During the first half of the nineteenth century, the cler-
gy of the British Conference were trained through a tutorial
system. A theological school was established in London in
1865 in order to standardize training. It moved to Radcliffe,
a suburb of Manchester, in 1984 to be closer to the geo-
graphical center of the membership. A congregational system
of government had been chosen to enhance local control. A
consequence of this system was that salaries of the clergy were
paid by the local congregations without any assistance from
the national body. As a result, recruiting men for the minis-
try was difficult, because in many locations with small con-
gregations an adequate living could not be guaranteed. Thus,
the British Conference throughout its history has had more
congregations than ministers to serve them. This difficulty
was at least technically addressed by opening the ministry to
women in 1998. But the challenges of secularization and
modernization could not be overcome simply by recruiting
women into the ministry. Organizational and constitutional
changes were initiated in 1999 in an attempt to meet these
difficulties head on. The conference has thus become more
centralized and more reliant on the Internet for all types of
communication, including recruitment of new members and
instruction in the theological school. According to its vision
statement, the British Conference has also chosen to be in-
clusive and nonjudgmental, while at the same time it seeks
to stimulate spiritual growth by applying the writings of Swe-
denborg to life.
From 2001 to 2002, the British Conference of the New
Church had the following statistical profile: 1,148 members,
29 worshiping congregations, and 7 groups; there were 25
ministers, of whom 14 were retired or no longer in active ser-
vice, and 44 lay worship leaders.
THE SWEDENBORGIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA. The
Swedenborgian Church of North America was organized as
the General Convention of the Church of the New Jerusalem
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May 1817. At that time
there were approximately 360 receivers of Swedenborg’s
teachings in the United States, located in seventeen different
societies. The issues before the convention were to establish
a permanent organization that could oversee the needs of the
already existent congregations; to assist in the development
of new ones; to regularize ordination; and to support mis-
sionary efforts. Delegates assembled in Philadelphia from
five states: New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and
Ohio. Two foreigners also attended the Philadelphia conven-
tion, one from Scotland and one from Sweden.
The General Convention’s adoption of a congregational
form of government was natural, due to the democratic tem-
per of early America, and because the congregations had ex-
isted prior to the central organizing body, as had also been
the case in England. A proposal to consider a hierarchical
form of government was placed on the agenda during the
1820s, but it was never actively considered. The General
Convention organized itself into regional associations, and
delegates from the associations attended the annual conven-
tion and conducted the business of the church. To oversee
the work, officers were selected. At the first convention a
president was chosen; the next year the position of vice presi-
dent was also established, but it was not until the eleventh
annual convention that a financial report was submitted for
approval. This basic system of government still frames the
work of the Swedenborgian Church of North America.
The doctrinal principles outlined by the General Con-
vention emphasized “knowledge of the Lord in his Divine
Humanity,” because church members believed it is the fun-
damental principle of all true religion. These principles also
emphasized sharing one’s faith with others so that the Lord’s
kingdom might come through the practice of the divine
teachings of charity, good works, and love for each other. At-
tention was paid to the recruiting of sincere men to the min-
istry, and a system of licensing and ordination was created
that persisted until a theological school was established in
Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1867.
Controversy emerged within the General Convention of
the Church of the New Jerusalem when, after the American
Civil War, some ministers and church members with a belief
in a hierarchical form of government began to press their
views. Rebuffed by the General Convention, they formed
their own theological school in Philadelphia in 1876. The
inability of the two groups to find a mutually acceptable so-
lution led to a schism in 1890.
The high point of growth for the General Convention
in the nineteenth century was in 1890. In that year the annu-
al reports listed 154 societies, 119 ministers, and 7,095
members. During the nineteenth century the convention’s
doctrinal emphasis on inward and individual spiritual devel-
opment fit well into the American spirit. The teachings were
a particularly unique source to learn more about human psy-
chology and motivation. There was a strong identification
of the membership with the teachings of Swedenborgianism,
and Swedenborgian thought and teachings were absorbed
into the broader American culture, helping to create what
John Humphrey Noyes (1811–1886), historian and founder
of the Oneida Community, called “Swedenborg’s century.”
Samson Reed’s (1800–1880) Observations on the Growth of
the Mind (1826), a book based on Swedenborg’s principles,
suggested that changing times originate in a changing mind.
Reed’s work had a far-reaching impact. It appealed to Ralph
Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), and Emerson’s good friend,
the English author Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881). It inspired
Emerson’s masterwork Nature (1836), and Emerson includ-
ed Swedenborg in his essay “Representative Men” (1850).
Carlyle wrote that Swedenborg’s new spiritual philosophy
would soon leaven all religious thought.
Swedenborg was also an important source of inspiration
for Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) and Walt Whitman
(1819–1892). Both men broke important ground by bring-
ing new psychological insights into the very structure of their
art, as did the celebrated landscape artist George Inness
(1825–1894), a member of the Swedenborgian Church andSWEDENBORGIANISM 8903