The gist of Swedenborg

by Julian Kennedy Smyth

Large Format for easy reading. Collection of quotations by the Swedish scientist, philosopher, chemist, anatomist and mystic who had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist before entering into a spiritual phase where he experienced first dreams, and later visions, of a spiritual world. His theories about some subjects, such as brain function and cosmology, were proposed many years ahead of those authored by the men generally credited with originating them.

Genres: Religion

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

From Hymnary dot org: A gra­du­ate of Ur­ba­na Uni­ver­si­ty, Ur­ba­na, Ohio, Smyth was or­dained Jan­ua­ry 5, 1879.

He served as pa­stor of the Port­land New Church Soc­i­e­ty (1877–82), the Rox­bu­ry So­cie­ty (1882–98), and the New York So­cie­ty (1898–1921).

He was pre­si­dent of the New Church New York As­so­cia­tion (1907–21), and of the Ge­ne­ral Con­ven­tion (1911–21).

He was mem­ber of the Am­eri­can New-Church Sun­day School As­so­cia­tion com­mit­tee that com­piled and ed­it­ed the Ho­san­na, the New Je­ru­sa­lem Com­mit­tee of Wor­ship that com­piled and ed­it­ed the Mag­ni­fi­cat in 1910, and—with James Reed—on the Ge­ne­ral Con­ven­tion of the New Je­ru­sa­lem Com­mit­tee of Wor­ship that es­tab­lished the 1912 Book of Wor­ship.

Kennedy also found­ed the Ken­ne­dy House for the edu­ca­tion of the un­der­pri­vi­leged in New York Ci­ty.

Reviews

[Alex V · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice quick read to get an idea of the concepts of this theologian. There is a great variety of small sections presenting the different ideas from the many books he wrote. Some of these ideas are quite unique and possibly considered to be mystical by some, but it is nice to hear them outside of the genre of fantasy.

[Paul Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting introduction to Swedenborg's beliefs. If more Christians subscribed to his simple teachings of love and duty, perhaps they would garner greater respect.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unremarkable in any way. Just reads like most Christian philosophical commentaries about Christianity and what it means. Other than a few advancements, or revelations Swedenborg had, such as dead children becoming angels, there wasn't enough here to prompt me to dig into his other works, since this was a cursory look at all of them, and for that I'm grateful since I can now skip them or put them off. Itch = scratched.