Biography

Emanuel Swedenborg: The Scientist, Mystic, and Polymath.

Emanuel Swedenborg was one of the most remarkable figures of the Enlightenment, whose life story is sharply divided into two distinct, yet interconnected, periods: a celebrated career as a polymath and scientist, followed by a dramatic transformation into a spiritual visionary and theologian.

The First Act: Scientist, Inventor, and Nobleman (1688–c. 1745)

Born Emanuel Swedberg in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 29, 1688, he was the son of a prominent Lutheran bishop and professor of theology, Jesper Swedberg. Young Emanuel was rigorously educated at the University of Uppsala, focusing on mathematics and the natural sciences. After graduating, he embarked on an extensive “Grand Tour” of Europe, spending years in intellectual centers like London, where he immersed himself in the latest scientific thinking, studying the works of Isaac Newton and meeting leading thinkers.

Returning to Sweden, Swedenborg launched a prolific career in both theory and practice. He was a mechanical genius who drafted plans for a flying machine, a submarine, and an air gun, and published the nation’s first scientific journal, the Daedalus Hyperboreus. In 1716, he was appointed Assessor at the Royal Board of Mines, a prestigious and crucial role in Sweden’s economy. The family was later ennobled as Swedenborg in 1719.

Throughout the 1730s, his scientific ambition expanded to include finding the philosophical connection between the physical and spiritual realms. He wrote major works on metallurgy (Opera Philosophica et Mineralia, 1734) and then undertook a monumental, prescient study of anatomy and physiology—the Oeconomia Regni Animalis (The Economy of the Animal Kingdom). In these works, he attempted to locate the seat of the soul and anticipated modern discoveries about the cerebral cortex and the nature of the neuron, long before his contemporaries understood them. His peers regarded him as one of the most brilliant scientific minds in Europe.

The Spiritual Crisis and Call (c. 1745)

Around the age of 56, Swedenborg’s trajectory changed completely, marked by a period of intense dreams, visions, and a profound spiritual crisis which he recorded in his Journal of Dreams. This internal battle, which he later described as a struggle between self-love and the love of God, culminated in a vision in London in 1745. He claimed that Jesus Christ appeared to him and appointed him to be a servant to reveal the spiritual meaning of the Bible and to reform Christianity.

From that time forward, Swedenborg asserted that his spiritual senses had been permanently opened. He claimed to be able to converse daily with angels, spirits, and demons and to freely explore the spiritual worlds of Heaven and Hell, all while remaining an active member of society in the natural world.

The Theological Works and Enduring Influence (1749–1772)

For the final 27 years of his life, Swedenborg devoted his energy to writing and publishing some 30 volumes of theological works in Latin, often paying for the publication himself. These writings laid out a radically new Christian theology based on his spiritual experiences, with three core tenets:

The Divine Human: The complete unity of God in the person of Jesus Christ, rejecting the traditional idea of three separate divine persons. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are simply the three essential qualities (Love, Wisdom, and Activity) of this one Divine Human.
The Doctrine of Correspondences: The belief that the physical world, including the literal sense of the Bible, is a material reflection (a correspondence) of underlying spiritual realities. This provided the key for his colossal exegesis, the Arcana Coelestia (Secrets of Heaven), which unlocked the “inner sense” of Genesis and Exodus.
Heaven and Hell as States of Life: He described the afterlife not as a judgment decreed by God, but as a freely chosen spiritual state based on a person’s ruling love (their dominant affection) while on Earth. His best-known book, Heaven and Hell (1758), gives meticulous details of the landscapes and societies of the spiritual world.

Swedenborg passed away in London in 1772. Although his theological works were met with controversy, they immediately began to attract a devoted following. His ideas became a powerful, subtle influence on Romanticism and Transcendentalism, shaping the thought of literary giants like William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Honoré de Balzac, and Carl Jung. His philosophy continues to form the basis of the New Church, or Swedenborgian Church, and his unique blending of rigorous reason with spiritual insight ensures his enduring legacy.

Further Resources

The Life of Swedenborg

Who Was Swedenborg?

Scribe of Heaven