a kind of powerful solitary figure. Some years later, the desire for a group in a related field became evident – but not in any institutionally recognizable connection with the Section. Thus, the establishment of the Working Group for Cultural Studies was announced in 1930 as a subject-related group [33] for which Otto Frankl, Wilhelm Lewerenz and Günter Schubert declared themselves responsible. Their goal was to work methodologically on the anthroposophical knowledge in the fields of cultural history, philology, and philosophy and to communicate it.

Alongside historiography, work was also to be undertaken in the fields of anthropology, ethnology, and prehistory, in which the social sciences and natural sciences were also to be included. Also in the 1930s, the Literary Association with Paul Bühler, Emma Krell, Richard Schubert and Hermann Wilhelm Weißenborn was founded, and in 1954 the working Group for Cultural Studies by Jérôme Bessenich, Paul Bühler and Otto Fränkl. Paul Bühler was for many years Albert Steffen’s assistant and after his death became editor of the journal Das Goetheanum from 1963 to 1966.

1963-1983 Friedrich Hiebel

After Steffen’s death in 1963, the German scholar Friedrich Hiebel (1903-1989), who came from Austria and worked in the USA until 1961 as a literary scholar, was appointed to the executive council at the Goetheanum and entrusted with the leadership of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities and, from 1966, with editing the journal Das Goetheanum. Thus, the leadership of the Section passed to a person who was more focused on the academic work on literature and culture, even if Hiebel also produced literary works. [mention the titles] Hiebel had encountered Rudolf Steiner when he was still at school and had become his pupil.

After completing his studies, he worked for a time as a teacher at various Waldorf schools in Germany until he had to emigrate to the USA in 1939 due to his Jewish background. After working there as a Waldorf teacher, Hiebel from 1945 onwards became a professor of German language and literature at Princeton University, Rutgers University, and Wagner College in Staten Island. In 1961 he followed an appointment to the University of Freiburg and moved to Dornach. In 1952, while still in the USA, Hiebel had published a groundbreaking book about Novalis called Novalis, der Dichter der blauen Blume [34]  [Novalis, the Poet of the Blue Flower] which became very well-known both in the USA and Europe among literary scholars. In 1960, he published the first comprehensive monograph about the work of Albert Steffen with the title Die Dichtung als Schöne Wissenschaft [35]. Since the 1950s he had been involved in various conferences at the Goetheanum and had proved his credentials as a future head of the Section for Literary Arts and Humanities.

By inclination and as a researcher, Hiebel maintained a different leadership style from Albert Steffen. From the beginning, he endeavored to shape the Section as a working community of authors and researchers who, among other things, wrote contributions for the journal Das Goetheanum as one of their main tasks.

Starting in 1964, Friedrich Hiebel organized a School of Spiritual Science week once a year and additional weekend events on subjects of the so-called literary arts and humanities. These meetings pursued the goal of enabling the intensive exchange of research results. A selection of the subjects worked includes:

The Mysteries as background to the development of the drama (starting from Steffen‘s dramatic contributions) 1964,
Ways in the art form of biography 1966,
Folk soul and spirit of the language 1968,
Novalis, the work of the poet and the world of the thinker 1970,
Metamorphoses of the imagination 1974,
The art of historiography 1975,
Recognizing destiny in literature and biography 1976,
Lessing and the future of humankind, on the 250th anniversary of Lessing’s birth 1979,
The literary arts and humanities as impulse for language culture and cultivation 1981,
Forward-looking ways of interpreting Faust (study week for School members) 1982.

Involvement in the work of the Section in these years was not externally organized but came to expression above all through ideas – through written works and in contributions at the School week which was held once a year. Hiebel himself wrote about the style of working of the Section:

If through the spoken word of a lecture during the study weeks the community of a working group comes to expression, then the individual will from year-to-year gain with all the greater intensity in literary endeavor what in the form of the literary arts and humanities desires to guide us from the vestibule to the center, from pre-school to the School.[36]

— Friedrich HIebel

Hiebel wrote works of his own on some of the topics worked on. [37] Apart from the School weeks and weekend conferences, there were also events and collaborations with the Pedagogical Section in the field of art history and art teaching as well as art history and the development of consciousness. These seminars were intended for art students at the Goetheanum and graduates of the seminars for anthroposophy and education. In a work report about the Section for the years 1963 to 1966, Friedrich Hiebel wrote:

What are the literary arts and humanities in their renewal through Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual science, as it wishes to be cultivated at the Goetheanum, the School of Spiritual Science? What fields of culture do they encompass? […] Novalis was, as Rudolf Steiner often highlighted, the herald of anthroposophy. As such he was also the pioneer of the spiritual renewal of the literary arts and humanities. Poetic arts and the striving for knowledge were universally united in him. Poetic creativity pulsed through him inwardly; it turned outwards as fragments of the literary arts and humanities. Art and cognition fertilized one another in him. But this sets an example and is valid also for us. Science which recognizes beauty awakens the art which reveals a higher truth.

— Friedrich HIebel

Here is the diagram that Friedrich Hiebel used when he discussed the structure of the Section. [This diagram was discussed at a Section meeting in March 2022. Click this sentence to view the video lecture: “The Dark Forest.”]

