In the Shadow of His Wings: The Pastoral Ministry of Angels - Yesterday, Today and For Heaven
By: Steve Bishop
Date: Saturday, August 27th, 2011
Macy, Jonathan. In the Shadow of His Wings: The Pastoral Ministry of Angels - Yesterday, Today and For Heaven. Lutterworth Press 2011. Paperback. Pages xi + 174. ISBN 978-0-7188-68028-5.
How are we to think about angels? There are over 600 references to angels/ hosts in the Scriptures so, as Barth maintains, 'a shrug of the shoulders' is not enough. Macy does more than shrug his shoulders. His 2003 PhD was on 'Angels in the Anglican tradition (1547-1662)' and his 2009 MTh was on 'How does the liturgy of the Church of England present a pastoral theology of the angels?' and now this semi-popular book.
This book is more than an accessible summary of his theses. He focuses on - as the subtitle hints - the pastoral ministry of angels. For pastoral he takes as his cue the fourfold distinction of Clebsch and Jaekle's Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective of healing, sustaining, guiding and reconciling. These categories provide the framework for chapters 5-8. The first part of the book takes an overview of angelic ministry in the Scriptures, a look at a history of angelogy and a justification for a pastoral theology of angels.
He is careful not to stray from the scriptures. He takes a brief look at the Apocrypha and some Pseudepigraphal material but this is to provide a historical view rather than develop any theology. He is also rightly circumspect as to any sweeping conclusions regarding fallen angels, guardian angels and the identity of the angel of the Lord.
Macy provides an excellent antidote to new age angel worship and some angelic excesses in some Christian traditions. This is a sane and level headed book. There are 4 pages of bibliography, a scripture and name index.
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