Swedenborg: A Biography
Jane K. Williams-Hogan, Ph.D.
Bryn Athyn College of the New Church
taken from: http://www.glencairnmuseum.org/jkwh.html
Despite his obvious impact, Swedenborg's name is still not well-known
three hundred years after his birth. He was an inventor, a scientist,
a civil servant, and a philosopher before he accepted God's call
to be a rational revelator during the Age of Enlightenment. While
Swedenborg's genius may be found in all his works, it is his claim
to be a revelator, and his spiritual vision, which truly set him
apart. Historically it has been this claim which has attracted
interest in him; and it is his theological writings that have
been the source of his greatest influence. Swedenborg stands apart
from other revelators because of the means through which he received
revelation, its substance, and the process of its transmission.
Because his Writings are exclusively a written revelation, Swedenborg
was able to integrate in them elements which in traditional religious
movements have been distinct; for contained within the Writings
are both the charismatic vision and the rational codification
of its development. In offering only a written revelation to the
world, Swedenborg dramatically decreased the probability of its
discovery. However, by widely distributing his books, he made
discovery a permanent possibility; but it was a possibility over
which Swedenborg himself would have no personal control. Swedenborg
left completely open who would respond to his vision, under what
conditions, and at what time and in what place, or whether anyone
would respond at all.
In presenting a vision counter to the prevailing religious and
secular paradigms of the day, he invited ridicule; and, in not
organizing a group of followers to carry his vision into the future,
his ideas did not become part of the mainstream in the development
of modern western thought. However, the scope of his influence,
as documented in this book, suggests the unfolding of another
reality, because Swedenborg's legacy has endured.
A biography of Swedenborg and a chronological list of his major
works are included in this anthology because a knowledge of the
man and the substance of his writings may provide some insight
into the persistence of his influence.
Background
Emanuel Swedenborg was born in Stockholm on January 29, 1688.
At the time of his birth, Sweden's century of expansion was drawing
to a close. In asserting her independence during this century,
the Swedish kingdom became more economically and politically integrated
into Europe's cultural orbit. The great mineral wealth of Sweden
and war were important ingredients in this process. Foreign miners
and mercenaries were brought to Sweden to assist in her development
and modernization. The Swedish arms industry was established at
this time, strengthening the military position of Sweden and providing
a valuable export. The internal administration of the kingdom
was further centralized through the development of a state bureaucracy,
with the University of Uppsala providing the training for the
corps of civil servants. During this period the city of Göteborg
was established as an export center and Stockholm was transformed
into a modern showplace.
While all these changes were taking place at one level in Sweden,
the life in the countryside remained essentially unchanged. The
rhythms of agriculture, of the seasons, of sowing and harvest,
of dearth and plenty were untouched. In this world the supernatural
brooded over the landscape and in the hearts of men. The struggle
between light and dark, heaven and hell, God and Satan, salvation
and damnation, good and evil dominated men's thoughts and pervaded
their physical world. Only a thin veil separated life and death,
and which was which was shrouded in ambiguity. The reality and
intensity of this world is brilliantly captured in the novels
of Selma Lagerlöf, winner of the Nobel prize for literature
in 1909.
Jesper Swedberg, Swedenborg's father, was born into this reality.
Born at "Sveden" in 1653, the family homestead not far
from Falun, Swedberg's life fortunes were dramatically altered
when the new mining techniques imported from abroad made a family-owned
mine once again productive. These additional resources enabled
Swedberg to attend the University of Uppsala and opened to him
the world of modern Sweden through a career in the Church. Immediately
after his ordination in 1683 Swedberg married Sarah Behm, a modest
and religious woman, whose family's wealth was derived from extensive
mining interests. Noticed by the King early in his career while
serving in the position of chaplain of his horse guards in Stockholm,
in 1702 Swedberg was elevated to the post of Bishop of Skara,
having served in Uppsala as a professor of theology and Dean and
Rector of the Cathedral in the interim. He remained in Skara until
his death in 1735. His tenure in Skara is remembered today because
of his deep interest in education. Despite his prominence, Swedberg
remained outside of the Church's formal power structure and innocent
of her official ideology of faith alone. Throughout his long and
prosperous life, Swedberg never abandoned the perspective and
sensitivities of his early rural upbringing with its emphasis
on the supernatural, piety, and good works.
Early Life
Emanuel was the third of nine children and the second son born
to Jesper and Sarah Behm Swedberg. While living in Uppsala, in
1696, Swedenborg suddenly lost his mother and his older brother
Albert in an epidemic. A year later, Swedberg married for a second
time. His new wife was Sarah Bergia, a wealthy widow, who also
had mining interests. She seems to have been particularly fond
of Emanuel and upon her death in 1720, he inherited half of her
estate, Starbo, and a modest fortune.
Swedenborg wrote very little concerning his early life, and except
for the following, which was written in a letter to a friend in
1769, what little else is known comes from public records and
his father's autobiography:
From my fourth to my tenth year, I was constantly engaged in
thought upon God, salvation, and the spiritual sufferings of men,
and several times I revealed that at which my father and mother
wondered.... From my sixth to my twelfth year my delight was to
discourse with clergymen concerning Faith—that the life
thereof is love, and the love that gives life is the love of one's
neighbor.... 1
After his family moved to Uppsala, Swedenborg spent the next seventeen
years there. He lived in his father's home for eleven years, until
Bishop Swedberg was called to Skara. For the next six years, until
his graduation from the university in 1709, he lived with his
sister Anna and her husband, Eric Benzelius, who was the Librarian
at the University. Benzelius was a modern, forward-looking man
who was eventually named Bishop of Linköping. He was a brilliant
man and an "ardent Cartesian" who was convinced that
science held the key to the future. With that perspective, he
eagerly took on the responsibility of modernizing the holdings
of the Library. To accomplish this he corresponded with many of
the most prominent men of learning in Europe and in this way he
gained a knowledge of the developing intellectual trends of his
day.
