SWEDENBORG, EMANUEL

original name (until 1719) Emanuel Swedberg, or Svedberg born Jan. 29, 1688, Stockholm, Swed. died March 29, 1772, London, Eng. Swedish scientist, Christian mystic, philosopher, and theologian who wrote voluminously in interpreting the Scriptures as the immediate word of God. Soon after his death, devoted followers created Swedenborgian societies dedicated to the study of his thought. These societies formed the nucleus of the Church of the New Jerusalem, or New Church, also called the Swedenborgians. Additional reading The greater part of Swedenborg's manuscripts, preserved in the library of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in Stockholm, were lithographically published in 10 vol. in 186970, and in an 18-volume edition in 190116. Unfortunately, these editions cannot stand up to the demands of modern scholarship. Most of the biographical sources were collected, translated, and annotated by R.L. Tafel in Documents Concerning the Life and Character of Emanuel Swedenborg, 2 vol. (187577). His letters have been published in English translation in A. Acton (ed.), Letters and Memorials, 2 vol. (194855).For supplementary material, see E.J. Dingwall, Very Peculiar People: Portrait Studies in the Queer, the Abnormal, and the Uncanny, pp. 1168 (1962); J. Hyde, A Bibliography of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg (1906); I. Jonsson, Emanuel Swedenborg (Eng. trans. 1971); M. Lamm, Swedenborg (1915), in Swedish; Cyriel O. Sigstedt, The Swedenborg Epic; The Life and Works of Emanuel Swedenborg (1952, reprinted 1971); and Signe Toksvig, Emanuel Swedenborg, Scientist and Mystic (1948, reprinted 1972).