Emanuel Swedenborg

--? Husch, sade han -- se, se! Och han fumlade med några knappar på väggen. Belätet reste sig morrande och knorrande, fjädrar surrade och hjul väste. Gestalten steg upp och glodde på mig med ett par grådaskiga ögonlinser. När därtill underkäken plötsligt föll ned med en smäll och visade ett gapande hål och bruna betar, ryggade jag tillbaka i avsmak. --? Ack, sade uppfinnaren -- det fattas ännu blott livsfluidet -- men vänta, vänta... Aleph fortsätter sin exkursion i den svenska, ofta glömda fantastikens historia. Här finns berättelsen om studenten som blivit dömd att för evigt gräva i arkiven efter ett obefintligt dokument, som kan sona hans brott mot den gudomliga världsordningen. Hur går man tillväga för att dissekera en levande människa? Och Viktor Rydberg diktar virtuost om Den flygande holländaren. Som bonus finns en svavelosande kortroman om en djävul som residerar i Helsingfors, för att samla tretton prima själar åt sin storfurste. Fantastik är dock inte bara skräck och fantasy. Här kan också läsas en skiss från 1735 på en roman som aldrig blev skriven -- men som skildrar ett stjärnornas krig mellan invånarna i solsystemet och våra grannar i världsrymden. Och vem trodde att den första egentliga science fiction-novellen på svenska, med 200 år på nacken, skulle handla om invånarna i atomernas mikrokosmos...?

Swedish scientist and visionary Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) writes that the Ten Commandments are the most important part of the Bible. They encapsulate what we need to do to grow as spiritual people, with a meaning that penetrates far beyond the surface level of words and deeds. One of the fundamentals of Swedenborg's theology is the concept that underlying the literal text of the Bible is an inner spiritual meaning. Using this method of interpretation, Swedenborg peels back the layers of the Ten Commandments to reveal a cohesive set of teachings with both practical applications and far-reaching spiritual implications. Although Swedenborg discusses the Ten Commandments in many places throughout his writings, he wrote four extended commentaries on the subject in four separate volumes: Secrets of Heaven (volume 7, published in 1754), True Christianity (1771), the short work Life (1763), and the posthumously published Revelation Explained (1758-1759). Those four commentaries are now being combined in a single volume for the first time, allowing the reader to compare and contrast Swedenborg's approach across a seventeen-year span. This book offers new insights for spiritual seekers and students of Swedenborg alike, illuminating what is at once a familiar set of biblical teachings and one of the cornerstones of Swedenborg's system of personal growth.

Emanuel Swedenborg understood the city of New Jerusalem--as described in the book of Revelation--to mean not a physical city but an epoch of history, a new spiritual age that was just beginning to take shape during his lifetime in the eighteenth century. This short work, presented as a series of teachings that characterize this spiritual age to come, is also one of Swedenborg's most concise and readable summaries of his own theology. Building on fundamental concepts such as good, truth, will, and understanding, he describes the importance of love and usefulness in spiritual growth. In the second half of the volume he focuses on how this new theology relates to the church of his day and to church teachings about the Bible, the Lord's incarnation on earth, and rites such as baptism and the Holy Supper. Each short chapter is followed by extensive references back to his theological magnum opus, Secrets of Heaven. This volume is an excellent starting point for those who want an overview of Swedenborg's theology presented in his own words.

I. How Spiritual Life is Acquired II. Goods of Charity III. Shunning Evils IV. Cleansing the Inside V. What Religion Consists In Part Second-THE COMMANDMENTS. 18. I. The First Commandment II. The Second Commandment III. The Third Commandment IV. The Fourth Commandment V. The Fifth Commandment VI. The Sixth Commandment VII. The Seventh Commandment VIII. The Eighth Commandment IX. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments X. The Commandments in General Part Third-PROFANATIONS OF GOOD AND TRUTH. 76. I. Goods and Truths and Their Opposites II. The First Kind of Profanation III. The Second Kind of Profanation IV. The Third Kind of Profanation V. The Fourth and Fifth Kinds of Profanation Part Fourth-THE DIVINE WORD. 88. I. The Holiness of the Word II. The Lord is the Word III. The Lord's Words Spirit and Life IV. Influx and Correspondence V. The Three Senses of the Word VI. Conjunction by the Word VII. The Sense of the Letter