Famous Members of the Swedenborgian Church
While the Swedenborgian
Church has never claimed more than a few thousand members
in the United States, a surprisingly large number of prominent Americans
have embraced
its teachings. Below are profiles of just a few.
Andrew Carnegie,
1835-1919: A captain of industry whose philanthropy adapted the
Swedenborgian "doctrine of uses" to the Industrial Age
The son of a poor Scottish
immigrant, Andrew Carnegie started out working at humble jobs but through
his hard work and acute business insight he eventually formed the giant
Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. In 1902 banker J.P. Morgan arranged to buy
out Carnegie for $250 million, making him the world's wealthiest man.
In his Gospel of Wealth,
Carnegie set forth the idea that the wealthy should spend the latter part of
their lives giving away their wealth. Carnegie established a pattern of
modern philanthropy followed by later industrialists, and his Carnegie
Corporation in New York continues to carry out his philanthropic work today.
Carnegie's social conscience
was shaped in part by his mentors Matthew Arnold and Herbert Spencer, but he
was also influenced by Swedenborg's Doctrine of Uses. As a young man, he
attended the Sunday school of the Swedenborgian Church in Pittsburgh and was
librarian of that church. Carnegie did not merely give away his wealth-he
devoted considerable effort to make certain that his gifts would be put to
proper use, an approach that fitted Swedenborg's doctrine to early twentieth
century America in a remarkable way.
Daniel Burnham,
1846-1912: An architect and city planner who created the model of the
Swedenborgian heavenly city here on earth.
Daniel Burnham, a renowned
Chicago architect, was a pioneer in both skyscraper design and city
planning. A lifelong Swedenborgian (and grandson of a Swedenborgian
minister) he attended Swedenborgian schools as a boy and teenager.
After completing an
architecture apprenticeship, he joined a firm and met fellow trainee John W.
Root, who shared Burnham's enthusiasm for Swedenborgian ideas. They formed
Burnam and Root, which became the leading architectural firm in Chicago,
responsible for some of the most admired buildings of the renowned Chicago
school, among them the Monadnock Building and Masonic Temple. After Root's
death in 1891, Burnham designed the famous Flatiron Building, New York's'
first skyscraper, and Union Station in Washington, DC.
It was in the realm of city
planning, however, that Burnham realized his greatest and most enduring
achievements and it is there that the inspiration of Swedenborgian ideas is
most profoundly imbedded. Burnham supervised construction of the great
Chicago World's Fair of 1893, creating the "White City" as an ideal model
for a modern city. His work, which strived to realize Swedenborg's heavenly
city in stone, steel and concrete, has shaped much of twentieth century
America's urban landscape.
Helen Keller,
1880-1968: A humanitarian who lived her life in accordance with
Swedenborg's "divine love and wisdom."
The story of Helen Keller is
one of the most inspiring of our times. Blind and deaf from the age of
nineteen months, she was wild and unruly in her childhood. The devoted
efforts of her teacher Anne Sullivan opened the world to her and gave her
the capacity to develop and express her extraordinary intelligence. In
defiance of tremendous odds, she learned to read, write, type, and speak,
and in 1904 she graduated with honors from Radcliffe College.
Keller was introduced to the
writings of Emanuel Swedenborg by John Hitz, a longtime friend who was a
member of the Church of the Holy City in Washington, DC. As she began to
read Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell, she remarked, "my heart gave a joyous
leap." She went on to write, in My Religion, of the spiritual odyssey that
brought her to Swedenborgianism and endowed her with the inner resources to
triumph over her handicaps and live a life of selfless service.
She remained a devoted member
of the Church of the Holy City and on one occasion preached from its pulpit.
Her extensive study of Swedenborg's works gave her the sustaining power of
faith that energized and shone through the great work of her life. | 
