Was Emanuel Swedenborg the father of modern spiritualism?

Emanuel Swedenborg was an 18th-century Swedish scientist, theologian, and mystic who claimed his spiritual eyes were opened to visit heaven and hell. His extensive writings describing the afterlife and spirit interactions provide the basis for his status as having a claim to being the father of spiritualism. While the formal Spiritualism movement blossomed later in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Swedenborg's foundational accounts of conversing with angels, demons, and spirits anticipated core ideas of the movement.

What we know

• Emanuel Swedenborg has some claim to be the father of spiritualism. [4]
• During his later spiritual phase, Swedenborg stated that the Lord opened his spiritual eyes to visit heaven and hell and converse with angels, demons, and other spirits. [2]
• Swedenborg published Heaven and Hell in 1758, offering detailed descriptions of the afterlife and how people live after physical death. [2, 5]
• The 19th-century Spiritualism movement developed and reached its peak popularity from the 1840s to the 1920s. [4]

Where to go next

• whenWhat did Swedenborg experience during his spiritual awakening?
• how we knowHow does Swedenborg describe the afterlife in Heaven and Hell?
• what followedWhat is the New Church founded on Swedenborg's writings?
• the bigger pictureHow did the nineteenth-century Spiritualism movement operate?
• compared withWhich cultural figures were influenced by Emanuel Swedenborg?
• an unexpected connectionHow is Johnny Appleseed connected to an 18th-century Swedish mystic?Johnny Appleseed was among the notable historical and cultural figures influenced by the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

Sources

• [1]Emmanuel Swedenborg (Wikidata Q185832) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Emanuel Swedenborg · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Spirit world (Spiritualism) · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Spiritualism (movement) · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Heaven and Hell (Swedenborg book) · CC BY-SA 4.0