Emanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg, born Emanuel Swedberg (29 january 1688 - 29 march 1772) was a Swedish polymath, scientist, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, Christian theologian, philosopher, and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, Heaven and Hell (1758).
Conan Doyle and Swedenborg
Conan Doyle dedicated his first chapter of The History of Spiritualism to Swedenborg. He describes him as a "great religious reformer and clairvoyant medium," and explicitly argued that, if Swedenborg were alive in the modern era, he would likely be "a leader" in the psychic movement.
Both men accepted the idea that the human spirit survives death and that communication between the living and the dead is possible. Conan Doyle explicitly uses Swedenborg's visions and conversations with spirits as evidence that such communication belongs to a real spiritual order rather than mere superstition.
Conan Doyle presents Swedenborg as a foundational forerunner of modern Spiritualism and as "the father of our new knowledge of supernal matters."
Related articles
- Emanuel Swedenborg as a Proto-Spiritualist, by Andrea Towle (1996/7, ACD Journal Vol. 7)
