New Church Life May/Jun 2014 | Page 57

Some Thoughts for the New Church Karl Birjukov (This is slightly condensed from an article written for Things Seen and Heard for the Swedenborg Society in London, England. Reprinted with permission of the author.) A s someone who came into the New Church in my early 50s nine years ago, not knowing anything about Swedenborg or the Church’s theology, I thought it might be useful to try to explain its appeal and why its continuation is vital. My initial encounter with Arcana Coelestia was much like that of a child reading an exciting adventure story. It really was a page-turner. However, judging from the less enthusiastic reaction of others, questions began to arise in my mind why it was that I took so easily to the Writings. I subsequently began to read the Bible in a similar vein, a book that I had barely glanced at since my teens, and that was also puzzling. Consequently I began reading other New Church materials, as well as Swedenborg’s less wellknown works which stemmed from his pre-visionary stage. Perhaps I should explain that I was raised Roman Catholic, attended Catholic schools, and like many others, fell away from it in my late teens to early 20s. This was a gradual stepping away, coinciding with the development of other interests. In fact, between my teens and early 50s, apart from being preoccupied with earning a living, the subject of the nature of reality in all its many guises had been something I had immersed myself in, whether in science, poetry, philosophy, art or wherever ideas led. Religion did not figure prominently in that exploration, though it always lurked in the background. It may seem strange, therefore, why the New Church had an appeal, and I say this as a person puzzled by the attraction. Clearly its theology was miles in front of the scapegoat theology I had been raised in, but even though the theology was a distinctive feature of Swedenborg’s thinking, still this was not 265