Emanuel Swedenborg

Emanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg
Born	(1688-01-29)29 January 1688 Stockholm, Swedish Empire
Died	29 March 1772(1772-03-29) (aged 84) London, England, Great Britain
Occupation(s)	Mining engineer, anatomist, astronomer, nobleman, author
Notable work	True Christian Religion, Heaven and Hell
Theological work
Era	18th-century
Tradition or movement	Lutheran Christianity
Main interests	Theology, science, philosophy
Notable ideas	Trinity in one person, Correspondence, Last Judgment and Second Coming of Christ occurred

Emanuel Swedenborg (listen^ⓘ; born Emanuel Swedberg; 29 January 1688 – 29 March 1772) was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian, revelator, and, in the eyes of some, Christian mystic. He termed himself a "Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ" in True Christian Religion, a work he published himself. He is best known for his book on the afterlife, Heaven and Hell (1758).

Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. In 1741, at the age of 53, he entered into a spiritual phase in which he began to experience dreams and visions, beginning on Easter weekend of April 6, 1744. This culminated in a 'spiritual awakening', in which he received revelation that he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly Doctrine to reform Christianity. According to Swedenborg’s writings the Lord had opened Swedenborg's spiritual eyes, so that from then on he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, demons and other spirits; and that the Last Judgement had already occurred, in 1757, although this was only visible in the spiritual world, where he had witnessed it. Swedenborg’s writings teach that The Last Judgement was followed by the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which occurred, not by Christ in person, but by a revelation from Him through the inner, spiritual sense of the Word through Swedenborg. However, he tells us that at this day it is very dangerous to talk with spirits, unless a person is in true faith, and is led by the Lord. Swedenborg argued that it is the presence of that spiritual sense which makes the Word Divine.

For the remaining 28 years of his life, Swedenborg wrote 18 published theological works, and several more which were unpublished. Some followers of Swedenborg’s writings believe that, of his theological works, only those which Swedenborg published himself are fully divinely inspired.

Swedenborg’s writings reject the concept of salvation through faith alone, since he considered both faith and charity necessary for salvation, not one without the other, whereas the Reformers taught that faith alone procured justification, although it must be a faith which resulted in obedience. The purpose of faith, according to Swedenborg’s writings, is to lead a person to a life according to the truths of faith, which is charity, as is taught in 1 Corinthians 13:13 and James 2:20. However, he made no attempt to found a church. A few years after his death – 15 by one estimate – for the most part in England, small reading groups formed to study the truth they saw in his teachings. As one scholar has noted, Swedenborg’s writings particularly appealed to the various dissenting groups that sprang up in the first half of the 18th century who were "surfeited with revivalism and narrow-mindedness" and found his optimism and comprehensive explanations appealing.

In Earths in the Universe, it is stated that he conversed with spirits from Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Venus, the Moon, as well as spirits from planets beyond our solar system. From these 'encounters' he concluded that the planets of our solar system are inhabited, and that such an enormous undertaking as the universe could not have been created for just one race of people; nor one 'heaven' derived from it. He argued: “What would this be to God, Who is infinite, and to whom a thousand or tens of thousands of planets, and all of them full of inhabitants, would be scarcely anything!”. Swedenborg and the life on other planets question has been extensively reviewed elsewhere.

A variety of important cultural figures, both writers and artists, were influenced by Swedenborg's writings, including Johnny Appleseed, William Blake, Jorge Luis Borges, Daniel Burnham, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Flaxman, George Inness, Henry James Sr., Carl Jung, Immanuel Kant, Honoré de Balzac, Helen Keller, Czesław Miłosz, August Strindberg, D. T. Suzuki, and W. B. Yeats. His philosophy had a great impact on the Duke of Södermanland, later King Carl XIII, who as the Grand Master of Swedish Freemasonry (Svenska Frimurare Orden) built its unique system of degrees and wrote its rituals. In contrast, one of the most prominent Swedish authors of Swedenborg's day, Johan Henric Kellgren, called Swedenborg "nothing but a fool". A heresy trial was initiated in Sweden in 1768 against Swedenborg writings and two men who promoted them.

In the two and a half centuries since Swedenborg's death, various interpretations of his theology have been made, and he has also been scrutinized in biographies and psychological studies. Of note is that, just as Jesus Christ, with his new teachings, was considered insane by some (John 10:20, Mark 3:21), so Swedenborg, with his claimed new dispensation, has been considered by some to suffer from mental illness. “While the insanity explanation was not uncommon during Swedenborg's own time, it is mitigated by his activity in the Swedish Riddarhuset (The House of the Nobility), the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament), and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Additionally, the system of thought in his theological writings is considered by some to be remarkably coherent. Furthermore, he was characterized by his contemporaries as a "kind and warm-hearted man", "amiable in his meeting with the public", speaking "easily and naturally of his spiritual experiences", with pleasant and interesting conversation.... An English friend of Kant's who visited Swedenborg at Kant's behest described Swedenborg as a "reasonable, pleasant and candid man and scholar". Of note here is Swedenborg's statement that he was commanded by the Lord to publish his writings and "Do not believe that without this express command I would have thought of publishing things which I knew in advance would make me look ridiculous and many people would think lies..."

Biography

Early life

Memorial plaque at the former location of Emanuel Swedenborg's house at Hornsgatan on Södermalm, Stockholm.

Swedenborg's father, Jesper Swedberg (1653–1735), descended from a wealthy mining family. He travelled abroad and studied theology, and on returning home he was eloquent enough to impress the Swedish king, Charles XI, with his sermons in Stockholm. Through the King's influence he would later become professor of theology at Uppsala University and Bishop of Skara.

Jesper took an interest in the beliefs of the dissenting Lutheran Pietist movement, which emphasised the virtues of communion with God rather than relying on sheer faith (sola fide). Sola fide is a tenet of the Lutheran Church, and Jesper was charged with being a pietist heretic. While controversial, the beliefs were to have a major impact on his son Emanuel's spirituality. Jesper furthermore held the unconventional belief that angels and spirits were present in everyday life. This also came to have a strong impact on Emanuel.

