A Catalogue of Angels: The Heavenly, the Fallen, and the Holy Ones Among Us (Paperback)

"This is the best book available on angels - a wildly popular topic that has long deserved the attention of a thoughtful and talented writer like Vinita Hampton Wright. She brings a poet's skill, a scholar's care, and a believer's heart to the heavenly companions whose presence we might sense, but may know little about." -James Martin, SJ, author of My Life with the Saints "Vinita Hampton Wright has done a wonderful job with a very complex issue: trying to bring Jews, Christians, and Muslims together." -Laleh Bakhitar, Ph.D.
"While the second half of this book is a catalog of brief entries on all things angelic (including demons), the more interesting chapters explore the history and traditions regarding angels in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, including the mystical wings of each religion. Wright (Dwelling Places) defines angels as God's servants, working to praise, guide, protect, and intercede between humans and God. Acknowledging the incomprehensibility of angels, Wright grounds her text in the extensive history of belief in these beings, including accounts by individuals claiming direct experience with them. Wright is a believer who feels a disconnect from the current angel fad, but it is just the followers of that fad who are her main audience. This book will speak to anyone who finds comfort in the idea that special beings are looking after us. For all public libraries." -San Diego Library Journal

"A critical study of . . . angels? Novelist and theologian Wright shows that such a thing is possible by placing the angelology of the three Abrahamic faiths alongside one another. Many of the stories from other faiths will preach right away. For example, some Jews believe that not only does each human have a guardian angel, but so does every single blade of grass. Muslims hold that an angel is responsible for our digestion, and that an angel is involved in the formation of each drop of rain. Much of the book is a running commentary on Thomas Aquinas's theology of angels-including his rationale for angels having some sort of body and so being unable to be in two places at the same time. (It was this discussion that led to the mock theological question of how many angels can balance on the head of a pin.) This book shows what Protestants lost by deemphasizing angels." -Christian Century