Recordings of Lectures given at
Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, PA
and
a unique interactive timeline:
The Life and Times of Rudolf Steiner
If You Are Interested in Joining this Course,
Contact Us at iwaldorf@icloud.com
The Workshop Fee is $100.00
During the autumn of 2019, Waldorf schools worldwide celebrated the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first Waldorf school. Eugene Schwartz contends that the founding year of 1919 was, in fact, destined to be the only year in which Rudolf Steiner could have taken this momentous step. In four lectures, each covering one season of 1919, Eugene focuses on the words and deeds of Rudolf Steiner in the context of the artistic, political, pedagogical, and scientific developments of that time. We look at the events that set the stage for the modern Mystery Drama that unfolded in 1919, from the Peace Conference in France to the Communist Revolution in Germany, from the worldwide influenza pandemic to the tentative negotiations leading to the Fourteen Points. We meet some of the dramatis personae who populated that stage, from Woodrow Wilson to Rosa Luxumberg, from Albert Einstein to Henry Ford, from Maria Montessori to A.S. Neill. And we reflect on the relationship of the chaos and courage so inextricably woven into the events of the year 1919 to our lives and tasks in 2022 and beyond.
Berlin Workers Protest the Versailles Treaty 1919
Lecture 1
Winter, 1919
"The Winter of Our Discontent." The aftermath of the Great War. Death tolls from combat and from the Spanish flu. Machinations of the Paris Peace Conference. The Anglo-American Brotherhoods and the old Empires. The Communist Revolution in Germany. Rudolf Steiner's view of the War and the Peace. The Threefold Social Order. The 70-year "lifespan" of an institution. Steiner's lecture of January 1, 1919.
Waldorf-Astoria Cigarettes Pack, circa WW I.
Lecture 2
Spring, 1919
The foundations of educational reform in the 20th century. Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and A.S. Neill. Rudolf Steiner's activities on behalf of social change. His encounter with Emil Molt. Molt's path to Anthroposophy. The Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Factory and the story of tobacco. The April decision to undertake the founding of a new school in the midst of economic and social foment and uncertainty.
The Waldorf School First Grade 1919
Lecture 3
Summer, 1919
Preparations for the new school. Rudolf Steiner as a trainer of teachers. The "Core Curriculum" and the "Waldorf Curriculum." The centrality of relationships in the school. Authority and social life. Monks and Knights. Religion lessons and services. The school doctor and the "helping class." Compromises with state educational authorities. The Weimar Constitution. The opening of the school.
The First Goetheanum
Lecture 4
Autumn, 1919
Rudolf Steiner and the school faculty. The passing of the European dynasties and the death of the old clairvoyance. The Mission of the Archangel Michael. The renewal of the Mysteries and the new path of Initiation. The three "schools": The Waldorf School, the School of Spiritual Science, and the School of Michael. "Waldorf Methods" devoid of Anthroposophy. The next hundred years of Waldorf education.
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