Friedrich Rittelmeyer – författare

The demands of modern life are such that many people find great value in meditation. It can be hard to know where to start, however, or how to progress.In this classic work, Friedrich Rittelmeyer recognises the difficulties we face and proposes a Christian meditative path, to guide and inspire. His work is based on the Gospel of St John and he shows how the imagery in the text can be brought alive in people's hearts through thought and imagination.Rittelmeyer's inner training is presented with a wealth of practical advice, and a gentle trust in his reader which glows from every page.

"Am I going too far if I declare that not a single one of the opponents took a tenth of the pains I took with anthroposophy before I joined the movement?" -- Friedrich RittelmeyerBorn in southern Germany in 1872, Friedrich Rittelmeyer was a leading figure in the Lutheran church at the beginning of the twentieth century. His was an influential pulpit, and he was a pioneer of a new meditative approach, seeking to re-establish the relevance of the Gospels.His life took an unexpected turn when, in 1911, he encountered Rudolf Steiner for the first time. He spent the next ten years critically appraising and investigating Steiner's ideas. This book is a fascinating and insightful autobiographical account of those years, as well a rigorous scrutiny of anthroposophy.In 1922, he made the decision to leave the Lutheran church and lead a new movement for religious renewal, The Christian Community, in association with Steiner. His final conviction was that Steiner's ideas were truly inspired. First published in English in 1929, this book's honest struggle with key anthroposophical concepts has been influential for generations of people.

Reincarnation -- by which human beings return to live on earth -- is a concept most often associated with eastern philosophies rather than Christianity. In this fascinating book, Friedrich Rittelmeyer explores reincarnation from a Christian point of view, arguing that it has a place in modern Christian thought.Reincarnation can sometimes be exploited to justify daydreams or imaginary past glories, or can harden into a legalistic reckonining of vice and virtue. Rittelmeyer's approach is different: joyous, essentially Christian, and full of a sense of freedom as he struggles to find a path through the pitfalls on the way to a Christ-filled acceptance of reincarnation.Drawing on the work and inspiration of Rudolf Steiner, Rittelmeyer was able to encounter the cosmic truth of reincarnation and, wrestling with human doubt on every level, courageously grounds it in human reality.

In our hurried, everyday lives, time of day and even seasons can blur together, leaving us distanced from the natural world and spiritual rhythms.This book is a visionary and practical exploration of thoughts and meditations which can help us engage with the changing moods of the year. Rittelmeyer's descriptive sketches of the Christian festivals and subjects from the New Testament are offered as helpful spiritual signposts along the path of the year.The meditations can be used as devotions to help us deepen our own insight, and to stimulate creative and meaningful religious celebrations.

‘These Letters … aim to make John’s Gospel accessible to people today as their own gospel, both as a whole and in the details; to illuminate it with the spiritual knowledge of the age and to make it fruitful for life, not only for meditation but also for practical ordering of destiny.’ – Friedrich Rittelmeyer. ---A revitalized Johannine Christianity stands at the heart of the work of Christian renewal that was led by Rudolf Steiner in the early twentieth century. Friedrich Rittelmeyer, a Lutheran minister and theologian who helped found The Christian Community in 1922, was a leading figure within this new Johannine movement. Rittelmeyer described John’s Gospel as encapsulating ‘…an indescribable glory of revelation of love. This glory has such purity, delicacy and spiritual power that in it one has the material with which a marvellous new world may be built.’ ---Without doubt his most powerful work, Rittelmeyer’s Letters on John’s Gospel first appeared in a series of publications by the Stuttgart seminary of The Christian Community between 1930 and 1932. Whilst these Letters were originally written with students and local congregations in mind, they provide manifold insights for anyone seeking to glimpse the majesty of John’s Gospel. Margaret Mitchell’s translation from 1937 has never before been published in book form. Revised here and expanded by editors Alan Stott and Neil Franklin, this volume features additional contributions by Rudolf Frieling and Emil Bock.