Swedenborg completed his university course at Uppsala in 1709, and in 1710 made his grand tour through the Netherlands, France, and Germany, before reaching London, where he would spend the next four years. It was also a flourishing center of scientific ideas and discoveries. Emanuel studied physics, mechanics, and philosophy, and read and wrote poetry. According to the preface of a book by the Swedish critic Olof Lagercrantz, Swedenborg wrote to his benefactor and brother-in-law Eric Benzelius that he believed he (Swedenborg) might be destined to be a great scientist.

Scientific period

The Flying Machine, sketched in his notebook from 1714. The operator would sit in the middle, and paddle himself through the air. See Smithsonian model and explanation by Dr. Paul Garber, former Curator of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, on the principle of flight of the aircraft. His descriptions may be found in a chapter of the Söderburg book, p. 32, or on the video clip at 5:48 on its timeline.

In 1715 Swedenborg returned to Sweden, where he devoted himself to natural science and engineering projects for the next two decades. A first step was his noted meeting with King Charles XII of Sweden in the city of Lund, in 1716. The Swedish inventor Christopher Polhem, who became a close friend of Swedenborg, was also present. Swedenborg's purpose was to persuade the king to fund an observatory in northern Sweden. However, the warlike king did not consider this project important enough, but did appoint Swedenborg assessor-extraordinary on the Swedish Board of Mines (Bergskollegium) in Stockholm.

From 1716 to 1718, Swedenborg published a scientific periodical entitled Daedalus Hyperboreus ("The Northern Daedalus"), a record of mechanical and mathematical inventions and discoveries. One notable description was that of a flying machine, the same he had been sketching a few years earlier (see Flying Machine (Swedenborg)).

Upon the death of Charles XII, Queen Ulrika Eleonora ennobled Swedenborg and his siblings. It was common in Sweden during the 17th and 18th centuries for the children of bishops to receive this honour as a recognition of the services of their father. The family name was changed from Swedberg to Swedenborg.

In 1724, he was offered the chair of mathematics at Uppsala University but he declined, saying that he had mainly dealt with geometry, chemistry and metallurgy during his career. He also noted that he did not have the gift of eloquent speech because of a speech impediment. The speech impediment in question was stuttering, noted by many acquaintances of his: it forced him to speak slowly and carefully and there are no known occurrences of his speaking in public. The Swedish critic Olof Lagerkrantz proposed that Swedenborg compensated for his impediment by extensive argumentation in writing.

New direction of studies, ahead of his time

During the 1730s, Swedenborg undertook many studies of anatomy and physiology. He had the first anticipation, as far as known, of the neuron concept. It was not until a century later that science recognized the full significance of the nerve cell. He also had prescient ideas about the cerebral cortex, the hierarchical organization of the nervous system, the localization of the cerebrospinal fluid, the functions of the pituitary gland, the perivascular spaces, the foramen of Magendie, the idea of somatotopic organization, and the association of frontal brain regions with the intellect. In some cases his conclusions have been experimentally verified in modern times.

In the 1730s Swedenborg became increasingly interested in spiritual matters and was determined to find a theory which would explain how matter relates to spirit. Swedenborg's desire to understand the order and purpose of creation first led him to investigate the structure of matter and the process of creation itself. In the Principia he outlined his philosophical method, which incorporated experience, geometry (the means whereby the inner order of the world can be known), and the power of reason. He also outlined his cosmology, which included the first presentation of his Nebular hypothesis. (There is evidence that Swedenborg may have preceded Kant by as much as 20 years in the development of this hypothesis.)

In Leipzig, 1735, he published a three volume work entitled Opera philosophica et mineralis ("Philosophical and mineralogical works"), where he tries to conjoin philosophy and metallurgy. The work was mainly appreciated for its chapters on the analysis of the smelting of iron and copper, and it was this work which gave Swedenborg international reputation. The same year he also published the small manuscript de Infinito ("On the Infinite"), where he attempted to explain how the finite is related to the infinite, and how the soul is connected to the body. This was the first manuscript where he touched upon these matters. He knew that it might clash with established theologies, since he presents the view that the soul is based on material substances. He also conducted dedicated studies of the fashionable philosophers of the time such as John Locke, Christian von Wolff, Leibniz, and Descartes; and earlier thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus and Augustine.

In 1743, at the age of 55, Swedenborg requested a leave of absence to go abroad. His purpose was to gather source material for Regnum animale (The Animal Kingdom, or Kingdom of Life), a subject on which books were not readily available in Sweden. The aim of the book was to explain the soul from an anatomical point of view. He had planned to produce a total of seventeen volumes.

Journal of Dreams

By 1744 Swedenborg had traveled to the Netherlands. Around this time he began having strange dreams. Swedenborg carried a travel journal with him on most of his travels, and did so on this journey. The whereabouts of the diary were long unknown, but it was discovered in the Royal Library in the 1850s and published in 1859 as Drömboken, or Journal of Dreams.

Swedenborg experienced many different dreams and visions, some greatly pleasurable, others highly disturbing. The experiences continued as he traveled to London to progress the publication of Regnum animale. This process, which one biographer has proposed as cathartic and comparable to the Catholic concept of Purgatory, continued for six months. He also proposed that what Swedenborg was recording in his Journal of Dreams was a battle between the love of his self and the love of God.

Visions and spiritual insights

In the last entry of the journal from October 26–27, 1744, Swedenborg appears to be clear as to which path to follow. He felt he should drop his current project, and write a new book about the worship of God. He soon began working on De cultu et amore Dei, or The Worship and Love of God. It was never fully completed, but Swedenborg still had it published in London in June 1745.

One explanation why the work was never finished is given in a well-known and often referenced story. In April 1745, Swedenborg was dining in a private room at a tavern in London. By the end of the meal, a darkness fell upon his eyes, and the room shifted character. Suddenly he saw a person sitting at a corner of the room, telling Swedenborg: "Do not eat too much!". Swedenborg, scared, hurried home. Later that night, the same man appeared in his dreams. The man told Swedenborg that He was the Lord, that He had appointed Swedenborg to reveal the spiritual meaning of the Bible, and that He would guide Swedenborg in what to write. The same night, the spiritual world was opened to Swedenborg.