Diagram Explaining Section Work by Friedrich Hiebel

‘The circumference of the circle stands in a reciprocal relationship with its center. The archetypally poetic is Orphic in the light of Mystery wisdom. The philosopher is the true lover of such wisdom. “Only when the philosopher appears as Orpheus does the whole form into true sciences.” Let this sentence from Novalis in future be won step-by-step as the motto of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities for future generations. [38]

— Friedrich HIebel

Hiebel quotes the following research work which resulted over the years in the context of the Section:

Manfred Krüger: Transformations of Tragedy – Drama and Initiation; [39]
Bernd Lampe: Before the Gate of the Sun. Easter play about Julian the Apostate; [40]
Heinrich Teutschmann: Translation and publication of Albrecht von Scharfenberg’s Sigune und Schionatulander; [41]
Erwin Horstmann: The History of Consciousness of Ancient Egypt; [42]
Michael Aschenbrenner: The Two Faces of Language. [43]

In June 1982, Friedrich Hiebel for the first time organized a School week for members of the School in which the subject of ‘the threshold’ in Goethe’s life and work was the focus of deliberations. Aged 82, he concluded his work in the leadership of the Section with this School week.

1983–1987 and 1991–1995 Hagen Biesantz

With Hagen Biesantz (1924–1996), an archaeologist and art scholar, another person was appointed to the executive council at the Goetheanum in 1966 who had an academic focus. He had headed the Section for the Performing Arts since 1968 and in 1978 founded the Section for the Study of Art. When Biesantz took over as head of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities from Friedrich Hiebel in 1983, the work on the study of art was continued as part of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities. Hiebel remained editor of the weekly Das Goetheanum until 1990. Over the years, Biesantz invited various speakers such as Wolfgang Greiner, Karl-Martin Dietz and Manfred Krüger to organize conferences as part of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities at the Goetheanum. He founded the ‘Aesthetics’, working group which continued for many years and started a correspondence which was published by Kunstwissenschaftliche Blätter. [44] Together with Arne Klingborg, Biesantz wrote a book about the Goetheanum building. [45]

The First Goetheanum

The following questions were worked on in the research group on the study of art:

What elements of a new art were striven for by individual, generally recognized artists in our century in the avant-garde phase of their work which made them known?
At what point is a caesura, mostly a standing still, noticeable in their personal development as an artist?
What stylistic elements from the past or from cultures outside Europe become more apparent after such a caesura?
How can the incursion of such formal elements be understood as a trait of the artist in connection with destiny?

The goal of the work of about sixteen co-workers was to work on spiritual scientific aesthetics from out of various specialist disciplines. In addition, contemporary positions in art scholarship were also worked on, such as for example Haftmann and Sedlmayr. Clothing art, fairytales and puppetry were also included as new subjects in the work of the Section.

1987-1991 A four-member college consisting of Michael Bockemühl, Karl-Martin Dietz, Manfred Krüger and Heinz Zimmermann

In 1987, the attempt was made to give the leadership of the Section a collegial form of four competent representatives from individual specialist disciplines in the literary arts and humanities who had all also proved their academic worth in their subject area. Here, too, the focus was on the academic approach.

Michael Bockemühl (1943-2009), working at Witten-Herdecke University, was to take over the art studies and aesthetic part, Karl-Martin Dietz (born 1945), a classical philologist and director of the Friedrich von Hardenberg Institute for Cultural Studies in Heidelberg, the specialist area of cultural studies. The Romance specialist, literary scholar and philosopher Manfred Krüger (born 1938), working as professor of philosophy at the University of Applied Sciences and Art in Ottersberg, was given the literary arts and humanities in the narrower sense, which also included literary scholarship and questions of writing and speaking. The German scholar and philologist Heinz Zimmermann (1937-2011), a member of the executive council at the Goetheanum and head of the Pedagogical Section, looked after the field of linguistic sciences.

Manfred Krüger together with his wife Christine Krüger had already founded a Seminar for the Humanities in Nuremberg in 1971. Its central task, alongside philosophy and anthroposophy, was the representation primarily of the literary arts and humanities in research and teaching. This work was associated from the beginning with the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities at the Goetheanum. At the end of the 1960s, the collaboration with Friedrich Hiebel started and was consolidated to 1991 into annual Whitsun conferences at the Goetheanum at which research results were mostly presented. Subjects which resulted in book publications in subsequent years were Novalis [46], Grail studies [47] and the teachings about the of the hierarchies [48]. This impulse continued at the Whitsun conferences in Nuremberg (1992 and 1993), Hanover (1994, 1995, 1996) and Ephesus (1997). [49]

A colloquium on Rudolf Steiner’s language was set up by Heinz Zimmermann; the work which started at that time continues to the present day. He continued with his research on grammar and the pictorial nature of language which also produced several publications. [50] Karl-Martin Dietz organized conferences on the history of consciousness and other subjects at the Goetheanum.

The model of collegial leadership could not, however, be successfully implemented in the long term so that the responsibility for the Section was handed back in 1991. Hagen Biesantz once again took over as its head for another five years.

