Introduction to Swedenborgian thought

Swedenborg wrote some 40 volumes of spiritual philosophy.

When arriving new to his books, his writing can sometimes seem to be hard going and somewhat dogmatic. However, this free introductory course aims to provide sufficient material for students to discover enough new, interesting, uplifting and challenging ideas to make them want to find out more.

The American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed his experience of Swedenborg’s writings like this: “My concern is with the universal truth of Swedenborg’s sentences, not at all with the circumstances or vocabulary. … I can readily enough translate his rhetoric into mine.”

DT Suzuki, the scholar credited with introducing Zen Buddhism to the west, wrote “Swedenborg’s theological doctrine is very similar to that of Buddhism”.