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Emanuel Swedenborg

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Philosophers

   Emanuel Swedenborg, 75, holding the manuscript of Apocalypsis Revelata
   (1766).
   Enlarge
   Emanuel Swedenborg, 75, holding the manuscript of Apocalypsis Revelata
   (1766).

   Emanuel Swedenborg  (born Emanuel Swedberg; January 29, 1688 – March
   29, 1772) was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, Christian mystic, and
   theologian. Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and
   scientist. At the age of fifty six he entered into a spiritual phase,
   in which he experienced dreams and visions. This culminated in a
   spiritual awakening, where he felt he was appointed by the Lord to
   write a heavenly doctrine based on a reformed Christianity. He claimed
   that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that from then on he could freely
   visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, devils, and other spirits.
   For the remaining 28 years of his life, he wrote 14 theological works,
   of which the best known was Heaven and Hell (1758).

   Swedenborg's theological writings have ellicited a range of responses.
   Toward the end of Swedenborg's life, small reading groups formed in
   England and Sweden to study the truth they saw in his teaching and
   several writers were influenced by him, including William Blake, August
   Strindberg, Charles Baudelaire, Balzac and Carl Jung.

   In contrast, one of the most prominent Swedish authors of Swedenborg's
   day, Johan Henrik Kellgren, called Swedenborg "nothing but a fool", a
   view shared by the establishment. a heresy trial was initiated in
   Sweden in 1768 against Swedenborg's writings and two men who promoted
   the ideas.

   In the 250 years since Swedenborg's death, various interpretations of
   Swedenborg's theology have been made (see: Swedenborgian Church), and
   he has also been scrutinized in biographies and psychological studies.

Biography

Early life

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

   Swedenborg's father Jesper Swedberg (1653–1735) had a modest
   background, but after studying theology and travelling abroad 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 tenant
   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.

   Emanuel completed his university course at Uppsala, and in 1710 made
   his Grand tour through the Netherlands, France, and Germany, before
   reaching London, where he would spend the next four years. At this time
   London was the largest city in the world, and the most liberal place in
   Europe for philosophical discussion and freedom of speech. It was also
   a flourishing centre of scientific ideas and discoveries. Emanuel
   studied physics, mechanics, and philosophy, read and wrote poetry. He
   wrote to his benefactor and brother-in-law Eric Benzelius that he
   believed he might be destined to be a great scientist. In one of his
   letters he includes, somewhat boastfully, a list of inventions he
   claims to have made, including a submarine and a flying machine.

Scientific period

   Flying Machine, sketched in a notebook in 1714. The operator would sit
   in the middle, and paddle himself through the air.
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   Flying Machine, sketched in a notebook in 1714. The operator would sit
   in the middle, and paddle himself through the air.

   In 1715 Swedenborg returned to Sweden, where he was to devote himself
   to natural science and engineering projects for the next two decades. A
   first step was his noted meeting in the city of Lund, in 1716, with
   King Charles XII of Sweden who was sojourning between military
   expeditions. The Swedish inventor Christopher Polhem, who became a
   close friend of Swedenborg's, 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 Nordic Deadalus") which was a record of
   mechanical and mathematical inventions and discoveries. One notable
   description was that of a flying machine, the same he had been
   sketching on 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 the 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 matallurgy 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
   acquinances of his, and it forced him to speak slowly and carefully,
   and there are no known occurrences of him speaking in public. It has
   been proposed that he compensated for his poor speech by extensive
   argumentation in writing.

New direction of studies

   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. 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.

   During the 1730s Swedenborg undertook many studies of anatomy and
   physiology. He also conducted dedicated studies of the fashionable
   philosophers of the time John Locke, Christian von Wolff and Leibnitz,
   as well as returning to earlier thinkers Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus,
   Augustine, Descarte and others.

   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.

Crisis

   By 1744 he 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. It
   provides a first-hand account of the events of the crisis.

   He experienced many different dreams and visions, some greatly
   pleasurable, other highly disturbing. The experiences continued as he
   travelled to London to continue the publication of Regnum animale. This
   cathartic process continued for six months. It has been compared to the
   Catholic concept of Purgatory. Analyses of the dairy have concluded
   that what Swedenborg was recording in his Journal of Dreams was a
   battle between the love of his self, and the love of God. The
   hallucinatory state is often described as a state of trance and is
   encountered among most mystics.

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.

Scriptural commentary and writings

   Arcana Caelestia, first edition (1749), title page
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   Arcana Caelestia, 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 gaol 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. This work,
   usually abbreviated as Arcana Caelestia ("Heavenly Secrets"), was to
   become 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 atttention, 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 twenty five years he wrote another
   fourteen works of a spiritual nature of which most were published
   during his lifetime. Freedom of the press was not allowed for religious
   works at the time, which is why they were all printed in either London
   or Holland.

   Throughout this period he was befriended by many people who regarded
   him as a kind and warm-hearted man. When in the company of others, he
   was jovial, and conversed about whatever subject was discussed. Those
   who talked with him understood that he was devoted to his beliefs. He
   never argued matters of religion, except when ridiculed, when he
   replied sharply, so that the ridicule would not be repeated.

   In July, 1770, at the age of 82, he traveled to Amsterdam to complete
   to publication of his last work. The book, Vera Christiana Religio (The
   True Christian Religion), was published in 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 travelled to London. Shortly before
   Christimas 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 a pastor of the Swedish Church in London who
   visited him several times.
   Swedenborg's crypt in Uppsala Cathedral
   Enlarge
   Swedenborg's crypt in Uppsala Cathedral

   He was buried in a church in 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 in close proximity to the
   grave of the botanist Carolus Linnaeus.