The work of the Section came to a halt for two years until in 1997 an interim leadership consisting of Frank Berger, Almut Bockemühl, Martina Maria Sam and Dietrich Rapp assumed responsibility. During the 1990s, demands began make themselves heard that the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities as a department of the School of Spiritual Science should be closed since it was no longer evident what it stood for. To begin with, the college attempted to work out the foundations and perspectives for the future work of the Section. In wrestling with the future of the Section, the exchange of views was sought with people who in terms of content had a close connection with the Section. Three discussion meetings took place in Dornach from which it became clear that the Section continued to fulfil an important task.

1997–1999 Interim leadership through Frank Berger, Almut Bockemühl, Dietrich Rapp and Martina Maria Sam

Since April 1996, Martina Maria Sam – a eurythmist and German scholar who in 1995 had written an essay setting out perspectives for the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities [51] – and Dietrich Rapp – a natural scientist – had together edited the journal Das Goetheanum. Largely on the merits of this work, they were asked by the executive council at the Goetheanum in April 1997 to take on the leadership of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities on an interim basis. The music scholar and publisher Frank Berger joined the interim leadership as its third member, and the German scholar Almut Bockemühl was called in as the fourth person.

Almut Bockemühl had started working on fairytales as long ago as 1985. Her focus was less on the educational use of fairytales for children but more generally on the importance of fairytales for the development of the imagination as well as the relationship between fairytales and anthroposophy. Subjects including the Christian esoteric motifs in fairytales, Rosicrucian activity and fairytales and alchemical images in fairytales were the focus of her work. This work resulted in several publications and larger fairytale conferences [53] at the Goetheanum as well as the twice-yearly fairytale colloquia which are still being held. In addition, Almut Bockemühl took the initiative with a group in 1991 to set up annual colloquia on language in poetry. These colloquia also continue to take place and in the last twenty-six years worked on the writings of Friedrich Hölderlin, Nelly Sachs, Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul Celan, Owen Barfield, Georg Büchner, Rudolf Steiner, Durs Grünbein, Rainer Kunze, Rainer Maria Rilke, Novalis, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, Peter Handke, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Michael Donhauser, Peter Waterhouse, Erika Burkart, Friedrich Nietzsche, Georg Trakl, Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Gottfried Benn, Ossip Mandelstam, Günter Eich, Franz Kafka, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer and Christian Morgenstern.

In November 1999, the leadership college returned responsibility for the Section to the college of the School because it had become clear that if the profile of the Section was to develop in real terms it had to be properly set up.

Establishment of Section groups in Britain and North America

In 1998, the Humanities Section was established in Britain by the linguist Vivien Law [54] and the publisher, publicist, and translator Simon Blaxland-de Lange. In the same year, there was a similar impulse in North America which in 1999 led to the establishment of the Section for Literary Arts and Humanities in North America in Denver, Colorado, by the translator Marguerite Miller, the German scholar and translator of Goethe Douglas Miller, Gertrud Reif-Hughes, Terry and Jane Hipolito and Herbert Hagens. Subjects of their work to date have been: creative writing, literature (Goethe, Grillparzer, Kafka, Novalis, Barfield, Emerson) as well as original writings by contemporary authors. A newsletter, published twice a year, is used for documentation purposes, serves to exchange current research and links Section members in North America and the English-speaking world.

[Following the retirement of Douglas and Marguerite Miller in 2019, the North American Section reorganized and strengthened its working affiliation with Section activities in Dornach. Bruce Donehower, Ph.D. a member of the Section leadership group under the Millers since 2001, worked closely with colleagues in North America and with Christiane Haid to reorganize the Section work and to maintain the continuity of Section meetings and research in North America after the Millers retired. The North American Section currently communicates its activities, research, and events via the website TheLiteraryArts.com. A North American Section leadership group, facilitated by Bruce Donehower, currently has as members Fred Dennehy (USA), Gayle Davis (USA), Arie van Amerigen (Canada), Robert McKay (Canada), Herbert Hagens (USA), Susan Koppersmith (Canada), Clifford Venho (USA), Robert McDermott (USA).]

2000-2012 Martina Maria Sam

In December 1999, Martina Maria Sam was appointed as the head of the Section. She had studied eurythmy and Waldorf education in Witten as well as art history and German in Basel. From 1987 to 1991 she worked as a eurythmist with the Goetheanum Stage and from 1989 for twelve years as an editor on the complete works of Rudolf Steiner, particularly on the esoteric writings. In 1994 she published a new edition of Jung-Stilling’s novel about initiation, Heimweh. [55]

Continuing the work of the interim college, Martina Maria Sam was concerned to set out more clearly the tasks of the Section and to give it a new foothold in the School and at the Goetheanum. Christiane Haid, who from 2001 supported the Section in Dornach as a research associate, began working on a basic outline of the history of the Section so that an overview could be obtained of the different approaches and intentions. [56]

In addition, Section members from all over the world were asked for essayistic contributions on the foundations of the literary arts and humanities; they are collected in the first Jahrbuch für Schöne Wissenschaften (2002) with the title ‘Im Denken sehend werden’. In addition, there were subject and research colloquia (linguistics, art studies, translation, philosophy, and anthroposophy). Conferences were set up to recast the Section internally and make it visible again externally. Regarding public events, the Whitsun conferences were organized by the Section again from 2002, following the impulse of Friedrich Hiebel; a new series of so-called cultural conferences on two to three weekends per year were started; and regular conferences on the work of Albert Steffen were organized in collaboration with the Albert Steffen Foundation.

