front cover of CHARITY
CHARITY
THE PRACTICE OF NEIGHBORLINESS
Emanuel Swedenborg
Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 1995

Charity is not only about giving to those in need, but in a broader sense about loving your neighbor and doing good things for other people without thought of reward. So wrote Swedish visionary Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who believed that charity, along with faith, was part of the foundation of spiritual practice.

This work combines two of Swedenborg's unpublished manuscripts to form a practical, inspirational handbook for applying the principle of doing good to daily life.

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A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg
SAMUEL WARREN
Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 2009

In his lifetime, Swedish scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg published more than seven thousand pages of commentary based on his communication with the spiritual world. A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg extracts key passages from this astounding body of work and groups them by subject for easy reference.

Starting with the nature of God and creation, the book covers the birth of humanity and gives a thorough overview of Swedenborg’s five churches, or the five ages of human history as understood spiritually. It includes sections on concepts that are central to Swedenborg’s thought, such as regeneration, correspondences, faith, charity, free will, and marriage, as well as more universal questions: how God is present in our lives, why evil exists in the world, the nature of the human soul, and how we are connected to the divine on a deep inner level. The final quarter of the book is devoted to Swedenborg’s most popular subject—the nature of the afterlife, including heaven, hell, and the world of spirits.

Originally compiled in 1875, this volume remains an important research tool for anyone who wants an overview of Swedenborg’s theology or a springboard for investigating his thought in depth.

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Conversations with Angels
What Swedenborg Heard in Heaven
DONALD ROSE
Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 1996

"...an engaging, fascinating contribution to angelic studies."
---Reviewer's Bookwatch

This fresh translation brings together the most remarkable selections from Swedish visionary Emanuel Swedenborg's works about the wisdom imparted to him by angels. These stories reveal the angels' natures, their spiritual loves, their heavenly education, and the true source of wisdom and beauty. These spirits share their knowledge for the good of those on earth, who are themselves created to become angels.

Look for this book's companion piece, Debates with Devils.

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The Core of Johnny Appleseed
The Unknown Story of a Spiritual Trailblazer
Ray SIlverman
Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 2012

Recent biographies of John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, have portrayed him as anything from a schizophrenic wandering ascetic to a hedonistic pleasure-seeker. But who was the real man behind the misconceptions?

In this spiritual biography, Ray Silverman explores the stories and the popular misconceptions about Johnny Appleseed as well as the truths behind the legends. As a businessman, Chapman owned nineteen nurseries and twenty other land holdings throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, brokering deals that belie the popular image of him as a wandering nomad with a tin pot on his head. But it is only once we talk about Chapman’s spiritual convictions that we come to the core of who he was: a thoughtful and also joyful Christian who was deeply moved by the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

The picture that emerges is of a lighthearted person whose convictions led him to seek harmony not only in nature but in the spiritual realms also—and to share his bounty with as many people as he could.
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Correspondences of the Bible
Animals: The Animals
JOHN WORCESTER
Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 2009

Within the literal language of the Bible is a deeper spiritual meaning that points the way toward a greater understanding of faith and of our own role in the world. Eighteenth-century scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg described that inner language of the Bible as “correspondences.” More than a century later, John Worcester used Swedenborg’s teachings as the foundation for a three-volume road map to the correspondences of the natural world. Correspondences of the Bible remains one of the most highly regarded references on the subject today.

 

Correspondences of the Bible: The Animals covers both the familiar and the exotic, from farmyards to remote jungles. Animals are grouped by function and by similarities in their correspondences, and Worcester discusses how certain character traits can overlap by species, sometimes manifesting in a positive way in one animal and negatively in another. He draws from Bible verse, Swedenborg’s writings, and the science of his time to shed a fascinating new light on the living world around us.