Both Swedberg and Benzelius were important influences in shaping
Swedenborg's aims and interests. Swedenborg himself acknowledges
this in dedications that he wrote to both men. Swedenborg dedicated
his thesis "Selected Sentences from Publius Syrus Mimus and
L. Annaeus Seneca" to his father with the following words:
"May I grow, with increasing years, in the imitations of
those deeds which have covered the name of my parent with honor
and Fame. May I resemble him in his writings as well as in mind
and character." 2
In 1734 Swedenborg dedicated his Infinite and Final Cause of
Creation to Benzelius. In that dedication he states:
In you I acknowledge the source of personal benefit, inasmuch
as it was by your advice and wishes, that my mind, then ripening
and eager for study, though hesitating and ignorant, nevertheless,
as at that early age it is wont to be, to what pursuits to turn,
was directed to the present and similar subjects, which were auguries
of a personal career in literature.... And as it was at your instigation
that I applied myself to these studies, so I hope you will in
a measure acknowledge this offspring of my powers, poor though
it be, as in some part your own; and therefore allow that of right
it should be dedicated to no one but yourself. 3
Although Swedenborg's interest in the natural sciences and mathematics
may be attributed to Benzelius' influence, his fascination with
the factual and the concrete also seems quite similar to Swedberg's
vigorous concern for a "down to earth," living, practical
theology; and Swedenborg's distaste for the abstract in the realm
of science is reminiscent of his father's animosity toward cerebral
faith and dogmatics in religion. Therefore, it is possible to
see evidence of his father's character in his scientific career
as well as seeing Benzelius' more rational and universal concerns
echoed in his theology.
Studies Abroad
In 1710, on the advice of Benzelius, Swedenborg left for England
to immerse himself in the most modern scientific currents of his
day; he stayed for two years studying mathematics and astronomy.
During his stay he also frequented the shops of booksellers and
instrument makers in order to enlarge his library and his knowledge,
and while in London he lived with a variety of different journeymen
in order to learn their trades. In this way he learned the arts
of engraving, making mathematical instruments and cabinetry, and
later in Holland he learned glass-grinding as well.
While in England Swedenborg studied with the astronomers John
Flamsteed and Edward Halley and, perhaps during conversations
with them, became intrigued by the competition seeking a reliable
means to find the longitude at sea. He devoted considerable time
and energy to solving the problem, and it is clear from his letters
that he discussed his solution with both Flamsteed and Halley.
His method required exact lunar tables, which were unavailable
at the time. In spite of the criticism his method received, he
continued to have confidence in his idea, perhaps because the
problem was not finally resolved until the 1740s, "when John
Harrison perfected a chronometer, successfully used by James Cook."4
Swedenborg published his method in 1718 and again in 1769. At
the time of his second publication, he presented his method to
the Royal Society in England.
Swedenborg remained abroad until 1715, spending considerable
time in Holland and France absorbing new knowledge, and time in
the German city of Rostock developing his own insights. His approach
to each new environment was similar to the way he approached his
stay in London: he attended public lectures, visited the best
libraries, searched bookshops and stalls, read and studied, and
held frequent conversations with academics on topics of importance
to him. Throughout his tour mathematics was the major focus of
his interest.
During his year-long stay in Rostock he took time to order and
integrate his studies and reflections of the previous four years.
"In a letter he wrote to Benzelius, he lists and briefly
describes fourteen inventions. Included in the list are the following:
a submarine, an airplane, a mechanical carriage, a lock system
for raising the height of ships and 'a method of conjuring the
wills and affections of men's minds by means of analysis.' For
some of his inventions he made drawings; for all of them he made
the necessary mechanical and mathematical calculations."5
The fourteen inventions Swedenborg described to Benzelius were
the most obvious but not the only intellectual fruits of his first
trip abroad. He left Sweden in 1710 a Christian and a Cartesian
who was still willing to acknowledge a debt to Aristotle—he
appreciated both system-building and the experimental sciences,
and his driving intellectual quest was to rationally understand
the relationship between first causes and ends without being forced
into a determinism that eliminated freedom. He firmly believed
that truth cannot be fabricated from a priori knowledge alone,
but must be capable of demonstration. The purpose of his trip
to England "was to learn the language and method of scientific
proof, to learn the rules governing the demonstration of truth
through experience, and to learn the laws through which nature
operates."6 While in England Swedenborg deepened his appreciation
for the beauty, the power, and the necessity of the experimental
sciences as the proper key to understanding the natural and physical
universe.
Upon his return to Sweden he endorsed the views of the noted
Swedish inventor and engineer Christopher Polhem, who was critical
of the Cartesians. Philosophically, however, he did not become
a Newtonian. Swedenborg returned from his sojourn abroad aware
of both the tremendous power and the limits of empiricism. He
realized that a complete understanding of the human condition
simply cannot be grasped empirically—an insight that was
not unique to him. However, "most eighteenth century philosophers
were content to explore the questions which could be addressed
through the instrument or agency of reason and confirmed by experience."7
They consciously abandoned the quest of penetrating into absolutes,
ultimates, and ends. They were content to ask the questions which
they felt they had the tools to answer, rather than seeking new
instruments to explore the essential question of human existence,
"What shall we do and how shall we live?"8 For Swedenborg
the essential question remained the quest.
Search for a Career
Swedenborg had gone abroad to learn everything he could about
the practical sciences of his day. His interest was both personal
and civic, for he had dreams of assisting the modernization of
Sweden by means of his own career in science and technology. However,
upon his return to Sweden at the age of twenty-eight, Swedenborg
was confronted with the very practical problem of what to do.
How could he integrate who he was and what he had learned abroad
into the rather static and aristocratic social environment of
Sweden—an environment in which a man's connections were
the currency of placement and position, and where competence and
achievements were secondary or unimportant considerations?
Immediately upon his return, Swedenborg threw his energy into
introducing a journal which he called Daedalus Hyperboreus, dedicated
to practical scientific inquiry. He had conceived the idea for
the journal while he was abroad, and he saw it as a means of stimulating
the development of mechanics and manufacturing in Sweden, the
growth of which he felt would strengthen the national economy.
The journal was published in Swedish in an attempt to encourage
the interest of the general public in these matters, and six issues
were published over the next several years. The articles covered
a wide range of topics, including mine machinery, salt-making,
a flying machine, and coinage. Although the journal sold moderately
well, Swedenborg was unable to find others willing to back it
financially, and discontinued its publication in 1718. Even though
Daedalus was commercially unsuccessful, it was intellectually
innovative and is regarded as the foundation of the present Royal
Society of Sciences of Uppsala.