The establishment of Section groups – as had already happened in Britain and North America – was intended to anchor the work of the Section worldwide. Initiatives and smaller groups arose in Argentina, Brazil, Germany, the Francophone countries, Japan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

A partly bilingual (German/English) six monthly Section newsletter was added from 2007 to the Jahrbücher für Schöne Wissenschaften [57], because the latter only appeared at greater intervals (2002, 2006, 2011).

Section Yearbook / English Edition / 2002

The focus of the Section internally was the work on the concept of the literary arts and humanities. [58] Then ‘[…] the cultivation of language awareness and above all an understanding of the special qualities of the language of Rudolf Steiner was a fundamental part of the work of the Section’. [59]

The question through which type of linguistic and conceptual presentation, through which concrete linguistic devices Rudolf Steiner succeeded both in framing spiritual content and stimulating activity in the reader, and thus in laying a seed for the future of language development, was the focus of several colloquia and essays. [60] Other topics were the concept of the image and foundations of imaginative cognition. [61] Martina Maria Sam also investigated the critique of language at the time of Rudolf Steiner and worked on a dissertation about Rudolf Steiner Faust reception.[62]

Since 2012 Christiane Haid

After Martina Maria Sam resigned as head of the Section at the beginning of 2012, Christiane Haid was appointed as her replacement in September of the same year. She had studied German, history, education and art in Freiburg and Hamburg and worked at the Friedrich von Hardenberg Institute for Cultural Studies in Heidelberg on research into the anthroposophical cultural impulse in the twentieth century, producing a study [63] on anthroposophical work with young people and students. She was also active as a painter for some years. Involved in the development of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities from 2001 to 2006, she obtained her doctorate in 2012 as part of her work at the Albert Steffen Foundation with a dissertation on Albert Steffen’s Kleine Mythen. [64] Since 2009, she has also been the director of the publisher Verlag am Goetheanum.

Current Tasks and Approaches

Work on questions of scientific methodology which, taking other scientific concepts into account, shows the importance of Rudolf Steiner’s work for a holistic science of the twenty-first century which takes the spirit into account. A contribution in this respect is envisaged by establishing a connection with the works of Rudolf Steiner which sets itself the task of ensuring that Rudolf Steiner’s work is communicated in a relevant way in editions, events and by practical means, both from an anthroposophical perspective and in academic contexts. A colloquium taking place twice a year on Rudolf Steiner’s creative linguistic impulse has so far provided a regular work context for this as well as the organization of annual study conferences on Rudolf Steiner’s works which are both introductory and deepening in character. Research areas, projects and tasks underway include:

Working on and communicating an understanding of the cultural past in the Mystery cultures and advanced civilizations, the history of the origin myths and holy texts, the religions, philosophy as well as the art and architecture of all ages from the perspective of the development of human consciousness and identity. These objects function as a mirror in which human beings learn to know themselves over time and as part of humanity in the sense of a process of obtaining self-knowledge. They will be looked at from this perspective in the work of the Section. In this way the conditions are created for an understanding of foreign origins, different mentalities, individual ways of being and cultural and social development without which neither an understanding of the present nor the shaping of future conditions is possible. Rudolf Steiner has provided very pertinent foundations and perspectives in this respect which need to be further worked on in this field in combination with the results of academic research.

 

The productive and creative part of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities consists of poetry and literary creation. On the one hand, authors are offered a space for interchange among one another and the communication of their works. On the other hand, the communication of literature occupies a prominent role. A pure space in which the individual can live in an inner world of images produced through language and by themselves without utilitarian constraints is of central importance for the formation of identity and the development of the personality at any age. Understood and communicated in this way, literature expands the personal horizon, enables an encounter with individual experiences, foreign countries, other lifestyles, ethical values, and social conditions. In the age of globalization and digitalization, an understanding of foreign things, with the simultaneous strengthening of our own identity, not through cutting ourselves off but through empathetic connection and understanding, plays an important role. In addition, this is about investigating the effect of literary texts on the development of soul and spiritual organs in an ethical and moral sense. Literature can – as it has done for millennia but does today on a more individual level – contribute significantly to the humanization of the human being in the sense of lifelong learning and guide culture away from its current trends of superficiality and amusement to a transformative, meaningful, and existential experience. A research project which has simultaneously an educational aspect is devoted to the subject of ‘the humanization of the human being through literature – self-encounter and community building’. There is a more detailed account at the end of this contribution.

 

A further field is represented by language in its various layers. Originally the creative logos, it serves today primarily as an information carrier and means of communication in social life. Here the task is to rediscover the sound and tone aspect of language, investigate it as a creative entity and find new access to the level of its active forces. Such an understanding of language creates a sensitivity for the essential character of language which plays a role above all in poetry. Such a heightened awareness of language additionally allows us to develop a greater attentiveness to the ethical and moral side of speaking, presentation, conversation, and in language as such, which relates both to its oral and written use. This relates both to artistic and scientific objects. A central goal here is to achieve unity of form and content. Truth in expression, beauty in composition and kindness in its effects are the central ideals here.

