Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mib@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Michael I Bushnell) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Wednesday Crucifixion Message-ID: Date: 3 Jun 91 06:32:05 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Free Software Foundation, Cambridge, MA Lines: 24 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article tblake@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu (Tom Blake) writes: As long as we're on the topic, as I recall a definitive answer for the question of how many angels could dance on the head of a pin was arrived at, right? What was the answer? And what was the explanation? And can you offer any citations from Pauline epistles to support this explanation? ;-) [42 --clh] Since I'm in a feistly mood today, I'll tackle this one. Despite OFM's amusing response, there is more to that medeival debate than most realize. The issue wasn't whether a million or a billion or only two could fit; the issue was whether some finite amount or an infinite amount could fit. But nobody really cared about angels dancing on a pin, that was just a clever way to express the issue. The real issue was whether angels had corporeal substance. Integral-spin particles aside, it was thought that corporeal bodies could not occupy the same space at the same time, and so, if angels were corporeal, only a finite number of them could fit on a pin. -mib