The question of a career appeared to be resolved when Charles
XII appointed him Extraordinary Assessor of the Board of Mines
in 1716. Although the King's warrant was initially accepted and
he was seated on the Board, after the King's death in 1718 and
a shift in the political climate, the regularity of the appointment
was questioned and the Board denied him the seat and a salary.
Swedenborg refused to accept the decision of the Board and continued
to insist on the legitimacy of his appointment. The matter was
settled to Swedenborg's satisfaction in 1723.
From 1715 until he was officially recognized by the Board of
Mines, besides publishing Daedalus Swedenborg threw his talent
and energy into three other areas: he worked as an assistant to
Christopher Polhem working on a variety of mechanical inventions
and various military projects under the direction of Charles XII;
he wrote several books and treatises including some reflections
on theology and anatomy; and, after his ennoblement, due to his
father's position, he wrote and submitted to the Riksdag a variety
of memorials on important political and economic problems which
were plaguing Sweden. Throughout this period he received no retainer
or salary in any position, and every enterprise was begun and
sustained exclusively through personal relationship—with
writers, printers, the mercurial inventor and engineer Christopher
Polhem, and the strong-willed King. During this period Swedenborg
was both frustrated and discouraged about his ability to find
a stable position through which he could serve Sweden. Swedenborg's
personal fortune was dramatically enhanced when he inherited Starbo
at the death of his stepmother, Sarah Bergia, in early 1720. Although
her death was a personally painful experience for him, it provided
the financial resources for Swedenborg to pursue a career as an
independent scholar. Intending to research, write, and publish
as soon as the matter of the inheritance were settled, Swedenborg
left Sweden for Holland—first leg of a journey in which
he also planned to visit England, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary,
and Germany.
In Holland he published three works: A Forerunner of the Principles
of Natural Things, commonly known as Chemistry; New Observations
and Discoveries Respecting Iron and Fire; and A New Method of
Finding the Longitude of Places on Land and at Sea, by Means of
the Moon. These works contained a collection of articles addressing
old interests and new ideas. In the work on Chemistry Swedenborg
articulated for the first time one of the principles of his philosophy:
"The first conception is that all things are in series; there
is a series of particles, beginning with mathematical points and
ending in water, salt and earth."9
Although he wrote on a variety of different subjects during his
stay abroad, it is clear that the issue of the assessorship was
still on his mind and that one of his objectives in publishing
was to become an authority on mining. He dedicated Parts I through
III of his Miscellaneous Observations to Count Gustaf Bonde, the
new president of the Board of Mines, and he published some new
observations and research on mining techniques in Part IV. He
also sent a prospectus entitled The Genuine Treatment of Metals
to a variety of learned journals. It was published in the Nova
Literaria.
Swedenborg was called home by his father in the midst of his
trip to help settle another inheritance dispute within the family.
After arriving in Sweden in June of 1722, he quickly helped to
settle the family problem and then turned his attention to two
other important matters, one private and the other public—his
career and Sweden's dire economic situation. To further his career
he proposed a test of a new method to smelt copper; and to address
Sweden's economic problems he wrote a memorial on coinage and
six other memorials on the state of Sweden's economy. The memorial
on coinage "caused a great stir, as it took a firm stand
against the debasement of the coinage."10 His memorials on
economics were read in the House of Nobles, but were not acted
upon, while his pursuit of the position of Assessor finally bore
fruit. In March 1723, Swedenborg was invited to attend the sessions
of the Board and in April an agreement was reached on the issue
of his seniority. In 1724 he was finally awarded a salary. Having
achieved the position he had pursued with such dogged determination,
Swedenborg devoted himself to the broad and complex duties of
an assessor which required administrative, technical, and judicial
competence. He remained active in this position until 1747, when
the King regretfully accepted his resignation, noting in a letter
his faithful and exemplary service to Sweden.
Upon assuming the assessorship, Swedenborg brought to a close
one phase of his life and began another. During this period Swedenborg
had touched base with all the major concerns to which he was to
devote the rest of his life: cosmology, anatomy, and even theology.
These efforts notwithstanding, perhaps his major accomplishment
during this period was his persistence in pursuing what he thought
was the right and legitimate course, without much external recognition
and support.
The Philosopher
It would appear that securing a position of public employment
freed Swedenborg to focus his intellect on what was for him the
essential problem of philosophy—the relationship between
the Creator and the world of creation. For twenty years from 1724
he investigated, reflected upon, and wrote down his understanding
of this problem—both how to approach it and what the structure
of the relationship might be. Although on the surface his published
works appear to be investigations of widely divergent topics,
his works during this period form a series. His first work, the
three-volume Philosophical and Mineralogical Works, was published
in Leipzig in 1734. The first volume is the Principia, and the
second and third volumes are scientific studies, On Iron and On
Copper. His second major philosophical work was published in Dresden
in 1734. It was a small volume entitled The Infinite and Final
Cause of Creation. His third work was called The Economy of the
Soul's Kingdom, published in Amsterdam in 1740 and 1741. Dissatisfied
with his efforts in the Economy, he began another work called
The Soul's Kingdom. Three parts of this work were published before
Swedenborg abandoned his enterprise. The first two parts were
published in Amsterdam in 1744, and a third part was published
in London in 1745.
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;
and he presented his cosmology, which included the first presentation
of the nebular hypothesis. In 1734, satisfied that he had understood
the mechanics of the unfolding of the natural universe from the
first natural point or the first finite, he turned his attention
to the problem of the nature of the infinite and its relation
to the finite.
In the Principia Swedenborg concluded his presentation of his
cosmology with a discussion of man, because in his view man completes
creation. In ending this work with a discussion of the place of
man in creation, Swedenborg was pointing to the focus of his philosophical
endeavor for the next ten years of his life. The completion of
his philosophical system required Swedenborg to move precisely
in this direction. Without a consideration of man, who alone of
all creation can worship the Creator, and who can thus return
what has been created to the Creator, his system would be incomplete.
