starting this project in the first place, many years ago. This is also covered in
the Introduction. We were regularly told by our ministers at that time that
there was a continuous internal sense to the whole of the Word – and in fact
from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation – which I have always
accepted, being as it is a fundamental aspect of New Church Doctrine.
I had a problem with the idea of “continuous,” however, as I did not see it
until I got down one day and carefully joined together each of the explanations
that show the internal sense of each clause of the literal story. And then I saw
it! Not only did I see it but suddenly it became much easier to read once I
had done this and as a consequence I decided to pursue this later, once I had
retired. This is the reason why the full title is:
THE ARCANA
An Abridged presentation for the Laity of the New Church
Presenting the continuous internal sense of the Word
as revealed by Emanuel Swedenborg’s Arcana Coelestia
I am not sure how Mr. Ridgway comes to the conclusion that I am
deciding on “which parts of the Word have an internal sense and which should
be read and other parts which have not and may be given scant attention
or left out.” I suggest his fundamental concern is that he is not happy with
any “manipulation” of the Writings in any way, but as Bishop Buss says in
his review, each time a minister uses a passage in the lessons for a sermon,
especially if he cuts parts out, he is abridging. Each time ministers do studies
and “compare one passage with another” they are taking one passage out of
the original context and combining it with other passages and they are clearly
encouraged to do this.
The point is that no minister’s sermon and no other doctrinal work
presented by anyone can possibly be considered in pari passu (at the same
level) as that of the works of the Writings themselves and so anything that
is produced, as this Abridged Arcana work has been, has to be seen in this
context.
The reality is that if one wants to read exactly what the Lord presented
to the world through Swedenborg, one has to go back to the original Latin
text because there are sometimes significant differences even between the two
relatively recent translations of the Arcana Coelestia, which I used, namely the
Potts and Elliott translations. The same applies to all translations of the Word.
Steps have now been taken to ensure that there are hard copies of sets of
all 12 volumes of this abridged work at most societies of the General Church,
where there is either a library or a suitable place where they can be displayed.
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