Valentin Tomberg and Anthroposophy

Book excerpt: Valentin Tomberg was for many years a strong proponent of Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science. He became a prominent lecturer and writer on anthroposophy--then, in 1945, he turned away from anthroposophy and converted to Roman Catholicism, subsequently authoring two influential texts on Catholicism. Nevertheless, a number of Tomberg's modern-day adherents maintain that he remained faithful to esoteric Christianity and to Rudolf Steiner's ideas. Prokofieff presents startling new research that, in his estimation, shows the hypothesis of Tomberg's followers to be misguided. His key evidence is a letter (reproduced in the book) that was handwritten by Tomberg in 1970. Using this text, Prokofieff attempts to show that Valentin Tomberg condemned and dismissed Rudolf Steiner and his spiritual path.