However, before he could examine the manner in which the human
body is animated and functions and is thereby connected to the
creator, it was necessary for him to address the essential or
pivotal question of his entire philosophical system—the
existence of "the Infinite itself." At the beginning
of the Principia the infinite was identified as that from which
all of creation proceeds, and at the end of that work, Swedenborg
indicated that it is to the infinite that all of creation must
return. However, before he could explore how that return is made
possible, he found it necessary to demonstrate that the infinite
does, in fact, exist and that it is both the first and final cause
of creation—the Alpha and the Omega. In this essay he also
found it necessary to demonstrate why man's place in nature should
be examined at all. According to Swedenborg, "Since man resembles
nature as to his body and organs, or as to means, if he is undifferentiated
from the rest of nature as to ends as well, then the principles
which explain the 'least of creation' would likewise explain man"—making
any further philosophical examination of nature unnecessary.11
In his treatise on The Infinite Swedenborg demonstrated the existence
of the Infinite, and the unique role of man in the order of creation.
Mankind is the means whereby the final cause is effected, and
the medium of conjunction between the Creator and man is love.
In this essay Swedenborg emphasized that all man's faculties—his
sensual, his rational, his freedom, and his capacity to love—serve
in the realization of the final cause of creation, each in its
proper place.
In The Infinite, Swedenborg for the first time drew together
truths from reason and revelation for the sake of man's understanding.
Revelation, as he employed it in this work, was not a "stopgap"
for reason, but an independent and necessary source of truth.
At the end of this work Swedenborg set as the next task of his
philosophical inquiry "to demonstrate the immortality of
the soul to the very senses."12 This is what he attempted
to do in The Economy of the Soul's Kingdom and in the Soul's Kingdom.
In these works, he was seeking to discover the world of cause
from a detailed examination of the world of effects, or to understand
the rules of government whereby the soul operates in its kingdom,
the body. Ultimately, he was interested in understanding the principal
cause whereby the microcosm operated, or "to trace out the
nature of the human soul" itself.13
While pursuing this goal Swedenborg wrote several remarkable
treatises, including his work on the brain and his rational psychology.
Ultimately, however, he gave up his endeavor, as he yearned to
go where the methods of philosophy could not take him. At the
beginning of his quest he was animated by a desire to seek immortal
truth both for its own sake and for the sake of banishing mere
appearances of truth—a desire which is compatible with the
pursuit of science and philosophy—whereas in the end he
stated that he was engaged in his labors for the sake of those
who can only comprehend high truths by way of the intellect, and
not by faith. As he said in his introduction to The Soul's Kingdom,
"For these persons only am I anxious...and to them I dedicate
my work. For when I shall have demonstrated truths themselves
by the analytical method, I hope that those debasing shadows will
be dispersed; and thus...that an access will be opened and a way
laid down, to faith. My ardent desire and zeal for this end is
what urges and animates me."14
This passage highlights the transformation of Swedenborg's motivating
love or purpose. Scholarship and a love of truth for its own sake
have become transformed from ends in themselves into means. Faith
has become the primary end, with his philosophy serving as the
means. Such an end is ultimately perhaps more compatible with
the love of saving souls, which is a priestly rather than a philosophic
love.
It is at this point in Swedenborg's life, in 1743, that he underwent
a profound spiritual crisis which is documented in The Journal
of Dreams. In his journal Swedenborg recorded his dreams and visions
which were dramatizations of his temptation to determine his own
way rather than choosing God's. It is important to realize that
once the process was begun the outcome hung in the balance. To
continue his search to understand the relationship between the
Divine and man required more than intellectual passion and clarity—it
required his absolute devotion. That devotion could only come
about through the subordination of his self-love to the love of
God. What may have activated the necessity of temptation at this
time, and to this depth, was Swedenborg's joining the love of
saving souls with his own philosophy as the means.
Prior to his spiritual crisis, Swedenborg had experienced "a
certain cheering light and joyful flash" darting through
his brain when he was in the presence of truth.15 Thus, whenever
he felt any lack of clarity or mental confusion he took that as
a sign not to go on immediately. As he proceeded with his investigations
he came closer to passing over the abyss between matter and spirit
and between philosophy and revelation. His journal of dreams not
only documents his spiritual crisis, but also serves as a record
of his personal call.
I saw also in vision that fine bread on a plate was presented
to me; which was a sign that the Lord Himself will instruct me
since I have now come first into the condition that I know nothing,
and all preconceived judgments are take away from me; which is
where learning commences; namely, first to be a child and thus
be nursed into knowledge, as is the case with me now.16
With this realization, Swedenborg was ready to put aside his philosophical
studies in order to focus all his attention on the spiritual.
But how? It was not absolutely clear to him what he ought to do.
At this time he began a manuscript entitled The Worship and Love
of God, of which he published the first two parts in London in
1745. It stands apart from the philosophy that preceded it and
from the Arcana Coelestia that was to follow. Like The Infinite
it was both a culmination and a beginning. It differs from the
philosophic works more in tone and form that in substance, and
it differs from the later revelatory works both formally and substantively.
This poetic work was written as an offertory to express his love
and adoration to God the Creator and Redeemer.
The third part of this work Swedenborg left unfinished in manuscript
form, abandoned in mid-sentence; in this section he intended to
move beyond a poetic summary of his published philosophical works
to present a treatise on the Sun of Life. A consideration of both
man's freedom and the fall were to be incorporated in the discussion.
The literary metaphor with which he chose to illustrate these
things was a vision of the spiritual sun, seen by the first married
pair as they awoke from the conjugal bed. But perhaps he became
concerned that this direction was based too much on his own private
vision, and violated his own concern that the rules of evidence
be followed. It became apparent to him that the more objective
path was to be found in the study of the Holy Bible or the Lord's
Word.
The Revelator
In his study of the Word, Swedenborg interiorly heard the Lord
calling. In a small unpublished manuscript entitled The Messiah
About to Come, he wrote down passages that held special meaning
for him—perhaps they are the passages in which he could
hear the Lord most clearly speaking to him. At the end of the
manuscript is a brief note written in Swedish on November 17,
1745. In part it says "Lord Jesus Christ, lead me to and
on the way on which Thou willest that I shall walk."17 In
his study he gradually realized that the Word alone could form
the experiential ground of a new revelation from God to man. Because
this ground is universally available to all people and unlike
a private vision, it can be challenged or confirmed by other men's
rational and experiential response to it.
Desiring to direct his life to serving the Lord, Swedenborg saw
no further need to remain abroad, and he abandoned his projects
and returned to Sweden in the summer of 1745. For the next two
years he continued to fulfill his duties at the College of Mines,
while privately he methodically studied the Bible, reading it
in Hebrew and Greek as well as in Latin. During this time he began
an extensive Biblical Index and a four tome exposition of the
Bible, entitled The Word Explained, which he never published;
while in another journal he recorded his experiences and insights
from the spiritual world. This too he never published.