It should be noted, however, that (1) The Robsahm transcriptions on which this story is based were second hand, despite Robsahm's presenting them in the first person and (2) accuracy cannot be achieved since there are several versions of this story, in whole or part differing in important respects, e.g. Lord figure seen in corner vs. close by, conditions of dimness or darkness vs. bright light and date of 1744 vs. 1745. However, Swedenborg did not publish any of these documents himself so the doctrinal aspects are not authoritative.

Scriptural commentary and writings

Arcana Cœlestia, first edition (1749), title page

In June 1747, Swedenborg resigned his post as assessor of the board of mines. He explained that he was obliged to complete a work he had begun and requested to receive half his salary as a pension. He took up afresh his study of Hebrew and began to work on the spiritual interpretation of the Bible with the goal of interpreting the spiritual meaning of every verse. From sometime between 1746 and 1747, and for ten years henceforth, he devoted his energy to this task. Usually abbreviated as Arcana Cœlestia and under the Latin variant Arcana Caelestia (translated as Heavenly Arcana, Heavenly Mysteries, or Secrets of Heaven depending on modern English-language editions), the book became his magnum opus and the basis of his further theological works.

The work was anonymous and Swedenborg was not identified as the author until the late 1750s. It consisted of eight volumes, published between 1749 and 1756. It attracted little attention, as few people could penetrate its meaning.

His life from 1747 until his death in 1772 was spent in Stockholm, Holland, and London. During these 25 years he wrote another 14 works of a spiritual nature of which most were published during his lifetime.

One of his lesser known works presents a startling claim, that the Last Judgment had begun in the previous year (1757) and was completed by the end of that year and that he had witnessed the whole thing. According to Swedenborg, the Last Judgment took place, not in the physical world, but in the World of Spirits, which is located half-way between heaven and hell, and which everyone passes through on their way to heaven or hell. The Judgment took place because the Christian church had lost its charity and faith, resulting in a loss of spiritual free will that threatened the equilibrium between heaven and hell in everyone’s life

In another of his theological works, Swedenborg wrote that eating meat, regarded in itself, "is something profane," and was not practiced in the early days of the human race. However, he said, meat-eating today is a matter of conscience and no one is condemned for doing it. Nonetheless, the early-days ideal appears to have given rise to the idea that Swedenborg was a vegetarian. This conclusion may have been reinforced by the fact that a number of Swedenborg's early followers were part of the vegetarian movement that arose in Great Britain in the 19th century. However, the only reports on Swedenborg himself are contradictory. His landlord in London, Shearsmith, said he ate no meat but his maid, who served Swedenborg, said that he ate eels and pigeon pie.

Swedenborg published his work in London or Holland due to the freedom of the press unique to those countries.

Swedenborg's crypt in Uppsala Cathedral

In July 1770, at the age of 82, he traveled to Amsterdam to complete the publication of his last work. The book, Vera Christiana Religio (The True Christian Religion), was published in Amsterdam in 1771 and was one of the most appreciated of his works. Designed to explain his teachings to Lutheran Christians, it was the most concrete of his works.

In the summer of 1771, he traveled to London. Shortly before Christmas he suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed and confined to bed. His health improved somewhat, but he died on March 29, 1772. There are several accounts of his last months, made by those he stayed with, and by Arvid Ferelius, a pastor of the Swedish Church in London, who visited him several times.

There is evidence that Swedenborg wrote a letter to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in February, saying he (Swedenborg) had been told in the world of spirits that Wesley wanted to speak with him. Wesley, startled, since he had not told anyone of his interest in Swedenborg, replied that he was going on a journey for six months and would contact Swedenborg on his return. Swedenborg replied that that would be too late since he (Swedenborg) would be going to the spiritual world for the last time on March 29. (Wesley later read and commented extensively on Swedenborg's work.) Swedenborg's landlord's servant girl, Elizabeth Reynolds, also said Swedenborg had predicted this date, and that Swedenborg was as happy about it as if was "going on holiday or to some merrymaking".

In Swedenborg's final hours, his friend, Pastor Ferelius, told him some people thought he had written his theology just to make a name for himself and asked Swedenborg if he would like to recant. Raising himself up on his bed, his hand on his heart, Swedenborg earnestly replied,

"As truly as you see me before your eyes, so true is everything that I have written; and I could have said more had it been permitted. When you enter eternity you will see everything, and then you and I shall have much to talk about".

He then died, in the afternoon, on the date he had predicted, March 29.

Swedenborg House, London

He was buried in the Swedish Church in Shadwell, London. On the 140th anniversary of his death, in 1912/1913, his earthly remains were transferred to Uppsala Cathedral in Sweden, where they now rest close to the grave of the botanist Carolus Linnaeus. In 1917, the Swedish Church in Shadwell was demolished and the Swedish community that had grown around the parish moved to West London. In 1938 the site of the former church where he had been buried in London was redeveloped, and in his honor the local road was renamed Swedenborg Gardens. In 1997, a garden, play area and memorial near the road were created in his memory.

Veracity

Swedenborg's transition from scientist to revelator or mystic has fascinated many people ever since it occurred (see list of some of the people involved above, in introduction).

Swedenborg has had a variety of biographers, favorable and critical. Some propose that he did not in fact have a revelation at all, but rather developed his theological ideas from sources ranging from his father to earlier figures in the history of thought, notably Plotinus.This position was first and most notably taken by the Swedish writer Martin Lamm, who wrote a biography of Swedenborg in 1915, which is still in print. Olof Lagercrantz, the Swedish critic and publicist, had a similar point of view, calling Swedenborg's theological writing "a poem about a foreign country with peculiar laws and customs".

