Swedenborg, the Ultimate “Cosmic” Theologian

Jon Rowe

Jon Rowe is a full Professor of Business at Mercer County Community College, where he teaches business, law, and legal issues relating to politics. Of course, his views do not necessarily represent those of his employer.

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6 Responses

  1. Road Scholar says:

    So how do the Swedenborgians deal with the pictures from the planetary probes, showing for instance that Mercury is a barren, airless hell? Sounds like some old classic sci-fi from a hundred years ago when we didn’t really know much about the solar system.Report

  2. Rufus F. says:

    He was also pretty important for William Blake. I actually tried to read Swedenborg because the French Romantics got into him- I think it was Nerval who got me going in that direction. This post helps a lot because some of this I sussed out and other areas of Swedenborg had me pretty confused.Report

  3. crash says:

    The only thing I know about him is that he was an influence on Emerson; he got a chapter in “Representative Men”Report

  4. Quentin says:

    Dear Jon Rowe,
    You somehow missed the essence of what Swedenborg wrote concerning the afterlife. It is not a system of recompense for the life you lived in this world. Heaven is not a reward for following the rules. It is a continuation of a life of use that you came to love in this world. Hell, although punishing, is not a punishment from God for braking rules. It is a continuation of a life based on loving oneself more than anyone else. God does not punish anyone because He is infinitely merciful. God, in His mercy, provides hell so that those obsessed with being superior to others can be as happy as possible.Report