in the acute situation (i.e. trauma) would I want heroic life support to try to get
me back to my present state of good health.
My worst nightmare is to spend my days in a nursing home with a feeding
tube. Quality, not quantity, of earthly life is more important.
Rev. Dr. Jonathan S. Rose
Swedenborg, Scripture, and What the
New Church Is Going to Be Like
Swedenborg and the Bible
What was the nature of Swedenborg’s call and his transition
into spiritual experiences? What role did the Word play in
that transition?
Jonathan Rose, a noted
Some people think Swedenborg had a 15-minute
Latin and Greek scholar,
interview with the Lord, and from that moment on his whole
is Series Editor for the
New Century Edition
life was changed. Yet Swedenborg gives one date (1745) for
of the Writings for the
his call shortly after the fact; then another (1744) during his
Swedenborg Foundation.
later years; and an even earlier date (1743) toward the end
He leads a popular weekly
of his life.
Bible study in Bryn Athyn,
streamed live online.
The Rev. R. L. Tafel pondered this mystery, and came
He and his wife, Dr.
up with a theory of multiple phases, with key turning points
Kristin King, live in Bryn
along the way. Jonathan distributed a handout on the Five
Athyn. Contact: jsrose@
Phases of Swedenborg’s Spiritual Awakening, giving Tafel’s
digitalwave.com
theory, with his own additional thoughts.
Phase 1 was “Dreams and a Swoon,” beginning with a swoon in 1736; this
phase lasted for a little more than seven years.
Phase 2 was “preternatural sleep” and the first appearance to Swedenborg
of the Lord, perhaps in a dream.
In phase 3, the Lord appeared to him after he had taken the Holy Supper.
His interaction with spirits began and he was granted permission to move into
a palace in heaven. He wrote Worship and Love of God, based loosely on early
Genesis.
In phase 4, his “continuous speech” with angels began and he launched into
intense study of the Word. He was still seeing the Word through a Lutheran
lens, but the more he studied, the more his understanding changed.
In phase 5 he became the Revelator, when “a change of state” helped him to
know not only what the Word was saying but what it meant. It was 17 months
into this phase that he began writing Arcana Coelestia. Although the Lord had
appeared to him a few times in person, through the agency of the Word, the
Lord was able to be with him constantly. This phase lasted the remaining 24
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