In 1747 he was appointed first Councillor at the Board of Mines.
Swedenborg, realizing that the responsibilities of such a promotion
would hinder the more important spiritual work he was doing, asked
to be passed over for this appointment and then he submitted his
resignation from the College.
The King accepted his resignation with mixed feelings: gratitude
for Swedenborg's steadfast and faithful service to Sweden, sadness
because he was leaving that service, and confidence that his latest
endeavor would be as beneficial to the public as his other works
had been. These feelings of gratitude and respect were concretely
reinforced by the King's genuine pleasure in granting Swedenborg's
request for a pension. In leaving the King's service Swedenborg
was able to focus his full attention on his Divine commission.
As he grew to understand it, that commission required both intellectual
and spiritual preparation. The need for such preparation, according
to Swedenborg's own testimony, lay in the nature of the revelation
he was to receive. As he stated in Arcana Coelestia, internal
revelation, or revelation from perception, requires preparation
of the mind and soul, in order to create a foundation for it.
External revelations through dreams, visions or hearing a voice,
on the other hand, such as those received by the Jewish prophets,
do not require a similar foundation. Revelations of this kind
are revelations without perception or understanding.
That Swedenborg's understanding of scripture deepened and changed
from the time he felt his call until his first theological work
(Arcana Coelestia) was published, is made obvious through comparison.
The Arcana was his fourth effort to unfold the hidden meaning
of Genesis. According to Swedenborg himself, it was begun only
after a change of state had occurred within him which permitted
him to view "the heavenly kingdom in an image."18 With
this change of state the last veil had been removed and he had
achieved the degree of perception necessary to be an instrument
of a rational revelation. From seeing Genesis first as cosmology,
as he did in "The History of Creation as Given by Moses,"
and then as historical prophecy as he had in both in the "Biblical
Index" and The Word Explained, he was ultimately led to see
that Genesis treats primarily of the process of the Lord's glorification
and man's regeneration. With reference to man, the story of creation
refers not to man's first creation an earth, but rather to his
second or essential creation—his spiritual birth.
Swedenborg's Public Mission
The eight quarto volumes of the Arcana Coelestia were published
anonymously in London between 1749 and 1756. Even though he did
not claim authorship, the publication of the Arcana initiated
the "public" phase of Swedenborg's mission because his
inner visions and spiritual experiences were no longer to serve
primarily his own enlightenment. They were now to be shared with
the world.
Because Swedenborg was an instrument of an internal revelation,
his spiritual mission took place in both the spiritual and natural
worlds. He believed that his commission to the natural world entailed
only that he should faithfully write, publish, and disseminate
the heavenly truths that were revealed to him by the Lord. This
is all that he did during the twenty-three years of his public
mission. He never put any effort into direct proselytizing or
into organizing a new church, nor did he personally attempt to
convert anyone to his views. Throughout this time he underwrote
all of the expense necessary to fulfill this mission, and whatever
income he received from the sale of these books he directed his
printer to reinvest in their publication. He sold his books below
cost and he also sent many copies of his works to libraries, prelates,
and various other notable individuals. During this time from 1749
to 1771 he published eighteen separate theological works.
The scope of Swedenborg's theological writings is immense. Two
of his works, Arcana Coelestia and Apocalypse Revealed, expound
the internal sense of Genesis, a portion of Exodus, and the Apocalypse,
utilizing the doctrine of correspondences to do so. In some of
the other works he published he discusses such topics as: life
in heaven and bell, the Last Judgment, Divine providence, the
doctrine of the Lord, the doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, life
in the universe, marriage love, and the essentials of the true
Christian religion.
Swedenborg's religious teachings provide a new vision of God,
new insight into the nature of the relationship between the spiritual
and natural worlds, and a universal and rational ethic to guide
men to a useful life. It is a radical and rational Christian religion:
radical because it breaks with both Catholic and Protestant traditional
interpretations of the Trinity, original sin, the atonement, and
imputation and justification; and rational because the focus of
its theology is the penetration and clarification of the mysteries
of faith, through which a new understanding of salvation emerges
which grants man cooperative efficacy in spiritual things. While
engaged in making known these new spiritual truths, Swedenborg
was able to maintain his anonymity for only the first ten years
of his mission. An extraordinary experience that he had while
attending a dinner party in Göteborg in 1759, in which he
reported a fire in Stockholm three hundred miles away, gained
him a reputation in Sweden as a clairvoyant. Gradually as his
books became known in Sweden, those who had read them guessed
that Swedenborg was the author and when asked by them, he acknowledged
authorship. He continued to publish his works anonymously, but
gradually knowledge of his authorship grew outside of Sweden as
well. It was not until 1769 that he declared himself as author
of any of his theological writings: on the title page of Conjugial
Love he wrote "Emanuel Swedenborg, A Swede."
As knowledge of his authorship of these religious books increased,
men began to seek him out to discuss them with him. Swedenborg
almost always obliged; however, by this time had gained notoriety
in some circles as a mad visionary. This was due to his reputation
as a clairvoyant, the nature of his claim to be able to see into
the spiritual world, and to his descriptions of that world. Many
people who sought him out did so more from curiosity than for
enlightenment. He refused to demonstrate his spiritual prowess
but was always delighted to discuss religious issues with sincere
seekers.
Because of restrictions on the freedom of the press in Sweden,
Swedenborg published all of his religious works outside of Sweden,
primarily in Holland or England. Neither this fact nor the fact
that he did not try to organize a church enabled him to escape
controversy with the Church in Sweden. Toward the end of his life
two men who had accepted his teachings became embroiled in a heresy
trial as a result of propagating the new ideas of Swedenborg at
the University of Göteborg. When Swedenborg heard of this
he became indignant and wrote to the King on behalf of these men.
His letter seems to have had a positive result, and eventually
the matter was dropped. The universities were also asked to make
a judgment regarding Swedenborg's writings. After three years
they asked to be excused from the duty without ever presenting
any findings.
It would be over one hundred years before an official New Church
organization was established in Sweden.