 

The Verlag am Goetheanum, as the publisher for the sections of the School, belongs to the leadership tasks of the Section, although legally it is an independent entity. The work of the Verlag in the service of the sections allows the ideals of the literary arts and humanities to be realized with the authors and in shaping the profile of the publisher as far as into the concrete fulfilment of life. The Verlag produces an average of 25-30 new publications and reprints each year.

Alongside the research and publication activity, [65] the work of the Section takes place primarily in four forms: cultural conferences, study conferences on Rudolf Steiner’s works, poetic soirees, and specialist colloquia.

The cultural conferences are aimed at a general interested public and are devoted, as already described above, to questions of cultural and intellectual history. The intention, alongside the communication of current research results, is for the participants to be introduced to historical processes and processes of the history of consciousness through the encounter with objects of culture, literature, Christology, and history; and with regard to their own life and the present time to obtain the possibility through these objects to shape their identity and of agency. The subject matter in this respect is the epochs of the advanced civilizations and their Mysteries, such as for example:

‘Egypt – from the Mysteries to the present day’ [66]
‘Lazarus-John. The I touched by the spirit’ [67]
‘Judas and the modern human being’
‘Parsival and the modern human being’ [68]
‘Goethe’s Faust’ [69]
‘Labyrinths – archetypal images of human development’
The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. The alchemy of the soul in pictures.

Art and science are closely connected, including in the organization of the conferences and events, in that the subject concerned is brought to experience through eurythmy, recitation, concerts and theatre performances as well as scientific and artistic lectures. Here there arises a natural cooperation with the General Anthroposophical Section, the Section for the Performing Arts, and the Visual Arts Section.

The study conferences on Rudolf Steiner’s works are structured in accordance with a similar principle and have both an introductory and deepening character. Here aspects of the genesis and development of the work, thematic motifs, and continuative perspectives as well as current research results are worked on and communicated. These conferences also serve to determine the current state of research on the works of Rudolf Steiner and to look at further research requirements.

In regular specialist colloquia, which take place once or twice a year, sometimes over decades, on subjects in the literary arts and humanities such as the language of Rudolf Steiner, fairytales, lyric poetry or cultural history, work is undertaken in these areas to deepen them, research them and discuss them.

Poetry is particularly cultivated in soirees which take place eight times a year in collaboration with the Section for the Performing Arts. Here a great variety of works and writers from three millennia are presented through recitation, biographical reflections, eurythmy and music in the sense of a synesthetic experience of art (including Chinese lyric poetry, Ingeborg Bachmann, Friedrich Hölderlin, Reinhart Moritzen, Nelly Sachs, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, William Shakespeare, Tomas Tranströmer, Thanassis Lambrou, Christian Morgenstern).

Alongside the work located in Dornach, there are Section groups in the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Finland, North America, and Sweden working on various topics. In addition, there are individual contacts in New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina.

There are currently three research projects ongoing: one on the work of Christian Morgenstern [70] another one on the history of the School of Spiritual Science [71], as well as a third on ‘the humanization of the human being through literature’ which is being worked on by Ariane Eichenberg and Christiane Haid.

Human beings in our time are increasingly unable to think of themselves as self-determined and to understand their life as something to be developed or discovered. In many areas of life, they hardly act autonomously any longer. Their humanity is thus at risk in the age of globalization and technologization. Movements such as transhumanism and posthumanism have internalized technical developments so deeply that human beings, as the original creators of the technology, increasingly see themselves as intermediate beings serving a future which makes them virtually superfluous. [72]

The question as to the humanization of the human being is directly connected with language and literature. If we investigate its roots, we find that it has an almost 600-year history. Literature contains the power to guide human beings again or anew to themselves and their creative potential which they are in danger of losing in a world increasingly alienated through virtual experiences.

Literature offers the possibility to create free spaces for thinking and action since it is subject to external constraints of optimization and utility only to a limited extent. That makes it indispensable and a medium with which the actual cultural task of human beings – self-encounter and community building – can be practiced.

Literature is an invitation to reconsider oneself. With its stories it opens unknown spaces, requires new ways of looking at things, leads into the distant past and a possible future at the same time and allows undreamt of possibilities to arise before our inner eye. Literature thus extends our limited horizon, tied to the boundaries of what we can do, to infinity. That is why it is a mirror of ourselves and others. It enables each person to find themselves anew and to learn to see the other person, it endows empathy and tolerance which are the indispensable condition for a human society.

The subject matter being investigated in the research project is texts of various genres from the literature of the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, Classicism, Realism, Expressionism, and modernism to the present. The texts are accessed through literary analysis and linked with Rudolf Steiner’s comprehension of words and language. Essayistic contributions consider the concept of humanness against the background of the history of consciousness and the relationship of the human being to language and the word. This research is intended to be at such a practical level that it contains recommended literature for schools.

