Secrets of Heaven 8

The eighth volume in Swedenborg’s monumental study of the Bible, its meaning, and themes.

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 eighth volume, covering Genesis 41–44, the explication of the deeper meaning behind Joseph’s story continues. Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt and the aid he gives his brothers during the famine are presented by Swedenborg as symbolizing the strengthening of Jesus’ inner self and the benefit it provided to his outer self during his process of transformation to divine humanity. Swedenborg also completes his survey of the correspondence of the human body with some attention to the correspondence of disease. He then begins a new theme in which he describes the influence that the spiritual world has on human beings through angels and spirits.

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.