Angels of the Bible: Finding Grace, Beauty, and Meaning

Winner of a 2020 Illumination Book Award

Angels appear in the greatest of biblical moments: at the gates of the Garden of Eden, at the birth of Christ, and at the tomb of the resurrection. But modern-day Christians tend to either dismiss angels as fantasy or caricaturize them as one-dimensional cherubs.

Episcopal priest Kate Moorehead invites us into a more dynamic understanding of the realm of the angels. Her devotions recount fifty key appearances of angels in the Old and New Testaments as she shares stirring theological reflections on the presence of angels and our life of faith.

In addition, the book features 56 full-color pages with depictions of angels throughout history. Art professor and scholar P. Scott Brown offers historical and theological context for these paintings of pivotal angelic appearances, including the Annunciation, the Celestial Hierarchy, and the Final Battle from Revelation.

The Bible asks us to read and digest its stories, not only to recall what God has done before but also to watch for what God is doing now. If we embrace the Bible as something more than a history book, we must open our minds to the continued existence of angels-and look at these apparitions with an eye to understanding our own lives and the role of angels within them.

Kate Moorehead serves as the dean of St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Jacksonville, Florida. She is the author of several books, including Get Over Yourself: God’s Here and Resurrecting Easter. Kate and her husband, J.D., have three sons, Luke, Jake, and Max.