A Love Affair with Africa:

Nineteenth Century Swedenborgian views on Africa

Andrew M.T. Dibb

A Love Affair with Africa

A Love Affair with Africa

Abstract: Contrary to his time, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) took a remarkably
different view of the salvation of non-Christians, and Africans in particular. While
contemporary churches insisted that only Christians enter heaven, Swedenborg taught that
God provided access to all who sincerely followed a religion. Eighteenth and nineteenth
century Swedenborgians believed societies of civilized and almost angelic Africans existed in
the unexplored continent.
It is almost impossible to imagine how Europeans in the eighteenth century saw Africa.
Africa was a dark, savage continent, its vast spaces blank on their maps, often filled with the
fanciful guesswork of those who had never ventured there. The vegetation and animal life
was the stuff of dreams or nightmares. The people of Africa, so different from cultured
Europeans, were wild, savage and untamed, more objects of curiosity than human beings.
Few Europeans ventured into Africa beyond the coasts, preferring to circumnavigate it on the
way to India or the East. No one thought to build an Empire there, and, aside from the Dutch
at the Cape of Good Hope, and the Portuguese on the East and West coasts, virtually no
Westerners inhabited this immense landmass. It would remain this way all through the
eighteenth century, until Africa gradually revealed her secrets to the explorers in the
nineteenth century.
In many ways there was very little reason why Europeans should have much interest in
Africa. Eighteenth century Europe still needed her people. The surplus population and
economic depression following the Napoleonic Wars and the industrial revolution still lay in
the future. The little trade between Europe and Africa was mostly in human flesh as the great
plantations of the Americas relied on slaves to remain economically viable. During this
period those willing to deal in human bondage made great fortunes1. Nearly all the sea faring
nations of Europe participated in this trade: English, French, Dutch and Portuguese ships
plied the sea with their miserable cargo. In the hundred years between 1680 and 1786 it is
estimated that the English alone transported over two million Africans to the New World2.
Africans were thought of as mere commodities; soulless, sub-human savages who could be
bought and sold like cattle.
Those outside of slave owning countries had even less contact with the people of Africa.
While there were some Africans in the great cities, they were a minuscule minority in relation
to the overall population. They arrived in the same way as they were taken to the Americas,
as slaves. African slaves first came to London in 1555, and while they were never numerous,
their number grew over time. By the middle of the next century many fashionable and noble
households had black servants3. As late as 1777 slaves in England were branded to make
recognition possible and establish ownership if a dispute arose. Runaway slaves begging in
the streets of the cities were returned to their owners if they were caught. The difference
between slavery in England and the New World was one of degree, not principle.

Durant, Will and Ariel. The Age of Enlightenment. 1965:67.

Durant 1965:68, see Cambridge Modern History VI 187.
3
Ackroyd, Peter. London, the Biography. London: Vintage. 2001:712.
2

A Love Affair with Africa

Very few people questioned the justice of these attitudes or the system of slavery, few
challenged the status quo in any arena of life. It was the way things had always been, and in
all likelihood would so remain. A few people thought differently, and in the early eighteenth
century small movements sprang up to free the slaves. A handful of people joined them, but
for a hundred years they made little progress or impact on popular thought4. The great
emancipation movements of the nineteenth century were merely embryonic.
This was the enlightened, eighteenth century world of Emanuel Swedenborg. Born in 1688
and dying in 1772 his life-span coincided with much of that great involuntary migration of
people. It is possible that he encountered Africans at one point or another during his travels,
although there is no record of it. Yet, Swedenborg took a new view of Africa and Africans,
one very out of step with his times. To him Africans were not mindless, soulless
commodities to be bought and sold like animals in human form, but people with spiritual
qualities. In fact their spiritual potential was far beyond that of the any European. What
Africa lacked in technology and worldly knowledge, it made up for in pure spirituality.
Swedenborgs teachings on Africans are scattered throughout the many volumes of his
theological writings. In 1749, with the publication of his first book, The Arcana Coelestia, he
made a unique claim: he had been permitted to see and speak to spirits in the Spiritual World.
This set him on a long journey of study, resulting in some thirty volumes, in English, of
collected theological writings. In the process he questioned the usually understood concept
of the Trinity, the nature of the Bible, the way of salvation.
Swedenborgs Teachings on Gentiles in General
In the age of Enlightenment, Swedenborg stood squarely opposed to the accepted concepts of
the Christianity of his day. When most Christians believed that only those who had been
baptized and saved would go to heaven, he taught that heaven is opened to all. The
uncounted millions, who had never heard of Jesus Christ or ever read the Bible, would be just
as welcome in heaven as the most pious Christians of Europe. He based this idea on his
contact with the spirits of Gentiles he met in the spiritual world in the period between 1745
and 1772. At the end of his life he reflected that over the years,
I have day by day talked with nations and peoples of this world, not only those from
Europe, but also those from Asia and Africa, as well as those of other religions5
Swedenborg was struck by the reality that there were far more non-Christians, Gentiles, in the
world than Christians, and many of them were in Africa. In the eighteenth century,
Christendom was largely confined to Europe and places immediately colonized by
Europeans. Christians were few compared to the Gentiles in the rest of the world where
Christianity was unknown6. For most Christians, this ignorance, even if it was caused by the
lack of opportunity, condemned these people to hell and everlasting torment. Only Christians
could be saved.
4

Durant 1965:68.
Swedenborg, Emanuel. True Christian Religion. London: The Swedenborg Society. 1988. Passage # 795.
6
Swedenborg, Emanuel. The Word of the Lord from Experience. Posthumous Theological Works. New York:
Swedenborg Foundation. 1969. Passage # 16.
5

A Love Affair with Africa

Swedenborg rejected that idea. Striking a difference between willful and innocent ignorance,
he taught that a Gentiles ignorance was not a choice based on the rejection of God, but a
matter of circumstance, and an all-loving God would tend towards mercy rather than
punishment7.
Swedenborgs teaching about the Gentiles says much about the nature of God. The purpose
for creation, he taught, was to bring all people into heaven where they could be showered by
Gods love. For those removed from Christian influences by cultural and geographical
reasons beyond their control, God made it possible for anyone to go to heaven. This
conclusion was revolutionary in eighteenth century Christianity. To explain how a nonChristian could be saved, Swedenborg writes that God
has provided a religion for everyone, and by it acknowledgment of the Divine and
interior life; for to live in accordance with one's religion is to live interiorly, since one
then looks to the Divine, and so far as he looks to the Divine he does not look to the
world but separates himself from the world, that is, from the life of the world, which
is exterior life8.
He conceded that it was true that Gentiles knew nothing about Christianity, but this was not
from choice. Circumstances had cut them from a Christian faith and life. This puts them in
an entirely different spiritual state than a Christian who rejected Christianity because of the
restrictions belief might place on ones lifestyle. Gentile ignorance was also different from
that of a Christian who, in spite of the opportunities available, simply neglected to find out
about God.
Further, Gentiles can be saved because religion, and consequently salvation, is not so much a
matter of belief, or theological content, but of how beliefs are used in the course of life. For a
religion to connect people to God and lead to salvation, it must lift the mind to some god and
challenge people to subordinate themselves to that god. Belief in a god focuses thought
outside of self, requiring people to submit to the gods will. Even a rudimentary idea of a god
can do this by instilling a willingness to serve god as understood by a particular people.
Every idea of a god, then, Christian or not, lays the foundation of the first great
commandment: to love God above all else.
There is a close interconnection between belief in a god and service to that god, providing the
gods requirements are in harmony with the essential principles of the Ten Commandments.
There is a distinction, for example, between following a god who demands cruelty and a god
who requires honesty or justice. Cruelty appeals to the baser instincts in people, while
honesty or justice requires people to rise above their natural tendencies. Serving a just god
calls for people to place themselves at their gods disposal in both body and mind. This act of
subordination generates humility and innocence, which Swedenborg defines as a willingness
to follow God.

