From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!cw Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Angels Dancing Article-I.D.: eagle.433 Posted: Sat Jul 31 10:38:36 1982 Received: Sun Aug 1 01:16:40 1982 References: watmath.3143 A comment on a commonly used phrase to denote an argument that is simultaneously abstruse, theological, and irrelevant: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Modern folk (myself included until a few days ago) tend to think that this phrase refers to scholastic and silly discussions about exact size of angels. On the contrary, it refers to a much more serious problem (at least in the minds of medaevial (sp? I haven't got a dictionary nearby) thinkers. The problem should be stated Can a finite or an infinite number of angels dance on the head of a pin/ Now the discussion is concerned with whether angels are corporeal or incorporeal and this in turn has serious implications on the nature of heaven, the nature of the afterlife, whether we retain our bodies after the resurrection, and so on. It may also have some effect on the size of heaven and the universe and on the power of God to create infinite things (which, according to Zeno, should take infinite time). This is obviously a much deeped discussion if you are a believer in Christianity (as all the western philosophers who mattered were when this was a hot topic). It's not too different from a similar argument about whether the body of Christ actually enters the communion wafer during Mass, a question which vague memory suggests has been so seriously debated as to lead to at least small wars. Of course, you may not care, but do not on that account unnecessarily denigrate the best efforts of intelligent people to understand their universe according to their own lights. Charles