Swedenborg's Mission in the Spiritual World
According to Swedenborg, the purpose of spiritual and natural
creation was to form a heaven from the human race. However, this
required free response on the part of man, and provision for his
salvation. The spiritual world, of which heaven is a part, is
the world of causes, while the natural world is that of effects.
Therefore, for a new revelation to be truly new and universal,
it must reveal the world of causes which was for so long hidden
from man, and it must essentially address the question of order
at that level; for so far as the world of causes is ordered, so
will be the world of effects. Thus, the major events which surround
the formation of this new church occurred in the spiritual world,
according to Swedenborg. Thus, the last judgment which is referred
to in the book of Revelation, was an event which took place in
the spiritual world in 1757. Once that judgment took place, this
world of causes was prepared for the establishment of a new heaven
there. Both this new heaven and new church were to be founded
on a more interior or essential vision of the conjunction of good
and truth in the Divine Human of the Lord Jesus Christ. The new
heaven would be established among the good departed souls who
had not received a clear understanding of the Lord as a result
of their experiences in the Christian church before their death,
or who at death knew little or nothing about Christianity.
Swedenborg's role in the spiritual world was to serve as an instrument
whereby the world of cause could be conjoined to the world of
effect, not just for the sake of his own salvation, but for all
men. For in The True Christian Religion, his last published work,
Swedenborg details the universal theology of the new church, and
informs mankind that with the advent of the New Church, "now
it is permitted to enter with understanding into the mysteries
of faith." What will bring about the establishment of this
church both in the spiritual and the natural worlds is the acknowledgment
on the part of spirits and men that the Lord Jesus Christ reigns.
The publication of The True Christian Religion inscribed by the
"Lord's command" with the words "Servant of the
Lord Jesus Christ," marked the culmination of Swedenborg's
dual mission—to serve as an instrument for the establishment
of a new heaven, and a new church on earth. These, he believed,
would be established by the Lord alone among those who freely
acknowledged His sovereignty and led a good life.
Shortly after the publication of The True Christian Religion
in Amsterdam in 1771, Swedenborg left the Netherlands and went
to England. He suffered a stroke in December 1771 and died on
March 29, 1772.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES
This biography is adapted from part one of A New Church in a
Disenchanted World: A Study of the Formation and Development of
the General Conference of the New Church in Great Britain (Ann
Arbor, MI.: University Microfilms International, 1985).
1 Alfred Acton, transl. and ed., The Letters and Memorials of
Emanuel Swedenborg (Bryn Athyn, PA.: Swedenborg Scientific Association,
1948) II, p. 696.
2 Cyriel Odhner Sigstedt, The Swedenborg Epic: The Life and Works
of Emanuel Swedenborg (New York: Bookman Associates, 1952), p,
13.
3 Emanuel Swedenborg, The Infinite and Final Cause of Creation,
transl. by James John Garth Wilkinson (London: The Swedenborg
Society, 1915), p. 3.
4 J. H. Plumb, England in the Eighteenth Century (Middlesex,
England: Penguin Books, 1963), p 30.
5 Jane Williams-Hogan, A New Church in a Disenchanted World,
p. 58.
6 Ibid., p. 63.
7 Ibid., p. 75.
8 Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds., From Max Weber: Essays
in Sociology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), p. 143.
9 Acton, Letters I, p. 254.
10 Ibid., p. 278.
11 Williams-Hogan, A New Church in a Disenchanted World, p. 139.
12 Emanuel Swedenborg, The Infinite, p. 166.
13 Emanuel Swedenborg, The Economy of the Animal Kingdom, transl.
by Rev. Augustus Clissold, (New York: The New Church Press, n.d.)
I, pp. 7-8. Note that in this paper this work is called The Economy
of the Soul's Kingdom because the standard title is a mistranslation.
14 Emanuel Swedenborg, The Animal Kingdom, transl. by J. J. G.
Wilkinson (London: W. Newbery, 1843) 1, pp. 14-15. Note that in
this paper this work is called The Soul's Kingdom because the
standard title is a mistranslation.
15 Ibid., I, p. 10.
16 William Ross Woofenden, ed., Swedenborg's Journal of Dreams
1743-1744, transl. by J. J. G. Wilkinson (New York: Swedenborg
Foundation, Inc., 1977), no. 265.
17 Emanuel Swedenborg, The Messiah About to Come, transl. by
Alfred Acton (Bryn Athyn, PA: Academy of the New Church, 1949),
p. 105.
18 Sigstedt, The Swedenborg Epic, p. 216.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Acton, Alfred. The Life of Emanuel Swedenborg, 4 vols. Bryn Athyn,
PA: The Academy of the New Church Bookroom, 1958.
Allen, Edward F. "Ends in the Philosophy of Swedenborg,"
The Academy Journal 19 (February 1980): 4-13.
Cassirer, Ernst. The Philosophy of the Enlightenment. 8th ed.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1966.
Jonsson, Inge. Emanuel Swedenborg. Transl. by Catherine Djurklov.
New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1971.
Lamm, Martin. "Swedenborg," unpublished transl. of
French edition. Paris: Descartes Fund Library Stockholm.
Scott, Franklin D. Sweden: the Nation's History. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1977.
Sigstedt, Cyriel Odhner. The Swedenborg Epic: the Life and Works
of Emanuel Swedenborg. New York: Bookman Associates, 1952.
Singer, Charles. A Short History of Scientific Ideas to 1900.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959.
Swedenborg, Emanuel. A Brief Exposition of the New Church Signified
by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation. Transl. by Rupert Stanley.
London: Swedenborg Society, 1952.
________ . Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the
Divine Wisdom. New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1946.
________ . Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell. New York: Swedenborg
Foundation, 1978.
________ . The Letters and Memorials of Emanuel Swedenborg. 2
vols. Transl. and edited by A. Acton. Bryn Athyn, PA: Swedenborg
Scientific Association, 1948.
________ . The Infinite and the Final Cause of Creation. Transl.
by J. J. G. Wilkinson. London: Swedenborg Society, 1915.
________ . Posthumous Theological Works. 2 vols. New York: Swedenborg
Foundation, 1947.
________ . The Spiritual Diary. 5 vols. London: James Speirs,
1883-1902.
________ . The True Christian Religion. 2 vols. New York: Swedenborg
Foundation, 1965.
Synnestvedt, Sig. The Essential Swedenborg. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Co., 1970.
