Lotteries, Schism, and Swedenborg: Robert Hindmarsh and the New Jerusalem Church

Robert Hindmarsh was the son of a barber turned Methodist preacher, from Alnwick, Northumberland. He became an apprentice printer in London where an encounter with the works of Emanuel Swedenborg put him at the heart of the religious ferment of the late eighteenth century. But when a new revelation appears, how should one respond? Should a new church be created or should the old one try to be renewed? What authority does one have to act at all? Can a new priesthood be inaugurated or do priests have to be drawn from the old church? What happens when the source of a new revelation is found to have written some suspect things about marriage? And how can one stay safe in revolutionary times when any form of dissent was regarded as suspicious? These were the issues Robert had to grapple with as he and a small group of others sought to create the New Church based on the teachings of Swedenborg. Along the way he became a wealthy printer, a failed stockbroker, and a witness at the Peterloo massacre. He was loved and disparaged by other Swedenborgians, depending on whether they agreed with the choices he had made. Read more