in Berkeley, California. In the catalogue Taylor identified
several categories of religious art in America, but said that he
found no sect or set of beliefs that provided an impulse to-
ward art, particularly in the nineteenth century, with one ex-
ception—Swedenborgianism. Taylor wrote: “only Sweden-
borgian teaching had a direct impact on art, and this was
through its link with a complex philosophical view of percep-
tion and aesthetic judgement which suggested not narrative
themes but a spiritual context for artistic form” (Dillenber-
ger, 1972, p. 14).
In 1908, and with great pomp and ceremony, Sweden-
borg’s remains were brought back to Sweden and laid to rest
in Uppsala Cathedral. The Swedish government, not with-
out controversy, financed an elegant sarcophagus to hold the
simple wooden coffin brought from London. The red granite
memorial, approved by the Riksdag (the Swedish parlia-
ment), was carved to honor Swedenborg the scientist, despite
the fact that his worldwide reputation, even then, rested on
his revelations and religious writings. The parliament’s deci-
sion not withstanding, Swedenborg’s religious writings con-
tinue to shape the human spirit around the world in prayer,
poetry, paintings, story, and song.
SEE ALSO Swedenborgianism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Swedenborg Foundation in West Chester, Pa., is publishing
the New Century Edition of the Works of Emanuel Sweden-
borg, with Jonathan Rose as series editor. The first title to
be released in the series was Heaven and Hell (2000), translat-
ed by George F. Dole. Other series titles include a one-
volume edition, also translated by Dole, of Swedenborg’s Di-
vine Providence and Divine Love and Wisdom (2003).
Heaven and Hell (2000). This book gives a detailed description of
life after death. Divine Providence and Divine Love and Wis-
dom (2003). This book provides insight into the spiritual
laws governing human life, and insight into the divine pur-
pose and order of creation.
Benz, Ernst. Emanuel Swedenborg: Visionary Savant in the Age of
Reason. Translated by Nicholas Goodrich-Clarke. West
Chester, Pa., 1949; reprint, 2002. A biography that examines
Swedenborg’s place within the rational and esoteric currents
of the eighteenth century.
Bergquist, Lars. Swedenborg’s Dream Diary. Translated by Anders
Hallengren. West Chester, Pa., 1989; reprint, 2001. The
most recent examination of Swedenborg’s dream diary with
an attempt to connect his dreams to his social world and life.
Dillenberger, Jane, and Joshua C. Taylor, The Hand and the Spir-
it: Religious Art in America 1700–1900, Berkley, Calif.,
- An exhibit catalog exploring American religious art
during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Dole, George F., and Robert H. Kirven. Scientist Explores Spirit:
A Biography of Emanuel Swedenborg. West Chester, Pa.,
- A highly readable and clear short biography of Swe-
denborg.
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. New Age Religion and Western Culture: Es-
otericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Leiden, 1996. An
innovative exploration of the esoteric roots of the New Age
Movement with attention to Swedenborg’s role in the trans-
formation of perspective.
Johnson, Gregory, ed. Kant on Swedenborg: Dreams of a Spirit-Seer
and Other Writings. Translated by Gregory R. Johnson and
Glenn Alexander Magee. West Chester, Pa., 2002. A reas-
sessment of Kant’s view of Swedenborg suggesting Kant’s in-
debtedness to and use of Swedenborg in his own philosophy.
Jonsson, Inge. Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated by Catherine
Djurklou. New York, 1971. A modern intellectual history of
Swedenborg’s thought, connecting his thought to neo-
Platonism and Descartes, as well as linking Swedenborg’s
philosophy and theology.
Lamm, Martin. Swedenborg. Stockholm, 1915. This work has
been translated into German (Leipzig, 1922) and French
(Paris, 1936); it was translated into English by Thomas Spi-
ers and Anders Hallengren as Emanuel Swedenborg: The De-
velopment of His Thought (West Chester, Pa., 2000). A pio-
neering biography of Swedenborg that places his thought
within the framework of Western literary and intellectual
history.
Sigstedt, Cyriel. The Swedenborg Epic: The Life and Works of
Emanuel Swedenborg. London, 1952; reprint, 1981. A de-
tailed biography of Swedenborg that draws on the enormous
document collection assembled by the Swedenborg Scientific
Association during the first half of the twentieth century.
Williams-Hogan, Jane. “The Place of Emanuel Swedenborg in
Modern Western Esoteric Tradition.” In Western Esotericism
and the Science of Religion, edited by Antoine Faivre and
Wouter J. Hanegraaff, pp, 201–252. Leuven, Belgium,- An exploration of Swedenborg’s religious system with-
in the framework of the five characteristics of esotericism as
defined by Antoine Faivre, as well as a response to Sweden-
borg’s thought by important figures in modern Western Eso-
tericism.
JANE WILLIAMS-HOGAN (2005)
SWEDENBORGIANISM, often referred to as the
New Church or the Church of the New Jerusalem, is a global
religious movement based upon the theological writings of
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). When Swedenborg
died in London on March 29, 1772, his spiritual legacy was
to be found in the books and manuscripts he left behind. His
spiritual journey as a revelator began in 1744 when, at the
end of a profound personal spiritual crisis, he responded to
what he believed was a call from Jesus Christ to serve him.
As he began to study the Bible in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin,
he concluded that the Bible was written in correspondences,
and became convinced that he had been called to reveal its
internal or spiritual sense. His biblical exegesis laid the foun-
dation for a new, written revelation. By the time of his death
he had published eighteen titles. His first theological work,
Arcana Coelestia (1749–1756) or Secrets of Heaven was pub-
lished in eight volumes. It presents the spiritual or internal
sense of the biblical books of Genesis and Exodus. Also in-
cluded in his corpus are works titled Heaven and Hell (1758),8900 SWEDENBORGIANISM