Angels and Demons

The supernatural world is prominent in many of today's movies, television shows, novels, and the popular imagination. But some of what is presented as grounded in a Christian worldview is in fact far from that. In Angels and Demons, Michael Patella, OSB, offers an accessible and fascinating look at supernatural realities as they really are presented in the Bible and Christian tradition. Among the topics Patella explores with a valuable combination of pastoral wisdom and academic rigor are:

• the role of angels in the ministry of Jesus
• the apocalyptic battle in Revelation
• the occult, possession, and the work of Satan
• what angels are and what they're not
• the Last Judgment: how? when?

Readers will appreciate Patella's level-headed appraisal of the views of the supernatural world in the various sections of the Bible. They will be engaged by his lucid account of "Who's Who in Hell." They will be both comforted and inspired by his foundational conviction that Christ has claimed creation for the forces of good, evil is on the run, and there is no chance of the tide ever turning the other way, evil actions and human suffering notwithstanding.

Michael F. Patella, OSB, SSD (1954–2025) was professor of New Testament at the School of Theology/Seminary at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. His books include Angels and Demons: A Christian Primer of the Spiritual World and Word and Image: The Hermeneutics of The Saint John’s Bible, and he also served as a contributor to The Bible Today and Give Us This Day, all published by Liturgical Press.