7
8

Swedenborg, Emanuel. Heaven and Hell. New York: Swedenborg Foundation. 1971. Passage # 318.
Heaven and Hell passage # 318.

A Love Affair with Africa

Salvation is possible to Gentiles, because even though they may be ignorant of Christianity,
the religion provided to them by God opens up the deepest parts of their souls. After death,
when the restraints of time and space are laid aside, this humility and willingness to follow
their god makes it possible for gentiles to learn the essentials of true religion. Even in their
ignorance, God lays the foundation for salvation.
Swedenborg saw all religions more as a process of connecting people to God than the
theological elements making up the doctrinal teachings of a religion, although the doctrines
of a religion are important, and the more a religion reflects the truths of Christianity, the more
effective they are. However, the universal principles of how people are connected with God
work in all religions, making it possible for Gentiles as well as Christians to be saved, if they
live according to the process.
By going against the thought of his time, Swedenborg was not advocating an anarchic freefor-all in religion. There have to be certain basic elements in religion which are necessary for
a religion to lead people to heaven. Any religion, Christian or Gentile, missing these
elements will not be able to connect people to God. In essence these elements are universal,
in Christianity the God is God Jesus Christ, in Islam, Allah, in Gentile religions, the
understood god of the people. The life these gods prescribe may vary in different places
according to the individual customs of the people, but they are still able to connect people to
God Himself.
What then, one might ask, is the point of being Christian at all? For Swedenborg the spiritual
life of Gentiles may lead to heaven, but it is not without pitfalls. God leads Gentiles to
heaven in spite of their ignorance, and ignorance in spiritual matters can be dangerous, just as
it can in medical or scientific things. It was precisely to dispel this ignorance that God
revealed Himself in the Word, so that people might have a truer, more fulfilling connection
with Him.
This connection with God results in the perfecting of the human being. A central teaching in
Swedenborgs writings is that people are born with inclinations towards all sorts of loves
opposing connection with God. These tendencies are the source of human selfishness, greed,
anger, pride and the rest of the plagues that haunt humanity. The only way out of this cycle is
by placing God above self, not just in thought, but also in life. As a result people are
changed, regenerated or born again, becoming increasingly, images and likeness of God.
Swedenborg taught that the qualities of true humanity exist only in God. People learn these
qualities through exposure to the Word and a life according to it. The more people learn
about God and the more accurate their understanding of Him, the more perfectly they can live
according to His teachings. In the process they take Gods qualities upon themselves, and
become more human.
This perfection, however, rests on the two primary essentials of religion. The more accurate
the understanding of God, the fuller the expression of worship can be. Since Christianity
rests on a revelation of God given in the pages of direct revelation, Christians have the
chance although they do not always take it of bringing their lives into complete harmony
with Gods. Those outside of Christianity may have an idea of God, but it is circumscribed

A Love Affair with Africa

by ignorance. Religion may be externalized, taking the form of rituals and sacrifices rather
than the inner self searching and internal discipline that Christianity calls for. Spiritually
speaking, Gentiles are handicapped by their lack of direct knowledge of God. While their
religion makes salvation possible, the full development of their spiritual humanity is arrested
by their ignorance, and held captive until, in the spiritual world, they can reach their true
potential through the teaching of the Word.
Swedenborg highlighted the limitations of the state of some Gentile by describing an
encounter with spirits from an island who had lived externally good lives, but knew nothing
of God or the Word. While looking much like everyone else as to their bodies, their spiritual
ignorance had prevented the spiritually human aspects of their minds to develop. After death,
when they had left their bodies aside, their true nature showed itself in the appearance of the
spirit. Swedenborg relates that
[t]hey appeared to me not as human beings but as apes, yet having still a human face.
They so appeared because they knew nothing of God, and the Divine is in the likeness
of a human being. One of the Christians was put in charge of them by God9.
This, of course, was merely an initial appearance. As these spirits learned the truth, their
understanding of God would have gradually grown, and with it, their humanity, arrested in
this world, would also develop. In the process they would lose their ape-like appearances and
appear more and more human. The ignorance imposed in this world would be dispelled in
the next.
Swedenborg stood squarely against the accepted teachings of his time. In an era when nonChristians were considered damned, merely people to be bought and sold, to be transported
across the sea where they could be exploited at will, he described the universal laws of
religion in such a way to include them in the great economy of God. Those who read his
works, from the years immediately following their publication to the present, look at Gentiles
differently.
The Africans
Of all the Gentiles Swedenborg encountered in the Spiritual World, the Africans impressed
him the most. His theological Writings are filled with references to the potential of African
spirituality. In the Spiritual World he found himself able to speak to them on deep subjects,
about God and the nature of human beings and he was amazed at their judgment in these
matters. They could clearly understand spiritual principles that were stumbling blocks to
many educated Europeans.
Swedenborg does not dwell at all on the natural circumstances of Africans in this world. He
makes no reference at all to their culture or customs. His interest is purely in their spiritual
condition. Even though he had never been to Africa, and in all likelihood had never
encountered an African, he speaks with the authority of one who knows them well because of
9

Swedenborg, Emanuel. Last Judgment Posthumous. Miscellaneous Theological Works. New York:
Swedenborg Foundation. 1969. Passage # 129. [130.]

