Introducing The New Jerusalem

The essays in this volume testify to the far-reaching effects of Emanuel Swedenborg's works in Western culture. From his early days as an ambitious young scientist in the ferment of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment Europe, through his mid-life entrance into an ongoing experience of the spiritual world, to his last decades as a researcher of things spiritual, Swedenborg built a career that left a unique legacy. His vivid descriptions of the nonphysical realm made a powerful impression on minds as diverse as Goethe, Blake, Emerson, Yeats, and Borges. This book serves as a self-contained resource on Swedenborg's life and thought and as a gateway into further exploration of the labyrinthine garden of Swedenborg's works. It includes a biography, rich in fascinating detail; lively overviews of the content and history of Swedenborg's writings on spiritual topics; and essays tracing Swedenborg's impact in various regions of the world.

Why does the earth exist? What is the purpose of human life? These are two of life's most fundamental questions - and they are addressed by the Bible's remarkably unified story, which centres on a unique deity. Desmond Alexander explores this story by beginning at the end, in the final chapters of the book of Revelation. Anticipating the creation of a new earth and a new heaven, these chapters bring to fulfilment a process that began with the creation of the earth, as described in the opening chapters of Genesis. These passages frame the entire biblical 'meta-story'. This stimulating study outlines some of the central themes that run through the Bible, with broad brush strokes designed to show the general shape of the meta-story. Seeing the big picture enables us to appreciate the details more clearly; and since the themes were an integral part of the thought-world of the biblical authors, an appreciation of them may alter significantly our reading of individual books. Good theology always has pastoral implications, and the study occasionally moves into areas of application - the truths revealed are extremely important for shaping our life-style choices.

"Swedenborg's brief summary of his teachings about the New Jerusalem, the new spiritual age that he said began in the eighteenth century, with extensive references to his multi-volume Secrets of Heaven for further reading"--

A wonderful introduction to the beliefs of the New Church and an overview of its theological foundations. Here Emanuel Swedenborg discusses faith, love, goodness and truth, heaven and hell, divine providence, the holy sacraments, and much, much more. For those wishing to explore the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg this is a perfect starting place.

When Eve and the New Jerusalem was first published over thirty years ago, it was received as a political intervention as well as a landmark historical work. Barbara Taylor became the first woman to win the Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize, and the book went on to become a feminist classic. As women across the globe find themselves at the sharp end of neoliberal 'austerity' programmes, discriminatory social policies and fundamentalist misogyny, Eve and the New Jerusalem is as essential as it ever was. Book jacket.

Blunt discussion about Islam, Zionism and the Middle East from a Catholic perspective.

A wonderful introduction to the beliefs of the New Church and an overview of its theological foundations. Here Emanuel Swedenborg discusses faith love goodness and truth heaven and hell divine providence the holy sacraments and much much more. For those wishing to explore the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg this is a perfect starting place.