Fragment by Novalis (trans. Bruce Donehower)

===========================

Endnotes

1 Schiller, Friedrich: Ankündigung der Horen. 10 December 1794.
2 ee also Martina Maria Sam: ‘Von der Idee der “Schönen Wissenschaftern” – Fragmentarische Annäherungen an einen schwierigen Begriff’ and other contributions in Jahrbuch für Schöne Wissenschaften, Vol. I, edited by Haid, Christiane / Sam, Martina Maria, Dornach 2002.
3 Steiner, Rudolf: ‘Von der Kunst zur Wissenschaft’. In: Einleitungen zu Goethes Naturwissenschaftlichen Schriften, edited by Rudolf Steiner, Vol. 2, Dornach 1975.
4 Steiner, Rudolf: Goethe’s Theory of Knowledge. An Outline of the Epistemology of his World View. GA 2. Great Barrington 2008.
5 Ibid, p. 115 f.
6 This subject cannot be dealt with exhaustively here due to the specific purpose of this contribution. There is an essay on this subject in the Jahrbuch für Schöne Wissenschaften, Volume IV, published in 2018.
7 Steiner, Rudolf: Vom Menschenrätsel. Ausgesprochenes und Unausgesprochenes im Denken, Schauen, Sinnen einer Reihe deutscher und österreichischer Persönlichkeiten. GA 20. Dornach 1984.
8 Steiner, Rudolf: Der Goetheanumgedanke inmitten der Kulturkrisis der Gegenwart. Gesammelte Aufsätze aus der Wochenschrift «Das Goetheanum» 1921–1925. GA 36. Dornach 2014, p. 107-191.
9 The anthroposophical weekly Das Goetheanum. Wochenschrift für Anthroposophie, has been published since 1921.
10 Steffen, Albert: Ott, Alois und Werelsche. Dornach 1987.
11 On the history of their reception see Haid, Christiane: Mythos, Traum und Imagination. Die Kleinen Mythen Albert Steffens. Chapter I, Basel 2012.
12 Steiner, Rudolf: The Boundaries of Natural Science. GA 322. Great Barrington 1987.
13 Steffen, Albert: Die Krisis im Leben des Künstlers. Dornach 1925.
14 Looking back, Rudolf Steiner described these lectures as the only ones which were in harmony with the building forms of the first Goetheanum, see Steiner, Rudolf: Der Goetheanumgedanke inmitten der Kulturkrisis der Gegenwart. Gesammelte Aufsätze aus der Wochenschrift ‘Das Goetheanum’ 1921-1925. GA 36. Dornach 22014, p. 331.1 5 Schiller, Friedrich: Briefe über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen.
16 Heinz Matile: Hinweise und Studien, No. 12/13, p. 10.
17 Nachrichtenblatt, 1924, p. 10.
18 Steiner, Marie (ed.): Die Weihnachtstagung zur Begründung der Allgemeinen Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft 1923/24, Dornach 51994, p. 143.
19 Nachrichtenblatt, 1924, p. 10.
20 Incl. Steffen, Albert: Goethes Geistgestalt. Dornach 1932f.
21 Steffen, Albert: Hieram und Salomo. Dornach 31933.
22 Steffen, Albert: Der Chef des Generalstabs. Dornach 1937.
23 Steffen, Albert: Der Sturz des Antichrist. Dornach 21952.
24 Steffen, Albert: Das Todeserlebnis des Manes. Dornach 31983.
25 Steffen, Albert: Friedenstragödie. Dornach 1936.
26 Steffen, Albert: Ruf am Abgrund. Dornach 1943.
27 ‘Humane Tötung’, in: Steffen, Albert: Krisis, Katharsis, Therapie im Geistesleben der Gegenwart. Dornach 1944, p. 190.
28 Steffen, Albert: Die Krisis im Leben des Künstlers. Bern 1922. This question is based on an assignment from Rudolf Steiner who had asked Steffen to work on the subject ‘Why artists are frightened of becoming anthroposophists’. The following volumes of essays: Der Künstler zwischen Westen und Osten. Dornach 1925 and Der Künstler und die Erfüllung der Mysterien. Dornach 1928, pursue this question.
29 Steffen, Albert: Wiedergeburt der Schönen Wissenschaften. Dornach 1946.
30 Additional foundations for the aspects of the poetry and history of thought of the literary arts and humanities were given in the volume: Dramaturgische Beiträge zu den Schönen Wissenschaften. Dornach 1935, which dealt both with the Mysteries of Eleusis und Samothrace and the writers Shakespeare, Lessing, Hölderlin, Schiller, Goethe and Kleist.
31 Steffen, Albert: Brennende Probleme: An die Verantwortung Tragenden – Völkerrecht und Menschenrechte Oasen der Menschlichkeit – Atomforscher. Schöne Wissenschaften, Dornach 1979.
32 Muschg, Walter (ed.): Albert Steffen, Ausgewählte Gedichte, Basel 1945.
33 Nachrichtenblatt, 1931, No. 34.
