Five years ago, no one could have predicted it, but Americans now talk about angels. From supermarket tabloids to lapel pins to angel "collectibles," people can't seem to get enough of the celestial world. Even TV talk shows devote hours to people with "angel stories." Recently Oprah Winfrey chided a guest for being "in denial" about an angel experience.

Prime-time TV offers "Angels: The Mysterious Messengers," and "Angels in the Outfield" made it to movie theaters last summer. As 1994 began, the number of angel books in print hovered around a hundred. Dozens have come out since, and more wait in the wings, some of which will doubtlessly generate heavenly profits for publishers.

AERIAL SHOW

Christians have been as surprised by this "aerial commotion" as anyone, but it's just one signal that significant changes in our society are afoot.

Conventional wisdom has it that we live in stubbornly secular times. A generation ago, a liberal German theologian asserted that no one who believed in miracles ...