The New Jerusalem rests squarely on just a few ideas. The spiritual Writings penned by Emanuel Swedenborg point to these fundamental ideas in various ways. But from frequent statements we can summarize them as “the Lord,” “the Word,” and “life.”

“The Lord” means the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Person of God – God as we can know Him, and with whom we can be joined in blessed relationship.

“The Word” is the body of truth that God has revealed – the means by which we can know and enter into relationship with Him.

“Life” means living according to what we learn in the Word. Salvation – that is, living in happy harmony with God and our fellow humans – depends on actually being the kind of person that the Lord teaches us to be. We become that person through our efforts to live that way.

The subject matter of the first three of the books which are gathered into Four Doctrines of the New Jerusalem reflect these three essential foundations of New Church Teaching.

– Doctrine regarding the Lord
– Doctrine regarding the Sacred Scripture
– Doctrine of Life

The fourth book, Doctrine of the New Jerusalem regarding Faith, is a worthy companion to the first three books. Salvation depends on our recognizing and acknowledging what we are to believe and live. That recognition and acknowledgement is faith.

Together the books in this volume present a brief and clear picture of the essential teachings of the New Church.