Recent Articles

Dr. Oz Finds His Teacher Spirituality & Health magazine
From this article: Mehmet Oz, bestselling author and renowned heart surgeon, found inspiration for his family life and medical practice through the ideas of the Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg.

“I hungered for a scientific rationale to help me reconcile my newly found insights into our bodies and the deeper spiritual longings that we all possess. Help came in the form of an eighteenth-century Swedish philosopher.”

...Bringing Swedenborg into surgery...

Note: the link above takes you to a description of the issue containing this article; online membership to Spirituality and Health magazine is required to actually read the article.

The New Church 6abc, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
From this article: The New Church has branches all over the world, but the one located in this area makes up the faith’s largest congregation. The church believes now is the time to open its doors and let outsiders look in.

Nestled in Montgomery County, a blink from Lower Moreland Township and Huntingdon Valley lays little Bryn Athyn, a community created around The New Church.

Renovations begin on former Catholic church The Concord Journal, Concord, Massachusettes
From this article: After lengthy negotiations for the purchase and sale of the former Our Lady’s Help of Christians Church, members of the Swedenborg Church have wasted no time beginning the appropriate renovations to the Queen Anne-style building.

Most recently, the artistic team of the Lyn Hovey Studio has reinstalled the five stained–glass medallions removed by the Archdiocese of Boston when Our Lady’s closed.

In a collaborative effort, members of the congregation worked with the stained-glass specialists to design and create five significant symbols.

Earthly Concerns: Congregations taking closer look at building, remodeling DailyCamera, Boulder, Colorado
From this article: When First Congregational Church needed a heating and cooling system for its new building three years ago, members chose an environmentally friendly option.

Such a decision would seem to be a no–brainer for a green–thinking congregation in downtown Boulder. But even in such a ideal eco–incubator, such choices can be difficult.

The New Church of Boulder Valley, for example, recently installed 60 solar panels to assist in heating its building. The project’s original cost of $72,000 was greatly reduced by Xcel Energy rebates that pushed it down to $27,000. The church asked members to buy individual panels at a cost of $450 each.

"Most people bought a panel individually, but a couple shared," says David Roth, pastor of The New Church, a Swedenborgian congregation. "Some people are buying them for their children and saying it’s in their honor," he says. "It's a good legacy for children of the community and their families."

From Swedenborg to the New Church - Interview with Jane Williams-Hogan Religioscope, Fribourg, Switzerland
From this article: Swedenborg died in 1772. There were probably at that time four or five people who had read his works and felt that they were true. He never attempted to found a church and he never preached. He only wrote these books. It is fascinating that, in spite the fact he only wrote these books, by the year 1800 the books had literally been carried all over the world and had influenced large numbers of people.” — Jane Williams–Hogan answers our questions on Swedenborg and the religious movement based upon his message.

Jane Williams–Hogan is a sociologist of religion. She got her degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 doing a dissertation on the formation and development of the Swedenborgian Church in England. She is a professor at Bryn Athyn College of the New Church and has taught there for thirty years. She is also the Carpenter Chair of Church History and has been working in Swedenborg’s studies for the last twenty years. She has recently published a book in Italian on Swedenborg and the Swedenborgian Churches: Swedenborg e le Chiese swedenborgiane (Leumann [Torino]: Editrice Elledici, 2004, 136 p.), which is a volume without any equivalent for providing an overview of the Swedenborgian movement in its different branches worldwide.

Stained Glass Angels of Swedenborg Cincinnati Post – Cincinnati, OH, USA
From this article: Those who can’t get enough of angels might want to stop by the Glendale New Church, 845 Congress Ave., about noon on Saturday.

They’ll hear and see a presentation about seven huge stained–glass windows of angels that once graced a church in Walnut Hills.

They were created in the 1890s by the New York artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, creator of the Tiffany lamps.

The Glendale New Church paid Tiffany to create the windows for its sister congregation, the Church of the New Jerusalem, which in 1903 was building its sanctuary on the corner of Oak Avenue and Winslow Street in Walnut Hills.

Both congregations were members of the Swedenborgian Church, named for Swedish visionary Emmanuel Swedenborg, who died in 1772.

Swedenborgians Look Forward to Moving Into Our Lady's The Concord Journal on Townline.com – Concord, MA, USA
From this article: “All of us are incredibly excited about moving to Concord and the link to Swedenborg thought and traditions in Concord,” said Huard Smith, a Wayland resident and chairman of the building committee at the church.

The church also shares a historic connection with some of Concord's thinkers-past.

The transcendentalists, which claimed Concordians Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Walden Emerson and Bronson Alcott among members, share common ideological threads with Swedenborgian teachings, making Concord a logical locale for a new church...

Four Louis Comfort Tiffany Windows Not Seen for More Than 40 Years on Display at the Bryn Athyn Cathedral: In Company With Angels Exhibit PR Newswire – New York, NY, USA
From this article: Louis Comfort Tiffany was commissioned to design a series of seven windows depicting angels for a church in Cincinnati at the turn of the century. Tiffany created the windows for the church between 1902 and 1903. In 1964, the church building was slated for demolition for a highway project and the windows were removed and crated for storage.

More or less forgotten in storage for more than forty years, these Tiffany masterpieces have recently been rediscovered and restored in preparation for an unveiling and traveling national exhibit. ...

Religious Group to Buy Concord Church Boston Globe – Boston, MA, USA
From this article: The Archdiocese of Boston and the religious organization that owns the Swedenborg Chapel in Sudbury have signed a purchase-and-sale agreement for the former Our Lady Help of Christians Church in West Concord.

The closing is expected by late April, according to George Gantz, president of the Boston Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, which owns the Swedenborg Chapel.

The religious organization, with headquarters in Bryn Athyn, Pa., plans to use the former Catholic church as a worship space.

Swedenborgian Chaplain Honored for Humanitarian Support after Katrina Edmonds Beacon – Mukilteo, WA, USA
From this article: Chaplain (Lt.) Martie Johnson of Edmonds, the first Swedenborgian chaplain in the U.S. Navy, has been awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for ‘outstanding personal achievement and command impact’ in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. ...

The citation reads, “In an arduous environment, Lieutenant Johnson contributed significantly to the recovery effort by providing superior leadership and Seabee CAN-DO spirit under challenging conditions. Undaunted by the utter devastation, he leveraged extremely limited resources to provide responsive and desperately needed humanitarian relief to local communities.”

“He was key to the restoration of critical infrastructure and provision of basic services. By his exceptional professionalism and selfless devotion to duty, Lieutenant Johnson upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.” ...

Buffalo Township pastor writes book Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – Pittsburgh, PA, USA
From this article: Buffalo Township pastor Ethan McCardell thought it was time for a fresh perspective on religion.

So he put his thoughts down in his first book, ‘Be of Good Cheer: Discovering The Redeeming Quality of Struggle.’

In it, he describes a new way of looking at Christian life and values, discussing his view of God’s ability to make his presence known under any circumstance, and in any faith that is receptive to him. ...

As a Christian pastor, McCardell says, he has what might be called a “temptation ministry.” “I believe every lesson we have to learn about our relationship with God can be summed up in how we deal with challenge, or what the Bible calls temptation,” he says.

He suggests that how we respond to challenge determines the measure of our faith. ...

Discussing the concept of the “Redeeming Quality of Struggle,” he stresses that God wants everyone to understand there always is hope. “This is why I wrote the book, really. Once you understand that God is walking with you through the struggle, then you recognize that you are not alone, and you have never been alone. And so God can give you peace, not just after the struggle is over, but peace as strength for the journey.” ...