Week 12: Homework

Reading Assignment:
Read Chapter 13 of Theology and Sanity, “The Testing of Angels and Men”—pp. 173-190.

Questions:
1. What is the only certain way of learning something’s purpose? (p.174)

2. What is the purpose of all created beings (spiritual and material)? What is true only of spiritual beings? (p.174)

3. What is the significance of names in Scripture? What does Adam’s naming of the animals tell us about Adam/Man? (p.175)

4. On page 176, Sheed says that God has told us that our destiny is to see God face to face. How is this possible if God is spirit and has no face? (p. 176)

5. What is the name of the principle which enables us to operate above our nature? (p.176) What is another name for this principle? (p. 186)

6. Why is Pride the worst of all sins? (p.178)

7. What are the two meanings of the word freedom as explained by Sheed? (pp. 179-80)

8. Why can’t demons be totally without God? (p.183)

9. Can angels sin? (pp. 181-3)

10. How does the testing of angels differ from that of Man? Why does it differ? (p. 183)

11. What was the first man like? What were his “preternatural” perfections? (pp.183-4)

12. Cocktail Question: What is impassibility? (p.185)

13. What is the purpose of supernatural life? (p.185)

14. When are we given supernatural life? What are the first effects of it on us? Hint: Think virtues. (p.186)

Reflection Questions:
1. Reread the passage about the state of demons in Hell (p.181-82). Given how Hell is described there, how would you respond to someone who says something like “I’d rather go to Hell and be with my friends than go to Heaven and be without them?”

2. The philosopher Plato thought that people do evil because they don’t know the good; the Christian tradition disagrees with him. On page 178, Sheed suggests that sin is not merely a matter of knowledge but of a “far more mysterious thing, will.” In what ways can we strengthen our will to avoid sin if merely knowing right from wrong is not enough?