What is the official opinion of the Catholic Church on works of Emanuel Swedenborg, especially Heaven and Hell?
I'm interested in the opinion of the Catholic Church, but any others will be also appreciated.
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What is the official opinion of the Catholic Church on works of Emanuel Swedenborg, especially Heaven and Hell? I'm interested in the opinion of the Catholic Church, but any others will be also appreciated. |
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I'm not aware of anything the Catholic Church has said specifically about Emanuel Swedenborg, but from my quick read of the two linked wikipedia articles, it seems many of his teachings are direct contradictions of Catholic teachings. For example, Swedenborg claims that there is marriage in heaven; a view not supported by Catholic teaching and contradictory to scripture.
God cannot contradict himself. The Bible is the word of God. Thus, God cannot have revealed to Swedenborg that there is marriage in heaven since to do so would contradict the Bible. This leaves us with the conclusion that Swedenborg's revelations were not from God. Now, just because is revelations aren't from God doesn't mean there's not some truth in them. For example, "According to Swedenborg, God is love itself. and intends everyone to go to heaven." aligns perfectly with Catholic teaching. In conclusion, while there is some truth in the works of Swedenborg, the Catholic Church would most likely condemn them as heresy. |
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