The angels and us

Adler, Mortimer Jerome 1902-2001 (Author).

Summary: Mortimer Adler has always been ahead of his time. In 1982, before the current revival of interest in angels, Dr. Adler published "The Angels and Us", an engaging look at the various images and hierarchies of angels (including guardian angels). Dr. Adler, the bestselling author of "Ten Philosophical Mistakes", "Aristotle for Everybody", and "The Great Ideas", speculates on the existence of angels; why Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in angels, and the ways angels have been viewed as objects of religious belief and philosophical thought. This is a wonderfully enlightening work on the affinities between angels and human beings. [From publisher's description].

Record details

ISBN: 0020300654
ISBN: 9780020300656
Physical Description: print
xiii, 205 pages ; 21 cm
Publisher: [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], ©1982.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-197) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

The fascination of Angels -- Minds without bodies -- Extraterrestrial intelligences -- The image of angels -- The significance of angels -- Significance from whom? -- Reality or possibility -- Theology of Philosophy -- Angels as objects of religious belief -- The dogma and the doctrines -- Why a belief in angels? -- What the belief is -- From dogma to doctrines -- An angelic entertainment -- The reality of angels -- Why try to prove the existence of angels? -- The great chain of being -- The best of all possible worlds -- Theological speculation about angels -- The range and order of questions -- The mission of angels on earth -- A necessary digression -- The life of angels in heaven -- Hell's angels -- From Heaven to hell -- Satan in the service of God -- The mystery of original sin -- Angels as objects of philosophical thought -- The possibility of angels -- The crux of the matter -- Who says that angels are impossible? -- Reasons for affirming their possibility -- Philosophical exploration of that possibility -- Angelology and mathematics -- The mutability of angels -- The differentiation of angels -- Angelic occupation of space and movement through it -- Angels as knowers -- Angels as lovers -- The community and communication of angels -- Angelistic fallacies in modern thought -- How like an angel! -- And how unlike! -- The incarnation of the angel -- Shades of the prison house -- The immortality of the soul -- One or two? -- More like an angel -- The incarnation of the soul -- If men were angels -- Angelistic politics -- Angelistic psychology -- Angelistic linguistics -- Angelistic ethics -- Epilogue -- Man on the boundary line -- Straddling the line or reaching over it? -- The middle ground -- The resurrection of the body -- What more to read about angels.