ABSTRACT
Stories in which angels play a role abound in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. However, the way in which angels are perceived and conceived can vary from one text to another. This is because the depiction of angels is largely subservient to the theology of the text in which they appear: the imagery of an angel grows out of the theology of the text. Judaism, Christianity and Islam never created a systematic dogma about angels before their incorporation into each faith’s scriptures and folkloric traditions. The representation of angels is so fluid and variable, even within one religion, because there is a range of competing factions attempting to concretize the conceptualization of the angels in the religious imaginaire: from formal exegesis to folkloric beliefs, to competing religious and sectarian identities. Whilst angelology is not usually at the heart of such controversy and dispute, beliefs about God are, and the image of the angel is directly associated with theology. Furthermore, because many folkloric beliefs were developed concurrently with ‘orthodox’ theology, the two positions often come into conflict. Whilst the majority of scholarship tends to focus on ‘high’ theology and formal exegesis, folklore remains an important part in the development of religious ideas.1
