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What does scripture, theology and experience teach us about angels and demons? Are they real or just the product of religious fantasy, superstition, and folklore?

Join Dominican scholar and leading expert Professor Woods through a fascinating and scholarly series on the origins of belief in good and bad angels and demons in the biblical tradition and other sources. You will find this course captivating and enlightening.

What are angels and demons? Do they really exist? Or are they emblems of some more obscure aspect of the universe? What, or who, is the devil? Why does he have so many names -- Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub and so on? Do Christians have to believe in angels and the devil? How much of it is considered to be divine revelation? How many people in fact believe in angels and demons?

Can people have real experiences of angels and demons? And, perhaps most urgently for people who tend to stay awake at night wondering about such things, how could an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God allow things to go so wrong in the first place? What possible role does all this have in our understanding of God, Creation, and Redemption?

Now you can explore these questions and more while exploring their religious, theological, and spiritual significance.

With this order you will receive, free of charge, a detailed Electronic Study Guide. With your confirmation email, you will receive a link that will take you to this Electronic Study Guide, which includes outlines for each topic, review questions and suggested readings for further study. The link to access this Electronic Study Guide will also be included on the case of your CDs or DVDs. You are allowed to print up to 7 copies of your guide. Simply click on the link, or type it into your browser, to access the file.

About Your Presenter

Fr. Richard Woods, O.P., Ph.D., S.T.M. is currently professor of theology at Dominican University in River Forest, IL, where he was honored with the role of Lund-Gill Chair in 2010. Other highlights of his teaching career include his professorship at Oxford University’s Blackfriars Hall and his reception of the Aquinas Scholar title from the Aquinas Center of Theology at Emory University.

Having published 13 books and over 100 articles, Fr. Woods’ prolific writing has spanned topics from medieval mysticism to contemporary spirituality; and his penchant for story-telling has led him to publish fictional literature, as well. The religious imagination of the Celts has informed several of his fictional and non-fictional works alike. Often, his writing has come to life in the Irish countryside itself, in the 150-year-old cottage called Dragonthorn that serves as a place of retreat for Fr. Woods.

Topic Titles

• Introduction
• The World of Paul
• Method of the Study of Paul
• The Life of Paul
• In the Footsteps of Saint Paul: Archeology and Paul's World
• Paul's Letters
• The Conversion or Call of Paul
• No Lone Ranger: Paul's Companions
• On the Road Again: Paul's Journeys
• Paul's Theology
• Paul's Christology
• Paul's Understanding of the Holy Spirit
• Paul's Understanding of Church
• Paul's Anthropology: His Understanding of the Human Person
• Paul and the Law
• Paul and the Spiritual Life I
• Paul and the Spiritual Life II
• Paul's Understanding of the End Times
• Paul's Ethics
• Three Thorny Ethical Questions
• Paul as a Pastor
• A Thematic Overview of Paul's Letters
• The History of Interpretation of Paul
• Paul's Legacy