If John Chapman’s life consisted of little else besides starting apple nurseries, it still would have been quite memorable. However, apples were just the beginning of Chapman’s alpha-to-omega faith journey.What Chapman really identified with was his role as a Swedenborgian missionary for The New Church. The Swedish theologian and scientist, Emanuel Swedenborg, lived from 1688 to 1772. Before entering his “spiritual phase” at the age of 53, Swedenborg had already sketched a flying machine, anticipated the existence and function of neurons, and helped to develop the nebular hypothesis.
At age 53, Swedenborg began experiencing dreams and visions which expressed a “battle between the love of his self and the love of God.” This was understood to be a cathartic, purgatory-like phase of his spiritual development. Swedenborg claimed to have visited heaven and hell – and to have talked with angels, demons, and spirits from other
planets. According to Wikpedia, he also “claimed he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity.” He therefore spent the rest of his life writing theological works such as Heaven and Hell.
The New Church (aka “Swedenborgianism”) embraces some distinct theological positions. According to the
website swedenborg.org, tenets of Swedenborgianism include the following: the Second Coming has already
taken place – and, in fact, is continuing to do so; the final judgment is a self-realization rather than an
evaluation by an outside Power; the Trinity consists of “one Divine Nature in which the three aspects of God are present”; Love is “the basic element of reality;” and Truth is “love in action.”
Chapman’s life seemed filled with action-oriented, loving Truth. Throughout his early-Christianity type of travels, he would “tell stories to children, spread the Swedenborgian gospel to the adults, receiving a floor to sleep on for the night, sometimes a supper in return.” He was also a vegetarian whose Christian compassion extended to animals, and even to insects.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Appleseed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg
http://www.swedenborg.org/Beliefs/Tenets_of_Swedenborgianism.aspx
http://www.sacred-texts.com/swd/hh/index.htm
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