Angels

Angels are presented as a distinct order of spiritual beings, not as human souls transformed after death. Their place in the novel’s religious comedy and in the Fosterite hierarchy gives them two contrasting functions: they are an imagined heavenly presence in a discussion of Paradise, and an institutional rank whose authority comes with obligations.

Nature and Place in Paradise

Jubal explains that angels, like djinni and houris, are separate creations: they begin as spirits, are eternal and unchanging, and do not have to earn admission to Paradise. He describes them as part of a heavenly order rather than as the destination of human souls. The discussion arises when Miriam asks how the imagined houris of Paradise relate to wives. Jubal’s account distinguishes the spirits who serve in Paradise from human beings who enter it, while Mahmoud treats the explanation as broadly accurate but objects to its flippant phrasing.

The exchange turns comic when Mahmoud suddenly wonders whether women might have no souls. Miriam rejects the suggestion angrily; Mahmoud then observes that, if she lacked a soul, she would be immortal anyway, and asks whether someone could die without noticing. The scene does not settle the theological question. Instead, it uses the idea of immortal spirits to expose how uncertain and playful the characters’ assumptions about souls, death, and Paradise are.

Rank and Religious Authority

The novel gives angelhood a more institutional meaning through the Fosterite Church’s announcement that Supreme Bishop Digby has been translated bodily to Heaven and promoted to Archangel. The promotion is presented publicly as the Church’s second Major Miracle. It had been delayed while the Fosterites awaited confirmation of a new Supreme Bishop, Huey Short, whose selection followed repeated casting of lots and a compromise among factions.

Digby is unhappy with the change. He resents that the Man from Mars interrupted his work before it was finished and expects Short to mishandle the position. Foster, already an Archangel, tells him that he must leave those grievances behind: eternity is no time for recriminations, and Digby himself had been difficult before his own promotion. Foster’s comparison makes angelic elevation a continuation of administrative succession, not a guarantee that the person elevated was previously exemplary.

Limits and Responsibilities

Foster also refuses Digby’s request to interfere with the Man from Mars. Digby may submit a requisition for a miracle, Foster says, but it will be rejected because the Martians have their own system and still need him. The exchange places a boundary around angelic authority: even a newly promoted Archangel cannot simply override another order’s affairs. Foster presents this limit as part of a varied universe in which different systems operate according to their own rules.

Rather than indulge Digby’s frustration, Foster tells him that further promotion depends on work. He urges Digby to act like an angel and get on with the duties before him. Angelhood therefore brings status, but it also imposes discipline and service; rank does not entitle its holder to control every event or avoid further labor.

Narrative Significance

The angel material links theological speculation to satire about earthly institutions. In the Paradise conversation, angels are defined against human souls and become part of a humorous dispute over immortality. In the Fosterite episodes, Archangels occupy a hierarchy with public announcements, succession politics, requests, and limits on jurisdiction. The same beings are thus both figures of an eternal spiritual order and participants in a system that resembles organized authority.

The contrast also complicates the Fosterites’ claim to miraculous advancement. Digby’s bodily translation and promotion are proclaimed as a miracle, yet his response is ordinary resentment, and Foster answers with practical advice about work and procedure. The novel’s angels are not simply distant symbols of perfection: their scenes make heavenly rank legible through the same conflicts over responsibility, succession, and power that shape human organizations.