The following is a supplement
to the Swedenborg entry, using the
authority of the Catholic Encyclopedia
to provide more details on Swedenborg and the Swedenborgians. The reader is
advised to read this important reference material, which I am quoting here to
save the reader the trouble of looking it up on the Internet.---
Swedenborgians: The believers in the religious doctrines taught by
Emanuel Swedenborg. As an organized body they do not call themselves
Swedenborgians, which seems to assert the human origin of their religion, but
wish to be known as the “Church of the
New Jerusalem”, or “New Church”,
claiming for it Divine Authorship and promulgation
through human instrumentality.
Swedenborg
and his followers hold that as the Christian religion succeeded the Jewish so
the Swedenborgian teaching supplemented the Christian. This new dispensation,
promulgated by Swedenborg is, according to them, based on a Divinely revealed
interpretation of the Sacred Scripture. Some of the characteristic features of
this new religious system are presented in the following outline.
---God is
Love Itself, and Wisdom Itself. His Power is from and according to these, as
they flow forth into creative act.
---The Trinity does not consist of three
distinct Divine persons, as Catholics maintain; but is understood in the sense
that in the Incarnation the Father, or Jehovah, is essentially the Divine Being,
while the Son is the human, or sub-spiritual element assumed by the Godhead in
order to become present among men. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Presence and
Power consequent upon this assumption and resultant transfiguration (glorification,
in Swedenborgian language) of the human element, which thus became “a Divine
Human”, with all power in heaven and on earth. Jesus Christ is, therefore, not the incarnation of a second Divine
person, but of the Divine as a whole; he includes the Father (Godhead), the Son (assumed humanity), and the Holy Spirit (Divine-human power).
---Life does not exist except in Him or
from Him, and it cannot be created. Its presence in created forms is accounted
for by continuous Divine influx.
---On this earth man enjoys the highest
participation of life, but he is greatly inferior, in this respect, to the
races undoubtedly inhabiting other planets, e.g. Jupiter, Mercury.
---His three constituent elements are soul,
body, and power.
---Originally granted full freedom in the
use of his faculties, man erroneously concluded that he held them from no one
but himself and fell away from God.
---The Lord, after the fall, did not
abandon the sinner, but appeared to him in the form of an angel and gave him
the law to reclaim him from his evil ways. These efforts were useless, and God
clothed Himself with a human organism and redeemed man, opening anew his
faculties to the influx of Divine life.
---Men are admitted into the New Church
through baptism; they are strengthened in the spiritual life by the reception
of the Eucharist.
---Justification cannot be obtained by
faith alone; good works are likewise necessary.
---The seclusion of the cloister is not a
help, but a hindrance to spiritual growth; the healthiest condition for the
latter is a life of action in the world.
---Miracles and visions produce no real
spiritual change, because they destroy the requisite liberty.
---The hope of reward is not to be
recommended as an incentive to virtue for good actions are vitiated when
prompted by motives of self-interest.
---Death is the casting off by man of his
material body which has no share in the resurrection.
---Immediately after death, all human souls
enter into the intermediate state known as the world of spirits, where they are
instructed and prepared for their final abodes, heaven or hell.
---We need not expect the Last Judgment,
for it has already taken place in 1757, in Swedenborg’s presence.
---No pure spirits exist; both angels and
devils are former members of the human race, have organic forms, and experience
sensation.
---The liturgy of the New Church is modeled on the Anglican
service. The Church organization in Great Britain is congregational; in the US most
of the various religious societies are grouped in state associations under the
charge of general pastors, while the “General Church” (see below) is avowedly
episcopal in government.
History of the new Church;
statistics; educational and publishing activities:
Swedenborg
made no attempt at founding a separate Church; he presented his doctrinal works
to university and seminary libraries, in the hope that they might be of
service; how far ahead he thought is uncertain, as he seemed to hold that his
followers might be members of any Christian denomination. But his views were,
in many respects, so entirely new that their adoption made the foundation of a
distinct religious body inevitable. Few accepted his opinions completely during
his lifetime. They found zealous advocates, however, in two Anglican clergymen,
Thomas Hartley, rector of Winwick in Northamptonshire, and John Clowes, rector
of St. John’s at Manchester. These divines rendered his works into English, and
through the efforts of Clowes, who never separated from the Church of England,
Lancashire became at an early date the Swedenborgian stronghold, which it still
remains today. The formal organization of the New Church took place in 1787,
and James Hindmarsh, a former Methodist preacher, was chosen by lot to
officiate at the inaugural meeting. The first public service was held in 1788
in a chapel at Great Eastcheap, London. Swedenborgian societies were soon
formed in various English cities, and in 1789, the first general conference of
the New Church met in the place of worship just mentioned. The number of adherents
did not increase rapidly. The conference has held annual meetings ever since
1815. Its minutes for 1909 contain the following statistics for England: 45
ministers, 70 societies, 6665 registered members, and 7907 Sunday scholars.
In
America, the Swedenborgian doctrines were first introduced in 1784 at public
lectures delivered in Philadelphia and Boston. The first congregation was
organized at Baltimore, in 1792. Since then the principles of the New Church
have spread to many states of the Union. The first general convention was held
in Philadelphia in 1817. It meets annually at present and is mainly composed of
delegates sent by the various state organizations. In 1890 the General Church
of Pennsylvania severed its connection with the convention and assumed in 1897
the name of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. It numbered in 1911, 24
ministers, 16 churches, and 890 communicants; whereas the main body had 107
ministers, 130 churches, and 8,500 communicants (Statistics of Dr. H. K.
Carroll, in The Christian Advocate,
NY, 25 Jan., 1912). Congregations of the New Church are to be found in all
civilized countries; but their membership is small. In Germany the Protestant
prelate Öttinger translated (1765-86) numerous writings of Swedenborg, but the most
important name identified with the history of the denomination in that country
is that of Immanuel Tafel (1796-1863), professor and librarian of Tübingen, who
devoted his life to the spread of Swedenborgianism. His efforts were mainly
literary; but he also organized a congregation in Southern Germany. The
religion was proscribed in Sweden until 1866, when greater religious freedom
was granted; the churches are still very few, and the membership insignificant.
New Churchmen claim, however, that there as well as in all other countries the
influence of Swedenborg cannot be gauged by the enrolled membership, because
many communicants of other denominations hold Swedenborgian views.
The
denomination maintains for the training of its ministry the New Church College
at Islington, London, and the New Church Theological School at Cambridge, Mass.
A preparatory school is located at Waltham, Massachusetts, and an institution
for collegiate and university studies at Urbana, Ohio. The General Church
conducts a seminary at Bryn Athyn, PA, and maintains several parochial schools.
The denomination has displayed a remarkable publishing activity. The Swedenborg
Society was founded in London, in 1810, for the printing of Swedenborgian
literature and in celebration of its centenary the International Swedenborg
Congress met in the English metropolis, in 1910. Other publishing agencies are
the New Church Union of Boston, the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing
Society of New York, and a publishing house at Stuttgart, Germany. A monumental
edition of Swedenborg’s scientific works is in the course of publication under
the auspices of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences; his theological works
are available in complete Latin and English editions and have been partly
published in numerous modern languages, including Hindu, Arabic, and Japanese.
The New Church publishes two quarterly reviews, some monthly magazines, and
several weekly papers.
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