Investigations into the origins of Christianity continue to exert a fascination beyond the confines of professional theologians and New Testament scholars. In this major study, Emil Bock provides a fascinating and unusual perspective on the cultural and political milieu in existence at the time of the emergence of Christianity.

Utilizing the spiritual research of Rudolf Steiner, Bock attempts to penetrate outer historical events in order to expose the spiritual undercurrents and impulses that shaped Greco-Roman civilization and later Judaism. Events, such as the Persian Wars, are examined with a view to understanding the spiritual struggles raging between those forces that wished to promote a newly emerging human consciousness, based on independent thought and a growing sense of egocentricity, and those forces that wished to preserve the authoritarian structures of the past which were rooted in now decadent mystery practices. In particular, the role of the Essenes receives remarkable prominence given that Bock was writing prior to the discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In the second half of the book, Bock investigates the esoteric biographies of some of the key figures surrounding Jesus Christ, and demonstrates how their destinies were significantly affected by their encounters with the being of Christ.

The author was born in Wuppertal, Germany in 1895. He studied German and theology, receiving his licentiate in 1921. He was one of the founder priests of The Christian Community, a movement for Christian renewal, and led the movement from 1938 until his death in 1959.

Other books by the author:

• The Childhood of Jesus
  The Unknown Years
• Kings and Prophets
  Saul, David, Solomon, Elijah, Jonah, Isaiah and Jeremiah