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Correspondences of the Bible
Human Body: The Human Body
JOHN WORCESTER
Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 2009

Within the literal language of the Bible is a deeper spiritual meaning that points the way toward a greater understanding of faith and of our own role in the world. Eighteenth-century scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg described that inner language of the Bible as "correspondences." More than a century later, John Worcester used Swedenborg's teachings as the foundation for a three-volume road map to the correspondences of the natural world. Correspondences of the Bible remains one of the most highly regarded references on the subject today.

In Swedenborg's writings, the structure of heaven is described in terms of a human being, the Divine Human, with the various communities in heaven corresponding to part of the human body. The Human Body describes that relationship in detail, giving us a deep, personal view of how every person relates to heaven. However, just as in The Animals and The Plants, Worcester also provides in-depth discussion of all the aspects of each body part, relating function to spiritual principle for a multifaceted understanding of our own anatomy.

Interwoven with the text is a description of death and our rebirth in heaven, concluding with a long chapter on regeneration, a process of spiritual rebirth that can begin while we are still alive and continue in heaven. The Human Body provides the capstone for our understanding of the deep spiritual meaning that lies within our everyday world.

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Correspondences of the Bible
Plants: The Plants
JOHN WORCESTER
Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 2009

Within the literal language of the Bible is a deeper spiritual meaning that points the way toward a greater understanding of faith and of our own role in the world. Eighteenth-century scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg described that inner language of the Bible as "correspondences." More than a century later, John Worcester used Swedenborg's teachings as the foundation for a three-volume road map to the correspondences of the natural world. Correspondences of the Bible remains one of the most highly regarded references on the subject today.

Plants represent the more passive characteristics of our personalities, living examples of how knowledge takes root in our mind and how that knowledge inspires us to act. Every part of a plant has its own special meaning, from its seeds and the shape of its leaves to the sweetness of flowers and fruit. The Plants shows us how we can draw spiritual inspiration from the plants we use every day for food, clothing, shelter, and decoration.

After covering the plants themselves, Worcester explores the parts of the natural world that sustain plant life - from the ground beneath our feet to sunlight, water, and air. Different forms of rocks and minerals represent different types of established fact, while water encourages mobility, and the sun reflects divine love shining down on us all. Science blends with Biblical lore to illuminate humanity's deeply interconnected relationships with the world around us.
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THE COVERT ENLIGHTENMENT
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY COUNTERCULTURE & ITS AFTERMATH
ALFRED J. GABAY
Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 2005

The European Enlightenment in the latter half of the eighteenth century heralded a grave conflict between theological and scientific modes of thought, starkly revealing the ancient tensions between spiritual knowledge and rationalism. Yet there was another, lesser-known movement during this time---a "covert" Enlightenment---that sought to bring fresh perspectives on the soul, and by extension, on the human mind and on consciousness. This work examines the influence of Emanuel Swedenborg and Anton Mesmer on the budding movement toward psychology in the late-eighteenth century and also spiritualism and millennialism in the nineteenth century.

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Creating an Orange Utopia
Eliza Lovell Tibbetts and the Birth of California's Citrus Industry
Patricia Ortlieb
Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 2011

California’s citrus industry owes a huge debt to the introduction of the navel orange tree—in fact, to two trees in particular, the parent trees of the vast groves of navel oranges that exist in California today. Those trees were planted by a woman named Eliza Lovell Tibbets.

Born in Cincinnati in1823, Eliza’s Swedenborgian faith informed her ideals. Surrounded by artists and free thinkers, her personal journey took her first to New York City, then south to create a better environment for newly freed slaves in racially divided Virginia, and onward to Washington, DC, where she campaigned for women’s rights. But it was in California where she left her true mark, launching an agricultural boom that changed the course of California’s history.

Eliza’s story of faith and idealism will appeal to anyone who is curious about US history, women’s rights, abolitionism, Spiritualism, and California’s early pioneer days. Follow Eliza through loves and fortunes lost and found until she finally finds her paradise in a little town called Riverside.

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