Emanuel Swedenborg

In Other Planets, Emanuel Swedenborg offers us a panorama of a unified and purposeful universe based on his visionary journeys through the unimaginably vast reaches of the spiritual world. Cast in the form of a travelogue, Swedenborg describes having contact with the spirits of people who had lived on Mercury, Jupiter, and other planets and satellites in our solar system and beyond. This may present a challenge for those who interpret it literally, but just as it is with other of Swedenborg's "memorable occurrences" in the spiritual world, the goal is to consider and explore the deeper insights that he reveals regarding the universal principles that unite the human with the Divine. The discussions of faith in Other Planets are framed by Swedenborg's own Christian beliefs; however, a key takeaway for readers will certainly be the feeling that there are multiple ways of approaching belief and religious practice that can all lead to heaven. Also published under the titles Earths in the Universe, The Worlds in Space, and Life on Other Planets, this work provides seasoned students of Swedenborg with a renewed take on the fundamentals of his theology. At the same time, this short piece opens a window onto how the people of the eighteenth century sought to integrate science and religion in ways that are still relevant and meaningful today.

This volume contains four shorter works by the influential eighteenth-century mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. Translators George F. Dole and Jonathan S. Rose have produced an accessible rendering of these important yet easily overlooked works. New Jerusalem: In this work Swedenborg outlines his theology in twenty-three brief chapters on major Christian topics such as love, faith, regeneration, the inner self and outer self, and the nature of the Bible. Nearly every chapter ends with what is in effect an index to that topic as it appears in his much larger study Secrets of Heaven. Last Judgment: This work on the "end times" asserts that the Last Judgment foretold in the Bible does not involve the end of the physical world. Rather, the Last Judgment was an event of tremendous upheaval in the spiritual world, a nonmaterial apocalypse which has already occurred and which Swedenborg himself witnessed. White Horse: This brief work is divided into two parts. The first presents the inner meaning of the white horse mentioned in chapter 19 of the book of Revelation. The second is effectively an index to passages concerning the Bible and its inner meaning in Swedenborg's much larger work Secrets of Heaven. This work is a good short introduction to Swedenborg's principle of correspondences between the spiritual and physical worlds, as well as to his unique view of the nature of the Bible. Other Planets: Building on the eighteenth-century fascination with the possibility of life on other worlds and with traveler's tales of other cultures, this work describes life on other planets in our solar system and elsewhere in the universe. Swedenborg undertook this work specifically to demonstrate that Jesus is God not just of planet Earth but also of the universe as a whole.

Swedenborg experienced dreams and visions in which he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. He claimed that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that he could freely visit heaven and hell and talk with angels, demons, and other spirits. His best known book is 'Heaven and Hell.' The destruction of the world is not meant by the day of the last judgment. Those who have not known the spiritual sense of the Word, have understood that everything in the visible world will be destroyed in the day of the Last Judgment; for it is said, that heaven and earth are then to perish, and that God will create a New Heaven and a New Earth.

In 'Divine Providence, ' Swedenborg explains why it is that we cannot always see God's hand in our chaotic world. Why tragedy and war are allowed to happen and how these things relate to us. If God were to remove all tragedies from our lives, of what worth would free will be

Swedenborg experienced dreams and visions in which he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. He claimed that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that he could freely visit heaven and hell and talk with angels, demons, and other spirits. His best known book is 'Heaven and Hell.' The destruction of the world is not meant by the day of the last judgment. Those who have not known the spiritual sense of the Word, have understood that everything in the visible world will be destroyed in the day of the Last Judgment; for it is said, that heaven and earth are then to perish, and that God will create a New Heaven and a New Earth.

Swedenborg experienced dreams and visions in which he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. He claimed that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that he could freely visit heaven and hell and talk with angels, demons, and other spirits. His best known book is 'Heaven and Hell.' The destruction of the world is not meant by the day of the last judgment. Those who have not known the spiritual sense of the Word, have understood that everything in the visible world will be destroyed in the day of the Last Judgment; for it is said, that heaven and earth are then to perish, and that God will create a New Heaven and a New Earth.