Correspondences, Doctrine of

Central idea in the work of Swedish seer Emanuel Sweden-borg (1688-1772). Swedenborg, in contrast to the new opinion of his intellectual colleagues that reality was basically found in the visible material world, argued that everything visible is but the shadow of a corresponding spiritual reality. Ultimately, he believed the nature of the connection with the spiritual world is most easily realized through a knowledge of the correspondences found in the Bible. Swedenborg devoted a considerable part of his life to writing a 12-volume commentary on the books of Genesis and Exodus (Arcana Coelestia ) (1905-10) and several volumes on the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse Revealed ) (1970).

In his last book, The True Christian Religion, originally published in 1770-71, he detailed his method of interpreting the Bible spiritually. While on cursory examination it appears similar to allegory, it differs considerably. Swedenborg said he learned from the angels that Scripture had a literal meaning and that one could not derive the higher spiritual meaning from it by allegory. He claims that the angels told him the true meaning of the Bible.

Robert A. Vaughan, author of Hours with the Mystics (1905), notes in regard to Swedenborg:

"According to Swedenborg, all the mythology and the symbolisms of ancient times were so many refracted or fragmentary correspondences—relics of that better day when every outward object suggested to man's mind its appropriate divine truth. Such desultory and uncertain links between the seen and the unseen are so many imperfect attempts toward that harmony of the two worlds which he believed himself commissioned to reveal. The happy thoughts of the artist, the imaginative analogies of the poet, are exchanged with Swedenborg for an elaborate system. All the terms and objects in the natural and spiritual worlds are catalogued in pairs."

For those who do not accept Swedenborg's system, his continued attempt to draw out the correspondences make the reading of his commentaries quite difficult. However, his intense affirmation of a spiritual world drew a welcome response from those satisfied with neither traditional Christianity nor the new, truncated scientific worldview.

Sources:

Woofenden, William Ross. Swedenborg Researcher's Manual. Bryn Athyn, Pa.: Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1988.

Worcester, William L. Lessons in Correspondence. 1892. Reprinted as The Language of Parable: A Key to the Bible. New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1984.