Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Random Term from the Dictionary:

ANTHROPOSOPHY

A religious philosophy developed by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) of Germany, by revising Hindu theosophy through the substitution of the human for God as the center of the new system. The method is essentially disciplined meditation that leads to one's lower self arriving at a vision of the higher self, not unlike the discovery of the Atman, or divine Self, characteristic of Vedanta Hinduism. Its doctrine includes belief in various epochs of the human race, reincarnation, Christ as the Sonnenwesen (sun being) of the universe, and karma. Anthroposophy was condemned in 1919 by the Holy Office, which declared that its tenets could not be reconciled with Catholic doctrine.