A Love Affair with Africa

his spiritual experiences. He was fascinated by the African mind which he described as
having certain internal qualities that could only have been revealed in the Spiritual World.
The African mind, he taught, works very differently from the Western or European mind.
The Europeans work through a process of learning and memory. They reason from the
memory, often without getting to the real heart of the subject. Further, they place a high
value on the authority of others, especially in religious matters, accepting things to be true
because the leaders of the church have proclaimed it so. This characteristic has always been
strong in European religion. Christianity, as we know it, was largely shaped by councils of
the Church, and reinforced by threats and punishments. It worked, because the European
mind was willing to follow their church leaders, with only a few willing to question and test
the principles of the Church. Christians often believed that the less they understand about the
mysteries of faith, the greater their faith if they believe in them. In thinking this way,
Europeans are committed to rather superficial things.
Swedenborg conceived of the Africans very differently. It is true that they still have to learn
things and commit them to memory, but their thought process goes beyond superficiality to
the kernel of the teaching. They are less concerned with the authority of the church, nor do
they accept religious teachings on the say-so of others, but examine it themselves to see if it
is indeed true. If it is, they assent to it and accept it as truth. This allows them to have a
deeper enlightenment in spiritual matters that the more superficial Westerners do not have.
Swedenborg wrote,
The African race is the one in this earth which is able to be in illustration beyond all
other races, because they are such that they think interiorly, and receive truths, and
acknowledge that they are truths from that ground, differently from other races10
These mental qualities are visible in the attitudes of Africans in the Spiritual World. While
Europeans are prone to pride and intellectual conceit, the Africans are both wise and
intelligent. Part of their intelligence is an instinctive belief that God is a human being11,
although when they come into contact with Christians they may have difficulty accepting the
Trinity, and the idea that God was born a man on earth12.
Swedenborg was so impressed with the African Spirits he met in the next world that he
compared them to the wisest people who ever lived13. They said that they are looking for
information, and that they love to know truths14. In spite of their ignorance of spiritual
matters in this world, the Africans in the Spiritual World are keen to learn about God. To this
end, angels are sent to them to teach them, and the Africans, learn with joy15. When

10

Swedenborg, Emanuel. Spiritual Diary. New York: Swedenborg Foundation. 1978. Passage # 5518.
Swedenborg, Emanuel. The Athanasian Creed. Posthumous Theological Works. New York: Swedenborg
Foundation. 1969. Passage # 81.
12
Swedenborg, Emanuel. Continuation of the Last Judgment. Miscellaneous Theological Works. New York:
Swedenborg Foundation. 1969. Passage # 74.
13
Athanasian Creed passage # 81.
14
Spiritual Diary passage # 5517.
15
Spiritual Diary passage # 5517.
11

A Love Affair with Africa

presented with the truth, they are more receptive than any other people in the world, and
accept the truth willingly16.
As they learn truth, so they adjust their lives to bring it into harmony with what the angels
have taught them. They believe, Swedenborg says,
that there is no man who does not live according to his religion, and, if he does not,
he cannot do otherwise than become stupid, because, then, he does not receive
anything from heaven17.
In this way the elements of religion are planted in the Africans. In the Spiritual World they
are no longer Gentiles, but become angels, indeed wiser angels than many from the
Christians, who, while they lived in the world, believed that these same Gentiles were
doomed to hell because of their ignorance.
These spiritual qualities in Africans are a carry over from this world. Since Africans in the
eighteen century were largely ignorant of the Christian religion, and yet were able to be lifted
up to such heights of spirituality, the question naturally arises: where did the impetus for this
come from? The only answer to this is that Africans in the natural world had to have spiritual
information from somewhere. During his conversations in the spiritual world, Swedenborg
discovered that Africans on earth receive a direct revelation about God, in contrast with the
written revelation of Christianity18. He describes an oral communication from the spiritual
world to the natural, which the Africans do not always hear as a voice, but which opens their
in their minds the ability to see and understand truth when they come across it. Angels told
Swedenborg
that at this day some speak with Africans in the world, and instruct them orally;
and that their speech with them falls especially into their interior perception; and that
they perceive the influx, and so receive the revelation with enlightenment; and that
such speech is with their instructors, in whom they have confidence19.
Africans, therefore, were in a continual process of receiving a revelation directly from heaven
that provided them with the basic essentials for religion. On the one hand, this made them
receptive of truth, and so able to enter into states of spiritual illumination, but on the other
hand led them to reject things they perceived to be false. This is why Africans were so
resistant to the Christian Church, and particularly the teachings of the Trinity. According to
Swedenborg, Africans
acknowledge our Lord as God of heaven and earth, and laugh at monks, when they
come to them, and Christians talking about a triple Divinity and salvation by only
thinking. They say that no one who worships at all fails to live according to his
religion. If he did not, he would inevitably become stupid and wicked, for he does not
then receive anything from heaven20.
16

Spiritual Diary passage # 4783.

Spiritual Diary passage # 5518a.
18
Continuation of the Last Judgment passage # 76.
19
Last Judgment Posthumous passage # 124.
20
Continuation of the Last Judgment passage # 76.
17

A Love Affair with Africa

The source of their information about spiritual matters may be from direct revelation, but
Swedenborg also believed that a sacred text exists in parts of Africa21. This book is written
in symbols and correspondential forms by men who were enlightened in spiritual things22. It
is fascinating to imagine the form this revelation might take. It may, perhaps, be the ancient
myths and legends of Africa, passed from generation to generation, not unlike the stories of
ancient Greece and Rome23. It might be some iconic form that the unknowing European
could easily confuse with a fetish or idol. Whatever it looks like, this revelation is the source
of spiritual enlightenment so that when Africans in the Spiritual World are presented with the
truth, they understand it very clearly, and see deeper things within the Bible, when it is shown
them24. They find that internally the Bible contains the same message they were accustomed
to receiving in this world. They are especially receptive of teachings about life after death
and the reality of heaven, hell and the Spiritual World in general25.
Just as the ancient Israelites knew of the coming Messiah and looked forward to His day, so
from their revelations, some of the people of Africa, from their internal revelations, were
expecting a revelation of the truth. On at least two occasions, Swedenborg meets spirits from
Africa who are waiting for a revelation from heaven about God Jesus Christ26. They believed
that this revelation would spread across Africa from the center to the circumferences27.
Following this revelation, they are also expecting the church to be established among many in
Africa28.
I have heard it reported that the Church today is being established among many in
Africa, that they are currently receiving revelations, and that they are receptive of the
doctrine of heaven, especially as regards God.
This statement caught the imagination of early receivers of the New Church and fuelled them
with a fascination for Africa. Somewhere in Africa there were people who were open and
receptive to the teachings of the New Church. Their Gentilism, from a European point of
view, was part of the grand design for the beginning a new dispensation.
Early readers of Swedenborgs theological writings, took note of some of the balancing
teachings as well. In spite of the spiritual potential, the Africans are still gentiles. There are
gaps and holes in their knowledge that could only be filled through teaching. They noted that
Africans do not know that God was born a man in this world, although they know that God is
in the human form29. When told that he was born of a virgin,

21

Last Judgment Posthumous passage # 120. [121.].

