Re:새교회의 역사에대하여

[더원]

새교회 역사

Swedenborg spoke of "the New Church" that would be founded on the theology in his works, but he himself never tried to establish an organization. At the time of his death, few efforts had been made. But May 7, 1787, 15 years after Swedenborg's death, the New Church movement was founded in England, a country Swedenborg often visited and where he also died. By 1789 a number of Churches had sprung up around England and in April of that year the first General Conference of the New Church was held in Great Eastcheap, London. New Church ideas were carried to United States by missionaries. One famous New Church man was Johnny Appleseed. Early missionaries also went to parts of Africa as Swedenborg himself believed that the "African race" was "in greater enlightenment than others on this earth, since they are such that they think more interiorly, and so receive truths and acknowledge them." (A Treatise concerning the Last Judgment, n. 118) Although potentially odd-sounding today, at the time this was viewed as intensely liberal and so members of the New Church movement accepted freed African converts to their homes as early as 1790. Several of them were also involved in abolitionism.[2]

In the U.S., the organized New Church movement was organized in 1817 with the founding of the General Convention of the New Church (sometimes referred to as the Convention,) now also known as the Swedenborgian Church of North America.

The movement in the United States grew increasingly stronger until the late 19th century, when a controversy about doctrinal issues and the authority of Swedenborg's writings caused a faction to split off to form the Academy of the New Church which would become the General Church of New Jerusalem (sometimes referred to as the General Church,) with headquarters in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In the 1930s, a doctrinal issue about the authority of Swedenborg's theological writings arose in the General Church. Members in the Hague branch of the General Church saw Swedenborg's writings as the Word of the Third Testament, which they wrote about extensively in their Dutch magazine De Hemelsche Leer. Actions by the leading Bishop of the General Church caused those holding this new doctrinal view to split off to form The Lord's New Church Which Is Nova Hierosolyma.

Today, the General Church has about 5,000 members in 33 churches. The Swedenborgian Church of North America, with headquarters in Newtonville, a suburb of Boston, now has 37 active churches with about 1,500 members in the U.S. The Lord's New Church Which Is Nova Hierosolyma, with headquarters in Bryn Athyn, now has about 28 active churches with about 1900 members worldwide. The most recent membership figures for the Four Church Organizations 2000[3]:

• General Conference (Great Britain): 1,314
• General Convention (USA): 2,029
• General Church of the New Jerusalem: 5,563
• The Lord's New Church Which Is Nova Hierosolyma: 1,000

The Lord's New Church is primarily associated with South Africa, although roughly 200 members are in the United States, and concerned with justice issues there. The nations of Australia and Germany are estimated to have 504 and 200 members, respectively. When counting additional members in Asia, Africa, and South America, current sources put the total of organized New Church members as between 25,000-30,000.

[pooh]

Johnny Appleseed가 뭔 동화책인 줄 알았더만 Swedenborgian의 개척선교에 관한 책이었군요!
제너럴 처치나, 뉴처치나 역사에 비해서는 소수의 인원이어서 안타까운 마음이네요.
칠십억 인구중 십칠억이 회교도라는 통계가 있다지요?
최소한 칼을 들어 휘두르거나, 불신지옥 정도의 무기를 들이대지 않으면 교세확장은 어려운 듯 합니다.
하지만 보리님의 천계의 경험은 강력한 진리의 메세지이기에 주님의 허락하에 보편화? 되리라 기대해 봅니다.
그리고, 예수교회는 General Church에 속하는가요?

[더원]

예수 교회는 미국 새교회와 무관합니다^^

[pooh]

아~네! 그러네요.
예수교회는 한국에서 자생적으로 출발한 교회로 나와 있네요. 덕분에 두루 살펴보고왔습니다.
감사합니다.

[pooh]

새교회의 홈에가서 예배 실황을보니 참 좋게 느껴진부분은 아이들에게 실천적인 생활에 촛점을 맞춘 설교가 와 닿았습니다. 정갈하고 과장되지않은 분위기가 맨밥에 양념 간장을 얹어먹는 깔끔한 맛이었습니다.
제 느낌에는 진정 건강 식단이라는 생각이드는 반면
대중이 좋아하는 다시다를 듬뿍친 짜장면, 국밥과는 좀 다른 차원의 음식과 같고
간결하나 격식이 있는 선비들이 즐길 법한 식단 같다라는 느낌을 받았습니다.
그런 과정에서 새교회의 역사와 교세에 대한 궁금증이 일어 질문을 드렸던것입니다.
늘 게의치 않으시고 답해주셔서 감사드립니다!