Valentin Tomberg

Valentin Tomberg was born in St. Petersburg on February 26, 1900. Having been baptized a Protestant, he entered the Greek Orthodox church shortly before 1933, and, in 1945, became a Roman Catholic. In 1938 Tomberg emigrated to the Netherlands and began actively to lecture on Christological topics. At the beginning of 1944 he moved to Cologne, where he was awarded the title of Doctor of Law for the dissertation here published in English for the first time. This dissertation marked an important turning-point in Tomberg's life: humanistic studies he had presented during his thirties are now replaced by a strict orientation towards a Platonic model of knowledge, and a medieval, so-called "realism of universals." Tomberg came to regard the modern path away from natural law (founded upon religion) and toward legal positivism (oriented toward power) as a dismantling of the different levels of law (and at the same time a loss of both the idea and ideal of law)-that is, as a process of degeneration or "fall," which he seeks to reverse in the direction of regeneration. He also proposes a new way of organizing the academic study of law, in which the higher levels of law would be included, and in which access to the idea and the ideal of law would be restored.

In these astounding meditations on the true Christian nature of the scriptures, Tomberg shows how the central story of entire Bible is really a history of the Christ being. He describes the cosmic and earthly preparations for the Mystery of Golgotha, its significance and results for humanity and the world as a whole, and the central role of the Sophia being and her relationship to the Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Disciples and Pentecost, and all of humanity. He also imagines the Grail nature of the Christ's involvement in earthly history. All of Valentin Tomberg's profound studies are finally available in a single volume Drawn from four difficult-to-find and out-of-print editions, this completely revised and updated text includes Tomberg's anthroposophic meditations on the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Apocalypse, while the appendix contains his final, unfinished work, "The Four Sacrifices of Christ." Christ and Sophia contains all of Valentin Tomberg's essential anthroposophic works on the scriptures, providing an invaluable resource for anyone who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of Rudolf Steiner's spiritual scientific approach to esoteric Christianity, as revealed by a close, meditative reading of the Bible--from Genesis to John's Revelation. This volume contains English translations of these works by Valentin Tomberg: Anthroposophisch Betrachtungen ber des Alte Testament; Anthroposophische Betrachtungen ber das Neue Testament; Geisteswissenschaftliche Betrachtungen ber die Apokalypse des Johannes.

This book is a classic of esoteric Christianity in which Tomberg reflects on the mysteries of humanity's covenant with God through history. The book includes meditations on creation, the fall, the Old Testament covenant and the ten commandments, before moving on to Christ's miracles, culminating in the raising of Lazarus as a symbol for humanity being raised from sleep and death to wakefulness and resurrection.

The focus of this book is the spiritual work in the "school"--the community--of Michael. What does this mean? At the end of the eighteenth century, the Archangel Michael revealed the new mystery that has manifested on Earth as spiritual science, or anthroposophy. Its essence involves the renewal of our knowledge of the mysteries of karma and human destiny. Those who are drawn to this school have a special relationship to the human faculty of thinking--their inner feeling for truth has the strength of iron. This feeling for truth helps them to become companions of Michael at the threshold of the spiritual world. These talks deal with the spiritual path of anthroposophy in its Christian Rosicrudian aspect. Tomberg speaks openly and honestly about meditation, the various stages of consciousness (imagination, inspiration, and intuition), the "guardian of the threshold," and the esoteric trials one encounters along the way. He concludes by describing the life of Rudolf Steiner as the life of a Christian initiate.