Founder of the Anthroposophical Society, Rudolf Steiner espoused a spiritual philosophy that combined occult and Christian principies with a reverence for nature and the environment. Born in Kraljevica, on the Austro-Hungarian border (now Yugoslavia) in 1861, Steiner was a Goethe scholar and an enthusiast of Theosophy. His academic training (he had a doctorate in philosophy) and practical inclinations led him to split with the Theosophists and found his own society in 1912. Though he remained committed to spiritual investigation and mysticism, Steiner turned his attention to a broad range of cultural and educational activities, placing great emphasis on color and bodily rhythm, on the establishment of an architectural style expressive of a spiritual life, and on the development of a number of enlightened educational and Eirming experiments. Some 70 Anthroposophical schools still operate around the world and are highly regarded as innovative institutions that promote individuality, spontaneity and excellence. Steiner died in 1925.
