After a profound spiritual experience in his mid-fifties, he devoted the rest of his life to writing about the nature of the spiritual world. Swedenborg viewed God as an infinitely loving entity who is at the very center of our being.
He viewed our time here on earth as continuous cycles of regeneration in which we grow and develop as spiritual beings. He read the Bible as having an inner spiritual meaning that tells the story of our lives here on earth that can be used to help us to learn and grow and serves as a guide for us in how to live our lives.
He held a strong conviction that life continues following the death of our physical body. He believed that at the time of our death, we transition into the spiritual world where we are enter into an eternity of growing fulfillment.
The community that we enter into in the spiritual world is based upon the choices that we had made here on earth. In preparation for his subsequent work, Swedenborg studied the Bible in its original languages. In reading his theological works his experience and training as a scientist is clear in not only his writing style but also his precision and attention to detail.
He wrote volumes on numerous portions of the Bible and on other subjects of Christian theology. The latter part of his religious search, writing, and publishing was done in London where he died in He rejected the traditional Christian teaching of the Trinity. A systematic presentation of Swedenborg's theology appeared in entitled Vera Christiana religio. He viewed all things as created by divine love and according to divine wisdom.
Each material thing corresponded to a "spiritual form. Swedenborg analyzed the biblical books of Genesis and Exodus in his Arcana coelestia , and Revelation in his Apocalypsis explicata , the latter published posthumously. He elaborated the purely philosophical aspect of his reasoning in three major works: De coelo et ejus mirabilibus, et de inferno , Sapientia angelica de divino amore et de divina sapientia , and Sapientia angelica de divina providentia Swedenborg's theory of redemption rejected any notion that Jesus Christ was in himself a divine person, but it held that the inmost soul of Jesus was divine.
This divine soul had taken on a human form from Mary, and Jesus' human nature had been glorified by his exemplary life. By resisting all the temptations and ills of the powers of darkness, Jesus had opened a way for divine life to flow into all mankind.
Man had become free to know truth and to be able to obey its dictates. Human salvation lay in this knowledge and obedience. Swedenborg defended his theological speculation by claiming it resulted from a divine call. He maintained that he had received special light from God. He also maintained that all of his exegetical and philosophical treatises constituted a new revelation from God. Mankind must live according to this revelation in order to usher in a new age of reason and truth.
Swedenborg died in London on March 29, In the Swedish government requested that his remains be transferred to Uppsala Cathedral. The journal was followed by books on chemistry and physics, as well as the first book in Swedish on algebra.
Philosophical and Metallurgical Works was written in Latin and published abroad for circulation to an international audience. Philosophical and Metallurgical Works was followed by a series of books on anatomy. The first volume addresses the heart and blood; the second, the brain, nervous system, and the soul.
Here again, Swedenborg was looking for a connection between the spiritual and physical worlds. Drawing on the works of contemporary scientists and philosophers, he describes a subtle spiritual fluid that permeates and sustains all living creatures, existing in a complicated interaction with the blood and the cerebrospinal fluid. The origin of life is a sustaining energy that pervades all of creation, and the source of that energy is God.
Beginning in and continuing throughout , Swedenborg experienced intense dreams and visions at night, which he recorded in his personal diary. Many of them revolved around a sense of spiritual unworthiness, a feeling that he had to purify himself of sin. In one dream, a man appeared and asked him if he had a health certificate; Swedenborg interpreted this as Christ asking him if he were prepared to undertake a spiritual vocation.
The opening of his spiritual vision—by day, in a state of full wakefulness—began in April , although the exact circumstances surrounding it remain mysterious and a matter of debate.
From this point onward, he began to record experiences of being in contact with the spiritual world. Swedenborg simultaneously started writing an exploration of the inner meaning of the Bible based on the new understanding he gained from his visions. In the beginning, it appears to have been difficult for him; he left the initial drafts of this exposition unpublished. In , he refused a promotion that had been offered to him, instead petitioning the king to be released from his service on the Board of Mines so he could devote himself full time to theological writing.
Swedenborg published his first theological work, Arcana Coelestia Secrets of Heaven in ; the eighth and final volume was published in Secrets of Heaven is a verse-by-verse discussion of the inner meaning of the Bible, beginning with Genesis and then moving through Exodus.
Although it seems that Swedenborg intended to go through the entire Bible in this type of verse-by-verse exegesis, he never did so. Instead, he returned to London in with five new titles to publish: Heaven and Hell , a description of the afterlife and the lives of its inhabitants; White Horse , which talks about the inner meaning of the Bible; Other Planets , which describes the beings that live on other planets, some within and some outside our solar system; Last Judgment ; and New Jerusalem.
He writes that the Last Judgment is not a future event that will mark the end of our world, but a spiritual event where evil spirits who had managed to infiltrate heaven were cast down to hell, allowing human beings on earth and in heaven to receive spiritual truths more clearly. Further, he claims to have witnessed this event in , a year that marked the beginning of a new spiritual age for humankind. In New Jerusalem , he lays out the general principles for the new church that was to follow the Last Judgment.
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