Since two people on my flist have posted poetry about angels lately, and I've long been fascinated by them myself (while running very quickly away from the more sentimental iterations of popular culture: angels are not cute; they are pure intelligence, and not in the least like us), I thought I'd link to this article on angels I found in the Economist this lunchtime. It's not bad, though it's a pity they've not read the Book of Tobit - this would not only prevent them asserting, incorrectly, that the archangel Raphel was too lofty a personage to associate with fallen humans, but would give them what must be the oldest example of the 'ordinary looking stranger offers help, then vanishes inexplicably, because they were an angel in disguise all along' trope.
The end of the article, unfortunately, misses the point entirely, albeit in a revealing way: Among the imaginings is that ultimate and common dream, that humans may become angels themselves. Christian and Muslim mystics both believe it, as the natural progression of the spirit to a purer and higher state. But ordinary, not very religious people find themselves hoping for it too.
Now, I don't know about Muslim mystics, but while it's certainly a popular element of folk piety, it ain't Christian, and it wouldn't get you closer to God. Gnosticism is a remarkably persistent thing, it seems.
I must admit, anyway, it's the otherness of angels that I find interesting, probably, ultimately, for the same reason I like SF..
The end of the article, unfortunately, misses the point entirely, albeit in a revealing way: Among the imaginings is that ultimate and common dream, that humans may become angels themselves. Christian and Muslim mystics both believe it, as the natural progression of the spirit to a purer and higher state. But ordinary, not very religious people find themselves hoping for it too.
Now, I don't know about Muslim mystics, but while it's certainly a popular element of folk piety, it ain't Christian, and it wouldn't get you closer to God. Gnosticism is a remarkably persistent thing, it seems.
I must admit, anyway, it's the otherness of angels that I find interesting, probably, ultimately, for the same reason I like SF..