Swedenborg

Today I was listening to a podcast by Leonard Sweet about hell.  You can listen to the podcast here.  I thought his talk about why hell is real was very interesting and worth listening.  But in it, he makes a reference to a “Christian mystic” who is too often neglected, named Emanuel Swedenborg.  If one knew nothing about Swedenborg you could easily take that reference at face value.  But who was Emanuel Swedenborg?  He was a mystic but he denied some major Christian tenets such as the Trinity and salvation by faith.  Swedenborg also edited the canon of Scripture, taking some books out (like all of Paul’s letters)  and adding some of the books that he wrote in.  You can see the Swedenborgian canon here.  Here is some information about Swedenborg from a source supportive of him.  You can find the works of Swedenborg here.  My aim is not to be overly critical of Leonard Sweet but rather to warn people of casually quoting an author because he is very creative in theological language.  Swedenborg is far from an orthodox Christian and I would be very hesitant to quote him in support of my positions.