Swedenborg and Esoteric Islam

The first English translation contains two essays by French Islamic scholar Henry Corbin: "Mundus Imaginalis, or the Imaginary and the Imaginal"; and "Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics". Corbin called Swedenborg “the prophet of the inter­nal sense of the Bible” and compared his biblical symbolism to the Quranic interpretations of the great Islamic mystics. This new edition now includes an index.

This volume makes two essays by Henry Corbin, the eminent French scholar of Islam, available in English for the first time. Although his primary interest was the esoteric tradition of Islam, Corbin was also a lifelong student of the theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg. The first essay, "Mundus Imaginalis, or The Imaginary and the Imaginal," clarifies Corbin's use of the term he coined, mundus imaginalis, or "the imaginal world." This important concept appears in both Swedenborgian and esoteric Islamic spirituality. The second piece, "Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics," compares the revelation of the internal sense of the sacred boks of two distinct religions, Christianity and Islam.

"Mundus Imaginalis, or the Imaginary and the Imaginal" and "Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics" first appeared in Henri Corbin Face de Dieu, face de l'homme: Herméneutique et soufisme, Paris 1984.