Swedenborg's approach to demonstrating the veracity of his theological teachings was to find and use voluminous quotations from the Old Testament and New Testament to demonstrate agreement between the Bible or Word of God and his theological teachings. The demonstration of this agreement is found throughout his theological writings, since he rejected blind faith and declared true faith is an internal acknowledgment of the truth. The vast and consistent use of Biblical confirmations in Swedenborg's theological writings led a Swedish Royal Council in 1771, examining the heresy charges of 1770 against two Swedish supporters of his theological writings, to declare "there is much that is true and useful in Swedenborg's writings."

Beginning in the 20th century, the medical community began to notice similarities between the accounts of Swedenborg concerning the afterlife and the experiences of those who were revived after their heart had stopped. Among hundreds and then later thousands of witness accounts, the experiences of these people shared common traits which eventually became known as the "Near Death Experience" (NDE). Raymond Moody, a psychologist and medical doctor who first coined the term for NDE, noted that similar to these accounts, Swedenborg described death as a pulling away from the physical body, followed by encounters with departed ones and a life review drawn from the person's memory. Most notably, many of these witnesses describe encountering a supreme Being of Light, or a light at the end of a tunnel, which Swedenborg had also described as the Sun of heaven in which the Lord resided. These experiences are still being studied by various researchers.

Scientific beliefs

Swedenborg proposed many scientific ideas during his lifetime. In his youth, he wanted to present a new idea every day, as he wrote to his brother-in-law Erik Benzelius in 1718. Around 1730, he had changed his mind, and instead believed that higher knowledge is not something that can be acquired, but that it is based on intuition. After 1745, he instead considered himself receiving scientific knowledge in a spontaneous manner from angels.

From 1745, when he considered himself to have entered a spiritual state, he tended to phrase his "experiences" in empirical terms, claiming to report accurately things he had experienced on his spiritual journeys.

One of his ideas that is considered most crucial for the understanding of his theology is his notion of correspondences. But in fact, he first presented the theory of correspondences in 1744, in the first volume of Regnum Animale dealing with the human soul.

The basis of the correspondence theory is that there is a relationship between the natural ("physical"), the spiritual, and the divine worlds. The foundations of this theory can be traced to Neoplatonism and the philosopher Plotinus in particular. With the aid of this scenario, Swedenborg now interpreted the Bible in a different light, claiming that even the most apparently trivial sentences could hold a profound spiritual meaning.

Psychic accounts

Four incidents of purported psychic ability of Swedenborg exist in the literature. There are several versions of each story.

Fire anecdotes

On Thursday, July 19, 1759 a great and well-documented fire broke out in Stockholm, Sweden. In the high and increasing wind it spread very fast, consuming about 300 houses and making 2000 people homeless.

When the fire broke out Swedenborg was at a dinner with friends in Gothenburg, about 400 km from Stockholm. He became agitated and told the party at six o'clock that there was a fire in Stockholm, that it had consumed his neighbor’s home and was threatening his own. Two hours later, he exclaimed with relief that the fire had stopped three doors from his home. In the excitement following his report, word even reached the ears of the provincial governor, who summoned Swedenborg that same evening and asked for a detailed recounting.

At that time, it took two to three days for news from Stockholm to reach Gothenburg by courier, so that is the shortest duration in which the news of the fire could reach Gothenburg. The first messenger from Stockholm with news of the fire was from the Board of Trade who arrived Monday evening. The second messenger was a royal courier, who arrived on Tuesday. Both of these reports confirmed every statement to the precise hour that Swedenborg first expressed the information. The accounts are fully described in Bergquist, pp. 312–313 and in Chapter 31 of The Swedenborg Epic.

(Bergquist states, but does not document, that Swedenborg confirmed his vision of the fire incident to his good friend, Consul Christopher Springer, "one of the pillars of the church, … "a man of enviable reputation for virtue and intelligence" , "and that Swedenborg's innkeeper, Erik Bergström, heard Swedenborg affirming the story.)

It seems unlikely that the many witnesses to Swedenborg’s distress during the fire, and his immediate report of it to the provincial governor, would have left room for doubt in the public eye of Swedenborg’s report. Indeed, if Swedenborg had only received news of the fire by the normal methods there would have been no issue of psychic perception recorded for history.

In a second fire anecdote, similar to the first one, but less cited, is the incident of the mill owner Bolander. Swedenborg warned him, again abruptly, of an incipient fire in one of his mills.

Queen of Sweden

The third event was in 1758 when Swedenborg visited Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden, who asked him to tell her something about her deceased brother Prince Augustus William of Prussia. The next day, Swedenborg whispered something in her ear that turned the Queen pale and she explained that this was something only she and her brother could know about.

Lost document

The fourth incident involved a woman who had lost an important document, and came to Swedenborg asking if a recently deceased person could tell him where it was, which he (in some sources) was said to have done the following night.

Although not typically cited along with these three episodes, there was one further piece of evidence of possible pertinence here: Swedenborg was noted by the seamen of the ships that he sailed between Stockholm and London to always have excellent sailing conditions. When asked about this by a friend, Swedenborg played down the matter, saying he was surprised by this experience himself and that he was certainly not able to do miracles.

Kant on Swedenborg

In 1763, Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), then at the beginning of his career, was impressed by these accounts and made inquiries to find out if they were true. He also ordered all eight volumes of the expensive Arcana Cœlestia (Heavenly Arcana or Heavenly Mysteries). One Charlotte von Knobloch wrote Kant asking his opinion of Swedenborg’s psychic experiences. Kant wrote a very affirmative reply, referring to Swedenborg's "miraculous" gift, and characterizing him as "reasonable, agreeable, remarkable and sincere" and "a scholar", in one of his letters to Mendelssohn, and expressing regret that he (Kant) had never met Swedenborg. An English friend who investigated the matter for Kant, including visiting Swedenborg’s home, found Swedenborg to be a "sensible, pleasant and openhearted" man and, here again, a scholar.

