Why I Believe

Jennica gives an honest account of her crisis of faith. She walks the reader through her experience of doubt, an experience that ultimately strengthened her beliefs. This article leads off our series on doubt, you can find the next one here. -Editor.

A couple of years ago a number of my family members announced that they were atheists. This came as quite a surprise to me because up until this point they had been active church members and seemingly firm believers in God.

At first I went through a state of denial, telling myself that this was just a healthy exercise in testing their faith, or coming to understand what the New Church truths mean in a context that is separated from what they were taught. As time went by I heard more and more declarations that they indeed identified themselves as atheists, and found that they had indeed diverged significantly from the beliefs I had previously thought we shared.

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Sharing and Spreading the New Church with Mutual Support

Karin observes the New Church as a movement much larger than its organized chapters. In a magnanimous voice she explores how negative attitudes towards diversity that exist within the church limit its growth and diminish its success. She walks the reader through another way of responding to difference. -Editor.

The New Church is so much more than organizations. The New Church is a mentality—a state of mind, and a way of acting. There is much “New Church” thought being mulled over in the world, both among people who read the works of Emanuel Swedenborg and among those who have never heard of him.

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What do We have in Common with Other Christians?

By focussing his attention on what the New Church shares with other Christian denominations Solomon augments a sense of oneness, a sense that we are all part of Lord's church on earth. - Editor

Sometimes it seems like we spend a lot of time distinguishing ourselves from other Christian churches, and in the process we end up distinguishing ourselves from other Christian people, almost as if we were somehow better people. I think this is a bit like eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; believing that we know better than other people.

Swedenborg has some great things to say about this

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The Swedenborgian Asterisk: A Drag-in's Tale

Lauren Dale Anderson uses an author's note to explain the motivation for her project (below). Lauren offers the reader a window into her experience of coming into contact with members of the organized New Church. With humor and insight she illustrates some of the gaps in understanding, language and culture between New Church Christians and non-New Church Christians. Lauren warmly encourages reader feedback in her ongoing effort to gather perspectives on the New Church. -Editor

Author's Note

This is the introduction to a book that is yet to be birthed from the folds of my mind and reading notes. I got the idea for it a few months ago on one of my many plane trips around the country and wrote the introduction and a brief purpose/outline, both of which I share with you below.

I had meant to keep this under wraps, afraid of what the response to it might be, until I had developed more of the text.

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The Hidden Influence and Relevance of Swedenborg 3: Swedenborg's Influence

This is the third of three sections of an essay by Curtis Childs on the significance of Emanuel Swedenborg's work. Start with Section 1: Why We Are Here. Then read Section 2: Egypt, Assyria, and Quantum Mechanics.  Then finish up here with: Swedenborg's Influence. - Editor.

Swedenborg's Influence

Let me explain why Swedenborg merits scrutiny. It is a fact that the greatest poets and prose writers have borrowed liberally from him. The list is long: first Blake, as his direct spiritual descendant; then Goethe, a fervent reader of Swedenborg (as was Kant followed by Edgar Allan Poe, Baudelaire, Balzac, Mickiewicz, Slowacki, Emerson, Dostoevsky.... (
Czeslaw Milosz, 1980 Nobel Prize, Literature, Swedenborg.ca)

The task of compiling a list of the people and institutions affected by Swedenborg becomes a decision about who and which to include. His influence has been massive. While discussion of his scientific achievements would merit its own article, for brevity this section will focus only on the impact of his theological works, necessarily robbing him of credit for the achievements of the first fifty-six years of his life.

Hellen Keller, perhaps best known for her activism on behalf of the handicapped and for other causes, was greatly affected by Swedenborg’s writings. Struck in early childhood by an illness that left her deaf, blind, and dumb, somehow she was able, through the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan, to overcome and become a prolific writer, speaker, and activist. Swedenborg’s works entered her life during her teenage years, when she was first given a copy of Heaven and Hell. This had a huge impact on her, and it showed up in her writing, throughout her life: “Swedenborg’s books have lifted my wistful longing for a fuller sense-life into a vivid consciousness of the complete being within me… yes, the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg have been my light and a staff in my hand, and by his vision splendid I am attended on my way” (34).

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