Toksvig, Signe. Emanuel Swedenborg: Scientist and Mystic. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1948.
Trobridge, George. Swedenborg Life and Teaching. London: Swedenborg
Society, 1945.
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BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF SWEDENBORG'S LIFE
1688 Born January 29, in Stockholm Sweden.
1692 Family moved to Uppsala when Jesper Swedberg was appointed
a Professor of theology at the university.
1696 Swedenborg's mother, Sarah Behm Swedberg died.
1699 Matriculated at Uppsala University.
1703 Jesper Swedberg appointed Bishop of Skara in central Sweden.
1709 Graduated from Uppsala University;
1710 Traveled to England to study science.
1713 Traveled to Holland and France to study science.
1714 Traveled to Rostock via Germany to organize his studies.
1715 Returned to Sweden.
1716 Appointed to Royal College of Mines.
1716 Published first issue of Daedalus Hyperboreus.
1718 Worked with Swedish inventor Christopher Polhem.
1719 The children of Bishop Jesper Swedberg were ennobled and
their name changed to Swedenborg.
1721 Publication of first book Chemistry.
1722 Publication of a document on Swedish coinage.
1723 Recognized as an Assessor of the Royal College of Mines.
1724 Nomination as a full Assessor was approved by the king and
a salary was awarded.
1734 Publication of three-volume Philosophical and Mineralogical
Works.
1734 Publication of The Infinite and Final Cause of Creation.
1740 Publication of the first volume of The Economy of the Soul's
Kingdom.
1741 Publication of the second volume of The Economy, of the
Soul's Kingdom.
1744 Publication of The Soul's Kingdom.
1745 Publication of two volumes of The Worship and Love of God.
1745 Received a Divine "call."
1747 Resigned from the Royal College of Mines.
1749 Publication of the first volume of Arcana Coelestia.
1756 Publication of the eighth volume of Arcana Coelestia.
1758 Publication of five theological works including Heaven and
Hell and The Last Judgment.
1760 Memorial on hard currency presented to the House of Nobles.
1763 Publication of the doctrines of the New Jerusalem: Divine
Providence and Divine Love and Wisdom.
1764 Publication of the two volume Apocalypse Revealed.
1768 Publication of Conjugial Love.
1770 Publication of first volume of The True Christian Religion.
1771 Publication of second volume of The True Christian Religion.
1771 Had a stroke in London in December.
1772 Died in London on March 25th.
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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SWEDENBORG'S WORKS
Dates in square brackets are Swedenborg's publication dates.
Selection drawn from the "Bibliography of Swedenborg's Works"
compiled and annotated by William Ross Woofenden in Robin Larsen
et al., eds., Emanuel Swedenborg: A Continuing Vision (New York:
Swedenborg Foundation, 1988).
Scientific, Philosophical, & Other Works
Animal Kingdom (Regnum Animale). [1744-1745]. Translated by J.
J. G. Wilkinson. 2 vols. London: William Newbery, 1843. Reprint.
Bryn Athyn, PA: Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1960.
Cerebrum. Three Transactions on the Cerebrum. Translated by A.
Acton. 3 vols. Philadelphia: Swedenborg Scientific Association,
1938-1940.
Chemistry. Some Specimens of a Work on the Principles of Chemistry,
with Other Treatises. [1721]. Translated by C. E. Strutt. London:
Newbery, 1847. Reprint 1976 by Swedenborg Scientific Association,
Bryn Athyn, PA.
Copper and Brass. [1734]. Translated by A. Searle. 3 vols. London:
Swedenborg Society and British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association,
1961.
Daedalus Hyperboreus. 6 issues. Uppsala, Sweden: J. Werner, 1716-1718.
English translation: Northern Inventor.
De Ferro. Vol. 2 of Opera Philosophica et Mineralia (q.v.). Dresden
& Leipzig: F. Hekel, 1734.
Economy of the Animal Kingdom (Oeconomia Regni Animalis). [1740-1741].
Translated by A. Clissold. 2 vols. London: W. Newbery, 1845. Reprints
New York: New Church Press, 1903; and Philadelphia: Swedenborg
Scientific Association, 1955.
Festivus Applausus in Caroli XII in Pomeranian suam adventum.
[1714-1715]. Edited, with introduction, translation, and commentary
by H. Helander. Uppsala, Sweden: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis,
Studia Latina Upsaliensia, 1985.
The Fibre. Economy of the Animal Kingdom, Transaction III Medullary
Fibre of the Brain and Nerve Fibre of the Body, Arachnoid Tunic,
Diseases of the Fibre. Translated and edited by A. Acton. Philadelphia:
Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1918. Reprint 1976.
Generation. The Generative Organs, Considered Anatomically, Physically,
and Philosophically. Translated by J. J. G. Wilkinson. London:
William Newbery, 1852.
Height of Water. On the Height of Water and the Strong Tides
in the Primeval World: Proofs from Sweden. [1719]. Translated
from the Swedish by J. Rosenquist and revised by A. Stroh. Bryn
Athyn. PA: Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1908.
Hieroglyphic Key, A Hieroglyphic Key to Natural and Spiritual
Arcana by way of Representations and Correspondences. [1744].
Translated and edited by A. Acton. In Psychological Transactions
and Other Posthumous Tracts, 2nd ed. Bryn Athyn, PA: Swedenborg
Scientific Association, 1984, pp. 157-194.
The Infinite. The Infinite and the Final Cause of Creation. [1734].
Translated with introductory remarks by J. J. G. Wilkinson, with
a new introduction by L. Hite. London: Swedenborg Society, 1902.
Reprinted 1908, 1915.
Journal of Dreams. A posthumous publication. Edited from the
Swedish by G. Klemming, translated by J, J, G, Wilkinson, edited
by W, Woofenden. New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1977. Also called
Dream Book, Drömmar.
Lesser Principia. A posthumous publication. Translated by I.
Tansley. London: Swedenborg Society, 1913. Also called [Minor]
Principia.
Letters and Memorials of Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated and edited
by A. Acton. 2 vols. Bryn Athyn. PA: Swedenborg Scientific Association,
1948, 1955.
Miscellaneous Observations on Physical Sciences. [1722]. Translated
by C. Strutt. London: William Newbery, 1847. Reprint Bryn Athyn,
PA: Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1976.
