SCRIBE OF HEAVEN: SWEDENBORG'S LIFE, WORK, AND IMPACT

by Jonathan S. Rose (Editor), Stuart Shotwell (Editor), Mary Lou Bertucci (Editor)

Overview

The essays in this volume testify to the far-reaching effects of Emanuel Swedenborg’s works in Western culture. From his early days as an ambitious young scientist in the ferment of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment Europe, through his mid-life entrance into an ongoing experience of the spiritual world, to his last decades as a researcher of things spiritual, Swedenborg built a career that left a unique legacy. His vivid descriptions of the nonphysical realm made a powerful impression on minds as diverse as Goethe, Blake, Emerson, Yeats, and Borges.

This book serves as a self-contained resource on Swedenborg’s life and thought and as a gateway into further exploration of the labyrinthine garden of Swedenborg’s works. It includes a biography, rich in fascinating detail; lively overviews of the content and history of Swedenborg’s writings on spiritual topics; and essays tracing Swedenborg’s impact in various regions of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780877856054
Publisher:	Swedenborg Foundation Publishers
Publication date:	09/01/2011
Series:	New Century Edition
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	592
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jonathan S. Rose is the series editor of the New Century Edition, an ongoing project that incorporates the latest scholarship to produce a modern, accessible translation of Emanuel Swedenborg’s theological works. Holder of a B.A. and a M.Div. in religion and a M.A. and a Ph.D. in Latin, he has worked for years in the study of Neo-Latin and in Swedenborgian research. He was both chaplain and a tenured professor of religion and sacred languages at Bryn Athyn College before taking on his current position. Dr. Stuart Shotwell is an independent scholar and freelance editor. He holds a doctorate in Classical Philology and has over twenty years of experience in the publishing field. His work for the Swedenborg Foundation has included editing collateral texts and assisting with the publication of the thirty volumes of the Redesigned Standard Edition of Swedenborg's Works. While serving as managing editor of the New Century Edition, he has also been working on his own translation of and commentary on Swedenborg's prose poem Worship and Love of God.

Table of Contents

Contents Preface - Jonathan S. Rose and Stuart Shotwell Swedenborg’s Life The Inner Journey of Emanuel Swedenborg - Richard Smoley Theological Works Swedenborg’s Garden of Theology: An Introduction to Swedenborg’s Published Theological Works - Jonathan S. Rose Swedenborg’s Modes of Presentation, 1745–1771 - George F. Dole Swedenborg’s Manuscripts - Frank S. Rose Cultural Impact The Influence of Emanuel Swedenborg in Scandinavia - Olle Hjern Swedenborg and Continental Europe - Jean-François Mayer Selected Examples of Swedenborg’s Influence in Great Britain and the United States - Robert H. Kirven and David B. Eller Organizational Impact Swedenborgian Churches and Related Institutions in Great Britain, the United States, and Canada - Jane Williams-Hogan and David B. Eller New Church (Swedenborgian) Societies in the United States and Canada, 1790–2003 Examples of Internationalization: The New Church in Africa - Jane Williams-Hogan An Alternative Approach to Studying Swedenborg’s Impact Swedenborg’s Influence: The Power of Three Selected Ideas - Alice B. Skinner Bibliographies and Index Recommended Works - David B. Eller Annotated Bibliography of Swedenborg’s Writings - Jonathan S. Rose Works Cited Index