Angels and Saints by Scott Hahn (with Book Giveaway)

Angels and Saints: A Biblical Guide to Friendship with God's Holy Ones by Scott Hahn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a solid, understandable book that explains the concept and theology of angels and saints. The last half of the book contains the stories of specific saints and angels, along with an excerpt from a writing about them (usually from a Church Father). It would definitely be a good book to give to someone wondering about the topic.

Angels and saints have been a special interest of mine since my conversion in 2000 so I've read a lot of books on the subject. Therefore, a lot of the information was not new to me. Even so, almost every section had some tidbit which was a surprise or gave me a new perspective. A few samples of the sort of things that knocked my socks off:

• Humans are the minority in the Church. Oh, right. Angels outnumber us, which makes sense when you realize that each of us has a guardian angel. (I also was blown away by the connection of guardian angels to Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane where he was comforted and assisted by ... yep ...  an angel.)

• Hahn draws on rabbinical teachings to point out: It was Moses' special intimacy with God that made it possible for him to compose the Torah. He could describe the earliest days of creation not because he was there, but because God was; through prayerful intimacy, Moses had come to see as God saw. Oh snap!

• There was not a bishop alive who could speak the language of the Old Testament, but Jerome was teaching it to Roman widows and teenagers. They pushed him to the point where he lamented that they had surpassed him in their ability to speak Hebrew with no accent.

My favorite part was the introduction where Scott Hahn shares his personal experience, which is both moving and inspiring. I think the book could have done with a few more personal touches throughout and then I might have given it another star.

Hahn's been writing more of these "Catholic basics" books lately but this is the first I've read. If it is any indication, he's giving the Church a fine resource. He's certainly giving regular readers a great chance to dig deeper into their faith.

BLOG TOUR
I'll be participating in the blog tour for this book along with 11 other bloggers. Scott Hahn chose 12 favorite saints to highlight and we'll each be reflecting on his chapter about a saint close to our hearts as well.

My day is June 2.

My choice? I get two for one! Saint Monica and Saint Augustine.

Here's the schedule.

• May 27: St. Michael and the Angels - Catholic Katie 
• May 28: Moses - Abigail’s Alcove
• May 29: St. Paul - Catholic Bibles
• May 30: St. Ignatius of Antioch - The Orant
• May 31: St. Irenaeus of Lyons - Seasons of Grace
• June 1: St. Jerome - Stuart’s Study
• June 2: St. Monica and St. Augustine - Happy Catholic 
• June 3: St. Thomas Aquinas - Blog of the Courtier
• June 4: St. Therese of Lisieux - Single Catholic Girl
• June 5: St. Maximilian Kolbe - Random Acts of Momness
• June 6: St. Josemaria Escriva - Catholic Mom 
• June 7: Queen of All Saints, Mother of the Church - This Cross I Embrace 

BOOK GIVEAWAY
And I'll be doing a book giveaway on the day of the blog tour! Woohoo! Leave a comment here to enter in the random drawing that I'll hold that day. If you comment anonymously, that is fine, but leave your name in the comment so I can alert you if you win!