new church life: november/december 2016
everyone is refreshed by the sharp, brisk scent in the air. Most people have a
vague, general appreciation of nature. But only the trained eye picks out the little
nest in the crook of a tree, the colorful newt hiding beside a rock.
The New Church doctrine of charity is not just about being nice to other
people; rather, it gives a veritable taxonomy of the neighbor. There are different
levels of the neighbor, different kinds of spiritual needs the neighbor may have,
different kinds of actions that might be taken in exercising charity. To try to act
in benefiting our fellow human beings without being aware of such details may
mean that we do more harm than good.
These new teachings were unfolded in a series of theological works
published 250 years ago by Emanuel Swedenborg. But Swedenborg did more
than simply have the works printed. He also made efforts to send the works to
intelligent and influential people. But he gradually concluded that most people
were too set in their ways to be open to the revolutionary new ideas. He began
to think that the only effective way to get people to think these new thoughts
and to act in new ways was to reach them while they were still being trained
to think.
And it seems that the founders of the Academy went through a similar
evolution in their thinking. Realizing that they could not effect a revolution
amongst those who had already settled on their ways of thinking and living,
they began to develop a series of schools. Before long, they had a system of
education that reached from kindergarten to the post-graduate level.
Those who founded the Academy were full of great hope and optimism.
Their hearts burned with the vision of a world transformed. Perhaps the
progress over the last 140 years has not been as rapid as they might have
imagined, but there are those today who still have the vision and their hearts
still burn, the world can still be transformed. It can be transformed as those
who attend the schools of the Academy are transformed; it can be transformed
as you are transformed, because, if you are willing you can become the agents
of change.
Perhaps you may not convince multitudes of others to think in new ways,
but your lives can become a testimony that one can act in new ways. And
whatever realm of the world may be the field of your action, small or large, it
can be transformed by the way that you live.
The Rev. Stephen D. Cole is assistant professor of Religion
and Philosophy at Bryn Athyn College and of Theology in the
College’s Theological School. He and his wife, Jennifer (Smith),
live in Bryn Athyn. Contact: [email protected]
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