How many angels can fit on the head of a pin?

Question

How did theologians claim that they could measure this?

Answer 1

This is an expression used when people argue about something meaningless. There is no answer and no way of finding an answer.To see where the expression comes from, see

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_132.html

Answer 2

The question was originally put this way ... "How many angels can DANCE on the head of a pin?" Hundreds of years ago that was a very popular, and serious, question amongst Catholic theologians. There is of course no way to answer it. A pin is a physical thing and an angel is a spirit being. Kinda like comparing apples and super novas. Anyway, I heard the question years ago during my theological studies. My answer then, and my answer now? ... "Why would they want to?" ;-) ~ Peace & Blessings ~

Answer 3

In answer to your question, I will share a poem that is one of my favorites:

Questions About Angels
by Billy Collins


Of all the questions you might want to ask
about angels, the only one you ever hear
is how many can dance on the head of a pin.


No curiosity about how they pass the eternal time
besides circling the Throne chanting in Latin
or delivering a crust of bread to a hermit on earth
or guiding a boy and girl across a rickety wooden bridge.


Do they fly through God's body and come out singing?
Do they swing like children from the hinges
of the spirit world saying their names backwards and forwards?
Do they sit alone in little gardens changing colors?


What about their sleeping habits, the fabric of their robes,
their diet of unfiltered divine light?
What goes on inside their luminous heads? Is there a wall
these tall presences can look over and see hell?


If an angel fell off a cloud, would he leave a hole
in a river and would the hole float along endlessly
filled with the silent letters of every angelic word?


If an angel delivered the mail, would he arrive
in a blinding rush of wings or would he just assume
the appearance of the regular mailman and
whistle up the driveway reading the postcards?


No, the medieval theologians control the court.
The only question you ever hear is about
the little dance floor on the head of a pin
where halos are meant to converge and drift invisibly.


It is designed to make us think in millions,
billions, to make us run out of numbers and collapse
into infinity, but perhaps the answer is simply one:
one female angel dancing alone in her stocking feet,
a small jazz combo working in the background.


She sways like a branch in the wind, her beautiful
eyes closed, and the tall thin bassist leans over
to glance at his watch because she has been dancing
forever, and now it is very late, even for musicians.


Billy Collins, “Questions About Angels” from Questions about Angels. Copyright © 1991 by Billy Collins. All rights are controlled by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Reprinted with the permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press, www.pitt.edu/~press/.

Answer 4

Because they discounted Harvey the fattest angel in heaven. His is truly a sad story. When he was alive, someone told him that the clouds were made of cotton candy. As he was wandering around gazing at the sky, he didn't see the bus coming down the street. Needless to say, he found himself in heaven very quickly. Remembering what he had been told, he started eating all the clouds. He got so big that the other angels wouldn't invite him to the pin head parties. He became bitter and started revealing all the secrets of heaven (including this one) to anyone who stays up WAY past their bed time.

Answer 5

The answer is like a zen koan. (tree in the forest kind of thing)
The number of angels that can dance (fit) on the head of a pin depends entirely on how many want to.

Answer 6

Imagine a butterfly beating its wings against a ball of steel. Now Imagine that ball being as big as the earth. Now Imagine every planet in the universe being made the same. Now count the number of beats it would take that butterfly to beat every planet in the universe into dust.

That's how many angels

Answer 7

in this international angels are on no account adapted, or formed - are actually not mass produced. as quickly as we see one we are fortunate. observing an angel skill you have seen interior the 1st door of heaven. on no account close it at the back of you. Open yet another one for us. Bless you Dallas.

Answer 8

This is an old Medieval question, still unresolved today. My true opinion is that angels don't exist.

Answer 9

They debated it by quoting Saints. Not really sure how they would come up with an answer.. or if they ever did, but thats how they argued it.

Answer 10

One fellow (i think) said that 10,000 could. i don't know how he came to this conclusion.
As many as God wants to put there might be a better answer