Christopher Bamford – författare

John Scotus Eriugena lived in Ireland during the early ninth century. Neither monk nor priest but a 'holy sage', he carried the flower of Celtic Christianity to France. His homily, The Voice of the Eagle, is a jewel of lyrical mysticism, theology and cosmology, containing the essence of Celtic Christian wisdom.

The rebirth of the feminine surrounds us in many forms--from the global movement for women's rights to a renewed interest in feminine spirituality, the Goddess, and the Divine Mother. What is the spiritual meaning of this rebirth? What is the feminine divine? Who is she? The feminine divine has had many names in many cultures: Ishtar in Babylon, Inanna in Sumeria, Athena, Hera, Demeter, and Persephone in Greece, Isis in Egypt, Durga, Kali, and Lakshmi in India. She is the Shekinah of the Cabalists, and the Sophia of the Gnostics. To Steiner, she is Anthroposophia (or Divine Wisdom), who descended from the spiritual world and passed through humanity to become now the goal and archetype of human wisdom in the cosmos. This book contains most of Steiner's statements on Sophia. We see him "midwifing" the birth of the Sophia, the new Isis, and divine feminine wisdom, in human hearts on earth. Each chapter explores the mystery of the various relationships of Sophia: Sophia and Isis, Sophia and the Holy Spirit, Sophia and Mary, the mother of Jesus (and Mary Magdalene), Sophia and the Gnostic Achamod, and Sophia and the New Isis.Above all, in a remarkable way, Steiner makes clear the relationship of Christ and Sophia. Contents: * Introduction by Christopher Bamford * Prologue: Living Thinking * Thinking Is an Organ of Percpetion * Thinking Unites Us with the Cosmos * The Holy Spirit and the Christ in Us * Sophia, the Holy Spirit, Mary, and Mary Magdalene * The Virgin Sophia and the Holy Spirit * Mary and Mary Magdalene * Sophia Is the Gospel Itself* Wisdom and Health * The Nature of the Virgin Sophia and of the Holy Spirit * Isis and Madonna * Wisdom and Love in Cosmic and Human Evolution * The Being Anthroposophia * The Gifts of Isis * From the Fifth Gospel * Sophia and Achamoth * The Legend of the New Isis * The Search for the New Isis * Sophia and Pistis * Michael, Sophia, and Marduk * A Christmas Study: The Mystery of the Logos

"Our God is the God of Heaven and Earth, of sea and river, of sun and moon and stars, of the lofty mountain and lowly valley." -- St. Patrick These words are perhaps the epitome of the Celtic monk's holy embrace of nature and sense of "ecology." Everywhere in Celtic Ireland, on rocky promontories and lonely hillsides, in hermitages and monasteries, we find a holy intimacy of human, natural, and divine. In this anthology, the stories of the Celtic saints are interspersed with verses, prayers, and sayings attributed to those ancient sages -- from Patrick and Brigit, through Brendan and Columba, to Aidan and Cuthbert. It is uncertain when or how Christianity first arrived at those westernmost reaches. It seems always to have been there. Legend tells us that Irish bards attended the events on Golgotha "in the spirit." In the Celtic tradition there is a continuity in cosmic process. For the Celt, Christ's death and resurrection was a healing that allows a reconciliation between humanity and nature in God. In this sense, Christianity was always in Ireland, and we seek its historical beginning in vain.If the Celtic Church had survived, perhaps the fissure between Christianity and nature, widening through the centuries, would never have fragmented our Western attitude toward nature and the universe.

In 1908, an idea arose during a conversation between Dr Felix Peipers and Rudolf Steiner. Steiner had been lecturing on the healing nature of the Egyptian Goddess Isis, and drew a parallel to the Christian Madonna, Mary. From that, Steiner and Peipers started to formulate a sequence of fifteen Madonna images, primarily by Raphael, which Dr Peipers used effectively in meditative therapy with his patients. All fifteen images are included in the book.This book explores the nature of the Madonna images, addressing topics ranging from the mystery of seeing, beauty, truth and goodness, and Sophia, the divine feminine wisdom, to Isis and Madonna, working with images and Rudolf Steiner's healing mission. There is a special section on Raphael's Sistine Madonna.This book is a perfect complement to Raphael's Madonnas (edited by Christopher Bamford), a beautiful collection of colour Madonna images.