The Swedish Prophet

Reflections on the Visionary Philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg

By Jose Antonio Anton-Pacheco
Translated by Steven Skattebo
Swedenborg Studies #20

José Antonio Antón-Pacheco explores Swedenborg’s views on heaven, angels, primordial language, and the spiritual history of humanity, in the process linking Swedenborg’s thought to that of other philosophers.

Paperback and e-book, 256 pages


Buy in Print

Paperback $29.95

Get the E-Book

Kindle $16.96EPUB $25.45

Description

Swedenborg, asserts José Antonio Antón-Pacheco, is a thinker who needs to be understood not only as a child of the Enlightenment but as someone who expresses his experiences in mythical, mystical terms.

Antón-Pacheco examines Swedenborg’s thought from a philosophical perspective, beginning with the way that Swedenborg deals with the oneness and yet distinctness of reality and then moving on to time and space in Swedenborg’s writings and his concept of the church as a description of the state of humanity’s collective soul. Antón-Pacheco also spends some time discussing Swedenborg’s personal mystical experiences, as described in Swedenborg’s dream diary.

This work also includes an analysis of Swedenborg’s relationship to other writers and thinkers, including a rare examination of Swedenborg’s reception in the Hispanic world.

Originally published in Spanish as El Profeta del Norte: Un Libro sobre Swedenborg (2009), this book is an expanded version of Antón-Pacheco’s earlier Un Libro sobre Swedenborg, which was published in English as Visionary Consciousness (2000).

About the Author

José Antonio Antón-Pacheco is a professor of the history of philosophy at the University of Seville in Seville, Spain. His particular area of interest is hermeneutics and traditional thought. He founded the Swedenborg Society of Spain, as well as the Center for Comparative Spiritual Studies and the Seminary for Comparative Hermeneutics. He has written a number of books and articles on philosophy and metaphysics, including, most recently, La sabiduria mazdea: Dos textos del Iran antiguo (The Wisdom of Ahura Mazda: Two Texts from Ancient Iran).

 

Steven Skattebo earned an MA degree in teaching English as a second language from the University of Arizona and a PhD in Spanish from the University of Iowa. He has been teaching English and Spanish for twenty-five years, including two years of English in Colombia and fifteen years teaching Spanish at the college/university level. He is currently involved in writing a book on cultural factors in foreign-language learning, as well as the writing and translation of many non-academic texts. He lives with his wife, colleague, and language consultant Nora Elena Pulgarín de Skattebo in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Reviews

“An important accomplishment that sets Swedenborg in his proper context of esoteric Christianity and reveals his unprecedented and surprising influence on famous authors.”

—Eugene Taylor, PhD, internationally recognized scholar on William James; and author of Shadow Culture: Psychology and Spirituality in America

About the Swedenborg Studies Series

Swedenborg Studies is a scholarly series published by the Swedenborg Foundation. The primary purpose of the series is to make materials available for understanding the life and thought of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) and the impact his thought has had on others. The Foundation undertakes to publish original studies and English translations and to republish primary sources that are otherwise difficult to access.

Additional information

Author

José Antonio Antón-Pacheco

Translator

Steven Skattebo

Format

paperback, e-book

ISBN

978-0-87785-342-8 pb, 978-0-87785-626-9 e-book

Length

256 pages

Release Date

May 2012

Series

Swedenborg Studies #20