Studying Swedenborg
After spending the first six weeks of class reading and discussing a biography of Swedenborg, we're finally focusing on this theology. The biography described several elements about Swedenborg's theology and visions which I had a hard time dealing with. (More than I want to go into here, but if you're curious, leave a comment and I'll elaborate.) Now that we're going through the theology, I'm reminded why this is the first church I've been able to attend in more than a decade. For example, he writes "There are many churches, each one of them called a church, and each one is a church to the extent that the good result of love and faith reigns in it" (HH 57). It's not about doctrine (although Swedenborg had some strong opinions on doctrinal matters) -- it's about how well the members of the church live lives that are guided by Love and Wisdom.
On the other hand, one of my tensions with Swedenborg is the density and importance of his doctrine of correspondences. When I first read about it, I laughed out loud because it seemed so very Pagan. He makes some vivid, beautiful points using this doctrine, but after a while I get tired of the complexity of it. At a very basic level, I'm a mystic: I find my connection to the Divine in the ancient injunction: "Be still and know that I am God." And yet, even the great mystics of the Christian tradition have usually admonished those who read their writings that the internal journey to God needed to be guided and balanced by an external counselor, who could help identify when the search for God became an exercise in self-delusion.
Balance, always balance: between internal and external authority, between the solitary path and the fellowship of community, between trust and challenge, between the rule of rationality and the rule of the heart. (Of course, Swedenborg would say that head and heart, love and wisdom, are two manifestations of the same Divine impulse, just as light and heat are two manifestations of the energy of the sun.)
On the other hand, one of my tensions with Swedenborg is the density and importance of his doctrine of correspondences. When I first read about it, I laughed out loud because it seemed so very Pagan. He makes some vivid, beautiful points using this doctrine, but after a while I get tired of the complexity of it. At a very basic level, I'm a mystic: I find my connection to the Divine in the ancient injunction: "Be still and know that I am God." And yet, even the great mystics of the Christian tradition have usually admonished those who read their writings that the internal journey to God needed to be guided and balanced by an external counselor, who could help identify when the search for God became an exercise in self-delusion.
Balance, always balance: between internal and external authority, between the solitary path and the fellowship of community, between trust and challenge, between the rule of rationality and the rule of the heart. (Of course, Swedenborg would say that head and heart, love and wisdom, are two manifestations of the same Divine impulse, just as light and heat are two manifestations of the energy of the sun.)