The ''Arcana Cœlestia, quae in Scriptura Sacra seu Verbo Domini sunt, detecta'', usually abbreviated as ''Arcana Cœlestia'' (''Heavenly Mysteries'' or ''Secrets of Heaven'') or ''Arcana Cælestia'', is an 8-volume theological work published by

Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (; ; born Emanuel Swedberg; (29 January 168829 March 1772) was a Swedish polymath; scientist, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, Christian theologian, philosopher, and mysticism, mystic. He became best known for his book on the ...

in the 1750s. Arcana Caelestia 0001

Overview

Swedenborg was born in Sweden in 1688. His father was a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

pastor in the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

. The first part of his life was devoted to studying sciences, especially metallurgy. In 1740 he published ''Oeconomia Regni Animalis'' (Dynamics of the Soul's Domain), where he looked at connections between the spiritual and physical worlds. In 1744 he underwent a spiritual awakening and started to record his experiences and visions. ''Arcana Cœlestia'' was his first theological publication. It was published in London, partly to avoid Swedish anti-heresy laws.

Structure

The publication is a spiritual interpretation of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

and Exodus (the first two books of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

), according to the doctrine of

correspondence (theology) Correspondence is a relationship between two levels of existence. The term was coined by the 18th-century theologian Emanuel Swedenborg in his '' Arcana Cœlestia'' (1749–1756), '' Heaven and Hell'' (1758) and other works. Swedenborg Definitio ...

, and demonstrated by many supporting quotations from the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. While not denying the historicity of the stories of the Patriarchs and

the Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': ) is the Origin myth#Founding myth, founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Torah, Pentateuch (specif ...

from Egypt, it explains them as describing symbolically the process of spiritual growth and struggles in each individual person. The Latin volumes are laid out as follows; *Volume 1, Genesis Chapters 1–15 *Volume 2, Genesis Chapters 16–21 *Volume 3, Genesis Chapters 22–30 *Volume 4, Genesis Chapters 31–40 *Volume 5, Genesis Chapters 41–50 *Volume 6, Exodus Chapters 1–15 *Volume 7, Exodus Chapters 16–24 *Volume 8, Exodus Chapters 25–40 The English volumes are laid out as follows; *Volume 1, Genesis Chapters 1–9 *Volume 2, Genesis Chapters 10–17 *Volume 3, Genesis Chapters 18–22 *Volume 4, Genesis Chapters 23–27 *Volume 5, Genesis Chapters 29–31 *Volume 6, Genesis Chapters 32–38 *Volume 7, Genesis Chapters 39–43 *Volume 8, Genesis Chapters 44–50 *Volume 9, Exodus Chapters 1–12 *Volume 10, Exodus Chapters 13–21 *Volume 11, Exodus Chapters 22–28 *Volume 12, Exodus Chapters 29–40

Preface

The opening paragraph of ''Arcana Coelestia'' Volume 1 is the opening statement of the corpus of theological work that Swedenborg claimed was revealed to him.

Editions

There have been several translations made of ''Arcana Cœlestia'' (together with the rest of Swedenborg's theological work), including:

Swedenborg Foundation Standard Edition (12 volumes)

Volumes of the Standard Edition were originally issued from 1929 to 1956, with the majority in 1938.

Swedenborg Society (12 volumes)

This is a new contemporary translation.

Swedenborg Foundation New Century Edition (3 of 15 volumes currently available)

This edition was updated in the 1900s.

The Neo-Latin original (8 volumes)

Swedenborg's theological work the Arcana Coelestia, published from 1749 to 1756 were originally written in

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

The first translation into English

The translation from Neo-Latin into English was commissioned by Swedenborg himself.

Summaries and comments

The Reviser Preface contains a summary of the publishing history for the work originally published by Swedenborg.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * Sigstedt, C.
''The Swedenborg Epic. The Life and Works of Emanuel Swedenborg''
(New York: Bookman Associates, 1952, Chapter 27) {{DEFAULTSORT:Arcana Coelestia Works by Emanuel Swedenborg Old Testament theology Biblical exegesis Biblical studies Swedenborgianism Books about the Bible Works based on the Book of Genesis Works based on the Book of Exodus 18th-century books in Latin