Swedenborg was an eighteenth century renaissance figure, who investigated and wrote extensively on areas ranging from scientific and philosophic matters to engineering and political economy.
From my own observations of his teachings I believe that the study of Swedenborg’s writings can help solve some of life’s knotty problems. My study of the Writings has enriched my understanding of the gospel and its importance for mankind. Perhaps we should heed the Doctrine and Covenants exhortation to Aseek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom. Few LDS know of Emanuel Swedenborg, let alone his teachings, so that he seems nearly invisible in LDS writings and study. Swedenborg shows us that God has his hand in many aspects of human history and is mindful of more than just his LDS children. Nevertheless he is not a mirror of all LDS teachings since, for instance, he taught that God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are a single individual concepts about a pre-mortal existence are a misunderstanding and that our Lord did not make any payment for our sins on the cross among other things. Large portions of what many consider to be unique teachings of the LDS Church are found in the Swedish mystic’s writings. He witnessed a marriage in heaven and stated that the husband was arrayed in the priesthood robes of Aaron and the wife wore apparel suggestive of a queen with a crown on her head. There are three levels within the celestial glory and marriage for all eternity is an absolute requirement for entry into the highest of these heavens. For example, he taught that there are three heavens, the celestial being the most inward and refined. The Swedish mystic wrote thousands of pages explaining what he learned from angels and inspired insights into the scriptures and claims that he wrote only as the Lord directed.Įmanuel Swedenborg’s teachings, discussed later in more detail, are startlingly recognizable to the student of LDS theology. He claims to have been a citizen of both the physical and the spiritual world for approximately 27 years, conversing with angels on a daily basis. (which is a lot of people).ĭid Emanuel Swedenborg Influence LDS Doctrine?īorn in Sweden in 1688, Emanuel Swedenborg claims that at the age of 57 he was visited by the Savior and commanded to write the inner meaning of the scriptures and to explain life awaiting man after the death of the physical body. Only those who know next to nothing about Swedenborg pass around that myth. That is nothing like Swedenborg’s realms. Likewise D&C 76:84, calls the telestial kingdom, “hell”. Read D&C 76’s description of the “terrestrial” and compare it to St Ambrose’s purgatory… they’re almost synonymous. may have been contrasted by three additional degrees of hell). Joseph’s three degrees in D&C 76 look a lot more like the Catholic view of heaven, hell and purgatory, than they do Swedenborg’s Celestial, Spiritual and Natural heavens. But they are not called Celestial, Terrestrial, Telestial… and they don’t look anything like Joseph’s. It’s also very likely the saints where influenced by Swedenborg in how they interpreted D&C 76, since It’s also true that Swedenborg taught of three degrees, and a ‘spirit world’. One important note on on Miller’s essay below: It’s a common thing to hear that Joseph’s three degrees of glory are similar to (and possibly borrowed from) Swedenborg’s view of heaven. I personally don’t think the correspondence is strong enough to suggest this. It’s likely Joseph was familiar with Swedenborg (he supposedly owned a copy one one of Swedenborg’s many books). It does a great job of going through the many similarities, although I don’t necessarily agree with which aspects arose from inspirational congruence and which were parroted doctrines.
I recently came across this essay compiled by Craig Miller and thought I would re-post it. I meant to write an article on this a while back when I bought “Heaven & Hell” and began reading many of his other works on (see the Swedenborg library at ). His writing style is quite drawn out (wordy) and often hard to get through. Perhaps some of the awfully verbose nature of his writing (especially his first work, Arcana Coelestia) might have to do with the poor translation of Swedish to English? At any rate, I would have to say my views on his writings have changed a lot, the more I have read from the occult or mysticism movements. I’v read many of Swedenborg’s books and got a lot from them. It’s been years since I first noticed the marked similarities between many of the teachings of Joseph Smith and Emanual Swedenborg.
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