[1][2][3] Taking the form of an account in which Swedenborg claimed communication with extra-terrestrials, the work was used to explore his theological ideas.

[1] The book contained content originally published in Arcana Cœlestia, which was in turn drawn from Swedenborg's personal journal.

[4][3] Emanuel Swedenborg was a Swedish mine assessor, natural philosopher, biblical exegete, theologian and spirit-seer.

In his early life his works had mainly been scientific and mathematical, but after a religious conversion in the mid-1740s he pivoted entirely to spiritual and mystical works—with his claimed clairvoyance making him famous.

[1] The preface to the 1787 English translation called it "merely visionary, groundless and enthusiastic, and the fruit only of a light or disordered imagination".