‘For a better understanding of life’

Revolution and reform go hand in glove with posters and slogans. But just how does one
promote the coming of a new era or ‘New Jerusalem’ as Swedenborg coined it?  Spanning a period of just over 100 years—from the 1870s to the 1990s—For a Better Understanding of Life is a new exhibition showcasing a fascinating selection of posters, signs, handbills, audio recordings, magic lantern slides, display material and adverts from the archive at Swedenborg House.

Featuring original works by John Kaczmarczyk and Kessler Voges, and curated by the Society’s in-house team of Swedenborgian experts—Stephen McNeilly, Alex Murray and James Wilson—the exhibition charts the wonderful ways in which Swedenborg and his ideas for a new Jerusalem have been publicized during a century of great change.  Visitors will also have a unique opportunity to invent their own slogans, design their own posters or purchase new souvenir prints of one of the iconic wayside pulpit posters from the Swedenborg House archive.

Curators

ALEX MURRAY is the Society’s Archivist and Librarian. He has published widely on
Swedenborg and is currently undertaking a Doctorate at Kings College London on Swedenborg and Social Reform Movements.

JAMES WILSON is a writer, translator and editor. He has written numerous articles and books, including Images of the Afterlife in Cinema and Three Bridges and is the content editor for the Swedenborg Review.

STEPHEN MCNEILLY is the Society’s Museum Director. He has curated numerous exhibitions on Swedenborg and is the editor of two forthcoming books entitled Swedenborg’s Lusthus and Philosophy, Literature, Mysticism.

Monday 24 July 2023, 6.00 – 9.00 pm will see the opening of a new exhibition at Swedenborg House and the book launch for its latest publication taking place in the bookshop and gallery. The evening will also host the proceedings 213th Annual General Meeting of the Swedenborg Society for its membership in Swedenborg Hall. Drinks and refreshments will be served from the newly refurbished bookshop-café. All are welcome and the evening is free, but it is appreciated if you can book via the appropriate button (for the exhibition and book launch, above) or email a RSVP if you are attending the AGM (or via the buttons below).

The New Jerusalem and Heaven’s Teaching for It / De Nova Hierosolyma et ejus Doctrina Coelesti | ISBN 978-0-85448-227-6 | Hardback | 398 pages | Price £13.95

Swedenborg’s New Jerusalem is perhaps the most concise and accessible overview of the theological concerns of his writings, with 23 short chapters on such subjects as good and truth, love, charity, heaven and hell, and Sacred Scripture. This new dual language Latin and English edition, edited by John Elliott and translated by John Chadwick and John Elliott, is the first complete new translation (including all of Swedenborg’s lengthy but important sections of references to Arcana Caelestia that comprise almost two thirds of the text) to be issued by the Society since R L Tafel’s in 1901.

The translation of the sections of references to Arcana Caelestia is a brand new one by John Elliott. The text of the main chapters is a sensitive revision (for consistency throughout the volume) by John Elliott of John Chadwick’s 1990 English translation. The volume features a new ‘Editor and Translator’s Introduction’ by John Elliott; John Chadwick’s Preface to the 1990 English translation; and full critical apparatus, including a table of parallel passages.