Swedenborg, the Old Testament, and the Age of Enlightenment
Rebecca K. Esterson
April 12, 4:00 p.m., College Center and online streaming, Bryn Athyn, PA
Seminar
Upcoming Events
In the Age of Enlightenment the Old Testament came under attack by leading philosophers
and deists who characterized the Hebrew scriptures as outdated, immoral, and contrary
to reason. The work of Thomas Paine and Immanuel Kant, for instance, rejected the
authority of the Old Testament and imagined a Christianity emancipated from its tyrannical
and vindictive deity. This “neo-Marcionism” flourished in the eighteenth century and
reverberated in the centuries to follow.
The Institute for Swedenborg Studies at Bryn Athyn College is pleased to welcome you to hear Rebecca K. Esterson talk on the counter impulse of Emanuel Swedenborg, whose embrace of the Hebrew Scriptures also relied on enlightenment themes of emancipation and reason. Her talk will further consider the ways that Swedenborg’s insistence on the loving nature of the God of the Old Testament resisted elements of eighteenth century supersessionism, even if it perpetuated other anti-Jewish tropes from Christian discourses that preceded him, in a striking counterexample to the tropes’s decline in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Refreshments will be served Bryn Athyn's College Center, room 201.
This event is free.
The talk will be livestreamed at this link.
Dr. Rebecca K. Esterson is the Dean of the Center for Swedenborgian Studies and the Dorothea Harvey Professor of Swedenborgian Studies. She teaches in the Department of Sacred Texts and Their Interpretation at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Her areas of teaching and research interests include: Swedenborgian thought and theology, the history of biblical interpretation, hermeneutics, Jewish-Christian relations, eighteenth century intellectual culture, Christian Hebraism, and comparative religious studies. Her book Jewish Allegory in Eighteenth-Century Christian Imagination was published by the Society of Biblical Literature Press in 2023, and she is co-authoring a religious biography of Helen Keller for Eerdmans Publishing.
Call for Papers
Conference Topic: Thought from the Understanding: Swedenborg’s Library and the Shape of a Mind
Location: Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (optional remote attendance)
Dates: October 26-27, 2024
This two-day interdisciplinary conference invites scholars to explore Emanuel Swedenborg’s personal library for points of connection between the works he held in his library and the ideas presented in his own philosophical and theological works. Long before he embarked on the spiritual journey which led to the revolutionary works of theology he published, Swedenborg was a voracious learner, and his many fields of interest are reflected in his wide-ranging library, which included works of philosophy, anatomy, history, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, engineering, and classical learning, as well as, of course, Biblical and religious thought.
The Institute for Swedenborg Studies is seeking papers that investigate the ways in which a text or set of texts in Swedenborg’s library may have influenced his understanding or helped to shape the thought set forth in his theological and philosophical works. In some cases, Swedenborg may have built on ideas he encountered in other works; in other cases, he may have reacted against concepts in those texts.
Scholars may wish to make particular use of two resources made available by the Institute. The first is a detailed list of the great majority of the works known to have existed in Swedenborg’s library, catalogued according to Library of Congress classifications, along with links to copies of these works held in the Swedenborg Library, Bryn Athyn College, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania and, wherever possible, links to copies available on Google Books. The second is an index, with notes, of the authors and other figures Swedenborg references in his pre-theological works. In addition, we recommend to scholarly attention the appendix on Swedenborg’s library in Lars Bergquist’s Swedenborg’s Secret.
Proposals of 150-350 words should be submitted to the Institute, InstituteforSwedenborgStudies@brynathyn.edu. Please include identifying information (name, email address, and institutional affiliation, if any). Papers should last 15-20 minutes, and will be followed by a 10 minute period for questions and discussion. Participants may attend the conference in person or remotely.
Submission deadline: January 8, 2024
Past Events
January 22, 4:00 p.m.
College Center at Bryn Athyn College in Bryn Athyn, PA and livestreamed
Featuring Speaker Vincent Roy-Di Piazza
The influence of Emanuel Swedenborg on the early abolitionist movement is well known and largely documented. However, until recently very little scholarship had investigated Swedenborg’s own views about slavery, provided context about his views on African superiority, or even attempted to find if he possibly knew living African individuals.The Institute for Swedenborg Studies at Bryn Athyn College is pleased to welcome you to hear Vincent Roy-Di Piazza talk on his recent discoveries on the subject: we learn that Swedenborg was the first prominent Swede to condemn slavery; we delineate the corpus of his writings on both temporal and spiritual slavery, track the emergence of his beliefs in African superiority, and analyze his statements against colonial intrusion in African lands. In doing so, we find that Swedenborg’s corpus on slavery not only appears much wider and richer than previously acknowledged: we also see that his position creatively drew upon ideals of noble savagery, in a striking counterexample to the tropes’s decline in the second half of the eighteenth century.Refreshments will be served Bryn Athyn's College Center, room 201. This event is free.
