- Welcome to the Swedenborg Library ChicagoThe seven angels representing early Christian communities in “The Book of Revelation”: Thyatira, Sardis, Pergamos, Smyrna, Ephesus, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.We offer a range of events for members and for the public. Our circulating book and media collection offers a range of content on spiritual topics, including the works of the 18C Swedish scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.
The Library is open most Wednesday & Friday afternoons from 1–5 PM CST and by appointment. 77 W. Washington St. Suite 1700 Chicago, IL 60602312.346.7003
Upcoming Events
Wm. Bruce Lecture series
in New York City
Wednesday, November 4, 6 PM ET
Dr. Susan Palmer: Children and New religious Movements
Location: Riverside Church in Morningside Heights; use the 91 Claremont entrance, Room 10T. Free; reserve your seat using the button below.
What is a child? The answer mayseem obvious—until we step insidethe world of alternative spiritual communities, where children may be revered as enlightened masters, treated as spiritually unformed subordinates, or embraced as equal souls in small bodies.Drawing on years of field research, this lecture explores how new religious movements (NRMs) understand childhood, and what those understandings mean for the children who grow up within them. Dr. Palmer presents a typology of three ideal types: Child-centered Groups, where children are seen as spiritually superior to their parents; Adult-centered Groups, where children rank below adults in the community’s hierarchy; and Age-Unity Groups, where children and adults are regarded as ontologically the same and equal.These patterns come to life through case studies of twelve movements, including the Children of God, Rajneeshpuram, the Twelve Tribes, ISKCON, the Raelian Movement, MOVE, and the Order of the Solar Temple. Along the way, the lecture raises broader questions: How do a community’s beliefs about the soul, salvation, and the future shape the everyday lives of its youngest members? And what can these movements teach us about our own culture’s assumptions about childhood?
Susan J. Palmer is a Canadian sociologist of religion whose primary research focus is new religious movements. She is an Affiliate Professor atConcordia University in Montreal and Principal Investigator of the SSHRC-funded research project “Children in Sectarian Religions andState Control” at McGill University’s School of Religious Studies, where she is also a member of the faculty. The author of twelve books on new religious movements, her notable works include "Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lovers" (Syracuse, 1994), "Aliens Adored: Raël’s UFO Religion" (Rutgers, 2004), "The New Heretics of France" (Oxford, 2011), and "Storming Zion: Government Raids on Religions" (Oxford,with Stuart Wright).
Sponsored by the New York New Church Legacy Fund and The Swedenborg Library Chicago
What is a child? The answer mayseem obvious—until we step insidethe world of alternative spiritual communities, where children may be revered as enlightened masters, treated as spiritually unformed subordinates, or embraced as equal souls in small bodies.Drawing on years of field research, this lecture explores how new religious movements (NRMs) understand childhood, and what those understandings mean for the children who grow up within them. Dr. Palmer presents a typology of three ideal types: Child-centered Groups, where children are seen as spiritually superior to their parents; Adult-centered Groups, where children rank below adults in the community’s hierarchy; and Age-Unity Groups, where children and adults are regarded as ontologically the same and equal.These patterns come to life through case studies of twelve movements, including the Children of God, Rajneeshpuram, the Twelve Tribes, ISKCON, the Raelian Movement, MOVE, and the Order of the Solar Temple. Along the way, the lecture raises broader questions: How do a community’s beliefs about the soul, salvation, and the future shape the everyday lives of its youngest members? And what can these movements teach us about our own culture’s assumptions about childhood?
Susan J. Palmer is a Canadian sociologist of religion whose primary research focus is new religious movements. She is an Affiliate Professor atConcordia University in Montreal and Principal Investigator of the SSHRC-funded research project “Children in Sectarian Religions andState Control” at McGill University’s School of Religious Studies, where she is also a member of the faculty. The author of twelve books on new religious movements, her notable works include "Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lovers" (Syracuse, 1994), "Aliens Adored: Raël’s UFO Religion" (Rutgers, 2004), "The New Heretics of France" (Oxford, 2011), and "Storming Zion: Government Raids on Religions" (Oxford,with Stuart Wright).
