into the clergy remain single and celibate, having no husband to look to. But
seeing that the atmosphere of heaven is an atmosphere of marriage, and that
angels who are confirmed celibates live in the other life on the outskirts of
heaven (Married Love 54:3,4, 155:2), it is unlikely that any serious New Church
man would find this solution an acceptable one.
Moreover, the doctrine that the church is formed in a wife through her
husband may arguably be generalized to say that ordinarily the church is in
general formed in women through men, whether the women are married or
not. For we know that the atmosphere of married love is communicated to men
in general through women. Swedenborg reports the following experiment.
Some men in the other world, convinced that they were the lovers and
their wives the recipient objects of that love, kept insisting that such was the
case. Here then was the experiment:
In order to settle the dispute over this question, all women, including their wives,
were removed from the men; and together with them the underlying atmosphere
of love for the opposite sex was taken away. When this was taken away, the men
came into a state altogether foreign to them and never before felt, at which they
complained considerably.
Then, while they were in this state, some women were brought to them, and
the wives were presented to their husbands; and the women and the wives spoke
sweetly to them. But at their blandishments the men became cold, and turning away
they said to each other, “What is this? What is a woman?” And when some of the
women said that they were their wives, they replied, “What is a wife? We do not
know you.” (Ibid. 161:2)
If such is the case with men’s love for women, it is not difficult to conclude
the converse, that women’s understanding of the Word and doctrine from the
Word is formed in them through men. For, whereas men in general are born
intellect-oriented, concerned more with reason than with feelings, women in
general are born will-oriented, concerned more with feelings than with reason
(Ibid. 33, 91, 92, 187, 223); and as such they are meant to be lovers of the
wisdom and understanding of men. (Ibid. 32, 56:3, 75:7, 91, 159, 180, 187) If
so, and if the church is a church according to its understanding of the Word
(Sacred Scripture 51, 52), and of doctrine drawn from the Word (Ibid. 53, 77),
how can it be of order for women to enter into the priesthood?
A Practical Consideration
Worth considering, too, are the ramifications of women entering into the
ministry. Certainly the ordination of women does not help to increase
church membership. In fact, churches that have begun to ordain women are
also the churches that have seen a gradual dwindling of their membership
and of church attendance. Our sister church, the Swedenborgian Church of
America (Convention), is one. We do not have hard evidence to connect the
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