Islam, Swedenborg and the
Heavenly Doctrines
Benjamin Pendleton
I
n his January-February 2012 New Church Life article, Swedenborg
and Islam, William Weaver questioned what Swedenborg could have
known about Islam, then says that several fundamental statements in
the Writings on Islam are “simply not true.” I’d like to belatedly respond.
I have tried to condense the author’s article into six basic questions; please
read the original for clarification:
1. What could Swedenborg have known about Islam?
2. Could Swedenborg have had access to the Quran?
3. Is the God of the Quran an illegitimate or idolatrous god, as the author
suggests?
4. Are the Heavenly Doctrines correct in stating that from the Quran
Muslims acknowledge Jesus to be the Son of God?
5. Are they correct in stating that Muslims regard Jesus as the Greatest
Prophet?
6. Are they correct in saying that the Quran contains the Commandments
of the Decalogue?
1. What could Swedenborg have known about Islam?
Swedenborg was an 18th century Scandinavian, whose state religion since the
mid-16th century was the Lutheranism of the Church of Sweden. What could
he have known about Islam? A reasonable answer might be: “Not much.”
The Heavenly Doctrines have some amazing things to say about Islam;
some straightforward, others hard to understand, some mysterious and some
quirky, if not bizarre. One of the stranger statements is:
“He (Charles XII of Sweden) praised the Mohammedan religion above the Christian.”
(Spiritual Diary 4748)
What could an 18th-century Scandinavian have known about Islam?
What could the Writings be talking about? A brief internet search reveals a
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