Book Description

Both collectively and individually we have a deep and abiding fascination with angels. This book explores depictions of angels in the visual arts and in scripture and associated apocryphal and mystical writings, specifically in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles and Islamic, Zoroastrian and other ancient and latter-day accounts. It examines the visual clues, artistic conventions and attributes that have been set down to help us to recognise angels in their particular roles and functions. Certain writings have had a particularly influential bearing on our understanding of angels. This text focuses on the hierarchies and orders proposed by the likes of Pseudo-Dionysius, St. Thomas Aquinas and others. In a new age of fascination with the metaphysical and supernatural (in film, television, popular mythology and literature), are we cementing or losing our connection with the authentic meaning and purpose that such vibrant and energised beings bring to our table? This book contains more than 30 illustrations in a central colour plates section. It also includes a useful glossary of terms and will prove a rich and enduring reference resource for libraries, as well as a stimulating go-to source for those interested in the world of angels and how human sensibilities and imaginative reasoning have enriched the subject, as a starting point for interreligious dialogue.