Spiritual Diary passage # 5809.
23
Some of these stories have been collected in the nineteenth century by Bishop Henry Callaway. More recently
collections of African mysteries have been published by Credo Mutwe in his book Indaba, My Children.
24
Last Judgment Posthumous passage # 123. [123.].
25
Last Judgment Posthumous passage # 117.
26
Last Judgment Posthumous passage # 116
27
Last Judgment Posthumous passage # 117. [118.].
28
Last Judgment Posthumous passage # 115.
29
Spiritual Diary passage # 5919.
22

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10

They said that they had not known anything else than that He was, like any other
person, born of a human father, and thus had died, and had afterward been accepted
by people as God, and that they now knew that God was not such a person as others
are (LJP 128).
One temptation those in the early days of the New Church faced was to think that these
teachings applied to all Africans. Swedenborg makes the point that not all Africans were the
same, and they differ in their idea of God30. The result was that the practice of religion,
which always comes from the notion of God, differed from place to place. In some parts of
Africa, the understanding of God was so obscure that it opened its way for spiritual abuses
that led inexorably to hell, rather than to harmony with God.
There were also evil Gentiles, and just as Africans had the potential of becoming the best of
angels, so they have the ability to become the worst of devils31. One example Swedenborg
gives of religion gone wrong in Africa is the case of a queen who believed that she had
absolute power
over the lives of men, namely, that it had been lawful for her to kill whomsoever
she pleased, whether innocent or guilty. Moreover, from her religious belief she knew
that there was a God, and likewise acknowledged Him. She was lascivious in an
extreme degree, and admitted lovers, but had afterwards caused them to be slain, lest
a report should thence spread to the public, that she was of such a character. She was
seen. She was black like the inhabitants of that region, with a handsome face, and,
also, beautiful hair32.
These counterbalancing teachings were very important, for while Africa in mid-eighteen
century was a closed book to Europeans, by the end of the nineteenth century it was well
known. Although many people thought they had found the idea Africans that Swedenborg
described, their experience also showed that the other type also existed, and, in spite of that,
they should not lose hope for the reception and growth of the Church in Africa.
Organizing the New Church
Swedenborg did not start any Church organization, he was content to write down the details
of his revelation and leave the development of the church to those who, in the future, would
read and accept his teaching. This reception was always slow. In his native Sweden, his
followers were persecuted. It was against the law to publish his Writings there until 1809.
The law forbidding the formation of a New Church organization was not lifted until 182733.
Small groups gathered to form reading groups, and these often fell under the influence of
spiritualism or Mesmerism and lost interest in Swedenborg. The New Church stood very
little chance of a vibrant birth in Sweden, mostly because of the entrenched opposition of the
state controlled Lutheran Church. New religions, or sects, simply had no place in the
established order of things.
30

Last Judgment Posthumous passage # 119.

Consider Spiritual Diary passage 3s 4946 4951.
32
Spiritual Diary 4740.
33
Block, Marguerite Beck. The New Church in a New World. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1932:52.
31

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11

Since the situation was similar in other countries it is not surprising that the organized New
Church was still-born in Europe. The exception was England. England had been spared
most of the horrors following the Reformation. The Civil War of the 1640s was the closest
they had come to religious conflict. The benign spiritual freedom granted in England from
the Restoration onwards created a climate of tolerance to most forms of Protestantism. This
was partly why Swedenborg published many of his books in London, and it was there that
people began to read them34.
Swedenborgs theological writings did not sell like hot cakes, but some people read them and
were struck with the insights, interpretations and challenges to historical Christianity he laid
down. Many were convinced that Swedenborg was telling the truth about his experiences,
and came to acknowledge his work as a Divinely inspired revelation that would form the
foundation of an entirely new Christian Church. There were two theories of how this New
Church would come into being so we will consider briefly the founders of these movements,
Rev. John Clowes35 and Robert Hindmarsh.
John Clowes was an Anglican clergyman serving in the Manchester area. He first read
Swedenborgs writings in 1773, just a year after Swedenborg died. Impressed with the
teachings, he established a New Church Society. Clowes characterized one approach to the
development of the New Church. He believed that the purpose of the New Church was to
revitalize the existing Church, injecting a new Christianity into an otherwise tired religiosity.
In line with this, he never broke with the Church of England, but continued to serve his
Anglican parish. His was a tremendous influence on the developing New Church, and many
owe their connection with the Church to him. In spite of remaining in communion with the
Anglicans, he was a skillful and erudite scholar of Swedenborgs works, probably the first
true Swedenborgian scholar. He wrote many works, which are still available, and many are
still read.
Ten years after Clowes conversion, a young man of nineteen, Robert Hindmarsh, also found
Swedenborg Writings. He was also convinced that they were true, and began to look for
other readers. Together with a group of three friends, Hindmarsh advertised a public meeting
at a coffee shop in London. One person attended, swelling the group to five. The
characteristic of this group, and others, who followed in Hindmarshs footsteps, was the
belief that the New Church would not survive within the confines of the Church of England
or any other currently existing organization. It had to be a completely new and free church,
founded entirely on Swedenborgs Writings. This little meeting in a London coffee-shop laid
the foundation for the New Church as an organization. The ambitious group began meeting
weekly, and gradually the numbers grew.
The early receivers of the New Church were energetic missionaries. They began to preach to
groups in the open air, not unlike the friars of medieval times. The results were slow, but
gradually little groups of receivers formed in London, Salisbury and Bristol36. Together with
34

The other European stronghold of tolerance was the Netherlands. During the Seven Years War, when England
was closed to Swedes, Swedenborg was able to continue publishing in a very similar environment to England.
35
Pronounced Clues.
36
Block. 1932:63.

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12

Clowes work in the Manchester area, the New Church, by the late 1780s was starting to take
form.
As the church grew, so the issue of the nature of the New Church and its relationship to the
existing Christian Church became urgent. The faction, led by John Clowes, believed that the
New Church was a revitalizing force within the organized church, particularly the Church of
England37. Those who followed Hindmarsh were mostly from a Methodist background.
They wanted to start a new organization with its own priesthood. The matter came to a head
in 1787. The church separated and ordained a new clergy to lead it. On July 31st, 1787 the
separatist faction applied for a Dissenters License, and the New Church came into being as
an organized body38.
This organization of the New Church in England would, of course, have a great impact on the
development of the Church in the world and most current New Church activity can be traced
back to this separatist group.
Early New Church concepts of Africans
Inspired by the portrayal of Africans in Swedenborgs Writings, early New Church people
took an idealized view of Africans. This is
evident in the early literature, and indeed in
the art, of the New Church. One of the
earliest works of New Church art is an
illustration, published in the Intellectual
Repository for 1791 depicting a scene from
one of Swedenborgs recorded spiritual
experiences. It this picture an African spirit
is pointing out the true concept of marriage to
European spirits. His wisdom on the subject
earns him a crown of recognition.
As early New Church converts read
Swedenborgs works, some of them were
struck with how wise they depicted Africans
in contrast to the locally accepted mores of
the day. The issue of slavery was still largely
unquestioned in the second half of the
eighteen century.
Africans were barely
human, bi-pedal beasts of burden, good only
for the labor they produced. Some early New
Church readers, however, were deeply
moved by the hope and promise for the Gentiles, and particularly for Africans.
An early convert, Charles B. Wadstrom, read Swedenborgs descriptions of Africans, and
grew increasingly convinced that slavery should be abolished. Not only was it an affront to
37
38

He refused a Bishopric to concentrate on developing the New Church within his parish (Block 1932:65).
Block. 1932:65.

