Could an Angel Undergo Substantial Change? A Quasi-Bonaventurean Speculation (And Why it Matters for Universalist Soteriologies)

By the early 1200s the Roman Catholic Church had ruled that angels are incorporeal. However, debate persisted as to what exactly that meant. Universal hylomorphism (UH) (i.e., the idea that all created beings are composites of form and matter) played a role in that debate, as it implies that even angels are, in a sense, partly material. Among the motivations for UH was the need to preserve angelic mutability, yet some of its advocates (notably St. Bonaventure) thought that the only kind of change angels could undergo is accidental change. What about angelic substantial change? I argue that once UH is on the table, it is difficult to rule it out as impossible. I conclude with the suggestion that affirming the possibility of angelic substantial change provides new support for strict universalists in the domain of soteriology (i.e., those who affirm that even the demons will one day be saved).