but it can also be a challenge. It was written in Latin a quarter of a millennium ago, and for the most part translators have been careful to use precise language to express the ideas as correctly as possible. That means that much of the terminology and phrasing is relatively formal and somewhat old-fashioned. On top of that, it's a theology that is complex in its details, despite the marvelous simplicity at its core.
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Angels: The thing we were all created to become
Swedenborg offers a tremendous amount of material on angels. The book Heaven and Hell offers detailed discussions as it describes heaven; Conjugial Love has much to say about marriage and romantic love in heaven; Divine Love and Wisdom offers insight into how angels in their nature reflect the nature of the Lord. So we’ll offer some basics here and recommend those books to those who want more detail.
Basically, Swedenborg says that if people in this life open themselves to the Lord, follow the Lord’s teachings and let the Lord change their selfish desires into generous loves, they will go to heaven as angels after they die. If they don’t, and instead embrace their selfishness, they will go to hell as evil spirits. Swedenborg also says that this is the only source of angels and evil spirits – they were all once people. There is no separately created race of angels, no fallen angel Lucifer who is now the Devil; that belief is based solely on a few lines of misinterpreted scripture.
Spiritual: The life of the real you, the one living inside
Is your body “you”?
It sure doesn’t feel that way, does it? Your body is “yours,” you inhabit it, but the real “you” is inside, thinking and feeling and aware. “You” don’t sense “yourself” as something merely physical.
Think of it this way: If you cut off your arm, are you still you? Sure. Cut off both arms and both legs, and you're still you (and just as complete a being as ever). Keep going and it's plain that if you could somehow not die, you could lose every part of your body and still be you.
This is something that has confounded scientists and philosophers for centuries. That feeling is universal, and it’s awfully hard to say it’s not true, but there’s no way to demonstrate it scientifically or to even define its functions in concrete terms philosophically. If you’re not physical, then what are you made of?
Christianity: The true faith, but one lured away from the true path
“Is it Christian?” That’s one of the first questions many ask when they first encounter the ideas offered by Emanuel Swedenborg. The answer is simple: “It depends on what you mean.”
Merriam-Webster defines a Christian as “one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ.” Dictionary.com is similar: “a person who believes in Jesus Christ"; and defines the adjective form as “of, pertaining to, or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings.”
Swedenborg teaches that Jesus was the actual embodiment of Jehovah himself, the divine soul in a human body. It also teaches that his words and acts are not only compelling as literal statements, but are also filled with the infinity of divine truth when understood on a spiritual level. That would certainly make the ideas “Christian” according to the dictionary definitions.
Faith: A rooted belief that does not need to be blind
“Faith” is an interesting word. Technically it simply means “belief,” but it has taken on a thick layer of emotional import in the modern world. That’s certainly true in terms of religion: We could happily entertain intellectual questions about what we believe to be true, but if those questions touch on our “faith” they suddenly become an “attack.” We also use “faith” to describe the connection we can feel with God during emotionally charged worship services. This idea filters through to secular uses: When we express “faith” that our favorite football team can win a game, that’s more of an emotional statement than an intellectual one.
One reason for that emotional content may be that Christian churches adopted the word “faith” to mean “accepting something as true even though it can’t be seen or understood.” For instance, the idea that God is one, divided into three persons without being divided. See more...