Knowra Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, and Christian theologian whose writings on spiritual visions and the afterlife inspired the New Church movement.
Correspondence (theology) : The doctrine that spiritual realities are represented by natural objects and events through structured relationships. It is the central principle linking Swedenborg’s visible world to the spiritual world.
Swedish Empire : The early modern European state ruled by Sweden at the height of its territorial power. Swedenborg’s career unfolded in the political and intellectual world of eighteenth-century Sweden.
Heaven and Hell (Swedenborg book) : Swedenborg’s 1758 account of the afterlife, describing heaven, hell, and life after death. It presents his most systematic description of the spiritual world and its inhabitants.
New Church : A Christian movement based on Swedenborg’s theological writings and their interpretation of the Bible. It institutionalized the doctrines Swedenborg presented as a renewed understanding of Christianity.
Scientific method : A systematic approach to investigating the natural world through observation, testing, and revision. Swedenborg’s early empirical work contrasts with his later reliance on reported visions.
Spiritual world : In religious traditions, a nonphysical realm inhabited by spirits or souls. Swedenborg described it as an inhabited realm encountered in visions and after death.
University of Uppsala : A Swedish university founded in 1477 and the oldest in the Nordic countries. He studied there before beginning his scientific and engineering career.
Spiritualism : A religious movement centered on communication with the spirits of the dead. Swedenborg reported spirit encounters, but his theology was not a séance-based movement.
William Blake : An English poet, painter, and printmaker whose work drew on visionary religious ideas. Blake engaged with Swedenborg’s writings while developing a sharply independent spiritual vision.
Enlightenment : An eighteenth-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, inquiry, and criticism of inherited authority. His scientific career reflects Enlightenment inquiry, while his theology challenged its secular limits.
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