ANGELS

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and diverse.
Review: Angels are sexless yet Gabriel is a woman? Jesus is an alien from outerspace lacking his male anatomy? Adam had a wife before Eve named Lilith who just wouldn't be dominated? God flooded the Earth because of giants that were created from angels having intercourse with humans? Lucifer fell because he refused to bow down to Adam because he loved God so much? People in heaven enjoy watching the souls in hell be tortured? God is evil? Do you really want to read this book? As beautiful as the pictures are, I can't imagine anyone who values their Godly intelligence could endure reading such an insult as this book.

Rating:
Summary: Angels: An Atheist's View
Review: Angels are sexless yet Gabriel is a woman? Jesus is an alien from outerspace lacking his male anatomy? Adam had a wife before Eve named Lilith who just wouldn't be dominated? God flooded the Earth because of giants that were created from angels having intercourse with humans? Lucifer fell because he refused to bow down to Adam because he loved God so much? People in heaven enjoy watching the souls in hell be tortured? God is evil? Do you really want to read this book? As beautiful as the pictures are, I can't imagine anyone who values their Godly intelligence could endure reading such an insult as this book.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful but Ridiculous
Review: Godwin's book is, among other things, a collection of fine art depictions of angels through history. That may be reason enough to own it. But if you have any previous knowledge of Judeo-Christian history you may find the text unbearable. He begins by throwing together every tradition and account, Pagan and otherwise, over a period of several thousand years and then calls the result self-contradictory because of the inevitable disagreements. Without disclosing his methods he alters historical documents to his own taste (apparently expecting his audience to be ignorant of them), and he subjects all of it to analysis by the standards of 20th century materialist psychology. There is so much false information and confusion in a single paragraph one could write a whole chapter refuting each one. For example, he calls the God of the Bible "radical evil" and, tossing out the collective conclusions of the whole of Western Civilization, asserts that any intelligent reader would agree with him. Buy it if you must, ... You'll thank me.

Rating:
Summary: Everything you always wanted to know about Angels
Review: Malcolm Godwin's "Angels: An Endangered Species" is a guided tour through all the lore about these heavenly beings from ancient times to the present. This is a book that begins with lyrics from the Eurythmics and ends with a Renaissance painting of the Enunciation that is being restored. Godwin takes pains to catalogue the various types of angels, each in its own "wing": Heavenly Hierarchy looks at the Seraphim, Cherubim, and other choirs of angels; Hell's Angels covers the various versions of Satan along with his minions; Heaven's Above and Earth's Below deals with the structure of Heaven and Hell; and The Heresy deals with those Angels that were cast out of Heaven. The Second Part of the book deals with eyewitness accounts from ancient times to the present. Consequently, Godwin deals with theological debates, psychological interpretations, extra terrestrials and New Age channeling to explain our fascination with Angels. Virtually every page in this book is illustrated with excellent reproductions of paintings, engravings and tapestries. For me, the first part of "Angels: An Endangered Species" is the book's strong point, providing a comprehensive catalogue of heavenly beings. The second part, of course, barely scratches the surface of all the stories about Angels. What will probably stick out in your mind are the beautiful pictures. Whatever your interest in Angels might happen to be, this book will satisfy your needs.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully illustrated, solid information.
Review: This book is absolutely gorgeous and has been incredibly helpful in my personal research. It deals with sensitive subjects without bias, but not without humor. I find myself using only the first half of the book, the sections about Archangels, the Nephilim, and the like, but the second half looks to be very interesting and just as well written. This and _A Dictionary of Angels_ by Gustav Davidson are the two books you simply MUST have if you are interested in angels.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and diverse.
Review: This book is hardly a book based on atheism. Rather, it takes into account historical documents and broad usage from different religions and how they viewed angels. This book is for someone who is interested in different backgrounds of the origin of angels. It takes cultural historic accounts into context, and leaves the restrictions of the holy bible behind. This book is definitely not for close minded Christians.

Rating:
Summary: good buy
Review: This book is insightful and informative. An excellent choice to buy.