|
|
|
Acknowledgments
Foremost
of my enablers is Jo Anne, the bride of my youth, who makes all things
possible.
To Mary at the Press, who steered me in early readings, became a cherished
advisor and friend, and contributed her expertise in the final steps
of bookmaking, my debt is inestimable.
To Press editor Chris Bamford, who first seriously encouraged me, led
me step by step in this my initial book-length publication, orchestrate
the many necessary helping hands, and stood by through a time of great
personal loss, words alone fall short.
To special editor, Will Marsh, Thoreau-like in simplicity and devotion,
for countless suggestion and corrections, always modestly advanced even
from his depth of professionalism, and for his unselfish personal commitment
to the cause of this work, my admirations and thanks are great.
To Beth at the Rudolf Steiner Library, I am beholden, for without her
tireless and cheerful assistance in shipping, box by box, unpublished
or out-of-print English translations of Steiner's works to me, I would
not have had access to a substantial portion of Steiner's work.
To Rene Querido who alerted me to the existence of the late Karl Koenig's
study on the two disciples John (unpublished in English), and then to
Christof-Andreas Lindenberg who chanced me worthy to inspect a copy
of its typescript, goes the credit for many of the incredible spiritual
insights in the essay "Peter, James and John" building upon
Steiner's own legacy, that would otherwise have escaped my attention.
To the talented young professional reader, Gene Talbott, to my friend,
Norton Baker, who is far more to me than my longtime law partner, and
to my busy but ever so diligent and talented friend, W. Frank Newton,
Dean of the Texas Tech University School of Law and current President
of the State Bar of Texas, my thanks for their invaluable criticisms
of the manuscript.
Finally, to those new and old friends of the cloth from a spectrum of
main line Christian confessions whose professional lives would be most
affected by the theological adjustments this work suggests, my sincere
thanks for time sacrificially squeezed from heavy clerical demands and
for comments and insights of great value.
|
The
art work on the cover of the book is by Julia Tucker Franklin,
the author's niece. It portrays the following image of the burning
bush given by Philo in his On the Life of Moses, I:
|
There
was a bush or briar, a very thorny plant, and very weak and
supple....entirely enveloped...by the abundant flame....It
nevertheless remained whole without being consumed, like some
impassible essence, and not as if it were itself the natural
fuel for fire, but rather as if it were taking the fire for
its fuel.
|
The present volume, The Burning Bush, was designed as a starting
point for the normal beginner to start a study of this larger work.
However, more or less concurrently with reading the first essays, the
reader will probably find it essential to go through about the fist
twelve or thirteen items in the Charts and Tabulations section, giving
heaviest consideration to the first one. References to the Charts and
Tabulations are linked, e.g.,
I-1, I-33 etc.
It is most important that one be able to hold concepts tentatively in
mind as individual building blocks until a sufficient structure can
be seen to take shape.
|
The
Burning Bush