However, three years later, in 1766, Kant wrote and anonymously published a small book entitled Träume eines Geistersehers (Dreams of a Spirit-Seer) that was a scathing critique of Swedenborg and his writings. He termed Swedenborg a "spook hunter" "without official office or occupation". As rationale for his critique Kant said that he wanted to stop "ceaseless questioning” and inquiries about Dreams from "inquisitive" persons, “both known and unknown", and "importunate appeals from known and unknown friends", as well as from "moon calves". He also said he did not want to expose himself to ”mockery.” More significantly, he became concerned about being seen as an apologist for both Swedenborg and for Spiritism in the guise of the interest in Swedenborg, which might have damaged his career. It seems clear that Dreams was intended as a refutation of all such thinking. This left Kant in the ironic or hypocritical position of trying to free himself of ridicule while at the same time applying ridicule to Swedenborg.

However, there has long been a suspicion among some scholars that, despite Dreams, Kant actually had a behind-the-scenes respect for Swedenborg. Certainly there were inconsistencies in Kant's handling of this issue. For instance,

(1) Kant's writing style was usually "complex, labored, dry ...and earnest" but in Dreams was often “playful, ironic and humorous".

(2) While he mocked Swedenborg in print, in the preserved notes of Kant's lectures on metaphysics taken by a student named Herder, Kant treated Swedenborg with respect, "not to be sneezed at". At one point, Herder’s notes term Swedenborg's visions as "quite sublime".

(3) Kant's friend Moses Mendelssohn thought there was a "joking pensiveness" in Dreams that sometimes left the reader in doubt as to whether Dreams was meant to make "metaphysics laughable or spirit-seeking credible".

(4) In a one of his letters to Mendelssohn, Kant refers to Dreams less-than-enthusiastically as a "desultory little essay".

For more examples of these discrepancies, see Heron's list in the original and with the Dole corrections.

Finally, a case has been made that Kant wrote Dreams before, not after, the Knobloch letter and that this was accomplished by accidentally or deliberately falsifying the dates of the documents involved, notably that of the Knobloch letter. This alteration, if true, would strengthen the case for Swedenborg’s work being viewed by Kant, in the last analysis, positively. However, the fact of the matter is difficult to determine since the key date involved is that of the original of the Knobloch letter, which is lost.

Theology

According to the Doctrine of the New Church the teachings of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ were revealed to and published by Emanuel Swedenborg.

Swedenborg considered his theology a revelation of the true Christian religion that had become obfuscated through centuries of theology. However, he did not refer to his writings as theology since he considered it based on actual experiences, unlike theology, except in the title of his last work. Neither did he wish to compare it to philosophy, a discipline he discarded in 1748 because it "darkens the mind, blinds us, and wholly rejects the faith".

The foundation of Swedenborg's theology was laid down in Arcana Cœlestia (Heavenly Mysteries), published in eight Latin volumes from 1749 to 1756. In a significant portion of that work, he interprets the Biblical passages of Genesis and Exodus. He reviews what he says is the inner spiritual sense of these two works of the Word of God. (He later made a similar review of the inner sense of the book of Revelation in Apocalypse Revealed.) Most of all, he was convinced that the Bible describes a human's transformation from a materialistic to a spiritual being, which he calls rebirth or regeneration. He begins this work by outlining how the creation myth was not an account of the creation of Earth, but an account of man's rebirth or regeneration in six steps represented by the six days of creation. Everything related to mankind in the Bible could also be related to Jesus Christ, and how Christ freed himself from materialistic boundaries through the glorification of his human presence by making it Divine. Swedenborg examines this idea in his exposition of Genesis and Exodus.

Marriage

One aspect of Swedenborg's writing that is often discussed is his ideas on marriage. Swedenborg himself remained a bachelor all his life, but that did not hinder him from writing voluminously on the subject. His work on Marriage Love (Conjugial Love in older translations) (1768) was dedicated to this purpose.

A central question with regard to marriage is whether it stops at death or continues into heaven. The question arises due to a statement of Jesus’ that appears to say that, indeed, “death do us part.” Paul, furthermore, questions marriage in the first place, as opposed to celibacy. For a detailed analysis of this issue, see Jesus and Paul on the Eternity of Marriage.

The quality of the relationship between husband and wife resumes in the spiritual world in whatever state it was at their death in this world. Thus, a couple in true marriage love remain together in that state in heaven into eternity. A couple lacking in that love by one or both partners, however, will separate after death and each will be given a compatible new partner if they wish. A partner is also given to a person who loved the ideal of marriage but never found a true partner in this world. The exception in both cases is a person who hates chaste marriage and thus cannot receive such a partner.

Swedenborg saw creation as a series of pairings, descending from the Divine love and wisdom that define God and are the basis of creation. This duality can be seen in the pairing of good and truth, charity and faith, God and the church, and husband and wife. In each case, the goal for these pairs is to achieve conjunction between the two component parts. In the case of marriage, the object is to bring about the joining together of the two partners at the spiritual and physical levels, and the happiness that comes as a consequence.

Trinity

Swedenborg explicitly rejected the common explanation of the Trinity as a Trinity of Persons, which he said was not taught in the early Christian church. There was, for instance, no mention in the Apostolic writings of any "Son from eternity". Instead he explained in his theological writings how the Divine Trinity exists in One Person, in One God, the Lord Jesus Christ, which he said is taught in Colossians 2:9. (See also 1 John 5:20, Matthew 28:18 and Acts 20:21) According to Swedenborg, Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world due to the spread of evil here. The hells were over-running the World of Spirits, which is midway between Heaven and Hell, and parts of Heaven as well, threatening the whole human race with damnation. God needed to correct this situation to preserve the spiritual freedom of all people. Swedenborg tells us God corrected this situation by redeeming the human race. But God as He is in Himself could not come in direct contact with any evil spirit, which would destroy that spirit (Exodus 33:20). So God impregnated a human woman from the Holy Spirit (Luke 1), thereby creating a person – Jesus Christ – Who had a Divine soul in a material body. The human body from Mary provided Jesus access to the evil heredity of the human race.

