Customer Reviews

Angels and Demons: What Do We Really Know about Them?

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4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Reading Peter Kreeft is always a pleasure: his enthusiasm is contagious, his love for God, his good nature and humility in spite of being a philosopher are qualities that should be expected from any writer of books (whose purpose is to get in our minds his version of things).

His book on angels is short, succint, fun, clever as usual, informative, scholarly but not pedantic, and very entertaining. It's one of those books you read in 3 nights (around 150 pages).

You have to keep in mind that this author is Catholic and so you are going to find the Catholic perspective on certain aspects of the Christian faith. Catholic or Protestant you should agree, as is clearly demonstrated in this book, that angels are not myths, that they exist and the exist for some reason which is not meant to be any secret.

I encourage you to know more about the army of angels that God has disposed for your protection and for communicating His purpose to you, that is: if you are willing to be one of His sons or daughters.

Because we all are his creation, but we only become His children by accepting Christ, His Son, as our Lord and Savior (Savior from sin -to those PC oriented persons).

I picked up this book quite at random a few days ago in the bookstore and didn't put it down until I finished it. Many times, the popular books on angels out there are made up of (uneducated) guesses or what feels good, but Kreeft uses reason, Church tradition and other philosophers (mostly Aquinas), in addition to the Bible, to support his answers about angels. It's tough to wade through all the pop-theology books on angels in stores and I highly recommend this as one of the few quality gems that makes a lot of sense. Truly a refreshing, intelligent, and thought-provoking read.

Using his typical blend of theology, philosophy, scripture and good sense, Kreeft crafts an engaging summary of what we know about angels and demons. It's not meant to be a compelling story, but an exploration in truth about our spiritual friends and enemies. Good food for thought!

Peter Kreeft has a gift, and that gift is making the most difficult and exalted philosophy and theology accessible to the modern reader. Much like his excellent redacted Summa with comments: A Shorter Summa: The Essential Philosophical Passages of Saint Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica Kreeft here takes a brief, and highly educational, look at what Scripture, Theology, and Philosophy tell us about Angels and Demons.

The book is written in question and answer format. Kreeft humbly and patiently answers questions that many modern people have about angels. However, it is not some weird and new age treatise. Kreeft gives us scholarly and scriptural answers to our questions about Angels and Demons.

This book is sane and solid and at times fun and entertaining. It is an easy read, and not at all off-putting and therefore I recommend it to everyone, especially skeptics and unbelievers.

As a believer I must point out that all around us there is a battle being waged for our souls. This war, between Angels and Demons, is one we cannot see with our eyes, but one we can discern with scripture and through the eyes of faith.

Read this book and learn why we ask St. Michael the Archangel to, by the power of God, defend us in battle against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.

The market is flooded with books on angels, many whimsical and speculative, others recounting meetings between angels and humans, and some even claiming to tell you how to talk to your angel. We have angel dictionaries and angel encyclopedia, books filled with great paintings, and others with personal angel art. This book is for those who want to ponder what Scripture tells us about angels, and what the great theologian, Thomas Aquinas, had to say about God's messengers as well. For those of us interested in the real root of the fascination, this is a treasure trove. Anyone can dream dreams of angels; anyone can make up stories about them. Anyone can draw his or her ideal winged guardian. But pondering the actual biblical passages that involve angels can be very surprising and inspiring, as this is where the real beginning of our understanding of angels resides. Like all Peter Kreeft's many books, this one is very readable. It's clear, concise, and will lead inevitably to the Bible itself. After all, that is where we first meet our angels, in the pages of the Old and New Testaments; and it may surprise readers to discover how much the Bible actually tells us about these mysterious and powerful creatures. I should add here that I find Thomas Aquinas endlessly fascinating, but difficult. And after reading Peter Kreeft's book, it was much easier for me to approach The Summa Theologica for the many intricate passages on angels bad and good. Peter Kreeft is a great teacher. This book captivates and instructs.

Anyone who has read any of Peter Kreeft's books knows that he does not write to the arrogant academic elite but to the common adult (including "young adults"). In particular, the audience of this book is to Catholics, old or young, who wish to learn more about angels. More broadly, he writes to all Christians (and even Jews and Muslims); there are a couple of places where he explains doctrines that non-Catholics might be confused about.

The book is in question and answer style, 100 questions divided into four sections. The first section is "Questions about Our Fascination with Angels" (4 questions), the second is "Questions about How We Know Anything about Angels" (13 questions), the third section is "Questions about the Nature of Angels" (66 questions), and the fourth section is "Questions about Demons" (17 questions). There are also three appendices: "A Short Course in Angelistic Philosophy," "A Snakebite Letter: Sex and the Media" (Kreeft's "Snakebite Letters" are his updated version of C.S. Lewis' "Screwtape Letters"), "What the New Catechism of the Catholic Church Says about Angels," and "Angels and Demons in the Bible."

My only complaint is that he usually does not cite his sources (eg. Bible, Summa Theologica, etc.) As a student, I would have liked have been able to follow up on what he says.

In short, as with most of Kreeft's works, he inspires a certain excitement for Christ and His Church.

There are so many fluffy "feel good" books out there that make angels out to be cherubic pansies. This is solid information -- scripturally based, with faith and reason to boot! Excellent!

Authoritative and based on solid theological ground.
This book is the best modern introduction on angels and spirits. It is full of facts, citations, illustrations and lot of youthfull humor. I enjoyed it very much and in particular the appendix about the phenomenon of angelism in our society. A must read for all interested in theology, spirits and angels.

In light of the recent angel fad, the numerous angel books, and television shows and motion pictures about angels it can be hard to know what is really known about angels.

Peter Kreeft tries to shed some light on this subject with this book. Drawing on the Bible, traditional Church teaching, and the Church Fathers Kreeft provides straight, clear answers to such questions as: "How do angels communicate with God?", "How do angels communicate with us?", and "Do demons really exist?"

The book is fast, and at times fun, reading.

I enjoyed reading Peter Kreeft's "Angels and Demons." Writen in a question and answer format, it is easy to look up information about angels and demons that people may conceive while reading the Bible, other spiritual reading, or when confronted by images given to them by Hollywood. This is helpful reference for the seriously relgious, spiritual seekers, or those interested in investigating these ebings after ecountering them in literature or the movies.

I was slightly disappointed that more of the book concered information about angels than demons, since there are so many more books available from mainstream book sellers about angels. Then again, far more people believe in angels than demons. Kreeft covers a lot of territory in the book by researching what information is available from the Bible, other works by Christian writers, and even occasionally adds insights from other religions such as Islam, when answering adressing questions that arise from popular preceptions of angels and demons; some of which were posed to him personally as a teacher at a college.