Datum: 2011, 26 August

Swedenborg, Oetinger, Kant: Three Perspectives on the Secrets of Heaven, West Chester 2007.

Emanuel Swedenborg's multivolume Arcana Coelestia (published between 1749 and 1756), nowadays known as Secrets of Heaven, consists of a detailed line-by-line exegesis of Genesis and Exodus, extended doctrinal tracts, and vivid descriptions of Swedenborg's visionary travels through heaven and hell. This book provides a critical analysis of Swedenborg's magnum opus, and discusses the history of its early reception in the German context. The central authors in that regard are the Christian theosopher/kabbalist and Lutheran theologian Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702-1782)and the great Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). They both had their own distinctive perspective on the "Secrets of Heaven", and took critical position with respect to Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia. As demonstrated in this book, Oetinger was more critical of Swedenborg than is often assumed, whereas Kant's satirical treatment of the "Spirit Seer" in fact contains a serious discussion of his metaphysics and its philosophical implications, with significant implications for Kant's own philosophical project. By studying the relation between these three important thinkers and their perspectives on the "Secrets of Heaven", we gain new insights into what was at stake in the battle between religion, science and esotericism in the Age of Reason.

ISBN 9780877853213
xxiii + 171 pp.

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