He then set up two cyclical processes, one of redemption and one of glorification. In the redemption process the human part of Jesus was tempted by different hells, and He conquered them one by one (Matthew 4). In that way God and evil spirits could engage each other. At the same time Jesus went through the glorification process, in which He successively united His human external with His Divine humanity from God (Colossians 2:9). In this way the Human Jesus became one with the Divine Humanity of His Father and was then no longer the son of Mary. The glorification process involved alternation between a state of humiliation (or “emptying out”, as in Isaiah 53:12), when Jesus was only aware of His human from Mary, and a state of glorification, or union, with Jehovah. When Jesus was in the humiliation state He prayed to the Father as someone other than Himself. At times when Jesus was in the glorification state He spoke with the Father as Himself. The passion of the cross was Jesus’ final combat with and victory over the hells, in which He completely conquered them and glorified His Human form.

Jesus put off the human taken from the mother, and put on the Human from the Divine in Himself, as is evident from the fact that whenever He addressed His mother directly He called her “Woman,” not “Mother.” (John 2:3,4, 19:26, 27). Once he did not recognize her as His mother. (Luke 8:20, 21) In other places Mary is called His mother, but not by Jesus (e.g. Luke 1:43, 2:34).

That Jesus became fully Divine is also illustrated by the fact that He rose bodily out of the tomb (Matthew 28) and entered a closed room (John 20).

Swedenborg spoke in virtually all his works against what he regarded as the incomprehensible Trinity of Persons concept. He said that people of other religions opposed Christianity because of its doctrine of a Trinity of Persons. He considered the separation of the Trinity into three separate Persons to have originated with the First Council of Nicaea and the Athanasian Creed. According to Swedenborg the Athanasian Creed is true, however, if by a trinity is understood to mean a trinity in one person and that person is in the Lord God Jesus Christ.

Swedenborg's theological teachings about the Trinity being in the One Person Jesus Christ is labeled by some as modalism because it identifies three aspects (not persons) of One God, a unitarian God.

Sola fide (Faith Alone)

He also spoke sharply against the tenet called Sola fide, which means that justification based upon imputed righteousness before God is achievable by a gift of God's grace ("Sola gratia"), through faith alone, not on the basis of the person's deeds in life. Sola fide was a doctrine averred by Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli and others during the Protestant Reformation, and was a core belief especially in the theology of the Lutheran reformers Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. Although the Sola fide of the Reformers also emphasized that saving faith was one that effected works (by faith alone, but not by a faith which is alone), Swedenborg protested against faith alone being the instrument of justification, and held that salvation is only possible through the conjunction of faith and charity in a person, and that the purpose of faith is to lead a person to live according to the truths of faith, which is charity. He further states that faith and charity must be exercised by doing good out of willing good whenever possible, which are good works or good uses or the conjunction perishes. In one section he wrote:

It is very evident from their Epistles that it never entered the mind of any of the apostles that the church of this day would separate faith from charity by teaching that faith alone justifies and saves apart from the works of the law, and that charity therefore cannot be conjoined with faith, since faith is from God, and charity, so far as it is expressed in works, is from man. But this separation and division were introduced into the Christian church when it divided God into three persons, and ascribed to each equal Divinity.

— True Christian Religion, section 355

Works

Copies of the original Latin version in which Swedenborg wrote his revelation are available from the following sources:

List of referenced works by Swedenborg and the year they were first published.

Within parenthesis is the common name used in a New Church listing Then follows the title in its original publication. All the titles listed were published by Swedenborg, except one, The Spiritual Diary, which was not. Various minor reports and tracts have been omitted from the list.

• 1716–1718, (Daedalus Hyperboreus) Swedish: Daedalus Hyperboreus, eller några nya mathematiska och physicaliska försök. (English: The Northern inventor, or some new experiments in mathematics and physics)
• 1721, (Principles of Chemistry) Latin: Prodromus principiorum rerum naturalium: sive novorum tentaminum chymiam et physicam experimenta geometrice explicandi
• 1722, (Miscellaneous Observations) Latin: Miscellanea de Rebus Naturalibus
• 1734, (Principia) Latin: Opera Philosophica et Mineralia (English: Philosophical and Mineralogical Works), three volumes
  • (Principia, Volume I) Latin: Tomus I. Principia rerum naturlium sive novorum tentaminum phaenomena mundi elementaris philosophice explicandi
  • (Principia, Volume II) Latin: Tomus II. Regnum subterraneum sive minerale de ferro
  • (Principia, Volume III) Latin: Tomus III. Regnum subterraneum sive minerale de cupro et orichalco
• 1734, (The Infinite and Final Cause of Creation) Latin: Prodromus Philosophiz Ratiocinantis de Infinito, et Causa Finali Creationis; deque Mechanismo Operationis Animae et Corporis.
• 1744–1745, (The Animal Kingdom) Latin: Regnum animale, 3 volumes
• 1745, (The Worship and Love of God) Latin: De Cultu et Amore Dei, 2 volumes
• 1749–1756, (Arcana Cœlestia (or Caelestia) (Heavenly Mysteries) Latin: Arcana Cœlestia, quae in Scriptura Sacra seu Verbo Domini sunt, detecta, 8 volumes
• 1758, (Heaven and Hell) Latin: De Caelo et Ejus Mirabilibus et de inferno. Ex Auditis et Visis.
• 1758, (The Last Judgment) Latin: De Ultimo Judicio
• 1758, (The White Horse) Latin: De Equo Albo de quo in Apocalypsi Cap.XIX.
• 1758, (Earths in the Universe) Latin: De Telluribus in Mundo Nostro Solari, quæ vocantur planetæ: et de telluribus in coelo astrifero: deque illarum incolis; tum de spiritibus & angelis ibi; ex auditis & visis.
• 1758, (The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine) Latin: De Nova Hierosolyma et Ejus Doctrina Coelesti
• 1763, (Doctrine of the Lord) Latin:Doctrina Novæ Hierosolymæ de Domino.
• 1763, (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture) Latin: Doctrina Novæ Hierosolymæ de Scriptura Sacra.
• 1763, (Doctrine of Life) Latin: Doctrina Vitæ pro Nova Hierosolyma ex præceptis Decalogi.
• 1763, (Doctrine of Faith) Latin: Doctrina Novæ Hierosolymæ de Fide.
• 1763, (Continuation of The Last Judgement) Latin: Continuatio De Ultimo Judicio: et de mundo spirituali.
• 1763, (Divine Love and Wisdom) Latin: Sapientia Angelica de Divino Amore et de Divina Sapientia. Sapientia Angelica de Divina Providentia.
• 1764, (Divine Providence) Latin: Sapientia Angelica de Divina Providentia.
• 1766, (Apocalypse Revealed) Latin: Apocalypsis Revelata, in quae detegunter Arcana quae ibi preedicta sunt.
• 1768, (Conjugial Love, or Marriage Love) Latin: Deliciae Sapientiae de Amore Conjugiali; post quas sequumtur voluptates insaniae de amore scortatorio.
• 1769, (Brief Exposition) Latin: Summaria Expositio Doctrinæ Novæ Ecclesiæ, quæ per Novam Hierosolymam in Apocalypsi intelligitur.
• 1769, (Interaction of the Soul and the Body) Latin: De Commercio Animæ & Corporis.
• 1771, (True Christian Religion) Latin: Vera Christiana Religio, continens Universam Theologiam Novae Ecclesiae
• 1859, Drömboken, Journalanteckningar(Journal of Dreams), 1743–1744
• 1983–1997, (Spiritual Diary) Latin: Diarum, Ubi Memorantur Experientiae Spirituales.

