Year 1
Reflective Practice 1: A Framework for Continuous Learning (10 credits)
Worship Leading (10 credits)
Core Biblical Courses
Sacred Scripture for the New Era (10 credits)
This course, has at its heart the question of how the divine nature is communicated to the human race over centuries, in different cultures. Needless to say, this has to be achieved in a diversity of ways that are accommodated to the individual and humankind collectively. So in our world, we see the expression of faith in a variety of ways, some focused on God’s created world, and others on the faiths (Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity) that look to sacred scriptures as their source of divine revelation.
Swedenborg reaffirms the infinite capacity of God to adapt and accommodate how what is communicated in each human era and to each individual. Central to Swedenborg’s teachings is the understanding of the Word of God as a living embodiment of Divine Love and Wisdom. The Word may be encapsulated in different outward forms but inwardly is One in essence.
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 32 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 38 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
Old Testament (20 credits)
This is a new course being developed for study from 2025-2026. It will provide a Swedenborgain overview of the Old Testament.
Sessions: 16
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 64 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 76 hours
Independent study time: 60 hours
The Gospels (10 credits)
This new module covers all four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The word gospel means Good News and through this module you will be able to share the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ and how his coming into the world, his life and work can be reflected in our regeneration (spiritual growth).
Sessions: 5
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 32 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 38 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
Core Swedenborgian Courses
A Pathway to Wholeness (20 credits)
As you study this course about spiritual growth, you will find Swedenborg suggesting that no matter into what outer condition a person is born, change and adjustment are necessary – and the means to change are made available by a Divine Being. These changes and adjustments affect, for example attitudes, motives and views towards the source of existence as well as a person’s actions. Swedenborg postulates that unless there is a reversal of orientation from self to others within a person’s life, the Divine’s timeless purpose for a person cannot be achieved.
Sessions: 16
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 64 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 76 hours
Independent study time: 60 hours
The Hidden Realm (10 credits)
In this course you will discover how Swedenborg describes a hidden realm to reality: one he terms ‘the spiritual world’. He was continually aware of this veiled dimension of spirit for the last 27 years of his life. He maintained that in our ordinary daily life, the existence of this dimension of existence is usually unconsciously present within our minds, although it becomes conscious after death.
Swedenborg describes life for people in a higher state of mind as well as those who are selfish. The former he calls an angelic heavenly state and the latter a hellish one. He tells us that the main purpose of creation is to maintain a heaven of angels from the human race. He defines hell not as a place of eternal punishment but as the best the Lord can do for people whose lives on earth show that they could not cope with all the love, peace and joy of heaven.
We are helped to appreciate the way the hidden realm influences us now and in the life to come by both understanding his own extraordinary states of consciousness, and the rationale he provides for what he reveals.
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 32 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 38 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
Divine Providence: (10 credits)
How do we explain undeserved suffering due to destruction to human life and property? We ask, “why does God allow it?” Confusion arises – is Divine Providence good or evil, or both? Does God control the evil as well as the good? Does God know what will happen to me in this world and the next?
This course addresses these and other questions that arise when we consider the state of the world we live in and how this state affects us and our fellow human beings
It examines Swedenborg’s case that God loves and cares, and is in control, notwithstanding the existence of evil and suffering in the world. Also that God carefully chose, and chooses, to work with and alongside people, in their interests and for their ultimate good.
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 32 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 38 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