A Love Affair with Africa

13

the African people in this world and the next, but it also went completely against
Swedenborgs strong teachings about personal freedom.
In 1779 he convened a council in Sweden to discuss agitating for the abolition of slavery.
Those attending the council were convinced at they should establish a colony on the coast of
Africa for freed slaves, with the full intention that they would also be taught Swedenborgs
doctrines. Wadstrom and his group petitioned the King of Sweden for eight years, until, in
1787, the king sent him to the west coast of Africa to find a location for this colony.
Wadstrom took his idea to England to find capital. The colony was established in due course,
but in 1795 it was destroyed by French pirates and most of the colonists were killed.
Swedenborgs teachings about Africans, had, however, given a new spark to the anti-slavery
movement. Amongst those influenced by his teachings was William Wilberforce39, who is
generally considered ultimately responsible for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire
in 183340.
The teachings about Africans continued to fascinate New Church members through the
nineteenth century. Story after story appears in the pages of New Church publications, some
of them quite fanciful, but all leading in the general direction that Africans are more spiritual,
more highly civilized and more Christian than was generally thought possible in Europe.
One example of a story published to highlight the nobility of Africans, at the expense of
Europeans, was published in a New Church periodical in 1812. In it a young African is
placed in the army of Louis XIV. This youth was mistreated by an officer, and was called
upon to retaliate. The article relates how
[h]e refused, and in fact chose to leave the army rather than take revenge. His closing
words were: he did not imagine the Christians were such unaccountable people; and
that he could not apprehend their faith was of any use to them, if it did not influence
the practicer. In my country, we think it no dishonor to act according to the principles
of our religion41.
Recalling this story from the days of Louis XIV, thus before Swedenborgs doctrines,
indicates the belief that Africa had been spared the moral and spiritual decline that
Swedenborg taught had gripped Europe. The principles of faith and honor were still
practiced in Africa, even if not in so-called Christendom. At the root of this article is the idea
that the New Church almost exists somewhere in Africa which someone would find soon.
If New Church ideas of Africa were uninformed as the exploration and opening up of Africa
had yet come to pass, they were by no means the only people who believed that there were
secret civilizations in Africa. One such account is in another article in 1818:
For some years past the attention of Europe, and particularly our own country, has
been directed to the interior of Africa, where, in consequence of reports gathered by
39

Block. 1932:55.
There is also evidence that Abraham Lincoln was also a reader of Swedenborgs works, although it is not clear
how much these influenced him in his abolition of slavery in the United States.
41
Halcyon Luminary 1812: 140.
40

A Love Affair with Africa

14

various travelers, there has been supposed to exist a nation highly civilized. That this
conjecture has a foundation in truth, those who receive the testimony of E[manuel]
S[wedenborg] are fully convinced . 42.
In this particular instance the story is told by a French Marquis who found himself enslaved
by a highly civilized nation near the Mountains of the Moon43. This nation formed part of the
Empire of Droglodo, an empire as ancient as China and more civilized than its surrounding
neighbors. The Marquis
examined the history of their country, and found their sacred books much resembling,
in many respects, the Holy Scriptures. He conceives that Genesis has been written
according to the geography of that country44.
Once again Swedenborgs writings were presumed to be vindicated in this account, perhaps
especially since it came from a non-New Church origin. He had written that the Africans had
a revelation, and also that Europeans caught among them were sold into slavery. The
importance of this testimony was reinforced to contemporary New Church people by the
observation that this story had been published by a London newspaper, the New Times, on
14th April 1818. It was not a New Church fabrication, but still it seemed to substantiate
Swedenborgs writings, feeding the belief of an advanced New Church civilization, and
substantiating the writings of Swedenborg.
A similar account appears in the same magazine four years later. This account takes place in
the same area of Africa, the Mountains of the Moon, which seemed to capture the
imagination of the times. In this article, a Mr. Waldeck writes that
he found an inscribed pillar, erected by a Roman Consul, about the period of
Vespasian. On the top of this chain of mountains is a level tract of 400 miles broad on
which he discovered a temple of the highest antiquity, and in fine preservation, and
still used for religious purposes45.
Not all those enthusiastic about Swedenborgs Writings were convinced of their accuracy
regarding Africans. In 1812 James Glen of Demerara, South America46, wrote a letter to the
editor of the Intellectual Repository questioning whether negroes or Indians could ever be
true Christians. His observation was that while slavery was contrary to the concepts of
human freedom taught so strongly in Swedenborgs Writings, nevertheless it served to
provide an external restraint on the greater evils likely to erupt should the slaves be freed.
Glen rejected the external Christianization of Africans in the New World, holding that under
the faade of Christianity lay an intense savagery. In addition to this, they seemed to be
totally uninterested in religion at all. The final paragraph of his letter expresses his angst on
the subject.
42

Intellectual Repository 1818:167.

So far research has not turned up the location of these mountains. It is possible that they may be the
Ruwanzori Mountains in the lake district of Uganda or they may be entirely fictional.
44
Intellectual Repository 1818:167.
45
Intellectual Repository 1822:71.
46
Modern Guyana.
43

A Love Affair with Africa

15

I will safely venture to say, few men have ever enquired by questions, into the
thoughts, ideas, and affections of negroes and American Indians here, more than I
have; and though they have seen me most desirous to pump up all the knowledge of
any kind I could get out of them, yet I never found one who had the least desire to
enquire after any knowledge of any kind by a single question put to me. Yet I am
certain there is no negro or Indian here, man or woman, who would not ten times
rather choose a handful of tobacco or a bottle of new rum, or five or six bits of dry
money, than any kind of knowledge that I could communicate; and as to spiritual
knowledges of any kind, they are totally averse to them; they deem them idle and
useless; money and sensual pleasures, and fine clothes are seated in the inmost
chamber of their affections. Can such persons ever be made real and internal
Christians?47
James Glen had good reason to be despondent. He had first learned about the New Church in
1781 while reading a Latin copy of Heaven and Hell aboard ship. A scholar and linguist he
embraced the New Church with fervor and planned to transport it to the British colony of
Demerara in South America. He joined the organized New Church in London in 1783, and is
generally held responsible for introducing its teachings to Philadelphia and so to the United
States in 1784. Most of his adult life, however, was spent in Demerara, gradually coming to
the conclusion that his work was a failure and that negroes could never become Christians48.
Perhaps James Glen had run into the less heavenly kind of African. His letter to the
Intellectual Repository did not dampen enthusiasm for finding the kind of Africans described
in Swedenborgs Writings. If the British public in the 1820s thought of Africa as a land of
mythological civilizations, their expectations were not diminished by some of the realities
that emerged as the continent opened up. As the century wore on, European contact with
Africa began to stretch beyond the coasts. South Africa is a good example of this. Prior to
1795, the tip of Africa was a Dutch possession, originally settled as a company colony for the
Dutch East India Company. Aside from the natural beauty of the Cape, the Dutch were not
particularly interested in the Cape as an imperial possession. It was more important as a
fuelling station for ships traveling to more exotic possessions in the East Indies. Cape Town
provided necessary food, and some excellent wines. The British and other European nations
voyaging to India and other places on the continent were happy to refuel there too, but had no
territorial aspirations.
This changed, however, with the Napoleonic Wars. With the Netherlands under French
control, the British were concerned that the Cape might fall into the hands of the French.
That would interrupt their passage to India. To prevent this from happening, they took
control briefly in 1795, and then permanently in 1806. This gave them a toehold in Africa.
The news filtering back to England was in some ways as interesting and thought provoking as
reports of lost, almost New Church civilizations. The animals were almost as mythical, and it
is easy to see why a person who could believe in a hippopotamus could easily believe that
Vespasian left a pillar at the base of the Mountains of the Moon.

