A curious, mildly interesting survey of angelology. As a "modem
pagan," Adler looks at angels not as objects of devotion but as
intriguing philosophico-theological constructs. Regardless of
whether they actually exist, angels allow us to toy with the
possibility of disembodied minds and, says Adler, serve as a device
for detecting spiritualistic fallacies in psychology, politics,
linguistics, etc. Adler gives a clear enough precis of the vast
tradition on angels (sensibly choosing Thomas Aquinas as its
classic expositor), but many readers will no doubt balk at taking
the imaginative leap of admitting even the potential reality of
pure spirits. Hobbes argued that the very idea of incorporeal
substance is as much a contradiction in terms as a round square,
and Adler never really refutes him. (Adler characteristically
neglects the mythological - and highly unspiritual - origins of
biblical angels; knowing, for example, that cherubs were once
tutelary gods of Baby-Ion, winged beasts with human faces, makes
one wonder about their subsequent etherealization.) Still, there's
merit in Adler's comparison of angelology with mathematics: both
are self-consistent systems based on certain unprovable
assumptions. And there's some speculative fun to be had thinking
about angels, as when Adler suggests that an angel can occupy a
body in physical space without leaving heaven, "just as a
corporation that has its legal residence in Delaware can act in
Honolulu without leaving the state in which it is incorporated."
Adler's concluding thrusts at angelism in the work of various
thinkers (Plato, Descartes, et al.) score direct hits, at rather
close range. All in all, a dry but informative little study.
(Kirkus Reviews)
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.
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