Walter Johannes Stein (6 February 1891, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

– 7 July 1957, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n philosopher,

Waldorf school Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical ...

teacher,

Grail The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...

researcher, and one of the pioneers of

anthroposophy Anthroposophy is a spiritualist movement founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Follower ...

Biography

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent, Stein studied mathematics, physics, and philosophy at Vienna University, before completing a doctorate in philosophy at the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, having continued work on it throughout his service in an artillery unit in the war. He became a personal student of

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as ...

from about the age of 21, and enjoyed the unofficial supervision of Steiner while writing his dissertation. Broadly speaking, the dissertation was an attempt to write a theory of cognition for spiritual knowledge. After the First World War, Stein assisted Steiner in promoting Social Threefolding. When it became apparent in 1919 that these efforts were not going to succeed, Steiner asked Stein to teach history and German literature at the first

Waldorf School Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical ...

in Stuttgart. It was as part of this work that Stein began his research on the

, which culminated in 1928 with his book ''The Ninth Century and the Holy Grail''. In this work, he attempted to identify historical people and events represented in the Grail epic and to interpret ''Parzival'' as an esoteric document representing the human path of inner development. Stein also wrote various articles on these themes. Stein lectured extensively on anthroposophy and related themes from the early 1920s onward, giving up to 300 lectures a year. He also contributed many articles to ''The Present Age'' and similar periodicals, and wrote a number of short books including ''The Principle of Reincarnation'', ''Gold: in History and in Modern Times'', ''West-East: A Study in National Relationships'', ''Labour: in History and in Modern Times'', and ''The British: Their Psychology and Destiny''. Stein claimed to have had a spiritual breakthrough in 1924 using the meditative methods of Steiner and to have attained some insight into his own karmic background. Johannes Tautz, ''Walter Johannes Stein: A Biography''. Temple Lodge Press 1990. Stein moved to London in 1933, at the invitation of the theosophist-turned-anthroposophist Daniel Nicol Dunlop. Dunlop was director of the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association ( BEAMA), and chairman of the executive council of the World Power Conference. Dunlop had called Stein to London to take up a post in research for the World Power Conference; he had apparently founded the World Power Conference as a precursor to a World Economic Conference, and he had called Stein to London to assist him especially with this latter, more ambitious, project. Dunlop died in 1935 before this plan could be brought to fruition, but Stein did bring about Dunlop's wish for an independent cultural journal in the form of ''The Present Age''. Stein, having taken up various studies in economics, geography, and geology for his collaborative work with Dunlop, was able to bring together the results of this work in a special issue of the journal under the title ''The Earth as a Basis of World Economy''. The publication of the journal ceased with the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. During and after the Second World War Stein made many connections in government circles in Britain, as well as with the Dutch and Belgian royal families.

Fictionalization

Stein is one of the chief characters in Trevor Ravenscroft's books ''The Spear of Destiny'' and ''The Cup of Destiny''. Though Ravenscroft claimed that he had been a pupil of Stein's, investigative reporter Eric Wynants discovered the Stein/Ravenscroft connection was a complete fabrication while interviewing Ravenscroft for an article in 1982.According to Wynants, Ravenscroft admitted during their interview that he had never actually met W.J. Stein, but "talked to him only via a medium". Alec Macellan, ''The Secret of the Spear – The Mystery of The Spear of Longinus'' p.116

Notes

External links

articles from The Present Age
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Walter Johannes 1891 births 1957 deaths Austrian Jews Writers from Vienna 20th-century Austrian philosophers Jewish philosophers Anthroposophists Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Arthurian legend