47
48

Intellectual Repository 1864 327.

See Block 1932:62-63; 73-74.

A Love Affair with Africa

16

In the modern world of zoos and game reserves, movies and photographs, the creatures of
Africa are no longer mysterious, but consider a reader in 1822 being introduced to a hippo for
the first time:
This singular animal is frequent in the rivers which water the new colony at Alloa Bay
(sic)49, near the Cape of Good Hope. It is here called the Sea Cow. The body is the
size of the largest ox, the foot much larger, but of the same shape, yet the legs are not
more than 18 inches long. The skin from one and a half to two inches thick, rough
and uneven, with a little hair scattered over it. The head is immensely large,
measuring from the top of the head to the nose three feet, breadth across the eyes two
feet two inches, continuing nearly the same size quite down to the mouth. Just above
the mouth are two holes through which the animal spouts up water; the tusks are from
four to five inches long, the ears very small. This leviathan of the rivers generally
keeps in the water, but at night comes out to feed on the weeds and long grass which
abound on the banks. Of all the monsters nature has formed, this is surely the most
ugly50.
British settlers poured into South Africa throughout the nineteenth century, admittedly not in
the same mighty flood that populated Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States,
but in sufficient numbers to populate the Cape Colony. Knowledge of local areas brought an
increasing awareness of ignorance of the true immensity of the continent. One thing that
seemed to be lacking in the eyes of the settlers familiar with Swedenborgs teaching,
however, was confirmation of the mythical New Church civilization. It certainly was not
evident in South Africa.
In England, people looked for evidence of the African Church in other parts of the continent.
Every description of Africa was scrutinized and reported on. The news was mixed. In an
1844 report on Nigeria, a writer observes that Africa for the greater part seems shut up as
effectively against the advances of civilization as if it were upon another planet51. The same
writer points out that four fifths of the map of Africa is blank, although what they have found
is exciting:
For half a century, the English government has been expending lives and treasure in a
partial exploration. They have found that this whole tract of country is one of amazing
fertility and beauty, abounding in gold, ivory, and all sorts of tropical vegetation52.
This blankness helped to perpetuate the hope that surely, with all that natural wealth, in the
vast blank expanses that lost hidden nation continued. A strong belief remained in the New
Church that Swedenborgs description of an African civilization living in angelic harmony,
enriched with a revelation direct from the angels.
Upon this river [the Niger] are scattered cities, some of which are estimated to contain a
million of inhabitants, and the whole country teems with a dense population Far in the
49

Should read: Algoa Bay.

Intellectual Repository 1822:72.
51
Intellectual Repository 1844:439.
52
Intellectual Repository 1844:440.
50

A Love Affair with Africa

17

interior, in the very heart of this continent, is a nation in an advanced state of

civilization53.
African Religious Beliefs
As Africa gradually opened up, and Europeans began to learn about their cultures and
religious beliefs, so New Church people continued to look for signs that the Africa spoken of
in Swedenborgs Writings was congruent with the Africa before them. While they were
naturally interested in the geographical reports of Africa, and the sociological descriptions
filtering out of the continent, their primary interest was in the religion of Africans.
Swedenborg had said nothing about the natural circumstances of Africa; if the Africans
described in his writings were to be found, the indicators would be their beliefs and religious
practices. In 1864 an article appeared in the pages of the New Church magazine, the
Intellectual Repository which indicates that New Church people might interpret African
religions somewhat differently from others.
New Churchmen have a special interest in watching the disclosures of what may be
the religious doctrines of the Africans; and when those disclosures are made in a spirit
of rational inquiry, rather than with sectarian colouring for sectarian opposition, they
become important as well as interesting54.
The same articles uses Western Africa as an example, by citing that religion in that area is
monotheistic. The writer states,
But I think that with some shadow of confidence, I may hazard an opinion by stating
that, on closer examination, the religion of Africa will be found in general to be
monotheistic55.
He goes on to then describe how the people in the district of Accra have a pretty exact
knowledge of the one God, whom they call Father and the eternal one So exact is their
knowledge, but they do not even have a plural form of the word God. Missionaries from
the area assured the writer of that article that they had had to coin a plural form when
translating the Bible into the regional language.
This analysis of African religion was very interesting for nineteenth century New Church
people. It coincided perfectly with Swedenborgs description of Africans as being almost
angelic, for not only are angels monotheistic by definition, but he says, that they are unable
to open their lips to utter the word "gods," for the heavenly aura in which they live resists
it56. In descriptions like these there is not only a coming together of practice and doctrine,
but also an indication of the truth of Swedenborgs teachings.
The issue of monotheism was central to New Church people, for Swedenborg had rejected the
orthodox Christian concept of one God in a Trinity of Three Persons. Such an idea, he said,
53

Intellectual Repository 1844:440.

Intellectual Repository 1864:102.
55
Intellecutal Repository 1864:102.
56
This is a reference to TCR 6.
54

A Love Affair with Africa

18

was monotheism on the lips, but tritheism in practice. If the Africans rejected a plurality of
God, then they embraced the monotheism of Swedenborg.
The monotheism of this tribe, however, did not translate into the personal loving God, Jesus
Christ, whom the New Church worshipped. In New Church theology God is a constant
presence in peoples lives, intimately involved in every detail, both guiding and protecting
human freedom of choice. This personal aspect of God was missing from African concepts
of the Divine.
the African considers God to be too high, too mighty a Being, too far from
the earth to trouble himself about the small affairs of men; and therefore it is
ordained in African theology that the African mortal creature should be placed
during the present life under the protection of Fetishes57.
Fetishes, idols and cultic images were characteristic of pre-Christian African beliefs, in
which spirits abounded and ancestors were the primary protectors or punishers. The
Africans did not pray directly to God. In some cultures He was almost forgotten, or
remembered as a primary creator.
Thus while African religious beliefs coincided at times with the teachings of the New Church,
there were also bitter disappointments when those leads were carried to their conclusions.
However, the New Church concept of religion is multifaceted. Belief plays an important role,
and as Swedenborg wrote, the idea of God is the most important one a person can have.
However, ideas or beliefs in their own right do not create spirituality. True religious life is an
interaction between belief and activity. If the exuberant reports of monotheistic West
Africans was somewhat subdued by fetishism, then other reports rekindled hope that the life
of religion might be found on the continent.
The published reports of Dr. David Livingstone, whose travels took him deep into the heart of
Africa, rekindled the belief that somewhere in Africa the New Church existed, that a
revelation was taking place, the Word read, and that elusive angelic culture flourished.
Livingstones journey into modern Malawi enthused English readers, one of whom writes,
Who shall despair of Africa when we find it contains a race energetic and industrious
in their habits, skilful in workmanship, obedient to law, and holding a belief in one
God and a future state? Such are the people of Nyassa58.
Africas Magna Charter
Even though the people at the time could not have known it, the New Church was moving
towards her role as a spiritual presence in Africa. The promises and hopes of an African New
Church had had to wait for a long century as the continent opened up both physically and
spiritually. Soon, however, the first tentative steps towards establishing the New Church
would break the boundaries of colonial groups and spread amongst Africans. In the
meantime, the ground work of interest in and enthusiasm for this work was growing in
57
58

Intellectual Repository 1864:102.

