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R e v i e w s
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This Rock
Volume 2, Number 6
 November 1991 
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Angels aren’t hooey
ARE angels fabrications concocted by the writers of Scripture in order to speak of the ever-watchful and ministering presence of a God who is beyond our ken? Or are they grand and awe-inspiring beings, every bit as real as you and I?
We have entered an "enlightened" and "scientific" age. Do we really need to continue in this anachronistic belief in beings no more real than the creations of the studios of Hollywood? To be sure, the Catholic Church still authoritatively proclaims (de fide) the existence of such creatures, but isn’t the Church simply clinging to its usual outmoded way of perceiving reality?
A salutary remedy for the skeptics in our midst is the work of the late Cardinal Jean Danielou, The Angels and Their Mission. This little book presents us with the wisdom of the patristic age which saw in God’s creation of the angels the beneficent hand of the Creator who wondrously works to manifest his glory and to care for all he has created.
John Chrysostom, Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and Origen are among the early Christian writers who saw within Scripture and apostolic tradition the presentation of the truth of the existence of intelligences who either serve the good pleasure of God or who, fallen, work to frustrate the Trinity’s salvific designs for humanity. (As so well noted by C. S. Lewis, these latter angels work overtime to secure in us a disbelief in their existence.)
Danielou illuminates the work of the Fathers in the realm of angelology, presenting us with their insights into the history of the angels and the angelic involvement in the plan of salvation. He thereby reaffirms believing in the angels is not the lot of simpletons and pietists but, rather, of those with a virile intellectual and spiritual life formed by a vibrant faith.
Beginning with the role of the angels in safeguarding the Law and in guiding and protecting the chosen people of Israel, Danielou unfolds the plan of salvation and demonstrates no nation or people is exempt from angelic preparation for the divine truth of Christ: "Not only the partial truths arrived at by the Greeks and the Romans, but also those of other peoples, have been communicated through the medium of angels and are capable of being incorporated into Christianity ."
THE Fathers were eminently aware that no part of the history of salvation is left without its angelic presences who, according to their individual charge from God, cooperate in the revelation of the deep mysteries of the wedding of God to his people. Yet the Nativity, the Passion, the Resurrection and Ascension are all causes for the surprise and wonder of the angels. Astonished at what they see and play a part in, they rejoice and add their voices to the alleluias of redeemed humanity.
Of particular interest and inspiration is Danielou’s chapter on the role of the angels in the sacramental life of the Church. To read these few pages is to attend Mass with a greater awareness of the heavenly host who join us in adoration. John Chrysostom wrote, "The angels surround the priest. The whole sanctuary and the space before the altar is filled with the heavenly powers come to honor him who is present upon the altar." They join us in expectant hope for the Second Coming.
The angels undeniably have suffered from a bad press, both of those who deny their existence and of those who have had their understanding of the nature of these creatures shaped by the faltering attempts to depict them in religious art: Cherubs with wings sprouting from under their chins don’t make it easy to give a credible defense. Had our understanding been shaped by such words as these from Rainer Maria Rilke, we would more readily be their champions:
"If one of them suddenly held me within his heart, I should fall dead at his too mighty being, because beauty is the beginning of the terrible."
As Danielou shows, early Christians knew they were surrounded by those "beautiful terrors" who are our dear friends (or our implacable enemies). To ignore or disdain them is to disarm and enfeeble ourselves as we journey to the One who made us all.
-- Frances C. Martini
The Angels and Their Mission
By Jean Danielou; trans. David Heimann
(Dublin: Four Courts Press,1988)
118 pages
$7.95
Undercutting Cults
My wife and I had a unfruitful three-hour session with Jehovah’s Witnesses who had stopped by to convert us. "Why is it," I asked myself afterward, "that every charge or question just seems to roll off their backs? Why can they not properly address a question? How can they unquestioningly believe things which are contrary to all evidence? Why are their minds closed?" A few weeks later I picked up Steven Hassan’s Combating Cult Mind Control and got my answers.
This isn’t another book about Jehovah’s Witnesses, nor is it another disturbing expose of destructive cults. It discusses not so much what cults do to their members (though it includes enough of that to raise your hackles), but focuses on how the cults get such a mental grip on their members. Hassan explains what a mind-control cult is, and he accounts for the puzzling--and sometimes bizarre--behavior of cult members when confronted with the facts regarding their organizations. He also gives tips on how to help cult members re-enter "normal" society.
AS I read this book, my understanding of my visitors snapped into focus, and I realized that bringing Christ to a committed cult member cannot be accomplished by even the most eloquently presented theological arguments. The cult member first must be set free from his cognitive prison: Until this takes place, no argument will suffice.
Hassan explains how cultists are recruited in the first place. The elderly are often targeted for their life savings. The young are chosen because they can work long, hard hours and are healthy. Often new cultists have recently undergone a severe trauma--the death of a loved one, for example--and so are emotionally vulnerable. Media for recruitment range from a chance meeting to television ads to seminars. Techniques include sleep deprivation and "love bombing" (surrounding the recruit by flattering, committed members). The cult gradually introduces the member to more and more radical practices, all the time seeking to control behavior, thought, emotion and information. The result is that the recruit loses the ability to evaluate critically the cult and what it teaches.
Hassan explains what not to do to free cultists. He begins with warnings: Don’t be confrontational. The frontal assault technique will not work on these guys. Even frank, low-key proofs of the wrongdoings of their leaders will get you nowhere, unless given at the right time and in the right context.
HASSAN suggests performing what he calls an intervention (or mini-intervention, if it’s a one-time shot with a stranger.) Don’t beat the cultist over the head, but build up his trust in you as a friend. Ask him how he got into the cult; inquire about what he did before he was in the cult. This reminds him of his (perhaps much happier) life before he joined the cult.
Ask questions in a curious but non-threatening tone. Eventually you can talk about cults. If your friend is a Moonie, you talk about the techniques of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. If he is a Witness, you talk about the Moonies. The cult member knows that other cults are bad, and he will allow you to explain their mind-control techniques. He remains free to process the information, since what you say is not directed against his cult.
To help you get a feel for how these techniques work, Hassan includes real-life exchanges with some of his former clients (with names changed to protect the bamboozled). He also provides a listing of support groups. These groups refer people to professional counselors; distribute books, videos, and audio tapes; and provide halway houses for exiting cult members.
Hassan got his knowledge first hand. After he spent two years with the Moonies, his family was able to have him deprogrammed. Realizing what had been done to him by the cult, he decided to spread the news about the damage cults are doing. He has spoken to politicians, to parents’ groups, and to many current and former cult members about the dangers of mind control cults. His is a book no one related to a cult member can afford to be without.
-- Robert X. Flynn
Combatting Cult Mind Control
By Steven Hassan
(Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press, 1990)
236 pages
$12.95
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