34 Hiebel, Friedrich: Novalis, der Dichter der blauen Blume. Bern and Munich 1951; idem: Novalis. Deutscher Dichter, Europäischer Denker, Christlicher Seher. Bern and Munich 21972. Beyond that, a number of other relevant publications may be mentioned: Idem: Die Botschaft von Hellas. Von der griechischen Seele zum christlichen Geist. Bern and Munich 1953; idem: Christian Morgenstern. Wende und Aufbruch unseres Jahrhunderts. Bern and Munich 1957; idem: Bibelfunde und Zeitgewissen. Die Schriftrollen vom Toten Meer im Lichte der Christologie Rudolf Steiners. Dornach 1959; idem: Goethe. Die Erhöhung des Menschen, Perspektiven einer morphologischen Lebensschau. Bern and Munich 1961.
35 Hiebel, Friedrich: Albert Steffen. Die Dichtung als Schöne Wissenschaft. Bern and Munich 1960.
36 Hiebel, Friedrich: ‘Aufgaben und Ziele der Sektion für Schöne Wissenschaften’. In Nachrichtenblatt, 1964, No. 21; idem: Seneca. Dramatische Dichtung um Paulus in Neros Rom. Stuttgart 1974.
37 For example the reflection on language Alpha und Omega, Dornach 1963; Biographik und Essayistik – Zur Geschichte der Schönen Wissenschaften, Bern and Munich 1970. Then he also wrote plays: incl. Seneca. Dramatische Dichtung um Paulus in Neros Rom. Stuttgart 1974 and novels: Der Tod des Aristoteles, Stuttgart 1977 and poems: Im Stillstand der Stunden. Gedichte. Dornach 1978. His autobiographical work: Entscheidungszeit mit Rudolf Steiner. Dornach 22013 describes the last five years of Rudolf Steiner’s work which he himself had experienced. For a complete bibliography see: Plato, Bodo von (ed.): Anthroposophie im 20. Jahrhundert. Dornach 2002.
38 Hiebel, Friedrich: Arbeitsbericht der Sektion für Schöne Wissenschaften, Nachrichten, 1966, No. 12.
39 Krüger, Manfred: Wandlungen des Tragischen. Drama und Initiation. Stuttgart 1973.
40 Lampe, Bernd: Vor dem Tore der Sonne. Ein Osterspiel um Konstantin und Julian. Basel 1970.
41 Teutschmann, Heinrich (ed.): Scharfenberg, Albrecht von: Sigune und Schionatulander, ein Minnegespräch aus dem «Jüngeren Titurel». Dornach 1972.
42 Horstmann, Erwin: Beiträge zur Bewusstseinsgeschichte des alten Ägypten. Stuttgart 1982.
43 Aschenbrenner, Michael: Das Doppelantlitz der Sprache, ihr Verfall und ihre Wiedergeburt. Freiburg 1973.
44 Kunstwissenschaftliche Blätter.
45 Biesantz, Hagen / Klingborg, Arne: Das Goetheanum. Dornach 1978.
46 This led to the following books: Krüger, Christine: Novalis’ Märchen von Eros und Fabel – Die Stufen des Kultus. Dornach 1995; Krüger, Manfred: Novalis – Wege zu höherem Bewusstsein. Stuttgart 2008.
47 Krüger, Manfred: Meditation und Karma. Einführung in die anthroposophische Gralswissenschaft. Dornach 1988; Krüger, Christine: Gralswege. Dornach 2002.
48 Krüger, Christine, various essays and: Die Göttermythen der Edda. Borchen 2013; Krüger, Manfred: Die Erkenntnis der Engel. Dornach 2013.
49 The following book publications also go back in their beginnings to the time during which Manfred Krüger worked in the Section leadership (1987-1991): Meditation – Erkenntnis als Kunst. Stuttgart 1988. Anthroposophie und Kunst. Dornach 1988. Die Seele im Jahreslauf. Dornach 1992. Ästhetik der Freiheit. Dornach 1992. Ichgeburt. Origines und die Entstehung der christlichen Idee der Wiedergeburt in der Denkbewegung von Pythagoras bis Lessing. Hildesheim 1996. Das Ich und seine Masken – Zur Frage nach der Wahrheit. Bodenkirchen 1997. Die Verklärung auf dem Berge – Erkenntnis und Kunst. Hildesheim 2003. Michael – Imagination eines Erzengels. Dornach 2007. Der Güter Gefährlichstes – Die Sprache. Stuttgart 2009. Mysteriendramatik im Seelenraum. Dornach 2009. Christus-Sophia. Dornach 2011, and other works on the New Testament, above all John and Paul.
50 Zimmermann, Heinz: Grammatik. Spiel von Bewegung und Form. Dornach 1997; idem: Vom Sprachverlust zur neuen Bilderwelt des Wortes. Dornach 1995; idem: Sprechen, Zuhören, Verstehen. In Erkenntnis- und Entscheidungsprozessen. Stuttgart 1997; idem with Robin Schmidt: Anthroposophie studieren. Zum selbständigen Umgang mit dem Werk Rudolf Steiners im Einzelstudium und in Gruppen. Dornach 1998.
51 Sam, Martina Maria: ‘Einige Gedanken über die Aufgabenfelder der Sektion für Schöne Wissenschaften’ in: Nachrichtenblatt, No. 37/38, 1995.
52 Bockemühl, Almut: Märchen und Rosenkreuzer. Dornach 2015; idem: «… das Herz eine Weile in den Kopf hinauffahren lassen». Rudolf Steiners Märchendichtung, Dornach 2010; idem (ed.): Verstoßen, verschlungen, erschlagen. Über Grausamkeit in Märchen. Stuttgart 2008; Steiner, Rudolf: Die Welt der Märchen, ed. Bockemühl, Almut, Dornach 2006; Esterl, Arnica: Die Märchenleiter. Welches Märchen erzähle ich meinem Kind? Stuttgart 2007; idem: Kinder brauchen Märchen. Stuttgart 2000; Blattmann, Elke: Märchenpfade und Pfade ins Märchen. Borchen 2015.
