Week 11: Homework

Reading Assignment:Read Chapter 12 of Theology and Sanity, “Angels, Matter, Men”—pp. 151-173

Questions:
1. What type of being is highest in the created order? How do we know of the existence of these beings? (p.152)

2. What does the word angel mean? Does this word accurately convey the chief function of these beings? What is their chief function? What is their second great function? (p. 155)

3. How are levels of angels differentiated? List the nine choirs of angels. (p. 156-7)

4. In what way does matter resemble spirit? (p. 159)

5. What is the dominating division in the material order? (p. 159)

6. What is the definition of a living being? (p.160)

7. What are the three divisions of the created universe? (p.160)

8. Why does Sheed say “there is no reason to believe that [an animal’s soul] is not a material soul, ‘immersed’ in the matter of the animal’s body?” (p. 162)

9. According to Sheed, what is the function of man? How does man perform it? (p. 163)

10. What makes man different from other living material beings? (p. 164)

11. What is our “greatest glory”? With what is it bound up? (p. 169)

12. What are the two different sets of laws that govern our universe? How are they distinguished? (p. 171)

Reflection Questions:
1. On page 155 Sheed says that “God has shown us with overwhelming evidence that He wills to give His gifts to creatures through other creatures so that we may learn by the receiving of God’s gifts from one another and the transmission of God’s gifts to one another, our family relationship within the great household of God.” What effect might this have on the way we relate to our fellow creatures (men, animals, matter)?

2. Look at what Sheed has to say about how man was formed on page 167. Can you formulate a Catholic response to the theory of evolution based on what he says here?