‘To see Christ in Jesus and Jesus in Christ is an incomparable joy. Each single saying and each single word finds its place in the heights on the way from Jesus to Christ, on the way from Christ to Jesus.’ – Friedrich RittelmeyerHow can we meet the real Jesus today? Friedrich Rittelmeyer (1872-1938) – a well-known Protestant preacher of his day who helped found The Christian Community – presents us with the modern seeker’s path. A thoroughly revised translation of his Jesus (1912) traces the story of mankind’s longing. On the way, Nietzsche’s trenchant critique of Christianity is answered as intellectual honesty demands – with a concrete account of spiritual experience.During challenging times, Rittelmeyer took up Rudolf Steiner’s advice to complete his inner journey by working with John’s Gospel. Twenty-four years later, his testament appeared, Christ (1936) – now featured here in English for the first time. The author follows Johannine tradition, with Paul claiming: ‘I shall know even as I am known’ (1 Cor. 13:12) – and which Rudolf Steiner calls the spiritual faculty of ‘moral Imagination’.Rittelmeyer’s intellectual achievement ends in action; his path of exact perception leads to experience of the living Christ. ‘The path of Christ is always the path through death to resurrection.’ Here is spiritual reading as penetrating as any that can be found elsewhere. Jesus and Christ – at last complete in one volume – concludes by contrasting Nietzsche and Novalis along with an insight of Wagner’s regarding the only far-reaching solution for the 21st century.

Friedrich Rittelmeyer begegnete Rudolf Steiner im Jahr 1911. Seine Erinnerungen gehören zu den besonders authentischen und dazu originellsten biografischen Zeugnissen überhaupt und geben einen eindrucksvollen Einblick in die Gründungszeit der Christengemeinschaft. Zudem sind sie ein wichtiges Quellenwerk für alle, die sich für ein lebensnahes Bild der Persönlichkeit Rudolf Steiners interessieren.

Seit seinem Erscheinen im Jahr 1935 gehört dieses Buch über das Vaterunser zu den Klassikern der religiösen Literatur und zum Bedeutendsten, was über dieses Urgebet der Christenheit geschrieben wurde. Voraussetzungslos und in klarer und verständlicher Sprache erschließt es seinen Lesern die Tiefendimensionen des Textes und regt zur eigenen meditativen Erarbeitung an.

Diese bisher unveröffentlichten Briefe und Gespräche Friedrich Rittelmeyers mit Rudolf Steiner wurden Ende 1932 erstmals einem kleineren Kreise zugänglich gemacht. Im März 2013 wurden dieoriginalen Stenogramme Rittelmeyers gefunden, die hier mit Ergänzungen und Kommentaren wiedergegeben werden.1928 veröffentlichte Friedrich Rittelmeyer viele seiner Erlebnisse und Gespräche mit Rudolf Steiner in seinem Buch Meine Lebensbegegnung mit Rudolf Steiner. Doch blieb hier vieles ungesagt: »Intim-Persönliches« und »Okkult-Geistiges« sparte er bewusst aus. Das bedeutet, dass viele Details aus den gemeinsamen Gesprächen und Briefen fehlten – Details und Vertiefungen, die in dieser Schriftaus dem Jahr 1932 enthalten sind und nun erstmals der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht werden.

In 12 Briefen beschreibt Friedrich Rittelmeyer einen individuell entwickelten Weg der Meditation. Ausgehend von der bildhaften Sprache des Johannesevangeliums sowie von Anregungen Rudolf Steiners stellt dieses Übungsbuch eine der Grundlagen der anthroposophischen Literatur dar."Das Einzigartige, Besondere des Buches liegt darin, dass es in das Geheimnis des Impulses hineinblicken lässt, den Friedrich Rittelmeyer wie von Ewigkeiten her in der eigenen Seele mitbrachte und der ihm von innen her die Kraft gab, die Schicksalsmöglichkeiten zu verwirklichen, die ihm durch den Ruf des Zeitalters und die Hilfe Rudolf Steiners von außen her entgegenkam."Emil Bock