Interview with PhD Student CJ Swenson
CJ Swenson is a PhD student in Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion at the Graduate Theological Union, with a concentration in New Religious Movements. A recipient of the GTU Presidential Scholarship, CJ brings a deep curiosity about mysticism, subjectivity, and space, shaped by a rich blend of spiritual traditions and academic inquiry.
GTU: What key experiences, people, or places have shaped your path toward doctoral study, and how did they influence your decision to pursue a PhD?
CJ Swenson (CS): I was always really interested in the biggest ideas—things like infinity, bottomless pits, and recursion—and this transformed as I got older into a passion for mystical spirituality. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and as a teenager I found the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. And it came like a revelation. One of the things that really fascinates me about him is the ways that he inverts and problematizes the subject-object dichotomy. I’ve now been studying Swedenborg for 12 years, and that carried me through my undergraduate degree at Westminster College and my master’s degree at Brigham Young University. Additionally, I had many mentors who encouraged me towards doctoral studies. Dr. Deidre Greene, who teaches at the GTU, is one of those mentors. She’s a big part of the reason I’m at the GTU and the fact that she believed in me means the world to me. Dr. Tony Brown at Brigham Young University is also a big mentor and advocate for me. And finally, none of this would be possible without my wife and our toddler daughter.
GTU: How would you describe your research interests, and what questions are you most passionate about exploring at this stage of your academic journey?
CS: At this stage of my academic journey, I’m deeply interested in the phenomenology of space as it appears in the visionary theology of Emanuel Swedenborg. I’m especially compelled by Swedenborg’s idea that psychology is, in a way, ecological—that thoughts and emotions are not confined within us but manifest in the environments of heaven or hell. For example, he writes of an angel’s thought appearing as a bird, and I read this moment as a statement about the porous boundaries between mind and world. In Swedenborg’s cosmology, introspection becomes circumspection: to look inward is to observe the surrounding world and vice versa. To me, this suggests a spiritually animated ecology in which the self and the environment co-constitute one another. This project also includes an architectural dimension—Swedenborg’s claim that angels dwell in houses that are expressions of the self opens rich questions about built environments in spiritual space and the nature of intersubjectivity. I aim to approach these themes through phenomenological methods, drawing on thinkers like Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, to explore how selfhood, space, and spirit interweave in visionary experience and theological imagination.
GTU: What made the GTU stand out to you as the right place to pursue your doctoral work?
CS: What drew me to the GTU was the opportunity to work with Dr. Devin Zuber on Swedenborgian studies, as well as the institution’s strong commitment to interdisciplinary and interfaith engagement. Having completed a master's degree in comparative studies, I’ve long been immersed in crossing disciplinary boundaries—my thesis combined art history, literature, philosophy, and spirituality to explore the cultural atmosphere preceding World War I. The GTU stood out as a place where not only academic disciplines, but also spiritual traditions, are invited to interpenetrate—making it an ideal environment to root my doctoral work.
GTU: How does receiving the Presidential Scholarship shape what’s possible for you in your doctoral journey?
CS: Receiving the Presidential Scholarship feels like an unexpected and deeply meaningful gift—one that opens space for me to pursue my work without compromise and with a sense of responsibility. It allows me to fully invest in research that I hope will contribute to the reenchantment of the world—a vision shaped by thinkers like Owen Barfield, who imagine a more participatory, spiritually alive way of being in the world. More than just financial support, the scholarship affirms the possibility that my work might help dissolve the boundaries of what Charles Taylor called the “buffered self” and move toward a deeper, more interconnected understanding of self, world, and spirit.
GTU: What are you most excited to dive into—whether it’s research, community, teaching, or something else—as you begin your PhD at the GTU?
CS: What I’m most excited to dive into at the GTU is dialogue—the generative exchange that happens when different intellectual, spiritual, and cultural worlds meet. I’ve spent years fostering conversations across traditions I’m personally connected to, including Latter-day Saint, Swedenborgian, and Anthroposophical communities, as well as in the university classroom, where I taught philosophy with a focus on curiosity and perspective-taking. My academic journey has been shaped by a deep commitment to creating space for meaningful, transformative conversations, and I’m eager to continue that work within the GTU’s uniquely diverse and interdisciplinary environment.
GTU: What impact do you hope your work will have on your field, your community, or the world?
CS: I hope my work contributes to the ongoing project of reenchantment—helping people see the world as spiritually alive, interconnected, and participatory. More specifically, I’d love to see Emanuel Swedenborg recognized as a kind of proto-phenomenologist, a thinker who systematically explored subjective experience in ways that resonate with contemporary philosophical inquiry. In any case, my aim is to offer frameworks that bridge spirituality and scholarship, to invite a deeper, more meaningful engagement with the world.
GTU: What advice would you offer to others considering doctoral study in religion or theology?
CS: My advice to anyone considering doctoral study in religion or theology is to begin by asking yourself the deepest question: Must I do this? I think Rilke writes in Letters to a Young Poet about writing applies to this kind of study as well: “Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write. Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet the solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity.”