Temple Lodge Publishing

How did the State of Israel come into being, and why does it continue to enjoy such unwavering political, financial and military support from Western countries, particularly the United States? Written in the aftermath of the attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the devastating escalation that followed, Lines in the Sand brings together three penetrating essays that offer rare spiritual perspectives in the context of an historically grounded examination of the seemingly intractable Israel–Palestine conflict. The opening essay revisits the formation of Israel, focusing on the decisive role played by British and American elites. It studies the democratic legitimacy of international decisions such as the Balfour Declaration and the 1947 UN partition vote, explores contested ideas of a ‘Jewish State’ and a ‘national home’, and traces how imperial strategy, religious ideas and demographic engineering shaped Palestine’s fate. The second and third essays examine the deeper origins and extraordinary influence of so-called ‘Christian Zionism’. Tracing its roots from medieval proto-Protestant movements through the Reformation to modern American fundamentalism, Terry Boardman shows how apocalyptic theology, millenarian expectations and dispensationalist beliefs evolved into a powerful political force. He explains how this movement has shaped US foreign policy, sustained massive military aid to Israel, and helped determine events in the Middle East for more than seven decades. Informed by the work of Rudolf Steiner, these essays offer a challenging account of how theology, empire and power converged to shape one of the most enduring struggles of the modern world.

It is not so often that one encounters an individual creative in almost all they do. In an increasingly mechanized and technical world, the power of creating, especially in the field of social and community life, appears as a healing balm and inspiration to do better. Carlo Pietzner was one such individual. Pietzner was born in 1915, in Vienna, Austria. As a young art student he was introduced to anthroposophy and to Dr Karl König, a Viennese pediatrician, who later founded the international Camphill movement for children and adults in need of special care in Scotland in 1939. Pietzner was a member of the founding group and pioneered the work of Camphill in Northern Ireland, and from 1961 to 1986 further developed the work of Camphill in North America. His artistic activities were far-reaching – in stained glass windows, paintings, essays, novels, plays and several volumes of poetry. He served on the National Council of the Anthroposophical Society of America for many years and was known internationally as a lecturer and consultant. Carlo Pietzner was the founding President of the Camphill Association of North America. He died in April, 1986, in Camphill Village, Copake, New York. While some of Carlo Pietzner’s writings and artistic works have been published before, Living Social Art is the first book to gather the full range of his creative and cultural contributions in one volume. Included are family photographs, reproductions of artwork and stained glass, selected plays and poems, writings for children, and several of his most compelling lectures. This book is a resource for anyone who values the transformative power of art in community life. It speaks to those who knew Carlo, to those touched by the Camphill movement, to seekers within the anthroposophical world, and to readers who simply wish to encounter the unfolding of a singular, artistic and deeply human life.

What is a wound – and what does it reveal about our humanity? This book explores the wound not merely as physical or psychological injury, but as a rupture in relationship: a tearing apart of what was once whole. Pain is its signal – disconnection its consequence. Yet beneath every injury lies a deeper mystery. Are human beings wounded simply by virtue of being human? Is there a primordial wound that precedes all others – and if so, how might it be heale? hese questions lie at the heart of this volume, which emerged from an international conference on biographical work held in Dresden in 2015, a city profoundly marked by the devastation of war. At a time when violent conflict has returned to Europe, The Wound’s themes feel urgently contemporary. Drawing on Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on ‘The Mystery of the Wound’, Christine Gruwez explores the wound as both the consequence of destruction and the source of healing. Without a wound, there is no power to heal; without evil, no possibility of redemption. Gruwez connects these insights to central questions of our time: vulnerability, crisis and the conditions of incarnation itself. She offers readers a key to understanding their own relationship to suffering and for approaching others inwardly and creatively. The book thus becomes a source of inspiration for counselling, biographical work and for all those seeking pathways from separation toward healing, reconciliation and transformation.