The Angels and Us PDF
Preview The Angels and Us
ancets ano us th€ by J ~rtimer ~dler MACMILLAN PUBLISHING CO., INC. New York COLLIER MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS Londo« 1 anqels ano us th€ by J ~rtimer ~dler MACMILLAN PUBLISHING CO., INC. New York COLLIER MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS Lmu/qn 2 the angels and us 3 OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR Dialectic What Man Has Made of Man How to Read a Book How to Think About War and Peace The Capitalist Manifesto (with Louis O. Kelso) The Idea of Freedom The Conditions of Philosophy The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes The Time of Our Lives The Common Sense of Politics The American Testament (with William Gorman) Some Questions About Language Philosopher at Large Reforming Education Great Treasury of Western Thought (with Charles Van Doren) Aristotle for Everybody How to Think About God Six Great Ideas 4 the angels and us by Mortimer J. Adler MACMILLAN PUBLISHING CO., INC. New York COLUER MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LAndQn 5 Copyright © 1982 by Mortimer J. Adler All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. 866 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022 www.SimonandSchuster.com Collier Macmillan Canada, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Adler, Mortimer Jerome. The angels and us. Bibliography: p. Includes index. I. Angels. 2. Angels—History of doctrines. I. Title. BT966.2.A34 235’.3 81-20810 ISBN 0-02-500550-2 AACR2 eISBN-13: 978-1-4391-0578-8 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America 6 7 Contents Preface PART ONE Prologue 1. The Fascination of Angels (1) Minds Without Bodies (2) Extraterrestrial Intelligences (3) The Image of Angels 2. The Significance of Angels (1) Significance for Whom? (2) Reality or Possibility (3) Theology or Philosophy PART TWO Angels as Objects of Religious Belief 3. The Dogma and the Doctrines (1) Why a Belief in Angels? (2) What the Belief Is (3) From Dogma to Doctrines (4) An Angelic Entertainment 4. The Reality of Angels (1) Why Try to Prove the Existence of Angels? (2) The Reason God Created Angels (3) The Great Chain of Being (4) The Best of All Possible Worlds 5. Theological Speculation About Angels (1) The Range and Order of Questions (2) The Mission of Angels on Earth (3) A Necessary Digression (4) The Life of Angels in Heaven 8 6. Hell’s Angels (1) From Heaven to Hell (2) Satan in the Service of God (3) The Mystery of Original Sin PART THREE Angels as Objects of Philosophical Thought 7. The Possibility of Angels (1) The Crux of the Matter (2) Who Says That Angels Are Impossible? (3) Reasons for Affirming Their Possibility 8. Philosophical Exploration of That Possibility (1) Angelology and Mathematics (2) The Mutability of Angels (3) The Differentiation of Angels (4) Angelic Occupation of Space and Movement Through It (5) Angels as Knowers (6) Angels as Lovers (7) The Community and Communication of Angels PART FOUR Angelistic Fallacies in Modern Thought 9. How Like an Angel! (1) And How Unlike! (2) The Two Extremes (3) The Incarnation of the Angel 10. Shades of the Prison House (1) The Immortality of the Soul (2) One or Two? (3) More Like an Angel (4) The Incarceration of the Soul 9 11. If Men Were Angels (1) Angelistic Politics (2) Angelistic Psychology (3) Angelistic Linguistics (4) Angelistic Ethics PART FIVE Epilogue 12. Man on the Boundary Line (1) Straddling the Line or Reaching Over It? (2) The Weakness of the Human Mind (3) The Middle Ground (4) The Resurrection of the Body 13. What More to Read About Angels Index 10
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