The Angels and Us Book

This is a book of philosophy about the possibility that angels exist. If they do exist, then what kind of being must they be? Mortimer J. Adler was a very serious scholar, and so his contribution to this question cannot be discounted. His aim is ambitious. “I claim for it more than that. I will try to show that angels are the most fascinating of all such objects of fantasy and thought because, unlike all other forms of superhuman intelligence that fall short of the infinite power of a divine intellect, angels—and angels alone--are minds without bodies.” (4)

Clearly a major hurdle to his inquiry is the lack of solid, testable evidence. “The only justification for affirming the existence of something unperceived and, perhaps, imperceptible is that whatever it is that needs to be explained cannot be explained in any other way. This is the sound rule laid down by William of Ockham in the fourteenth century and it has been followed ever since by careful, cautious scientists and philosophers.” (56) While there is much support for the existence of angels in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions, perception in a modern sense is difficult.

In typical Adler fashion, there are a number of interesting points. “To say that the devil has an irresistible power to cause sin is to deny that human sin, original and subsequent, proceeds from the exercise of free choice on the part of Adam and his descendants.” (90) Such ethical debates are hallmarks of Adler’s philosophical education and approach. He speculates as to what kind of beings they might be. “We noted earlier that if angels really exist, they are neither like bodies, temporal beings, nor like God, eternal. As finite spiritual beings, they exist in a manner that lies between temporality and eternity: their existence is aeviternal.” (132) I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen the word aeviternal before. Similarly reasoned, “Hence, we must give an affirmative answer to the following hypothetical question: ‘If angels really exist, do they love God, first of all, and then themselves and other angels, all objects they know by the ideas infused in their natures by God; all objects the intrinsic goodness of which they also understand?’ The angelic love just affirmed is both natural and an act of free choice.” (139) All in all, this is just a difficult book to love. It is entirely theoretical. That Adler is very well informed, a wonderful righter, and applies the maximum amount of reason makes the book a worthy contribution.

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