From the editor: For a quarter-century, Emanuel Swedenborg visited the spiritual realm, where God permitted him to converse with spiritual beings. In 1996, the Swedenborg Foundation published Conversations with Angels, which reveals the wisdom imparted to Swedenborg by heavenly spirits. This companion piece presents Swedenborg's encounters with spirits of another sort, narratives that are arranged thematically by Donald Rose and newly translated by Lists Hyatt Cooper from several of Swedenborg's works.

The evil spirits display their delusions about God and human relations. Rose explains the nature of these experiences and of Swedenborg's experience of hell as the provision of a merit God who seeks restraint rather than vengeance, who allows people to choose a life of hell, but "bends them towards `a milder hell."' Leonard Fox's introduction explores Swedenborg's concept of evil within the context of various religions.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a Swedish statesman and scholar. After making significant scientific discoveries, Swedenborg underwent a spiritual crisis that led to an unparalleled series of spiritual encounters. He recorded these encounters in thirty volumes, believing himself to be carrying-out God's will that humanity might know the truth of eternal life.

Pages: 270
Special Interest: The Devil, Philosophy, Comparative Religion, Spirits, Occult.