[bobjob]

As I've said several times I'm not a historian but a bit of research revealed the following.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, famed for his Sherlock Holme character and books, is said to have had ”...a brilliant and deductive mind, one that was razor-sharp with insight. ” Doyle is said to have used those qualities when probing Spiritualism and after a thorough investigation publicly proclaimed himself a Spiritualist time after time. (SNU review of History of Spiritualism vol 1)

Doyle gives over the first 16 pages of the first book of his treatise on the history of Spiritualism to Swedenborg. (I downloaded this book in PDF form) The author speaks effusively about the man before concluding: “He was a very great seer, a great pioneer of psychic knowledge, and his weakness lay in those very words which he has written.”

The impression I gained from Doyle is that Swedenborg’s ideas were often in line with what’s found in Modern Spiritualism but as an actual Spiritualist - rather than having just an academic interest in Spiritualism - I remain unpersuaded he should be considered the father of Spiritualism.