Secrets of Heaven Volume 7 The Portable New Century Edition

The seventh volume of Swedenborg's monumental exploration of the Bible, its themes, and meaning.

Secrets of Heaven is Emanuel Swedenborg’s magnum opus, a fifteen-volume work that delves into the inner, spiritual meaning of the Bible. Starting from the first verse, Swedenborg goes through Genesis and Exodus verse by verse, sometimes word by word, uncovering the fascinating teachings behind the literal account. By engaging in a careful comparison of passages and tracing individual images and motifs through the Bible, he demonstrates that it contains a profound, coherent, and unified inner meaning.

In this seventh volume, covering Genesis 36–40, Joseph’s story begins. The literal narrative describes how after dreaming of greatness Joseph is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and wrongfully imprisoned. The inner narrative, Swedenborg explains, describes the trials and opposition endured by the Lord’s divine humanity, which is represented by Joseph. In this volume Swedenborg also interprets a number of parables in Matthew, relating their meaning to the Lord’s Second Coming. His exploration of the correspondences of the various parts and functions of the body is also continued from the previous volume.

This new translation, part of the New Century Edition series, makes Swedenborg’s insights into Scripture and his accounts of his spiritual experiences more accessible than ever before. 

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) was a Swedish scientist, nobleman, and theologian who spent his life investigating the mysteries of the soul. Born in Stockholm to a staunchly Lutheran family, he graduated from the University of Uppsala and then traveled to England, Holland, France, and Germany to study with the leading scientists of the time. Between 1743 and 1745, he began to have visions of heaven, hell, and Jesus Christ, which resulted in a stream of books about the nature of God, the afterlife, and the inner meaning of the Bible. He devoted the last decades of his life to studying Scripture and presenting his own unique theology to the world.

Lisa Hyatt Cooper is translator of the fifteen-volume Secrets of Heaven for the Swedenborg Foundation’s New Century Edition of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg.