SCRIBE OF HEAVEN - Swedenborg's life, work and impact |
||
Jonathan S. Rose, Stuart Shotwell and Mary Lou Bertucci Ten modern scholars portray the life, work and impact of the man who can be called the “Scribe of heaven,” Emanuel Swedenborg. The essays in this volume testify to the far-reaching effects of Swedenborg’s works in Western culture. From his early days as an ambitious young scientist in the ferment of eighteenth-century Enlightenment Europe, through his midlife entrance into an ongoing experience of the spiritual world, to his last decades as a researcher of things spiritual, Swedenborg built a career that left a unique legacy. His vivid descriptions of the non-physical realm made a powerful impression on minds as diverse as Goethe, Blake, Emerson, Yeats and Borges. This book serves as a selfcontained resource on Swedenborg’s life and thought, and as a gateway into further exploration of the labyrinthine garden of Swedenborg’s works. It includes a biography, rich in fascinating detail; lively overviews of the content and history of Swedenborg’s writings on spiritual topics; and essays tracing Swedenborg’simpact in various regions of the world. Three generous bibliographies complete the book with data on recommended texts, Swedenborg’s own extensive life works, and the many sources cited in the volume itself. Copious notes and an index assist the reader in mining the wealth of facts, themes and personalities discussed in this one-of-a-kind book. (580 pages) |
