Harry

Every January, America celebrates the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the great civil rights leader who sparked global consciousness of racial issues. Dr. King was not a stranger to Swedenborg theology. He credited Swedenborg with giving us the “best possible understanding of God’s message.”

The link with Swedenborg was discovered in 2006 when King’s extensive library sold at Sotheby’s to Morehouse College in Atlanta. Some of his handwritten notes, unpublished sermons, and key books were exhibited during the auction. Among display items was a copy of Emerson’s A Modern Anthology (195. On the opening page, King had written:

“Swedenborg enables us to understand why we were created, why we are alive, and what happens to us after our bodies die. Swedenborg enables us to have the best possible understanding of God’s message as it exists in those Bible books which constitutes God’s Word.”

At present, the collection is closed while items are being catalogued. Swedenborgian scholars are eager to delve into King’s manuscripts as soon as the collection opens to the public. Rev. Mark Perry of the New Church in San Diego says, “I would love to have the opportunity to study Martin Luther King’s Library for more evidence of Swedenborg’s influence. Given the influence that Swedenborg’s Writings had on people like Helen Keller, Jorge Borges, George Innes, Emerson, Blake and many others, it does not surprise me that Dr. King also read Swedenborg.”

About myself : I been member of this New Church since 1968. I now 67 years old.

Harry