What does /lit/ think of Emanuel Swedenborg?
This 200 IQ giga-chad came up with a quantum physics universalism styled christianity in the fuckin 1700s
Not seen again until the new agey 1960s!
Truly a genius. Didn't even have to drop LSD or DMT.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Church_(Swedenborgian)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg
On Divine Love and Human Response:
"The Lord's divine love is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable; it is the very essence of His being. This love flows out from Him continually, seeking to unite itself with all created beings, and especially with the human race, that through them it may have subjects with whom it can share its infinite blessedness. But because love cannot be received where there is no correspondence, and because human beings by their own evil have become opposed to divine love, the Lord provides ways and means by which this opposition may be removed and correspondence established."
On Spiritual Regeneration:
"Regeneration is not wrought in a moment, but gradually, and by degrees; and it is effected by means of truths, which are learned from the Word, and by a life according to them. The Lord leads a person by these truths to recognize evils as sins, to acknowledge them before Him, to pray for help against them, and thus to struggle against them; and He gives victory according to the sincerity of the struggle and the earnestness of the prayer."
On the Nature of Heaven:
"Heaven is not a place merely, but is also a state; and everyone is in that heaven which corresponds to his state of love and faith. The heavens are distinct societies, each society having its own general character, which is determined by the ruling love of its inhabitants; and each society is subdivided into smaller companies, each having its own particular character, which also is determined by the ruling affection of those who compose it."
On Divine Providence:
"The Divine Providence of the Lord is universal, reaching to every person, and particular, extending to the smallest things that belong to each person; and it is also immediate, operating directly upon every person, and mediate, working through secondary causes, such as friends, enemies, circumstances, and even evils themselves, for the sake of producing good to those who receive it."
On the Marriage of Good and Truth:
"In every work of the Lord's divine providence there is an union of divine good and divine truth; for the Lord is good itself and truth itself, and these cannot be separated. Divine good is the end which the Lord has in view, and divine truth is the means by which He accomplishes it. This marriage of good and truth is what makes all things possible, and without it nothing could exist."
Swedenborgians are in fact without doubt the highest IQ Christians, not that the bar is that high but still.
>>24582451 (OP)like many Protestant theologians who came after Luther, his "main idea" is something that could be considered but one of the many buttresses supporting the true Catholic faith, lost by Luther and then "rediscovered" in his tradition
>>24582451 (OP)>Swedenborg wrote about Heaven and Hell based on what he said was revelation from God.I've always been fascinating by historical figures who believed such things, and always wish we could go back in time to investigate it. Were they having special visions? Or is it something as mundane as they believed their dreams and imagination were revelations? Or worse, were they charlatans who made it up?
>>24582462They put his followers on trial for heresy, Swedenborg only avoiding the same because he published his works anonymously and never founded a church.
>>24582472>Were they having special visions?In Swedenborg's case all the time. Very interesting guy. A psychic too.
On Non-Locality/Spacelessness
"In the spiritual world, there is no such thing as space and time as we know them in the natural world. Distance is according to the quality of the state." (Divine Love and Wisdom)
"Angels are not bounded by space... they can be present with everyone everywhere." (Heaven and Hell)
On Observer Effect
"All things in the spiritual world are affected by the state of the observer's mind... what appears to one person may not appear to another." (Arcana Coelestia)
"The spiritual world is such that everyone sees what corresponds to their own inner state." (Heaven and Hell)
On Consciousness Creating Reality
"The universe is a theater for the reception of love and wisdom, and all things exist according to the form of reception in each person." (Divine Love and Wisdom)
"What a person thinks, that also does he become... thoughts are the very essence of a person's being." (Various works)
On Interconnectedness
"All angels in heaven are linked together in one common bond of love... the joy of one becomes the joy of all." (Heaven and Hell)
"The Lord's kingdom is one with the Lord, and all who are in it are one with each other." (True Christian Religion)
On Wave-Particle Duality-like Concepts
"Spiritual things have both a general and particular aspect... they are both one and many simultaneously." (Arcana Coelestia)
>>24582451 (OP)If he was truly that smart he would've done philosophy instead.
>>24582554>philosophy>religion>scienceI am unaware of the difference
>>24582473From the Wikipedia page you linked
>In this state, faith and good acts become external displays motivated by fear of hell, desires for material blessings, personal recognition, and other worldly things, devoid of true spiritual essence.Catholic Theology condemned good deeds done for any end other than salvation and from any cause other than faith for a thousand years before this guy was born. His followers were heretical because they did not submit to the Church, and I am positive that should the trials be exhumed we will discover that they did not hold sound doctrine.
>>24582451 (OP)Probably significantly more influential and important than our current mainstream history texts say. Kant supposedly pulled some of his ideas from swedenborgs works.
>>24582451 (OP)Emerson loved him; therefore, I love him.
>>24582676Joseph Smith read Swedenborg
