Degrees of Glory - Hypothesized Influence of Emanuel Swedenborg

Hypothesized Influence of Emanuel Swedenborg

Some, including historian of Mormonism D. Michael Quinn in his book Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, have argued that various parts of the plan of salvation were influenced in part by Emanuel Swedenborg's book Heaven and Hell. In Heaven and Hell, Swedenborg wrote that "There are three heavens" that are "entirely distinct from each other." Swedenborg called the highest heaven "the Celestial Kingdom," celestial being the Latin word for heavenly. He also stated that the inhabitants of the three heavens corresponded to the "sun, moon and stars." While some historians believe Smith was familiar with Swedenborg's theology at least by 1839, others have argued that he did not have access to the writings of Swedenborg. One of Smith's preeminent biographers has argued it is more likely that Smith and Swedenborg developed their ideas independently based on 1 Corinthians 15. This argument was more closely examined by William J. Hamblin as he explains that Quinn turned to Swedenborg as an indirect source, whose three heavens are not called "degrees of glory" and are themselves clearly derived from the Pauline passages in question. But Quinn insisted that Joseph was not influenced by the original idea from Paul (whom he certainly read), but rather by Swedenborg—whom Quinn agreed Joseph had not read, claiming instead that Joseph had heard of Swedenborg's ideas secondhand via Sibly (see pp. 217–18). But Sibly spoke of seven archangelic degrees of glory and not of three heavens as degrees of glory in the resurrection.