Modest Thoughts on the Deflation and Inflation of Swedish Coinage.
[1722]. Translated by A. Acton and B. Boyesen. Edited by G. Dole.
In Studia Swedenborgiana 6, no. 2.
Motion and Position of the Earth and Planets. The Motion &
Position of the Earth & Planets: in Which Are Some Conclusive
Proofs That the Earth's Course Decreases in Rapidity, Being Now
Slower Than Heretofore, Making Winter and Summer Days and Nights
Longer in Respect of Time Than Formerly. [1719]. Translated by
D. May. London: James Speirs, 1900. Reprinted London: Swedenborg
Society, 1915,
On Common Salt. A posthumous publication. Translated by M. David.
In The New Philosophy, the quarterly journal of the Swedenborg
Scientific Association. Four installments have appeared to date
in vols., 86-88, 1983-1985.
On Tremulation, [1716-1718]. Translated from the Swedish by C.
Odhner. Boston: Massachusetts New Church Union, 1899. Reprinted
Bryn Athyn, PA: Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1976. Also
called Tremulation.
Opera Philosophica et Mineralia. 3 vols. Dresden and Leipzig:
Friedrich Hekel, 1734. The three volumes are popularly identified
as (1) Principia, (2) De Ferro and (3) De Cupro, et Orichalco
(q.v.). Eng. transl.: Philosophical and Metallurgical Works.
Psychological Transactions and Other Posthumous Tracts, 1734-1744
. Translated and edited by A. Acton. 2nd ed., rev. Bryn Athyn,
PA: Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1984.
Rational Psychology. A posthumous publication. Translated by
N. Rogers and A. Acton, edited by A. Acton. Philadelphia: Swedenborg
Scientific Association, 1950.
Spiritual Diary. A posthumous publication. Translated by G. Bush,
J. Smithson, and J, Buss. 5 vols. London: James Speirs, 1883-1902.
Swedenborg's Journal of Dreams. Commentary by W. Van Dusen. Edited
from the original Swedish by G. E. Klemming. Translated into English
in 1860 by J. J. G. Wilkinson. Edited by W. R. Woofenden. New
York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1986.
Worship and Love of God. [1745]. Translated and edited by A.
Stroh and F. Sewall. Boston: Massachusetts New Church Union, Rotch
edition, 1914.
Theological Works
Apocalypse Explained. A posthumous publication. Translation revised
by J. Whitehead. 6 vols., New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1911.
Several reprints.
Apocalypse Revealed. [1766]. Translated by F. Coulson. 2 vols.
London: Swedenborg Society, 1970.
Arcana Coelestia. Arcana Coelestia, the Heavenly Arcana Contained
in the Holy Scripture or Word of the Lord Unfolded, Beginning
with the Book of Genesis. [1749-1756]. Translation revised and
edited by J. F. Potts. 12 vols. New York: American Swedenborg
Printing and Publishing Society (predecessor to Swedenborg Foundation),
1905- 1910. Many reprints.
Bible Index. A posthumous publication titled Index Biblicus.
4 vols. Vols. 1-3 edited by J. F. I. Tafel, vol. 4 edited by A.
Kahl. London: Swedenborg Society, 1859-1868.
Brief Exposition. Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New
Church, Signified by the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation.
[1769]. Translated by R. Stanley. London: Swedenborg Society,
1952.
Conjugial Love. The Delights of Wisdom Concerning Conjugial Love,
After Which Follows the Pleasures of Insanity Concerning Scortatory
Love. [1768]. Translated by A. Acton. London: Swedenborg Society,
1953.
Continuation on the Last Judgment. Continuation Concerning the
Last Judgment, and Concerning the Spiritual World. [1763]. Translated
by D. Harley. London: Swedenborg Society, 1961.
Divine Love and Wisdom. [1763]. Translated by G. Dole. New York:
Swedenborg Foundation, 1986.
Divine Providence. [1764]. Translated by W. Wunsch. New York:
Swedenborg Foundation, 1963. Several reprints.
Doctrine of Faith. [1763]. Translated and edited by J. Potts.
In Four Doctrines. New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1904. Many
reprints.
Doctrine of the Holy Scripture. [1763]. Translated and edited
by J. Potts. In Four Doctrines. New York: Swedenborg Foundation,
1904. Many reprints.
Doctrine of Life. [1763]. Translated and edited by J. Potts.
In Four Doctrines. New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1904. Many
reprints.
Doctrine of the Lord. [1763]. Translated and edited by J. Potts.
In Four Doctrines. New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1904. Many
reprints.
Earths in the Universe. [1758]. Translated by J. Whitehead. In
Miscellaneous Theological Works. New York: Swedenborg Foundation,
1915. Many reprints.
Heaven and Hell. [1758]. Translated and revised by G. Dole. New
York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1979. Several reprints.
Last Judgment (and Babylon Destroyed). [1758]. Translated by
D. Harley. London: Swedenborg Society, 1961.
Messiah About to Come. Concerning the Messiah About to Come and
Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Last Judgment. A posthumous
publication. Translated and edited by A. Acton. Bryn Athyn, PA:
Academy of the New Church, 1949.
New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine. [1758]. Translated by
J. Whitehead. In Miscellaneous Theological Works.
Soul-Body Interaction. [1769]. Translated by G. Dole. New York:
Paulist Press, 1984.
True Christian Religion. The True Christian Religion Containing
the Universal Theology of the New Church Foretold by the Lord
in Daniel 7:13-14 and in Revelation 21:1-2. [1771]. Translated
by J. Ager. New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1915. Reprints.
White Horse. White Horse of the Apocalypse. [1758]. Translation
edited by B. Willmott. London: Swedenborg Society, 1954.
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GENERAL REFERENCE WORKS
Documents on Swedenborg. Documents Concerning the Life and Character
of Emanuel Swedenborg. Collected, translated, and annotated by
R. L. Tafel. 2 vols. bound as 3. London: Swedenborg Society, 1875,
1877.
Emanuel Swedenborg. A Continuing Vision. A Pictorial Biography:
& Anthology of Essays & Poetry. Edited by Robin Larsen,
et al. New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1988.
Swedenborg Researcher's Manual: A Research Reference Manual for
Writers of Academic Dissertations, and for Other Scholars. William
Ross Woofenden. Bryn Athyn, PA: Swedenborg Scientific Association,
1988.
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