Description

How do you know if you’re going to heaven? How do you avoid going to hell? Learn what it’s like in heaven and hell from Emanuel Swedenborg’s conversations with angels and spirits as this eighteenth-century Christian mystic explains what happens when we die. 

A Swedish Enlightenment scientist of extraordinary accomplishment, Swedenborg underwent a spiritual awakening that led to almost daily experiences of heaven, hell, and what he called “the world of spirits”; a process that lasted twenty-seven years until his death at age 84. 

Like his earlier scientific works, he painstakingly recorded his spiritual experiences in great detail across eighteen volumes. Firmly rooted in the Christian worldview, Swedenborg nevertheless challenged the church dogmas of his day, insisting that what he called your “inner life” was just as important as your “outer life,” and importantly, as he states in the title of chapter 54, “No one enters heaven on the basis of mercy alone.”

Though contemporaries of Swedenborg had trouble accepting his claims to having received this knowledge directly from angels in heavenly realms, his powerful message has resonated through the ages, influencing a long list of important cultural figures, including William Blake, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, Immanuel Kant, Helen Keller, and many others.

Heaven and Hell is the place to start to engage Swedenborg’s rich body of theological works. As his fullest description of experiences in the other world, this volume has been much sought by readers who have an interest in near-death experiences or who seek consolation for the loss of a loved one. It includes an explanation of his doctrine of correspondences, and the centrality of the human form across realms. He colors his account with details about the variety of angels, as well as their language, homes and clothing.

Translated from the original Latin by George F. Doll, Lillian Rachel beautifully narrates Swedenborg’s most popular work in this 2024 edition.