Correspondences of the Bible: Animals: The Animals

Within the literal language of the Bible is a deeper spiritual meaning that points the way toward a greater understanding of faith and of our own role in the world. Eighteenth-century scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg described that inner language of the Bible as “correspondences.” More than a century later, John Worcester used Swedenborg’s teachings as the foundation for a three-volume road map to the correspondences of the natural world. Correspondences of the Bible remains one of the most highly regarded references on the subject today.

Correspondences of the Bible: The Animals covers both the familiar and the exotic, from farmyards to remote jungles. Animals are grouped by function and by similarities in their correspondences, and Worcester discusses how certain character traits can overlap by species, sometimes manifesting in a positive way in one animal and negatively in another. He draws from Bible verse, Swedenborg’s writings, and the science of his time to shed a fascinating new light on the living world around us.

From the opening page of his first published theological work, Swedenborg engages readers in his doctrine of correspondences -- the idea that certain words and names in scripture represent, or correspond to, deep spiritual truths. Correspondences of the Bible: The Animals covers both the familiar and the exotic, from farmyards to remote jungles. Starting with the animals that feature most prominently in the Bible -- sheep, goats, and oxen, the animals used for sacrifice -- Worcester goes on to discuss beasts of burden. Other animals are grouped by function and by similarities in their correspondences, and Worcester describes how certain character traits can overlap by species, sometimes manifesting in a positive way in one animal and negatively in another.