The Figure of Christ

'Yes, that is the Christ. This i.s how my .spirituaL eye perceived him in Pal.e.stine.' -Rudolf Steiner, speaking of his sculpted figure of Christ Rudolf Steiner referred to the wooden 'group' sculpture of the figure of Christ surrounded by adversary spiritual beings as the centre of the first Goetheanum. Steiner even told the architect of the second Goetheanum that the sculpture he made with Edith Maryon should occupy the same central position 'as in the first building'. What was Rudolf Steiner's essential aim for the sculptural group within the Mystery building he conceived, and why did he regard it as the crown of the building? What were Steiner's intentions -and, specifically, what were the spiritual aims behind this remarkable depiction of Christ? Rudolf Steiner described the core task of anthroposophical spiritLlal science as preparing for Christ's reappearance in the etheric realm. The Christ he sculpted was not the possession of a specific community with a religious world view, but rather a being