_’If one is unable to conceive of the Christ mystery as a true reality, one also cannot develop any ideas and concepts relating to the rest of world existence that are imbued with reality, which really penetrate to the truth _’. – Rudolf Steiner In a series of 17 lectures, Rudolf Steiner throws new light on the historical background and esoteric meaning of what he refers to as the central event of human and earthly history: the Christ mystery or ‘the Mystery of Golgotha’. Basing his commentaries on personal spiritual research, Steiner emphasizes the key nature of the Mystery of Golgotha, through which ‘_...something was accomplished which has to do not with the moral order alone but with the whole world-order in its entirety_’. This relates to a transformation of the spiritual environment of the earth and a potentially radical change in human consciousness. Building on the core themes of this course, Steiner presents a variety of fascinating topics, including: original sin and the idea of resurrection; faith and knowledge; the nature of sleep and the riddle of fatigue; the violation of the mysteries by the Roman Emperors; the teachings of Mani and Augustine; our relationship to the dead in spiritualistic séances; and the correspondence between the Platonic year, a day in a person’s life and a human life-time. Although first delivered to audiences a century ago, these lectures have lost none of their resonance; indeed, their essential message is perhaps more relevant than ever. They are published here in a new translation and for the first time in a complete English edition. _'So let us endeavour to make spiritual science our own not merely as a teaching but as a language, and then wait until we find the questions in this language that we may address to Christ. He will answer, yes He will answer!’_