Veracity

   Swedenborg's transition from scientist to mystic has fascinated many
   people ever since it occurred;including such people as; Immanuel Kant,
   William Blake, Goethe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Balzac, Jorge Luis Borges,
   Ralph Waldo Emerson and Carl Jung, just to mention a few.

   Some assert that Swedenborg lost his mind, suffering some sort of
   mental illness or nervous breakdown. While this idea was not uncommon
   during Swedenborg's own time, it is disproven by the fact that during
   the main part of his life he was active 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 remarkably coherent.

   A lot of scholarly literature regards Swedenborg's conclusions as
   natural developments of his inquiring mind. This was the stand taken by
   the Swedish writer Martin Lamm, who wrote a highly regarded biography
   of Swedenborg in 1915, which is still in print. Olof Lagercrantz, a
   noted Swedish critic and publicist, looked at it from a different view,
   calling Swedenborg's theological writing "a poem about a foreign
   country with peculiar laws and customs".

Scientific beliefs

   Swedenborg proposed many scientific ideas, both before his crisis and
   after. In his youth, his ambitions were boundless, and 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 his crisis in 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 journies.

   One of his pseudoscientific 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,
   before his crisis, 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

   There are three well known incidents of psychic ability reported in
   literature about Swedenborg.The first was from July 29, 1759, when
   during a dinner in Gothenburg, he excitedly told the party at six o'
   clock that there was a fire in Stockholm (405 km away), that it
   consumed his neighbour's home and was threatening his own. Two hours
   later, he exclaimed with relief that the fire stopped three doors from
   his home. Two days later, reports confirmed every statement to the
   precise hour that Swedenborg first expressed the information.

   The second occured was in 1758 when Swedenborg visited Queen Louisa
   Ulrika of Sweden, who asked him to tell her something about her
   deceased brother Augustus William. 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. The third
   was 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 did the following night.

   Immanuel Kant, then at the beginning of his career, was impressed by
   these in 1763, and made inquiries to find out if they were true. He
   also ordered all eight volumes of the expesive Arcana Caelestias. In
   1766 he published Träume eines Geistersehers (Dreams of a Seer) where
   he concluded that Swedenborg's accounts were nothing but illusions. He
   could however not give a scientific explanation for Swedenborg's
   description of the fire in 1759.

   Swedenborg himself did not put much weight in such events. He several
   times explained that God did not perform miracles any longer, or
   manifest Himself in people's dreams.

Theology

   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. Neither did
   he wish to compare it to philosophy, a science he in 1748 discarded
   because it, quote, "darkens the mind, blinds us, and wholly rejects the
   faith".

   The foundation of Swedenborg's theology was laid down in Arcana
   Caelestia, or Heavenly Secrets, published in eigth volumes from 1749 to
   1756. In a significant portion of that work, he interprets Biblical
   passages. Most of all, he was convinced of how the Bible described a
   human's transformation from a materialistic to a spiritual being. He
   begins his work by outlining how the creation myth was not an account
   of the creation of Earth, but an account of man's rebirth in six steps.
   Everything related to mankind could also be related to Jesus Christ,
   and how Christ freed himself from materialistic boundaries. Swedenborg
   examined this idea by an exposition on Genesis and Exodus.

Marriage

   One aspect of Swedenborg's writing that is often discussed is his ideas
   of marriage. Swedenborg himself stayed a bachelor all his life, but
   that did not hinder him from writing voluminously about the subject.
   His work Conjugal love (1768) was dedicated to this purpose. A
   righteous marriage, he argues, is intended to be a continuous spiritual
   refinement of both parties, and such a union would be maintained in the
   afterlife.

   He regarded marriage as being fundamentally about the union of wisdom —
   physically represented in the man — and love — physically represented
   in the female. This dualism can be traced throughout Swedenborg's
   writings. Faith, he writes, is a union of the two qualities of reason
   (represented by the man) and intention (represented by the female).
   And, similarly, the wisdom of God has its corresponding part in the
   love from the Church.

Trinity

   Swedenborg was sharply opposed to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity
   as three Persons, the concept of One God being three separate Persons:
   Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

   Instead he claimed that the three were different aspects of the one
   God, one Person, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that divinity is
   impossible if divided into three Persons. Swedenborg spoke sharply
   against the Trinity of Persons in virtually all his works, and taught
   that the Divine Trinity exists in One Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, as
   a trinity of the soul, body, and spirit exists in each person. For this
   reason he also expressed his support of the Muslims— whom he considered
   almost equal to the best Christians— and who were, according to him,
   mainly opposed to Christianity because its doctrine of the Trinity made
   One God three Persons. He considered the divergence of the Trinity to
   have originated with the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and the
   Athanasian Creed, circa 500. For example:

     From a Trinity of Persons, each one of whom singly is God, according
     to the Athanasian creed, many discordant and heterogeneous ideas
     respecting God have arisen, which are phantasies and abortions. [..]
     All who dwell outside the Christian church, both Mohammedans and
     Jews, and besides these the Gentiles of every cult, are averse to
     Christianity solely on account of its belief in three Gods.

     —Swedenborg, True Christian Religion, section 183

Sola fide

   He also spoke sharply against the tenant called Sola fide, which means
   that grace or righteous before God is achievable through faith alone,
   irrespecitive of the person's deeds in life. The beliefe was a core
   beliefe in the theology of the Lutheran reformators Luther and
   Melanchthon. Swedenborg instead held that grace is only possible
   through a union of faith and charity, and that the purpose of faith is
   to lead a person to do good towards others ( charity). 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

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