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Rudolf Steiner's Economic Lectures ~ Douglas Wylie + Timothy Kennedy ~ Weekly Study (via Zoom) Starting September 18th (10 weeks)
Rudolf Steiner's Economic Lectures - Weekly Study Offering
Facilitated by Douglas Wylie and Timothy Kennedy
Begins Thurs. Sept 18th, 2025 at 9 am Hawaii, Noon Pacific, 3 pm Eastern; continues for 10 weeks
Go to Anthroposophy Social, become a member, and select the event from the Events Calendar
Invitation: To anyone interested in a collaborative study of Rudolf Steiner’s 1922 lectures on Economics and the economic parts of his book Towards Social Renewal. (see Course Material below).
Prerequisite: Commitment to pre-reading the two subject lectures prior to the weekly online events, and be prepared to engage to share relevant questions, experiences and understandings of the text.
Background:
Is the time at hand to bring about the more conscious social economics on a world scale that Rudolf Steiner shared in his 1922 lectures and related works?
Initiatives have begun towards the above and many people have engaged in related activities over the decades since these lectures and essays were done. The organizers of this study offering are members of the School of Spiritual Science centered at the Goetheanum, in Dornach, Switzerland, and this offering stems from this connection.
A sound understanding of the content of the course material is needed by people willing to engage towards the above goal. The course material is clear, concise, complete and challenging. The study format is designed to provide support for striving towards a sound understanding of the course material that comes from decades of activities directed towards the above goal by the organizers.
Without departure from the lectures and writings, other than application, the economic science offered by Rudolf Steiner provides many remedies for much of humanity's plight in our time. Per Steiner:
Great issues are impending. Human beings are in need of free and clear insights into the essentials, for the healing of so many ills of our civilization. There is much talk of what should be done, but there is little will, ultimately, to dive down into the realities and to draw forth from there what should be done. We have gradually departed from the sphere of truth, and from the real life of rights (rights that spring forth from the very nature of the human being) and from what must unfold in us if we are to be of value to our fellows, – the genuine practice of life. From words of truth we have slid into empty phrases; out of a sense of right into mere conventions; out of practical hold on life into dead routine. We shall not escape from the threefold untruth of phrase, conventions and routine until we develop the will to go down into the facts and to see how things are shaped in their own real nature. But if we do so, then, precisely as those who approach the matter as students, we shall be met with understanding. There are so many inflammatory sayings in the world today, doing appalling harm, just because there are so few people with earnest will to go into realities.
Course Material:
Economics Study of Rudolf Steiner’s 1922 lectures (7 weeks) and Towards Social Renewal book (3 weeks) Other content may be provided as optional further research - including, videos, websites, and texts. There are several translations and the more the merrier as it helps to connect with the living ideas behind the words.
The suggested, and and most recent translation is by Owen Barfield and Peter Clemm is available from Steiner Books: Here
An audio version can be found here: https://www.rudolfsteineraudio.com/rethinkeconomics1922/rethinkeconomics.html
Mathew Barton’s translation of Towards Social Renewal is currently available at Steiner Books as well as from the Libraries mentioned above, and many used book sellers.
Used copies of Barfield and Houghton-Budds translations are available at thrift books among others: World Economy - Barfield, Economics: The world as One Economy - Houghton-Budd
The Rudolf Steiner Library and the Library of the Portland Branch of the ASA both have several
Goals of the Study:
Working familiarity with the content of RS’s Economic thinking and perceptions as articulated in the lectures and book.
Practice in the living thinking required to perceive the living dynamics in the economic realm - and how they can truly bring about anEconomy freed from egotism
Applications to Organizations and Society at large in our time.
Format:
Weekly, 1 ½ hour zoom on Anthroposophy Social platform meeting: Thursday 3pm ET (12pm PT, 9am Hawaii). Meetings will be recorded for those not able to attend the live sessions.
Facilitators: D. Wylie, and T. Kennedy
Timing for each session:
5 min social encountering each other before start time
10 min to gather questions from the previous session and related experiences since the last session.
30 min presentation of key points of 2 lectures and connection to previous lectures, continuing every week. <10-20 min each DW and TK (we can take turns taking the lead and adding aspects?>
30 minutes facilitated question and conversation period.
10 applications today and how you can test if these concepts are true in your world- presentation <5 minutes each>
5 closing and clarifying the preparation for next steps.
Duration:
10 weeks, once we begin - with the recordings available after each session for up to 2 months.
Final Session will be an overall review and next steps session to imagine the full living picture and its ability to be brought into life in our personal, vocational, and institutional lives.
