Angel Power

Comprised of scripture, brief essays, narrative encounters, meditations and prayers concerning angelic beings, Power claims as its source material Summa Theologica by the ``great Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas,'' as author Connell refers to him. Summa, one of the great works of the Western World, is a sophisticated, exquisite doctrinal opus that, 700 years after it was completed, still underpins Roman Catholic Christianity. Connellpularization of Aquinas's system of the Nine Choirs of the Angels (Seraphim, Cherubim, etc.) does provide a paradigm of heavenly creatures, but the pedantic, choppy, pedestrian prose (e.g., ``Earthquakes are great teachers'') does not do justice to the rich mind and legacy of Aquinas. While not devoid of merit, this is a far cry from a substantive, worthwhile and accessible interpretation of the richness of Aquinas's conception of the heavenly hosts. (Apr.)