See also

• The New Church
• General Church of the New Jerusalem
• Herman Vetterling
• List of Christian thinkers in science
• Lord's New Church Which Is Nova Hierosolyma
• New Thought
• Religious Science
• Swedenborgian Church of North America
• Swedenborg Rite
• Unity Church

References

• Ahlstrom, S.E. A Religious History of the American People (Yale 1972) Includes section on Swedenborg by this scholar.
• Benz, Ernst, Emanuel Swedenborg: Visionary Savant in the Age of Reason (Swedenborg Foundation, 2002) ISBN 0-87785-195-6, a translation of the thorough German language study on life and work of Swedenborg, Emanuel Swedenborg: Naturforscher und Seher by the noted religious scholar Ernst Benz, published in Munich in 1948.
• Bergquist, Lars, Swedenborg's Secret, (London, The Swedenborg Society, 2005) ISBN 0-85448-143-5, a translation of the Swedish language biography of Swedenborg, Swedenborgs Hemlighet, published in Stockholm in 1999. ISBN 91-27-06981-8
• Block, M. B. The New Church in the New World. A study of Swedenborgianism in America (Holt 1932; Octagon reprint 1968) A detailed history of the ideational and social development of the organized churches based on Swedenborg's works.
• Crompton, S. Emanuel Swedenborg (Chelsea House, 2005) Recent biography of Swedenborg.
• Johnson, G., ed. Kant on Swedenborg. Dreams of a Spirit-Seer and Other Writings. Translation by Johnson, G., Magee, G.E. (Swedenborg Foundation 2002) New translation and extensive set of supplementary texts.
• Lamm, Martin, Swedenborg: En studie (1987; first ed. 1915). A popular biography that is still read and quoted. It is also available in English: Emanuel Swedenborg: The Development of His Thought, Martin Lamm (Swedenborg Studies, No. 9, 2001), ISBN 0-87785-194-8
• Lagercrantz, Olof, Dikten om livet på den andra sidan (Wahlström & Widstrand 1996), ISBN 91-46-16932-6. In Swedish.
• Leon, James, Overcoming Objections to Swedenborg's Writings Through the Development of Scientific Dualism An examination of Swedenborg's discoveries. The author is a professor of psychology (1998; published in New Philosophy, 2001)
• Moody, R. A. Life after Life (Bantam 1975) Reports correlation of near-death experience with Swedenborg's reports of life after death.
• Price, R. Johnny Appleseed. Man and Myth (Indiana 1954) Definitive study of this legendary man. Includes details of his interest in Swedenborg and the organizational New Church
• Robsahm, Carl, Hallengren, Anders (translation and comments), Anteckningar om Swedenborg (Föreningen Swedenborgs Minne: Stockholm 1989), ISBN 91-87856-00-X. Hallengren writes that the first complete publication of the Robsam manuscript was in R. L. Tafel's Documents, Vol. I, 1875 (see section "#Further reading")
• Sigstedt, C.,The Swedenborg Epic. The Life and Works of Emanuel Swedenborg (New York: Bookman Associates, 1952). The whole book is available online at Swedenborg Digital Library.
• Toksvig, Signe, Emanuel Swedenborg. Scientist and Mystic., Yale University Press, (1948), and Swedenborg Foundation, (1983), ISBN 0-87785-171-9

Further reading

Newer material:

• The Arms of Morpheus—Essays on Swedenborg and Mysticism, ed. Stephen McNeilly (London: Swedenborg Society, 2007), ISBN 978-0-85448-150-7.
• Between Method and Madness—Essays on Swedenborg and Literature, ed. Stephen McNeilly (London: Swedenborg Society, 2005), ISBN 978-0-85448-145-3.
• In Search of the Absolute—Essays on Swedenborg and Literature, ed. Stephen McNeilly (London: Swedenborg Society, 2005), ISBN 978-0-85448-141-5.
• On the True Philosopher and the True Philosophy—Essays on Swedenborg, ed. Stephen McNeilly (London: Swedenborg Society, 2005), ISBN 978-0-85448-134-7.
• Swedenborg and His Influence, ed. Erland J. Brock, (Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania: The Academy of the New Church, 1988), ISBN 0-910557-23-3.
• Jonathan S. Rose, ed. Emanuel Swedenborg: Essays for the New Century Edition on His Life, Work, and Impact (West Chester, Pennsylvania: Swedenborg Foundation, 2002), ISBN 0-87785-473-4. 580 pages. Multiple scholars contributed to this collection of excellent information on Swedenborg, his manuscripts, and his cultural influence. Republished in 2004 under new title, Scribe of Heaven: Swedenborg's Life, Work, and Impact ISBN 0-87785-474-2.
• Wilson van Dusen, The Presence of Other Worlds, Swedenborg Foundation, Inc., New York, Harper & Row, 1974. ISBN 0-87785-166-2
• "The Madness Hypothesis," a special issue of The New Philosophy (1998;101: whole number), a journal produced by the Swedenborg Scientific Association, reviews the question of Swedenborg's sanity in scholarly detail, making the case that he was in fact quite sane.
• Donald L. Rose, ed., Afterlife: A Guided Tour of Heaven and Its Wonders. Swedenborg Foundation, 2006. (Excellent abridged version of Heaven and Hell)
• D. T. Suzuki, translated by Andrew Bernstein, Afterword by David Loy, Swedenborg: Buddha of the North. Swedenborg Foundation, 1996. (Brilliantly shows relevance of Swedenborg's ideas to Buddhist thought.)
• Sig Synnestvedt, ed., The Essential Swedenborg: Basic Religious Teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg Foundation, 1970.

