When Swedenborg first began writing about his spiritual experiences and the lessons he learned from them, he published his writings anonymously, preferring to let the content speak for itself. But in the middle of his theological publishing career, he took a five-year break from publishing (though not writing!), and on the other side of that break he sacrificed his anonymity by publicly identifying himself as the author of his works. Why?
Join us on Saturday, October 3 at 3 p.m. Eastern (noon Pacific / 7 p.m. GMT) for “Why Swedenborg Went Public,” a live webcast on the offTheLeftEye YouTube channel. Dr. Jonathan Rose, series editor of the New Century Edition (NCE), will talk with Curtis Childs, director and host of our popular webcasts Swedenborg & Life and News from Heaven, in this free, interactive event.
Jonathan put many months of research into writing the introduction to The Shorter Works of 1763, a collection of smaller pieces that Swedenborg published at the end of his five-year publishing gap. The research revealed that not only did Swedenborg put aside his anonymity to personally introduce his works to influential members of society, but he made a number of significant changes to his writing style in order to speak to different audiences.
Join us on October 3 to get the whole story and have the opportunity to ask Jonathan questions of your own! The event will be streamed live, but you can also watch it afterward on the offTheLeftEye YouTube channel.
If you want a preview of some of the things Jonathan learned, you can also listen to an audio version of the introduction to The Shorter Works of 1763, read by Jonathan himself. The introduction surfaces some never-before-seen facts around Swedenborg’s five-year publishing gap, and, at nearly a hundred pages in length, is almost a book in itself!
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