Intellectual Repository 1866:185.

A Love Affair with Africa

19

England and South Africa. A final discussion that influenced the New Church in England,
and perhaps laid the finishing paving stones for an African Church took place in the 1890s
between two scholarly men.
In 1892 Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson was eighty years old, a giant of a man, both
mentally and physically59. His contribution to New Church literature and thinking was
immense, spanning more than forty years. He first appears on the New Church scene in the
1850s. Following the tradition of John Clowes, he was a Non-Separatist who had not given
up membership in the Church of England. This did not limit his total commitment to the
New Church; it simply meant that he was interested in various avenues to its growth other
than the organized church. Like many New Church people of his time, he was fascinated by
Spiritualism, although he believed sances to be harmful60. It is some measure of the man
that the attraction Spiritualism held for him was the possibility of using Spiritualistic methods
of communication as a way of treating the insane. Automatic writing and drawing, for
example, could provide a way of analyzing and tracking a mental patients progress. It is
interesting that his idea of having asylum patients draw, and then comparing drawings done
over a period of time, has become a standard practice in certain therapies61. A profound
intellect and liberal thinker, he was interested also interested in Fourierism62, the nineteenth
century movement advocating free love although Wilkinson was sufficiently grounded in
Swedenborgs doctrines of marriage to see that the two ideas did not mix63. Because of this,
Fourierism lost to the New Church in claiming his allegiance. He also played an enormous
role in translating and publishing works by Swedenborg that had not yet appeared before the
public. Historian, Marguarite Beck Block sums him up saying,
Dr. Wilkinson may well be called the first Swedenborgian scientist in England, for he
not only translated the Regnum Animale, and other works by Swedenborg, but also
wrote several highly original works of his own, such as The Physics of Human
Nature, and The Human Body He wrote a Life of Swedenborg in which he takes a
decidedly liberal view of the great Seers life and teachings64
Wilkinsons liberal approach did not always endear him to readers in the New Church, but his
standing in the scientific community, plus the fact that he was personal friends with people
like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry James and others of that calibre65, meant that when he
wrote something, people took notice. They took notice in 1892, when he published a book
with the imposing title: The African and the True Christian Religion, his Magna Charta, a
study in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, by James John Garth Wilson, Fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society. The reference to the Royal Geographical Society was the final
reminder of his already impressive and impeccable credentials. This was a work to take
seriously.
59

Morning Light 1891:487.

Block 1932:140.
61
This type of therapy is particularly useful in assessing children who may not have the verbal skills to express
their inner conflicts.
62
Followers of Charles Fourier.
63
Block 1932:150.
64
Block 1932:307 308.
65
Block 1932:308.
60

A Love Affair with Africa

20

He was a man to take seriously. His thoughts on Africa were grounded on wide reading,
study of Swedenborgs Theological Works, and on contact with African people. For years he
had been in contact with Africans, and once had two African bishops under his roof at the
same time66. He had personally traveled to North Africa, as had other members of his family.
His interest in the continent and its people was so deep, that he considered himself to be an
African!67
Wilkinson further enhances the credibility of the book by dedicating it to Dr. Edward W. H.
Blyden with the following words:
I am glad to have your kind permission to inscribe this Book to you. I sought the
honor because you are an eminent Representative of your Race, and in the near future
will in all likelihood be instrumental in guiding and shaping its fortunes. I also wish
hereby to signalize my obligations to your powerful work, Christianity, Islam and the
Negro Race, of which I have made large use68.
Edward Wilmot Blyden was also a well-known, respected scholar. His distinction from
contemporary scholars was the fact that he was black and lived in Liberia. Blyden was born
in the St. Thomas Virgin Islands in 1832. Initially intending to be a clergyman, he studied on
the island until he outgrew the school. In 1850 he went to the United States and applied to
enter a theological college. His race barred him. A year later he left the United States for
Liberia, an independent African country on the West Coast.
Blyden continued to educate himself. In turns he became a principal of a school, a college
professor, the Secretary of State for Liberia. He edited newspapers, and even ran for
president. Over the years he wrote many pamphlets and books, each championing and
defending the people of Africa and Africans abroad. He is recognized as one of the founders
of the Pan-African movement, and his works are still held in high esteem.
Blyden sought to prove that Africa and Africans have a worthy history and culture.
He rejected the prevailing notion of the inferiority of the black man but accepted the
view that each major race has a special contribution to make to world civilization. He
argued that Christianity has had a demoralizing effect on blacks, while Islam has had
a unifying and elevating influence69.
Blydens views on Africa, which included some controversial insights into the success of
Islam over Christianity, were spread through many of his works. His greatest work, however,
Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race, published in 1887 was the one that inspired
Wilkinson to connect African nationalism with New Church Doctrine. Blydens theme was
that Christianity had largely failed to provide Africa with the influences necessary to remake
66

Morning Light 1891:488. The author does not state whether these African bishops were truly African, or
British missionary bishops who had been posted to Africa.
67
Morning Light 1891:488.
68
Wilkinson, James John Garth. The African and the True Christian Religion, his Magna Charta, a study in the
Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, by James John Garth Wilson, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
1892.
69
Biographical Resource Center.

A Love Affair with Africa

21

African society. On the other hand Islam has performed admirably. He reiterated this belief
to Wilkinson in a letter of gratitude for the dedication of Wilkinsons work.
I believe that Islam has done for the vast tribes of Africa what Christianity in the
hands of Europeans has not yet done. It has cast out the demons of fetishism, general
ignorance of God, drunkenness, gambling, and has introduced customs which
subserve for the people of the highest purposes of growth and preservation. I do not
believe that a system which had done such things can be outside of Gods beneficent
plans for the evolution of humanity70.
The concepts in Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race sparked many ideas in Wilkinsons
mind, amongst them, Swedenborgs descriptions of Africa and Africans combined with
teachings on the nature of Islam and the people drawn to it. One passage that leaped out at
him, and is quoted in his own book is Blydens description of a new African civilization.
It will be indeed must be a civilization of a peculiar stamp; perhaps, we venture to
conjecture, not so much distinguished by art as by a certain beautiful nature; not so
marked or adorned by science as exalted and refined by a new and lovely theology a
reflection of the light of heaven more perfect and endearing than that which the
intellects of the Caucasian race have ever exhibited. There is more of the child, of
unsophisticated nature in the Negro race than in the European71.
These words may well have come from Swedenborg, they summarize his teachings so well.
For Wilkinson, the obvious solution was the New Church, taken to Africa and presented to
Africans by Africans committed to the cause. Wilkinson takes Blydens idea that Africa
would be best populated by expatriate, educated American Christians who can teach and lead
the people, and carry them a step forward. The motive for this repatriation must be religion,
and that religion, of course, must be the New Church. He writes,
But what if the Negro learns from Swedenborg, through his religious instructors of his
own race, that a special new religion awaits him, and that according to his obedience
to its commandments he can be a new man with a high mission before him?
(Wilkinson 1892:vi).
Wilkinson was convinced that the only solution to Africas troubles lay in the New Church,
for only in that way would it be possible for people, both black and white, to come to a true
appreciation for each other: Now I see that such a state superinduced upon the Negro Race
would soften the relations of the Black population to the white men72. The only way to do
this, would be to create a store of black missionaries from the Americas to penetrate the
Dark Continent73. Stanleys Darkest Africa would become the New Churchs Brightest
Africa74.

