斯维登堡

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Swedenborg, Emanuel

瑞典科学家、神学家、神秘主义者。从乌普萨拉大学毕业後,他在国外花了五年的时间学习自然科学。回国後开始发表瑞典的第一部科学杂志《北地代达罗斯》,国王查理十二世任命他为皇家矿务局顾问。由於他开始相信宇宙有一种基本的精神结构,他的着作逐渐转向自然哲学和形上学。1744年他在幻想中见到耶稣,1745年接到放弃世俗学说的命令,余生主要投注於翻译圣经以及关於他在幻境中的所见。他坚持认为,上帝是所有生物的力量和生命,基督教的三位一体代表了上帝的三种基本品质:仁爱、智慧和活力。他相信赎罪存在於通过耶稣的光辉重新按照上帝的形象创造的人类中。他发表了三十多部着作,包括《真正的基督宗教》(1771)。後来他又成立了宣传其泛神论的组织,尤其是1787年在伦敦建立的新耶路撒冷教会。1790年代斯维登堡派传到美国。

1688~1772年

Swedenborg, Emanuel

Swedish scientist, theologian, and mystic. After graduating from the University of Uppsala, he spent five years abroad studying the natural sciences. On his return he began publication of Sweden's first scientific journal, Daedelus Hyperboreas, and Charles XIII appointed him assessor with the Royal Board of Mines. His writing gradually shifted toward philosophy of nature and metaphysics, as he became convinced that the universe had a basically spiritual structure. In 1744 he had a vision of Christ, and in 1745 he received a call to abandon worldly learning. He spent the rest of his career interpreting the Bible and relating what he had seen in his visions. He maintained that God was the power and life within all creatures, and that the Christian Trinity represented the three essential qualities of God: love, wisdom, and activity. He believed redemption consisted in mankind's being recreated in God's image through Christ's glorification. He published more than 30 works, including The True Christian Religion (1771). Societies were soon founded to propagate his pantheistic teaching, notably the New Jerusalem Church, established in London in 1787. Swedenborgians came to the U.S. in the 1790s.