n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 6
Relationship between the Christian Church and the New Church
To this point the Christian Church and the New Church have not had a
significant amount of conflict. This is undoubtedly due to the small size of
the population of New Church men and women in the world and the slow
growth rate the New Church has exhibited to date. While certain historically
significant individuals such as Johnny Appleseed and Helen Keller have
embraced New Church theology and important leaders such as Benjamin
Franklin and Abraham Lincoln were influenced by Swedenborg’s Writings, the
New Church remains obscure to most. Those who have become familiar with
the New Church sometimes relegate it to cult status – a distinction the New
Church shares with the early Christian Church.
While the growth rate of the New Church continues to be very slow,
particularly in the North, we can expect that there will be an increase in
contact between it and the traditional Christian Churches. Initiatives such as
NewChurch LIVE and other outreach programs will result in an increasing
number of people being exposed to New Church theology. It remains to be
seen what the result of this interaction will be: conflict, tolerance or acceptance.
I would posit that it will be all of the above.
Conflict: The Writings spend a good deal of time identifying and
explaining the false doctrine of other religions. Many in the Christian Church
will feel threatened by this language and feel that it is an attack on their core
beliefs. Think about having been raised to believe that faith alone is the only
path to salvation and then being told that it is a marriage of faith and charity
that saves. Or, while expecting that the second coming will still happen in this
world as described in the Book of Revelation instead being told that it already
took place in the spiritual world.
We should not be surprised that there is a resistance to cast off the prior
for the latter, or even to accept the latter as a viable belief. The Writings address
this in the Doctrine of Holy Scripture: “That for a long time the spiritual sense
will not be recognized, and that this is entirely owing to those who are in
falsities of doctrine, especially concerning the Lord, and who therefore do not
admit truths, is meant in Revelation by the ‘beast,’ and by the ‘kings of the
earth,’ who should make war with him who sat on the white horse.” (19:19)
Others may conclude that Swedenborg is being elevated to a cult-like
figure. Still others conclude that the New Church is similar to the Mormon
Church in that it augments the Bible with texts “discovered” by individuals
which they consider heresy. I have had these personal experiences when
discussing doctrine with people whom I do not know personally and are
aligned with the more “fundamental” Christian denominations.
Jenkins notes that particularly in many regions in the South there are
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