{"id":10416,"date":"2015-04-07T18:59:27","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T18:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/?page_id=10416"},"modified":"2015-04-07T18:59:27","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T18:59:27","slug":"swedenborg","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/about\/swedenborg\/","title":{"rendered":"Emanuel Swedenborg: Who He Was; Why He Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ideas on this site are drawn from the works of Emanuel Swedenborg,\u00a0an 18<\/span>th-<\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

century Swedish scholar who spent his last three decades writing\u00a0about the meaning of the Bible<\/a> and the nature of God<\/a>, humanity<\/a>, reality and life after de<\/a>ath<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Swedenborg<\/a> (1688-1772) said he received revelation from the Lord, and that he wrote what he did at the Lord\u2019s behest. He also said he was able to visit heaven and hell and talk to people<\/a> there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Critics have claimed that Swedenborg was misguided, deceptive, drug-addled and\/or schizophrenic. Supporters, however, note that he was described by contemporaries as pleasant and sensible, that he was a respected member of the Swedish House of Nobles, and that he was an apparently humble man who never tried to start a church and avoided public speaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, Swedenborg\u2019s supporters point to his body of work as its own best defense. His take on the Bible is deep and coherent, and his approach to God and reality is astonishingly modern.<\/span><\/p>\n

To put it very briefly, Swedenborg wrote that the Lord is love itself<\/a>, perfect and eternal, and that the natural<\/a> world was created as an extension of that love. He wrote that the Lord operates from love into the lives of everyone every moment, trying to get people to accept love while also leaving them free to reject it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything Swedenborg wrote \u2013 more than 30 volumes<\/a> in all \u2013 centers on that idea:<\/span><\/p>\n