Swedenborg & the Arts Conference

Listed below are the conference packages and the single ticket options available for you to purchase. After reading the information below, please click on the green button on the top right of this page that says "REGISTER" and make your payment.

Please make sure you read the Helpful Information at the bottom of this page.

Upon completion of your registration you will receive an emailed order summary.

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Bryn Athyn College is hosting the first-ever international conference dedicated to examining the influence of Emanuel Swedenborg’s writings on the arts. More than twenty-five scholars from ten different countries will be at the conference to explore and discuss Swedenborg’s substantial influence on literature, painting, architecture, music, and other forms of art.

The conference offers a singular opportunity to hear how Swedenborg’s theology and science catalyzed a number of different artists and writers, ranging from the Romantic poet William Blake to the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky. How does one capture in paint or stone the reality of an inner spiritual world? Come learn how the artists George Inness and William Keith attempted to answer this question on their canvases, and transformed American landscape painting in the process. Why did Swedenborg’s view of heaven and the cosmos shape urban design and architecture, from Daniel Burnham’s plans for Chicago to the Arts and Crafts movements of the late nineteenth century? And how did Swedenborg "the Buddha of the North," in D. T. Suzuki's words, end up becoming a critical resource for East-West cultural translation for early Modernists in Japan.

Artists, writers, and musicians inspired by the ideas contained in Swedenborg’s works are still painting, still writing, and still designing today. Some of them will also be at the conference to discuss what they are currently working on and their horizons for the future.

The full preliminary program is available on the Bryn Athyn College web site on the "Program" button at: www.brynathyn.edu/swedenborgconference

Please visit one of the other following links for more conference details:

https://swedenborgartsconference.wordpress.com/

www.facebook.com/SwedenborgArtsConference

Bryn Athyn Cathedral

Monday June 5th: Check-in

2:00 - 5:00 Check-in at the Brickman Center

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Tuesday June 6th: Swedenborgian Imaginaries

8:00 - 9:00 Check-in at the Brickman Center

9:00-9:30 Welcome and opening remarks from Bryn Athyn College President Brian Blair and event co-organizers Dr. Jane Williams-Hogan and Dr. Devin Zuber

9:30-10:30 Keynote 1: Wouter Hanegraaff, University of Amsterdam, "Imagining Swedenborg's Heaven"

10:30-10:45 Refreshment break

10:45-12:15 Session 1: Spiritualist Poetics

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:45-3:30 Session 2: Swedenborg in World Literatures

3:30-3:45 Refreshment break

4:00-6:00 Optional: Open House - Swedenborgiana and archives at the Swedenborg Library

Optional: Walking tours of Bryn Athyn / Pennypack Ecological Trust Watershed / Lord's New Church (weather permitting)

Dinner on your own

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Wednesday June 7th: Seeing, Hearing, and Building New Worlds

9:00-9:15 Opening Remarks

9:15-10:15 Keynote 2: Linda Dalrymple Henderson, Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin, "Swedenborg and the Arts in Later 19th / Early 20th Century Contexts"

10:15-10:30 Refreshment break

10:30-12:00 Session 3: American Landscape Painting

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:45-3:30 Session 4: Visionary Architecture and Sound

3:30-3:45 Refreshment break

4:00-4:45 Tour of Bryn Athyn Cathedral - Martha Gyllenhaal

5:00-6:30 Self-guided tours of Glencairn Museum

6:00-9:30 Wine reception in Glencairn's Cloister (weather permitting), followed by the banquet in Glencairn's Great Hall

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Thursday June 8th: Ripples of Radiating Influence

9:00-9:15 Opening Remarks

9:15-10:15 Keynote 3: Massimo Introvigne, Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), University of Torino, "Concentric Circles"

10:15-10:45 Refreshment break

10:45-12:15 Session 5: William Blake and His Circles

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:45-3:30 Session 6: European Romanticism and Its After-Effects

3:30-3:45 Refreshment break

3:45-5:15 Session 7: Jamesian Modernisms

5:15-7:00 Dinner on your own

8:00-10:00 Swedenborg at the Cinema (discussion and screening of short films)

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Friday June 9th: Inspired Futures

9:00-9:15 Opening Remarks

9:15-10:15 Keynote 4: Homero Aridjis

10:15-10:30 Refreshment break

10:30-12:15 Session 8: Swedenborg and the Contemporary

12:15- 1:00 Closing Plenary Session

Dr. Devin Zuber and Dr. Jane Williams-Hogan + select panel chairs

1:00-1:45 Lunch

Each of the eight sessions will typically have three or four speakers.

Glencairn Museum - Great Hall

Package 1 – Conference, banquet, bed and breakfast, private room $595

Package includes:

• Registration for the 3.5 day conference, including morning and afternoon refreshment breaks

• Lodging for 4 nights: Mon / Tues / Wed / Thurs

• Wednesday night banquet at Glencairn Museum

• Breakfasts and lunches for 4 days: Tues / Wed / Thurs / Fri

Package 2 – Conference, banquet, bed and breakfast, shared room $425

Package includes:

• Registration for the 3.5 day conference, including morning and afternoon refreshment breaks

• Lodging in a shared room (2 x single beds) for 4 nights: Mon / Tues / Wed / Thurs (If you have a roommate in mind, you will be given the opportunity to specify the person during the registration process.)

• Wednesday night banquet at Glencairn Museum

• Breakfasts and lunches for 4 days: Tues / Wed / Thurs / Fri

Package 3 – Conference, banquet, no accomodation $215

Package includes:

• Registration for the 3.5 day conference, including morning and afternoon refreshment breaks

• Wednesday night banquet at Glencairn Museum

• Lunches for 4 days: Tues / Wed / Thurs / Fri

Package - 4 Students: Conference, banquet, bed and breakfast, shared room $350

Package includes:

• Registration for the 3.5 day conference, including morning and afternoon refreshment breaks

• Lodging in a shared room (2 x single beds) for 4 nights: Mon / Tues / Wed / Thurs (If you have a roommate in mind, you will be given the opportunity to specify the person during the registration process.)

• Wednesday night banquet at Glencairn Museum

• Breakfasts and lunches for 4 days: Tues / Wed / Thurs / Fri

Not attending the entire 3.5 day conference?

Single tickets -

Single full-day conference fee, including lunch on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday $52

Single half-day conference fee, including lunch on Friday $32

Banquet dinner at Glencairn Museum on Wednesday night $30

Typical single bedroom

Helpful information

Full-conference registration fees and single-days fees include lunch and refreshment breaks.

Dinners will be on your own, at your own expense, except for the Wednesday night banquet at Glencairn Museum. The banquet ticket is included in the full conference fee and available separately for people not attending all 3.5 days.

All accommodations are in college-style dormitories and have a shared bathroom.

Refunds are available upon request with advance notice.

A $50 room key fee will be charged and refunded when the room key is returned at the end of the conference.

Now click on the green REGISTER button at the top of the page to make your purchase.