Jacob's Ladder: On Angels

by Sergius Bulgakov, Thomas Allan Smith (Translator)

Overview

Few of Sergius Bulgakov's professional writings achieve the lyrical heights of Jacob's Ladder. In it he discusses the doctrine of angels and their importance for contemporary humanity. He includes reflections on the meaning of love, the sexes, death, and the Christian hope of resurrection, meditating on the Wisdom of God in the creation.
This work completes the word picture of divinized and Sophianic creation begun in The Burning Bush and The Friend of the Bridegroom, which together constitute what scholars call Bulgakov's -major, - or first, trilogy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802865168
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	11/16/2010
Edition description:	Translatio
Pages:	183
Sales rank:	1,020,541
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Sergius Bulgakov (1871-1944) is widely regarded as the twentieth century's leading Orthodox theologian. His other books include Relics and Miracles, The Unfading Light, The Burning Bush, The Lamb of God, The Comforter, Jacob's Ladder, and Churchly Joy (all Eerdmans).

Thomas Allan Smith is associate professor of the history and theology of Eastern Christianity at the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto.

Table of Contents

Translator's Introduction vii

From the Author xiii

Introduction: On a Heavenly Friend 1

1 Heaven and Earth 22

2 The Guardian Angel 39

3 Angels in the Life of the World 53

4 The Nature of Angels 73

5 The Life of Angels 101

6 Theophanies and Angelophanies 129

7 The Incorporeality of Angels 139

8 The Angelic World and Divine Incarnation 155

Conclusion: About Angels 162

Index 165

Editorial Reviews

Boris Jakim
"Written by Bulgakov after a near-death encounter with an angelic being who led him back to life, Jacob's Ladder possesses a mystical intensity almost beyond words. Using doctrinal, scriptural, liturgical, iconographic, and personal experiential data, Bulgakov provides a theological interpretation of the doctrine of angels. Its lyrical beauty and its profound speculative reflections make this book very difficult to translate, but Thomas Allan Smith has more than met the challenge, offering English-speaking readers what is undoubtedly the greatest work of angelology in the modern Orthodox literature."

Myroslaw Tatryn
"Bulgakov masterfully intertwines the multistranded Christian tradition into not simply a tract on angels but, more importantly, a profound and beautiful rhapsody on divine love as manifested in both the angelic and the human realm. This is not a simple book about angels but, rather, a radiant and hope-filled symphony beginning with words of love -- 'God-Love created human beings for love' -- and culminating in joy: 'How great is the joy bestowed on humankind knowing this!' No small recognition is owed Thomas Allan Smith for working a difficult Russian text into a flowing and enjoyably readable English translation."

From the Publisher