53 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2010.
54 Law, Vivien: The Morality of Medieval Grammar: Virgilius Maro Grammaticus and the Seventh Century. Cambridge 1995. Idem: Grammar and Grammarians in the Early Middle Ages. London 1997. Idem: The History of Linguistics in Europe from Plato to 1600. Cambridge 2003.
55 Jung-Stilling, Heinrich: Das Heimweh. Dornach 1994.
56 Haid, Christiane: ‘Die Vereinigung von Kunst und Wissenschaft als Zukunftsaufgabe’, in: Jahrbuch für Schöne Wissenschaften, Dornach 2006.
57 ‘… im Denken sehend werden’ – Jahrbuch für Schöne Wissenschaften / ‘… in thought develop sight’ – Annual for the Literary Arts and Humanities Section. Eds. Sam, Martina Maria / Haid, Christiane, Dornach 2002. ‘… das Wort nur eine Gebärde’ – Jahrbuch für Schöne Wissenschaften. Edited by Backhaus, Hildegard / Haid, Christiane / Sam, Martina Maria, Dornach 2006. ‘… für die Worte wieder einen Inhalt bekommen’ – Jahrbuch für Schöne Wissenschaften. Edited by Sam, Martina Maria / Backhaus, Hildegard / Decker, Kerstin, Dornach 2011.
58 Cf. Sam, Martina Maria: ‘Von der Idee der «Schönen Wissenschaften. Fragmentarische Annäherungen an einen schwierigen Begriff’. In: Jahrbuch für Schöne Wissenschaften. Dornach 2002.
59 Sam, Martina Maria: ‘Sektion für Schöne Wissenschaften’. In: Kühl, Johannes / Plato, Bodo von / Zimmermann, Heinz: Die Freie Hochschule für Geisteswissenschaft Goetheanum. Zur Orientierung und Einführung. Dornach 2008, p. 86 f.
60 Sam, Martina Maria: Im Ringen um eine neue Sprache. Rudolf Steiners Sprachstil eine Herausforderung. Dornach 2004.
61 Sam, Martina Maria: Bildspuren der Imagination. Dornach 2000. See also: ‘”Ein Stil, der vorgestellt werden kann durch und durch in Bildern” – Die Veranlagung imaginativen Denkens durch Rudolf Steiners Tafelzeichnungen und Sprachstil’. In: Imagination. Das Erleben des schaffenden Geistes. Edited by Halfen, Roland / Neider, Andreas. Stuttgart 2002.
62 Sam, Martina Maria: Rudolf Steiners Faustrezeption. Basel 2011.
63 Haid, Christiane: Auf der Suche nach dem Menschen. Die anthroposophische Jugend- und Studentenarbeit in den Jahren 1920-1931 mit einem skizzenhaften Ausblick bis in die Gegenwart. Dornach 2001.
64 Haid, Christiane: Mythos, Traum und Imagination. Die Kleinen Mythen Albert Steffens. Basel 2012.
65 Belyj, Andrej: Aufzeichnungen eines Sonderlings. Dornach 2012; Pessoa, Fernando: Der siebte Saal, Dornach 2016; Hitsch, Andrea: Welch reicher Himmel Stern an Stern. Aus 100 Jahren anthroposophisch inspirierter Dichtung. Dornach 2016.
66 Relevant publication: Sandkühler, Bruno: Lotus und Papyrus. Der Atem Ägyptens. Dornach 2017.
67 For relevant publication see: Haid, Christiane / Klünker, Wolf-Ulrich / Oltmann, Mechtild: Johannes Lazarus. Die Geistselbstberührung des Ich. Dornach 2016.
68 Relevant publication: Debus, Michael: Parsifal – Mythos des modernen Menschen. Hinführung zu Richard Wagners Bühnenweihfestspiel. Dornach 2014.
69 Relevant publication: Haid, Christiane / Sam, Martina Maria (ed.): Rudolf Steiner über Goethes «Faust» Band I Grundlagen und Band II Szenenkommentare. Dornach 2016.
70 See: ‘Öffnung für Johanneisches – Christian Morgensterns Weg’. In: Haid, Christiane / Klünker, Wolf-Ulrich / Oltmann, Mechtild: Johannes Lazarus. Die Geistselbstberührung des Ich. Dornach 2016, and: ‘Ein Mensch, der in seiner Art ans Ende gekommen war […] noch einmal an den Anfang der Dinge gestellt – Christian Morgenstern und die Anthroposophie’. In Waldemar Fromm (ed.): Neueste Forschungen zu Christian Morgenstern, Stuttgart 2017.
71 Together with Paul Mackay: ‘Zur Aufgabe des Goetheanum als Freie Hochschule für Geisteswissenschaft’, in: Selg, Peter / Zrdazil, Tomas (ed.): Anthroposophie und Hochschule. Arlesheim 2017, as well as the contribution: ‘Zur Geschichte der Freien Hochschule für Geisteswissenschaft’, in the present book.
72 Kurzweil, Ray: Homo S@piens. Leben im 21. Jahrhundert. Was bleibt vom Menschen? Cologne 1999, p. 18.

Artwork at top: “Girl Leaning on a Windowsill,” Rembrandt, 1645

Photo credit: By permission of Dulwich Picture Gallery

7.31.23