About Vincent Roy-Di Piazza
Vincent Roy-Di Piazza is a historian of science and religion. He recently obtained
his PhD at the University of Oxford, with a dissertation on Swedenborg and the soul-body
problem. He is currently a postdoctoral associate at Oxford, a research fellow at
the Karolinska Institute, and a lecturer at the University of Stockholm. He has published
on various aspects of Swedenborg’s life and thought. Follow his research on social
media and/via his website: www.roydipiazza.com
Featuring Rev. Christopher Barber
March 29, 7:30 p.m.
Doering Center at Bryn Athyn College
2915 Campus Drive, Bryn Athyn, PA
The Institute for Swedenborg Studies at Bryn Athyn College is pleased to invite you to hear Chris Barber speak on his research into the covert society of Swedish pioneers who had to move in secrecy to access and spread what they believed to be a new revelation for a New Church.
Location: Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (optional remote attendance)
Dates: April 23-24, 2022
Schedule: View schedule
Keynote: Jim Lawrence
Registration: Closed (tickets for keynote address available at the door starting at 7:15pm, $10)
This two-day interdisciplinary seminar invites scholars to consider the many prismatic intersections between Emanuel Swedenborg’s paradigm of spirituality and spiritual movements, thought, and applications. Swedenborg’s contribution to spirituality has captured the attention of many important thinkers since his writings first revealed his contact with the spirit world in the late eighteenth century. The concept of spirituality he laid out, at once mystical and profoundly pragmatic, continues to have rippling implications in many fields. Papers will address a variety of topics, including the following:
- Relationships between spirituality and religion
- Relationships between spirituality and religious traditions
- Mystic, devotional, or spiritual practices
- Interpretive models and practices
- Relationships between psychological models and the spiritual mind
- Swedenborg’s metaphysics and physics
Seminar participants may attend in person or remotely.
Keynote
Those who wish to attend the keynote portion only may do so in person or virtually.
Tickets available at the door starting at 7:15 p.m.
Jim Lawrence, A Daily Spiritual Practice Based on Swedenborg’s Rules of Life
Rev. Dr. Jim Lawrence grew up an every-Sunday kid in a Disciples of Christ church
in Houston. During college he majored in developmental economics for impoverished
countries due to an overwhelming concern for suffering in the world. It was also during
these young adult years that he lost his faith due precisely to the world’s massive
misery index. He concluded the universe is heartless and pointless. That perspective
changed, however, through a spiritual renewal that opened up a new sense for meaning
and purpose. Becoming immersed in the post-Reformation scientist and theologian Emanuel
Swedenborg provided one impetus toward interpreting life as meaningful again. His
vision shifted toward spiritual renewal as the world’s greatest need, so after rapidly
finishing his degree in economics at the University of Texas, he dove into studies
at a Disciples of Christ seminary. The “Swedenborg bug,” however, would not go away,
and so he committed what many of his colleagues felt was professional suicide by jumping
ship to the Swedenborgian seminary in Boston. After graduation and ordination, he
found tremendous satisfaction working during the next 17 years in the congregational
leadership in three church ministries spanning small town, suburban, and urban settings.
During these years he also earned the Doctor of Ministry degree focusing on the performative
practice of writing as a communications ministry strategy. To date he has been author,
editor, contributor, or publisher of more than 150 bound works and author of dozens
of ministry and spirituality articles for the lay public. In 2001 he was called to
return to the academy, complete a Ph.D. degree in Christian Spirituality, and become
Dean of Convention’s theological school, for which he led the effort to relocate to
Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley as the Swedenborgian House of Studies, which
in 2015 became a Center of Distinction at the Graduate Theological Union as the Center
for Swedenborgian Studies, where he is still Dean. He has remained on the faculty
at Pacific School of Religion directing the Doctor of Ministry degree program. He
is currently President-Elect of the Swedenborgian Church of North America.
Schedule
| Saturday, April 23, 2021 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 am |
Session 1 |
|
| 10:30 | Break | |
| 11:00 | Session 2 Realms of Spirituality and Science |
|
| 12:30pm | Lunch Break | |
| 1:30 | Session 3 Concepts of Psychology and Spirituality |
|
| 3:00 | Optional Activities* | |
| 5:00 | Break | |
| 6:00 | Catered Dinner* | |
| 7:30-10:00 | Keynote and Reception | |
|
Sunday, April 24, 2021 |
||
| 9:00 am - 10:30 | Session 4 Swedenborg’s Influence on Thought Movements |
|
*Available for in-person attendees only
Questions? Please contact Institute director Thane Glenn, thane.glenn@brynathyn.edu, 267.502.4844