Economics:
We will be mapping the offering of the course economically within Steiner’s economic conceptions and presenting this as part of the course
There will be no specific cost to the course as a Foundational Study Course on Anthroposophy.Social
A discounted Community Membership in Anthroposophy.Social does have a cost of $7/month for non members of the Anthroposophical Society and $3.64/mo for current dues paying members or Youth Section Colleagues (self verified) CODE: ASYSDISCOUNT2
There is an additional discount if you want to purchase a full year membership.
If anyone truly wishes to attend this course but does not have the means, several scholarships are available for those willing to apply for them. Email timok33@gmail.com for details.
We also invite those with the means to donate to do so to an organization where economic research stemming from Rudolf Steiner’s original work continues.
About the Facilitators:
Douglas Wylie:
Has been a member of the Anthroposophical Society in North America since 1994 and a member of the School for Spiritual Science since 2006. He served on the Board of the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Society in Ontario Canada in the late 1990s. After that he served as Treasurer of the Anthroposophical Society in Canada. He is completing a 7 year service on the Social Sciences Section collegium and stood for that section at the North American Collegium of the School of Spiritual Science. He serves as a core member of the Santa Cruz Branch of that Society in California. He continues Anthroposophical social-economic research, as a member of the Economics Conference at the Goetheanum, and recently retired from a 40 year professional engineering and management career in the industrial economy, having worked for various multinational corporations. He is a trained Holistic Health practitioner, and this led to interest and activities in Biodynamic agriculture and a grass-roots approach to bringing Rudolf Steiner’s economic indications into practical life
Timothy Kennedy:
Timothy Kennedy lives in Portland, OR and has been engaged with anthroposophical communities since his early childhood. He seeks to incorporate and embody anthroposophy in all aspects of modern life, which has included co-creating the largest natural building and design company in the US over 24 years. Currently, he facilitates the global Natural Building Network online; and is consulting, designing, teaching and building collaboratively throughout the western United States. His membership in the School of Spiritual Science leads to colleagueship in several sections, and he is especially active with the Social Sciences Section coordination in North America, and the Economics Conference of the Goetheanum. Whenever he can, he teaches entrepreneurship and financial literacy as an inner and outer path of service, especially to the younger generations. He Joined the Leadership team for Anthroposophy.Social because the challenges of our times demand collaboration and hope, and to connect and collaborate as we map the substances we work with online and beyond.
Rudolf Steiner's Economic Lectures - Weekly Study Offering
Facilitated by Douglas Wylie and Timothy Kennedy
Begins Thurs. Sept 18th, 2025 at 9 am Hawaii, Noon Pacific, 3 pm Eastern; continues for 10 weeks
Go to Anthroposophy Social, become a member, and select the event from the Events Calendar
Invitation: To anyone interested in a collaborative study of Rudolf Steiner’s 1922 lectures on Economics and the economic parts of his book Towards Social Renewal. (see Course Material below).
Prerequisite: Commitment to pre-reading the two subject lectures prior to the weekly online events, and be prepared to engage to share relevant questions, experiences and understandings of the text.
Background:
Is the time at hand to bring about the more conscious social economics on a world scale that Rudolf Steiner shared in his 1922 lectures and related works?
Initiatives have begun towards the above and many people have engaged in related activities over the decades since these lectures and essays were done. The organizers of this study offering are members of the School of Spiritual Science centered at the Goetheanum, in Dornach, Switzerland, and this offering stems from this connection.
A sound understanding of the content of the course material is needed by people willing to engage towards the above goal. The course material is clear, concise, complete and challenging. The study format is designed to provide support for striving towards a sound understanding of the course material that comes from decades of activities directed towards the above goal by the organizers.
Without departure from the lectures and writings, other than application, the economic science offered by Rudolf Steiner provides many remedies for much of humanity's plight in our time. Per Steiner:
Great issues are impending. Human beings are in need of free and clear insights into the essentials, for the healing of so many ills of our civilization. There is much talk of what should be done, but there is little will, ultimately, to dive down into the realities and to draw forth from there what should be done. We have gradually departed from the sphere of truth, and from the real life of rights (rights that spring forth from the very nature of the human being) and from what must unfold in us if we are to be of value to our fellows, – the genuine practice of life. From words of truth we have slid into empty phrases; out of a sense of right into mere conventions; out of practical hold on life into dead routine. We shall not escape from the threefold untruth of phrase, conventions and routine until we develop the will to go down into the facts and to see how things are shaped in their own real nature. But if we do so, then, precisely as those who approach the matter as students, we shall be met with understanding. There are so many inflammatory sayings in the world today, doing appalling harm, just because there are so few people with earnest will to go into realities.
