Mere Fidelity The Fall Before The Fall with Philip G. Porter
22 snips
Mar 25, 2026 Philip G. Porter, assistant professor of theology and author of Unnatural Death, explores the idea that death is a wound on creation caused by an angelic fall. He draws on Augustine, Aquinas, Tolkien, and others. Short, provocative conversations cover angels as administrators, the timing of cosmic corruption, biblical imagery of death, and why the angelic revolt reshapes how we think about sin and redemption.
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Angelic Administration Links Spiritual and Material Harm
- Angels function as administrative intermediaries over physical realities, so their corruption damages the things they govern.
- Porter follows Augustine and Aquinas in saying God delegates governance through creatures, including angels, who can wound what they administer.
Tolkien's Music Illustrates Creation's Discord And Redemption
- Tolkien's Ainur story offers a literary grammar: Melkor's discordant counterpoint distorts the music of creation.
- Porter uses the felix culpa motif to show God weaving even that discord into a greater redeemed harmony.
Three False Paths That Naturalize Death
- Porter rejects three 'false paths' that naturalize death: David Kelsey, Herbert McCabe, and a Darwinian metaphysic.
- He argues these give away the gospel's claims by treating death as intrinsic to creaturely finitude or material processes.
