The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner

A combination of biography and encomium, Jonathan Stedall's lengthy two-part film—three-hours-plus, with a 10-minute postscript to boot—serves up a reverential portrait of the titular Austrian thinker (and some would argue visionary) who died in 1925 and whose influence radiated into many fields, among them education, agriculture, medicine, architecture, and spiritualism. Although Steiner's thought cannot be neatly pigeonholed, its overarching theme can be termed “holistic”: his studies of Goethe led Steiner to argue for the inseparability of spirit and matter, and the need for humanity to join science with spirituality rather than relegate them to different spheres. Steiner further believed that this line of thought had to be put into practice, and he promoted an educational philosophy aimed at nurturing a) the individual child's self-actualization, b) an appreciation for nature that fostered organic farming, c) an understanding of the human being as a union of body and soul that encouraged holistic medicine, and even d) a view of economics that saw profit not as the goal but rather as something naturally derived from humanistic practices. Stedall travels the world to talk with people committed to applying Steiner's principles in schools, wineries, clinics, communities for the mentally impaired, and even banks. For the most part, the interviewees see Steiner's ideas not so much as doctrine but as an invitation to continuing reflection and innovation. An often fascinating and provocative view of Steiner's wide-ranging thought and the multifaceted movement it spawned, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)