Older material of importance, some of it not in print:

• The most extensive work is: RL Tafel, Documents concerning the Life and Character of Swedenborg, collected, translated and annotated (3 vols., Swedenborg Society, 1875—1877);
• J. Hyde, A Bibliography of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg (Swedenborg Society).
• Kant's Träume eines Geistersehers (1766; the most recent edition in English is from 1975, ISBN 3-7873-0311-1 );
• J. G. Herder's "Emanuel Swedenborg," in his Adrastea (Werke zur Phil. und Gesch., xii. 110–125).
• Transactions of the International Swedenborg Congress (London, 1910), summarized in The New Church Magazine (August 1910).
• Swedenborg and Esoteric Islam (Swedenborg Studies, No 4) by Henry Corbin, Leonard Fox
• Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Swedenborg; or, the Mystic", in Emerson: Essays and Lectures (New York, New York: The Library of America, 1983), ISBN 978-0-940450-15-8.
• William White, Emmanuel Swedenborg, His Life and Writings, 2nd Ed., Rev. (xx, 767 p.; London, Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., 1868) - This is the second of White’s two biographies of Swedenborg, the first one published in 1856 (White, W. Swedenborg: his life and writings Bath : I. Pitman, Phonetic Institution, 1856) and this second one in 1867. White worked for the Swedenborg Society in London and wrote an affirmative biography of Swedenborg. However, he was fired for publishing spiritist books and selling them at the Society’s store, as well as otherwise interfering with the Society’s function. White’s response was the 1867 biography, in which he, in Tafel’s words, “turn[ed] a complete somersault in his convictions,” and wrote a highly derogatory biography of Swedenborg and his teachings.(The Swedenborg Epic footnote # 769) (R. Tafel, Documents Concerning the Life and Character of Emanuel Swedenborg, Vol. 3, p. 1284. London. Swedenborg Society 1890)

External links

• Online library of audio recordings about Swedenborg and his theological works.

Works by Emanuel Swedenborg at Project Gutenberg.

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• A Journal of Dreams
• The Heavenly Doctrines, a searchable library of Swedenborg's "revelatory phase" theological writings.
• Source of commercially available Latin editions of Swedenborg’s Writings.
• Information Swedenborg Inc The mission of Information Swedenborg Inc. is to raise awareness of the life and work of Swedenborg. Sells books by, about and related to Swedenborg, world wide but especially within Canada.
• The Swedenborg Foundation is a non-profit publisher, book seller, and educational organization which publishes the theological works of Swedenborg, contemporary books and videos on spiritual growth, offers lectures and workshops, and maintains a library of Swedenborgian literature.
• Small Canon Search Swedenborg enumerated in his Arcana Coelestia #10,325 the books of the Bible that were, according to his revelation, Divinely inspired. In his True Christian Religion # 779 he indicated that books of his revelation that he published were also Divine revelation. This search engine, then, for the convenience of the reader, searches only the works thus inspired. For further review of this issue, see Which of Swedenborg's books are Divine revelation?
• Emanuel Swedenborg Swicki, a collaborative community searching the World Wide Web for information about Emanuel Swedenborg.
• The Swedenborg Project A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Maryland for the purpose of disseminating the teachings of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, revealed to Swedenborg. The Project’s website provides an overview and reference information in keeping with that goal.
• The Swedenborg Digital Library contains online full-text versions of books about Swedenborg and the Second Coming as well as access to the books of the Second Coming teachings that Swedenborg himself published.
• Standard and high resolution images of every page of first Latin edition of Swedenborg's writings Includes only books Swedenborg published himself, which are considered only ones to be fully authoritative: "Which of Swedenborg's books are Divine revelation?"
• First Translation of Swedenborg's theological writings: 16th Chapter of Genesis as explained in the Arcana Cœlestia (This translation from Latin into English was commissioned by Swedenborg himself and is a photocopy of a first edition copy: PDF - 12MB).
• The Swedenborg Society The Swedenborg Society translates, prints and publishes works by the Swedish scientist, philosopher and visionary, Emanuel Swedenborg.
• The New Christian Bible Study A site for people who are interested in the Bible, not just in its literal sense, but in its inner, spiritual sense. The theological underpinnings of the site are based on Emanuel Swedenborg's religious works from the 1700s.
• The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine According to What Has Been Heard from Heaven With an Introduction Concerning The New Heaven and the New Earth (Swedenbog Society 1911; Swedenborg Foundation 1951) This book is one of the Writings but is included in the present section because it provides an extremely compact summary of the Writings that was written by Swedenborg himself.
• Australian centre providing a range of services and information about Swedenborg and his spiritual teachings. Full on-line catalogue.
• Emanuel Swedenborg Studies is dedicated to collecting, analyzing, and preserving the historical record of the life and times of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). Among the existing broad context of apologists and critics of Emanuel Swedenborg, it is the mission of Emanuel Swedenborg Studies to establish an objective and comprehensive record of the facts of Emanuel Swedenborg’s LifeTemplate:Persondata