Editing Anthroposophy (section)

===Christ as the center of earthly evolution===
Steiner's writing, though appreciative of all religions and cultural developments, emphasizes Western tradition as having evolved to meet contemporary needs.<ref name="Lachman" /> He describes Christ and his mission on earth of bringing individuated consciousness as having a particularly important place in human evolution,<ref name="Essential" /> whereby:<ref name="Willmann" />
*Christianity has evolved out of previous religions;
*The being which manifests in Christianity also manifests in all faiths and religions, and each religion is valid and true for the time and cultural context in which it was born;
*All historical forms of Christianity need to be transformed considerably to meet the continuing evolution of humanity.

{{Blockquote|Spiritual science does not want to usurp the place of Christianity; on the contrary it would like to be instrumental in making Christianity understood. Thus it becomes clear to us through spiritual science that the being whom we call Christ is to be recognized as the center of life on earth, that the Christian religion is the ultimate religion for the earth's whole future. Spiritual science shows us particularly that the pre-Christian religions outgrow their one-sidedness and come together in the Christian faith. It is not the desire of spiritual science to set something else in the place of Christianity; rather it wants to contribute to a deeper, more heartfelt understanding of Christianity.<ref>Rudolf Steiner,[http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/AntChr_index.html "Anthroposophy and Christianity"]</ref>}}

Thus, anthroposophy considers there to be a being who unifies all religions, and who is not represented by any particular religious faith. This being is, according to Steiner, not only the Redeemer of [[the Fall of Man|the Fall from Paradise]], but also the unique pivot and meaning of earth's evolutionary processes and of human history.<ref name="Willmann" /> To describe this being, Steiner periodically used terms such as the "Representative of Humanity" or the "good spirit"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Steiner |first=Rudolf |title=The foundations of human experience |publisher=Anthroposophic Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-88010-392-3 |page=34}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Steiner |first=Rudolf |date=December 16, 1908 |title=A Chapter of Occult History |url=http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19081216p01.html}}</ref> rather than any denominational term.