Course Material:
Economics Study of Rudolf Steiner’s 1922 lectures (7 weeks) and Towards Social Renewal book (3 weeks) Other content may be provided as optional further research - including, videos, websites, and texts. There are several translations and the more the merrier as it helps to connect with the living ideas behind the words.
The suggested, and and most recent translation is by Owen Barfield and Peter Clemm is available from Steiner Books: Here
An audio version can be found here: https://www.rudolfsteineraudio.com/rethinkeconomics1922/rethinkeconomics.html
Mathew Barton’s translation of Towards Social Renewal is currently available at Steiner Books as well as from the Libraries mentioned above, and many used book sellers.
Used copies of Barfield and Houghton-Budds translations are available at thrift books among others: World Economy - Barfield, Economics: The world as One Economy - Houghton-Budd
The Rudolf Steiner Library and the Library of the Portland Branch of the ASA both have several
Goals of the Study:
Working familiarity with the content of RS’s Economic thinking and perceptions as articulated in the lectures and book.
Practice in the living thinking required to perceive the living dynamics in the economic realm - and how they can truly bring about anEconomy freed from egotism
Applications to Organizations and Society at large in our time.
Format:
Weekly, 1 ½ hour zoom on Anthroposophy Social platform meeting: Thursday 3pm ET (12pm PT, 9am Hawaii). Meetings will be recorded for those not able to attend the live sessions.
Facilitators: D. Wylie, and T. Kennedy
Timing for each session:
5 min social encountering each other before start time
10 min to gather questions from the previous session and related experiences since the last session.
30 min presentation of key points of 2 lectures and connection to previous lectures, continuing every week. <10-20 min each DW and TK (we can take turns taking the lead and adding aspects?>
30 minutes facilitated question and conversation period.
10 applications today and how you can test if these concepts are true in your world- presentation <5 minutes each>
5 closing and clarifying the preparation for next steps.
Duration:
10 weeks, once we begin - with the recordings available after each session for up to 2 months.
Final Session will be an overall review and next steps session to imagine the full living picture and its ability to be brought into life in our personal, vocational, and institutional lives.
Economics:
We will be mapping the offering of the course economically within Steiner’s economic conceptions and presenting this as part of the course
There will be no specific cost to the course as a Foundational Study Course on Anthroposophy.Social
A discounted Community Membership in Anthroposophy.Social does have a cost of $7/month for non members of the Anthroposophical Society and $3.64/mo for current dues paying members or Youth Section Colleagues (self verified) CODE: ASYSDISCOUNT2
There is an additional discount if you want to purchase a full year membership.
If anyone truly wishes to attend this course but does not have the means, several scholarships are available for those willing to apply for them. Email timok33@gmail.com for details.
We also invite those with the means to donate to do so to an organization where economic research stemming from Rudolf Steiner’s original work continues.
About the Facilitators:
Douglas Wylie:
Has been a member of the Anthroposophical Society in North America since 1994 and a member of the School for Spiritual Science since 2006. He served on the Board of the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Society in Ontario Canada in the late 1990s. After that he served as Treasurer of the Anthroposophical Society in Canada. He is completing a 7 year service on the Social Sciences Section collegium and stood for that section at the North American Collegium of the School of Spiritual Science. He serves as a core member of the Santa Cruz Branch of that Society in California. He continues Anthroposophical social-economic research, as a member of the Economics Conference at the Goetheanum, and recently retired from a 40 year professional engineering and management career in the industrial economy, having worked for various multinational corporations. He is a trained Holistic Health practitioner, and this led to interest and activities in Biodynamic agriculture and a grass-roots approach to bringing Rudolf Steiner’s economic indications into practical life
Timothy Kennedy:
Timothy Kennedy lives in Portland, OR and has been engaged with anthroposophical communities since his early childhood. He seeks to incorporate and embody anthroposophy in all aspects of modern life, which has included co-creating the largest natural building and design company in the US over 24 years. Currently, he facilitates the global Natural Building Network online; and is consulting, designing, teaching and building collaboratively throughout the western United States. His membership in the School of Spiritual Science leads to colleagueship in several sections, and he is especially active with the Social Sciences Section coordination in North America, and the Economics Conference of the Goetheanum. Whenever he can, he teaches entrepreneurship and financial literacy as an inner and outer path of service, especially to the younger generations. He Joined the Leadership team for Anthroposophy.Social because the challenges of our times demand collaboration and hope, and to connect and collaborate as we map the substances we work with online and beyond.