Thus Far and Beyond
At the ceremony marking the completion of the German Gesamtausgabe (GA) [Collected Works (CW)] of Rudolf Steiner, the 453 volumes were laid out on the Goetheanum stage. The speeches and reminiscences expressed deep gratitude and offered a gentle reminder.
Cornelius Bohlen, chairman of the Nachlassverwaltung [Estate Administration], spoke first and named the Gesamtausgabe [Collected Works] as the largest in the world. In the 100 years since Steiner’s death, not a single year has passed without a new publication of his work. Even Goethe’s Weimar Edition (comprised of 143 volumes) and Voltaire’s Œuvres complètes (currently 205 volumes) taken together do not yet equal the number of Steiner editions. Bohlen then announced that he would summarize this work in a single sentence (laughter throughout the hall) from a letter by Rudolf Steiner of 1902: “I want to build upon the force that sets students of the spirit on the track of development.” Citing a letter of 1905, he added that Steiner was well aware that the development of spiritual science harbored a danger—for all theosophists and anthroposophists—of seduction into the worst kind of materialism. Spiritual science that is not properly assimilated leads to error and dogmatism. He concluded by saying that the Estate Administration established by Marie Steiner and the Goetheanum, with its Independent School of Spiritual Science, would today collaborate freely and independently. “What could be more beautiful?” he asked.
Transcribe, Edit, Digitize!
Next to speak was Harald Liehr, program director for literature and cultural studies at Schwabe Verlag [publishing house], which also publishes anthroposophical books. Liehr noted that Schwabe Verlag was founded in 1488 and is, today, the world’s oldest publishing house still in operation. As an “external sympathizer watching from the sidelines,” he described the Collected Works as a “universe of scholarship and philological accuracy that is unparalleled in the global literary community.” “Cui bono? Who benefits from this?” he asked, answering that the mountain of texts can now be traversed, climbed, and surveyed along surefooted paths. The enthusiasts, the exegetes, the critics, and also the detractors of Steiner must all confront the texts, study them, and, at the very least, take note of them. “In addition to ensuring the preservation of Rudolf Steiner’s texts, making them available in formats that can be cross-checked and therefore suitable for academic discussion, this edition provides a solid foundation for new forms of engagement with Steiner’s œuvre that have yet to be imagined.” According to Liehr, what has now been accomplished at such a rapid pace is an “important intermediate stage” for the work of the Rudolf Steiner Archive (Dornach) and Verlag (Basel) and must continue. He had to disappoint all those hoping that enough had now been done in the way of philological diligence and the clearing of Finnish forests for all the age-resistant paper used in printing. The work does not stop. Transcription, editing, and digitization must and will continue. The point is not to “bury Steiner’s thoughts under even higher mountains of books, but to keep pace with the research and reception needs of current and future generations.” He concluded with the “motto of all editorial philologists”—“thus far and beyond”—and he thanked the Rudolf Steiner Archive, proclaiming, “May you remain, may we all remain, devoted to Rudolf Steiner’s books and to all the others as well.”
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