Sponsored by the New York New Church Legacy Fund and The Swedenborg Library Chicago
ZooM: thursday, NOVEMBER 5,
6 pm central: tHE GREAT WAR: CONFLICT AND THE SOUL, with dell rose
Thursday Nov. 5th 06:00 PM
On Thursday, November 5, Dell Rose will discuss in "What of the Future?" in the aftermath of WWI. We'll explore the League of Nations, D'Annunzio's Fume in Italy, and the unresolved antithesis of the individual and the social.
About this series:
Before a single shot was fired, Europe had already imagined, aestheticised and longed for the war it was about to have.
Over four evenings, via Zoom, we will trace the Great War as an intellectual and moral reckoning: how war ceased to be an instrument of policy and became a rite of national self-discovery, what it revealed when the lid came off, and why the habits of mind it left behind still shape how we argue, believe and belong a century later.
Starting Thursday 15 October through Thursday November 5. 6 PM central.
Use the button below to view prior recorded sessions on our Youtube channel.
ZOOM: SUNDAY NovemBER 8, 3:30 PM: 12 GATES SWEDENBORG STUDY. Topic: Grace
Join Dell Rose via Zoom, when our 12 Gates Swedenborg Study will focus on the concept of grace. Sunday, November 8, 3:30 PM - 5 PM central time.
ZOOM: thursday, november 12, 6 PM: Swedenborg and Politics: On the Community
with Dell Rose
Swedenborg’s teachings have great importance for the political imagination, and this talk helps us to understand why. Dell Rose will discuss the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg and the development of 19th-century political philosophy, especially that of the Victorian thinker T. H. Green (1836-1882):
This talk is based on the first essay in Dell Rose’s forthcomingbook, On the Community: (Re)Imaging Politics in the New Christian Tradition.
Thomas Hill Green (7 April 1836 – 15March 1882), known as T. H. Green,was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Green was influenced by the metaphysical historicism of G. W. F.Hegel. He was one of the thinkers behind the philosophy of social liberalism.
“Both reach one thesis: that the person is realized in a community of persons, through a freedom that consists in the rational identification of the self with its true good, a freedom distinct from unconstrained choice.The comparison is typological and not genealogical. It treats two systems built from different materials, one of philosophical argument and one of revelation, as two answers to a single problem, and it lets each clarify what the other leaves obscure.” –Dell Rose
This talk is based on the first essay in Dell Rose’s forthcomingbook, On the Community: (Re)Imaging Politics in the New Christian Tradition.
Thomas Hill Green (7 April 1836 – 15March 1882), known as T. H. Green,was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Green was influenced by the metaphysical historicism of G. W. F.Hegel. He was one of the thinkers behind the philosophy of social liberalism.
Video can’t be displayed
View the Trailer and videos to our recent program on Ecclesiastes, with Dell Rose
The third and final episode of Ecclesiastes is now available on our Youtube channel. To view the videos, use the buttons below:
Brochures of upcoming programs
autumn 2026 brochure
Discover a wide array of books and A/V materials on spiritual topics, including Emanuel Swedenborg's influential works.
newberry library program nov-dec
Till the Gods Speak Again: Folklore Esotericism, and Romantic Nationalism in 19C Europe, with Dell Rose. Begins at Newberry Library on Nov. 10, 2 PM
New Video: THE Parables WITH
REV. ROBERT MCCLUSKEY
Parts 1 aND 2 of "The Parables" with Rev. Robert Mc Cluskey ARE now available for viewing on our youtube channel. (Link below.)
Find Inspiration in our Past Program Videos
Emanuel Swedenborg:
Angels, with Dell Rosehttps://youtu.be/1lXAZCvgCiY
Brook Ziporyn, U of C:
Intro to Tiantai Buddhismhttps://youtu.be/CD5MMrhIwzU
Rev. Robert McCluskey:
Understanding the Christ Eventhttps://youtu.be/J1K-jZ9vL0c
Swedenborg's Concept of Correspondence, Explained
https://youtu.be/PpYt38PEFdE
Reading
Conspicere, a Journal of Swedenborgian Studies.
"I Am a New Swedenborg, a New Kahn," (Brill) on Japanese Swedenborgian Deguchi Onisaburō by author Dell Rose.
Aurora by Jakob Böhme is available from the Library, as background to our "Divine Cobbler" series of programs on the mystic Jakob Böhme.
Divine Love & Wisdom by Swedenborg will be the topic of the October "12 Gates" Swedenborg study. Available from our library.
Concerning the Sacred Scripture or The Word of the Lord by Emanuel Swedenborg is part of the 12 Gates materials.