Angel, according to many religions, is a spiritual being created by God. The word angel comes from a Greek word meaning messenger or one who is sent. According to religious tradition, angels live in heaven and act as God’s servants and as messengers between God and human beings. They also serve as guardians of individuals and nations. Angels traditionally are pictured as having a human body and wings. Poets and artists have portrayed angels as symbols of innocence or virtue.
Many religions have teachings about angels or similar beings. In some primitive religions, legends tell of bright, powerful spirits that appear in dreams and visions and protect people or tribes. In Hinduism and Buddhism, many major gods are accompanied by a band or court of spiritual beings.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam developed the most elaborate doctrines about angels. These religions recognize an order of beings in which angels rank above human beings but under God. God is all-powerful, and the human is sometimes portrayed as in God’s image. In some traditions, Satan and other “fallen angels” rebel against this order. According to other traditions, they fell because of their lust for women.
The concept of angels with a human body and wings began in the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, and in Christianity. Later tradition refers to many archangels (angels of high rank), including Saint Michael.
Christian doctrine regarding angels reached full development during the A.D. 1100’s and 1200’s, especially in the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Thomas believed angels were necessary to fill the gap between God and human beings. He taught that countless numbers of angels existed and that they were immortal. According to Thomas, angels knew everything except what depended on human choice and what was known only to God. The concept of angels strongly influenced Paradise Lost (1667), a famous epic by the English poet John Milton. Paradise Lost includes a version of Satan’s fall and of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Paradise.
The Islamic belief in angels resembles that of Judaism and Christianity. These three faiths place angels near God and give special duties to some.
