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Packed with fun facts (including the history of "angelology" -- the study of angels), anecdotes of angel encounters, and fantastic illustrations throughout, author Karen Romano Young gives readers an in-depth look at these winged creatures and the impact they have had on our culture and everyday lives.
HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT ANGELS?
Where do we get our ideas about angels? From stories, and from histories. From books that are sacred (written or dictated by God), possibly sacred, and not sacred.
For a long, long time, people kept track of their histories and stories by word of mouth. These oral traditions (stories told anytime two or more people were together) became part of the books that form the centers of the big four Western religions: Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam.
MAJOR MESSAGE: Each of the holy books of the big four Western religions includes stories in which angels were sent by God to humans. These are the start of people’s understanding of what angels do. But it isn’t necessarily the start of angels, which may have roots in folklore, traditions, and stories that came before the holy books.
The holy book stories told of beings that traveled by flying. How would you describe something you’d never seen before, without comparing it to something else—a bird, a kite, a plane, a spaceship? Which comparison would be most appropriate? Lots of people who have studied the idea of angels think that their image came not just from the holy books, but from stories that were told in different cultures.
The scriptures are works believed to definitely have been written by God (through an angel), or by writers who were directed by God. (This kind of writer is called a prophet.) Some other books were written by people who might have been angels or prophets, or might not. These books are called apocrypha. One of the most famous apocryphal writers, Enoch, wrote at about the same time that the early Bible was written. He describes his dramatic and glorious visit to the center of heaven, where God is found. Enoch’s stories aren’t scripture, so many people argue about whether they were true. Along with other apocrypha, Enoch’s writings have been used by people researching angels all through history, even if the rabbis, priests, and imams said they are not God’s word.
Angels are mentioned 103 times in the Tanakh, the Bible of the Jews, which includes the five books of Moses (the Torah), the books of the Prophets (Nevi’im), and the writings (Kethuvim), including the psalms. Powerful, physical, and fierce angels appear to do God’s will. They strike down armies, visit with humans, even challenge a man to a
In a room full of people, talk suddenly halts. To fill the awkward moment, somebody might say, “An angel is walking through the room.”
wrestling match. Angels talk with Yahweh’s (God’s) prophets, including David, Elias, Daniel, and Zacharias.
Fifteenth century
In 1425 Joan of Arc, age thirteen, began to hear the voices of two saints and the archangel Michael, who inspired her to put on armor and lead the army of France against the English. At nineteen she was burned at the stake, condemned as a witch and a heretic (someone who lies about God).
Today, Jews believe in angels as guardians, messengers, and intermediaries, beings with the ability to take people’s concerns and prayers to God.
There are now close to fourteen million Jews in the world.2 The other three major religions are also based on one supreme being—Ahura Mazda, God, or Allah. Stories in
THE FOUR MAJOR WESTERN RELIGIONS
| RELIGION | LEADER | SUPREME BEING | HOLY BOOK | START OF RELIGION | BELIEVERS |
| Judaism | Abraham | Yahweh | Tanakh (Bible Old Testament) | 2000 to 1500 b.c. | Jews |
| Zoroastrianism | Zarathustra | Ahura Mazda | Avesta | Around 600 to 1000 b.c. (no definite dates) | Zoroastrians |
| Christianity | Jesus | God (Jesus is God’s son) | Bible New Testament | 30 a.d. | Christians |
| Islam | Muhammed | Allah | Qu’ran | 622 A.D. | Muslims |
their holy books—the Avesta, the Bible, the Qu’ran—show God acting to create the world, to send the great flood, to send laws, to send angels.
Zoroaster, or Zarathustra, lived between 1000 and 600 B.C. in Bactria (in the area of what is now northern Afghanistan). Before Zoroaster, people worshiped many different beings, such as gods and goddesses, who ruled the sun, the moon, music, health, and so on. But Zoroaster changed the pattern of religion in his part of the world: He said there was only one God.
In Zoroastrianism, the one god, the “wise Lord,” is Ahura Mazda. But Ahura Mazda has help: angels. Early Zoroastrian stories of the seven archangels closely followed those told of the old Babylonian and Assyrian gods, and Judaic and Christian stories adapted bits of these stories into their own traditions.
There are now about three million Zoroastrians in the world.
NAMES FOR ANGELS
Besides the many angel stories in the Old Testament of the Bible, Christians follow the teachings of the New Testament, in which angels are mentioned on nearly every page. Jesus spoke of them fifteen times, telling about their activities and their lives in heaven.
Angels were with Jesus to guide, guard, and encourage him when he was being tempted by Satan in the desert. Angels announced Jesus’s birth, helped him face Satan, and announced his resurrection. They even rolled the stone away from his tomb so he could get out.
Here’s an idea: Just for one day, keep your eyes open for angels. You’ll be surprised how often they come up in conversation (“She’s his guardian angel.” “He’s a perfect angel.”), in stores (everything from angel food cake to lapel-pin angels and magnets that say “Teachers Are Angels”), in music (one expert says that one in ten pop songs mentions angels), on clothes, stationery, stained-glass windows, TV commercials, and much, much more.
Each time you come across an angel, ask yourself what the angel represents in this situation: Protection? Perfection? Kindness? Love? Self-sacrifice?
The Book of Revelation, the last book in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, has thundering, vivid scenes in which angels do battle against Satan’s forces.
There are now more than two billion Christians in the world.
And you shall see the angels going round about the throne glorifying the praise of their Lord; and judgment shall be given between them with justice, and it shall be said: All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
—The Qu’ran, 39:75
The Qu’ran, the Muslim holy book, is believed to have been dictated to the prophet Muhammed by the angel Gabriel. Belief in angels is one of the Islamic Articles of Faith; belief in God’s messengers is another.
Muslims believe that two angels accompany each person through life. They guide the person, guard him, and keep records of every good and bad thing he does. At the end of life, the angel of death comes to escort the person out of this life. Although none of these angels is visible, their presence can be clearly felt at times through wahy, a moment when angels communicate by placing a message directly into a person’s mind.
There are now about 1.5 billion Muslims in the world.
All the holy book stories add up to create our western view of what angels are—God’s warriors and messengers—and what they mean to us. They are our link to God, bringing out what is best in us and showing us how deeply we are treasured and loved.
Angels seem to go beyond just one culture, one religion, one role, or one idea.
There are many other religions, of course, and many Western people are devoted to non-Western religions. But the third largest religious “group” in the world (after Christians and Muslims) are described as nonreligious people. They include:
atheists, people who don’t believe in God.
agnostics, people who don’t believe in any particular religion.
people who believe in the human spirit.
people who believe in the spirit of the natural universe.
There are more than one billion nonreligious people in the world. Many of them believe in angels of different sorts.
First century
A “man of Macedonia” appeared to St. Paul at Troas during the night and asked him to come to Macedonia—on the other side of the sea—to help the Macedonians. Many people think the vision was an angel.
Some other key thinkers and theologians have added to our “picture” of angels too. They include scholars of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. And they include artists and writers who have provided more and more images of angels up through the Middle Ages. Along with the writers of scripture and apocryphal stories, here are some of the people who have made important additions and subtractions to angel lore:
Touched by an Angel (1994–2003) was a television show that described encounters mo...
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