70

Blyden to Wilkinson, Nov. 17th 1891. Published as an appendix to Wilkinson 1892:244.

Wilkinson 1892:126, quoting Edward Blyden: Christianity, Islam and the Human Race.
72
Wilkinson 1892:vii.
73
Wilkinson 1892:vii.
74
Wilkinson 1892:7.
71

A Love Affair with Africa

22

To demonstrate his point that the New Church is the most suitable Church for Africa,
Wilkinson spends over a hundred pages in the first part of The African and the True Christian
Religion on Swedenborgs teachings on Africans. It is one of the longest and fullest
expositions of the subject in the history of New Church literature. Interspersed among the
quotations is editorial material on the suitability of the New Church to the African. One
particularly poignant editorial passage reads:
In these deep, clear, doctrinal, childlike conferences of Swedenborg with the Africans
in the spiritual world, we see in him an explorer in a real but new sense, for spiritual
space is a reality, being no other than the distance or measured distance between the
hearts and affections; and he was with these disciples in social intercourse on the
ground of love alone. No stranger can be in the spiritual Africa, but by the
neighborliness of the heart. The information he communicated and exchanged with
his beloved Africans for they made it take the simple form it did was not only
good school theology, but was a profound alteration of the state of those African
spirits, putting them in receptive communication with their long unknown heavens,
and kindling their hearts to the Africa they left behind in the natural world75.
He followed this exposition of Swedenborgs teachings on Africans with a careful analysis of
Blydens work, showing how in many cases it was in perfect accord with Swedenborg. A
particular parallel he draws is between Swedenborgs teaching, and Blydens experience that
Africans do not easily accept the missionary teachings of European Christians. However, if
the missionaries were African themselves, of the same spiritual heredity of their potential
converts, and if they could speak the language, getting to the heart of the matter, then they
would be welcomed by hearts that want them76. It would be even better still if Africans
converted to the New Church then became the leaders of their own churches.
Wilkinson does not idealize the Africans of his time, though. He points out that the African
spirits Swedenborg spoke to were heathens, and remained so while in the natural world77.
The angelic Africans have not yet been found78. However, while many people at that time
would accuse the African as having a thirst for blood and an utter disregard for human life
often combined with cannabilism79, the New Church person would not give up looking
for the good ones. Rather poignantly he writes,
The tenor of Swedenborgs general doctrine, however, would be, that if there were no
good men in Africa in this time, there would be no good spirits then from Africa in the
spiritual world; consequently no communication through heaven by spiritual African
societies to any natural African society on earth. Death changes no man; he is most
exactly the same man, person, identity, character, in the life after death as before; only
that his earthly body, which obstructs his showing for good or evil, is put aside80.

75

Wilkinson 1892:18.
Wilkinson 1892:152.
77
Wilkinson 1892:145.
78
Wilkinson 1892:154.
79
Wilkinson 1892:162.
80
Wilkinson 1892:162.
76

A Love Affair with Africa

23

Although reports of African savagery may be true, Wilkinson holds fast to the belief that
those who will embrace the New Church are in and continue to be in Africa somewhere.
Wilkinson finishes his book by drawing a parallel between the Epiphany of Jesus Christ and
the coming of the New Church to Africa. Both introduce new states of the Church, on in the
person of God, the other in the teachings of the Word. The hope of the New Church, and
through it of all humanity, lies in Africa.
The African and the New Church Religion sparked a wave of interest in the Africa and the
prospects of the Church there. Reviews appeared in various New Church periodicals over the
next few years. Some of them disagreed with Wilkinsons interpretations of Swedenborgs
teachings on Africa81, but this merely served to focus attention even more closely on the
spiritual nature of Africans. Other reviewers took issue with Wilkinsons writing style, but
never with the concept itself. Africans need the New Church, because the New Church is
particularly suited to their mind, and when they receive it, they will lead the way into true
Christianity. J. Howard Spalding sums this up in the closing words of his review of
Wilkinson:
Great as is the change which has passed over the popular idea of the Negro since
Swedenborgs time, the great mass of the races of European origin still overlook him
so loftily that he is scarcely visible to them, except as the object of a smile or jeer. The
time may come when the white man, having exhausted all the resources of his
vaunted civilization and found it vanity, may be willing to receive from the humble
Africans the lessons of the way of life; and find, at last, that he has been unwittingly
sitting at the feet of Jesus and learning from Him to be meek and lowly of heart82.
The nineteenth century is called many things, but seldom the Age of Africa, yet in many
respects this is what it was. The fantasy notions, born of ignorance, of the first half of the
century gave way to the opening up of the continent. While there were those who fought the
institution of slavery, there were also those who were only too eager to exploit Africa for their
own ends. The possibilities of land, power, gold, diamonds, space and servants proved too
much for many Europeans. Africa was carved up into the Empires that define which part of
the continent speaks which European language. For the most part the relationship between
Europe and Africa was not edifying, nor would they be for a long time to come.
In the New Church, however, the idea of Africa did not change, but ripened and matured.
The early enthusiasm of the Swedish idealists who formed their colony on the West Coast
grew into the appreciation of African potential. Wilkinsons book, the articles, lectures and
dreams of the next twenty years served to refine that enthusiasm. Within twenty years for
Wilkinsons book, Swedenborgs doctrines would be read across South Africa and in Lesotho,
and within a hundred years would form the basic belief of people in East and West Africa,
French and English both. In almost all cases the New Church developing in the individual
counties of Africa would begin by people finding copies of Swedenborgs Writings, and
81

For example, J. Howard Spaldings review in New Church Magazine (1892:590) calls Wilkinson to task or
presenting the idea that the revelation to Africans is temporary. Spalding writes that the revelation to the
Africans was not merely a preparation for a Church, but the institution of a Church, and therefore remains a
continual fact, rather than a once-off event.
82
Spalding, J. Howard. New Church Magazine. 1892:593.

A Love Affair with Africa

24

contacting organized churches in England and the United States. At the present moment, the
majority of New Church people live in Africa.