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Emanuel Swedenborg: Scientist & Mystic
This classic, somewhat skeptical biography of Swedish scientist and visionary Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) brings a literary touch to the life of one of Sweden's most extraordinary sons.
412 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
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August 5, 2024
AN INFORMATIVE BIOGRAPHY BY A NON-SWEDENBORGIAN
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian, biblical commentator, and mystic, who founded the Church of the New Jerusalem, which still exists in several branches. He wrote books such as 'Heaven and Hell,' 'True Christianity,' etc. Danish biographer Signe Toksvig also wrote books such as 'Life of Hans Christian Andersen,' 'The Last Devil,' etc.
She observes, "Swedenborg's God is the God of a scientist. He is the essence not only of love but of wisdom, which is, or includes order." (Pg. 4-5) Asking the question of why Swedenborg never married, she comments, "He neither needed nor wanted to marry for money, and, in eighteenth-century Stockholm, he did not have to marry for sex... far from being a libertine, he grieved deeply over 'wandering lust' and longed for a harmonious marriage with an intelligent woman." (Pg. 78) She concludes, "It seems less likely that Swedenborg sought God because he did not marry than that he did not marry because he had a need to seek God." (Pg. 80)
She states, "He had wondered and wavered as to what his mission was to be---science or philosophy, but what he did after April, 1745, was to devote his leisure to the reinterpretation of the Bible." (Pg. 151) Near the book's end, she adds, "Since Swedenborg denied the vicarious atonement and the Trinity... and generally insisted that religion was not something to save men from the consequences of their wickedness ... it is hard to see how the pastors of the Lutheran state church of Sweden could look on him with a very friendly eye." (Pg. 331) Still, "the clergy seemed to take no notice of A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church,." (Pg. 340)
She duly notes "the theory that Swedenborg was in a state of melancholy because of 'guilt feelings' due to suppressed sex. But that easy explanation has to be examined... He lived in an age when his environment did not compel him to veil or to suppress interest in sex---quite the contrary... when he set down undisguisedly those dreams in which he had had sexual experience, it was not as examples of something which he held in horror, it was because he had come to look on his dreams as symbolic, quite in the modern way... he interpreted his sexual dreams as symbolic of striving spiritual desires..." (Pg. 136-137) She observes about his visionary experiences, "He was aware that most of his strange experiences seemed to come after he had just awaked in the morning... It is evident that he distinguished between this conscious but trancelike state, characterized by inner strife, and his other states of mystic ecstasy, in which he felt as if he might be wholly dissolved in 'the real joy of life.'" (Pg. 181)
She states, "He took most of what he wrote of Bible commentary as divine revelation... because is came to him in a very special way... His hand moved of itself! And it wrote things which, he said, were 'arcana'---secrets never known to anyone before... There can be no doubt that it was through so-called "automatic" writing that Swedenborg obtained the bulk of his Bible commentaries, and much that to us seems inconsistent with his real self." (Pg. 205) Later, she adds, "Swedenborg claimed ... for all his theological works, that they were not his own, in the sense that they had been celestially 'dictated' to him." (Pg. 231)
Swedenborgians will dispute various points in the book (this edition contains an Introduction written by a follower), but this biography is perhaps the most "objective" one available (and note that it is published by the Swedenborg Foundation).
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian, biblical commentator, and mystic, who founded the Church of the New Jerusalem, which still exists in several branches. He wrote books such as 'Heaven and Hell,' 'True Christianity,' etc. Danish biographer Signe Toksvig also wrote books such as 'Life of Hans Christian Andersen,' 'The Last Devil,' etc.
She observes, "Swedenborg's God is the God of a scientist. He is the essence not only of love but of wisdom, which is, or includes order." (Pg. 4-5) Asking the question of why Swedenborg never married, she comments, "He neither needed nor wanted to marry for money, and, in eighteenth-century Stockholm, he did not have to marry for sex... far from being a libertine, he grieved deeply over 'wandering lust' and longed for a harmonious marriage with an intelligent woman." (Pg. 78) She concludes, "It seems less likely that Swedenborg sought God because he did not marry than that he did not marry because he had a need to seek God." (Pg. 80)
She states, "He had wondered and wavered as to what his mission was to be---science or philosophy, but what he did after April, 1745, was to devote his leisure to the reinterpretation of the Bible." (Pg. 151) Near the book's end, she adds, "Since Swedenborg denied the vicarious atonement and the Trinity... and generally insisted that religion was not something to save men from the consequences of their wickedness ... it is hard to see how the pastors of the Lutheran state church of Sweden could look on him with a very friendly eye." (Pg. 331) Still, "the clergy seemed to take no notice of A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church,." (Pg. 340)
She duly notes "the theory that Swedenborg was in a state of melancholy because of 'guilt feelings' due to suppressed sex. But that easy explanation has to be examined... He lived in an age when his environment did not compel him to veil or to suppress interest in sex---quite the contrary... when he set down undisguisedly those dreams in which he had had sexual experience, it was not as examples of something which he held in horror, it was because he had come to look on his dreams as symbolic, quite in the modern way... he interpreted his sexual dreams as symbolic of striving spiritual desires..." (Pg. 136-137) She observes about his visionary experiences, "He was aware that most of his strange experiences seemed to come after he had just awaked in the morning... It is evident that he distinguished between this conscious but trancelike state, characterized by inner strife, and his other states of mystic ecstasy, in which he felt as if he might be wholly dissolved in 'the real joy of life.'" (Pg. 181)
She states, "He took most of what he wrote of Bible commentary as divine revelation... because is came to him in a very special way... His hand moved of itself! And it wrote things which, he said, were 'arcana'---secrets never known to anyone before... There can be no doubt that it was through so-called "automatic" writing that Swedenborg obtained the bulk of his Bible commentaries, and much that to us seems inconsistent with his real self." (Pg. 205) Later, she adds, "Swedenborg claimed ... for all his theological works, that they were not his own, in the sense that they had been celestially 'dictated' to him." (Pg. 231)
Swedenborgians will dispute various points in the book (this edition contains an Introduction written by a follower), but this biography is perhaps the most "objective" one available (and note that it is published by the Swedenborg Foundation).
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