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5/9/2003

Divine Love and Wisdom/Divine Providence

For Immediate Release Contact: Deborah Forman
May 9, 2003
Director@swedenborg.com
800-355-3222 ext. 12

West Chester, PA ¾ Swedenborg Foundation Publishers announces the publication of the second and third works of translation in its NEW CENTURY EDITION OF THE WORKS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, following upon the successful introduction of the edition’s first volume, Heaven and Hell, in 2001. Bound together in one hardcover volume for the library edition and published separately in two handsome, quality paperbacks (7 x 10), the content of these works, published originally in the latter half of the eighteenth century in Latin, surprisingly, speak directly to our contemporary concerns and very accessibly in their contemporary new translations by
Dr. George F. Dole.

Divine Providence is one of the major works of the Enlightenment scientist and religious seer. It provides a coherent and satisfying solution to what has been called “the problem of evil”: How are God’s goodness and power reconcilable with evil’s presence in the larger world and in the human mind and heart? By tackling an array of issues that commonly undermine belief in God ¾ including war, suffering, and inequality — and by revealing the wise and loving laws that lie hidden behind these seemingly senseless phenomena, Divine Providence aims to restore our faith in the meaningfulness of the world. Despite its universal focus, Divine Providence is also a highly practical book on the personal level, demonstrating how we can put aside negative attitudes and behaviors and grow into positive thought and action.

Divine Love and Wisdom has been called the most profound work of the Enlightenment scientist and seer Emanuel Swedenborg. It demonstrates how God’s love, wisdom, and humanity are reflected in creation and in ourselves, and suggests that the act of Creation is not a mystery of the past, but a miracle ongoing in every instant of the present. Like a blueprint of things unseen, Divine Love and Wisdom makes visible the hidden design of the universe, as well as the qualities of its Architect. Its vivid depiction of the spiritual mechanism of the world has impressed thinkers such as William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry James, Sr.

George F. Dole has captured Swedenborg’s warm and straightforward prose in a fresh and faithful rendering that retains its dignity, simplicity, clarity, and emotional warmth.
Introductions by Gregory R. Johnson set Divine Love and Wisdom and Divine Providence in the context of the history of philosophy, and annotations by Dole, Johnson, and other scholars of Swedenborg help to clarify the work’s eighteenth-century context for today’s readers. Four indexes and three bibliographies provide further paths of access to this remarkable text.

The volumes are produced to very high standards of production with two-color interiors, acid-free paper, gold stamping, wide margins, and layout and design that are as beautiful as they are functional.


Divine Love and Wisdom/Divine Providence
Emanuel Swedenborg
In cloth, ISBN: 0-87785-480-7 $49
Translated by George F. Dole
Introduction by Gregory R. Johnson

Divine Love and Wisdom
In paper, ISBN: 0-87785-481-5 $15

Divine Providence
In paper, ISBN: 0-87785-055-6 $15