Academic literature on the topic 'Jewish angelology'

The Northern Irish author C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the outstanding Christian thinkers of the last century. A prolific author, he moved through different areas, such as literary criticism, youth literature, science fiction, and texts of theological exposition and of apologetics. In science fiction there is his remarkable “Cosmic Trilogy”: Beyond the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hid­eous Strength. In these three books, Lewis presents a vast array of themes. Among these is angelology,the systematic study of heavenly beings known as angels. The aim of this article is to present the major influences that Lewis used to build his angelology: old Jewish literature, exemplified in texts such as the Ethiopian Enoch (or the Book of Enoch or First Enoch), and the biblical tradition itself. The article will seek also to defend the hypothesis that, using fiction, Lewis builds an imaginative and suggestive theology that is a critique of the rationalism of continental theol­ogy of his day.

In rabbinic tradition, the acknowledgment of the one true God in the Shema‘ Israel emphasizes the inner cohesion of Israel as one people. In this context, the commitment to God as the one who chose the people of Israel is extremely important. The credo that only the true God of Israel can claim godhood is directed against Jewish angelology as well as against binitarianism and Christianity. Martyrdom and the commitment to the one true God receive drastic emphasis, especially in the medieval Ashkenazi tradition. The obligations to the Torah, provided for the benefit of the living, are adhered to even if they should result in death.

In Palestine ancient Egyptian motifs with solar connections such as uraei and falcons were virtually omnipresent by c. 925 B.C.E. Many seals testify to the fact that during the eighth century the state religion of northern Israel, i.e., “official” Yahwism, was affected by the prevalence of solar symbolism. The celestial-solar character of deities was often emphasized by the addition of solar discs. This article presents two examples of enduring polytheistic iconography relating to the theme of transcendent messenger activity in the Bible. The first example dating to about 900 B.C.E. is of an ostrich with a sun disk at the neck. The second example, a Gnostic gem dated to ca. 200–100 B.C.E., provides evidence of solar motifs from Egyptian religion which facilitated concepts concerning divine mediation from God to mankind. It is proposed that these motifs provided the foundation for the conceptual changes in Jewish angelology that transpired as Christianity.

After outlining the structure of the sura, the author focuses on vv. 64–99. He argues that these verses constitute a distinct sub-section that deals with the religion of Abraham. Having determined the precise extent of the sub-section, he discusses its opening verse in detail. He then lists the principal parallels between vv. 64–99 and Sūrat al-Baqara and suggests that the most plausible explanation of the parallels is that the subsection deliberately echoes that of Sūrat al-Baqara because it sets out to answer Jewish and Christian objections to some of the statements it contains. This leads to the examination of four issues that are foregrounded in the sub-section: Abraham's religious identity, prophetology and angelology, dietary regulations, and the identity of the Abrahamic sanctuary. In each case, the author draws on the Bible and Jewish and Christian literature in order to suggest the nature of the objections and to shed light on the way that the Qur'an responds to them. Like the objections themselves, the answers given are based on the interpretation of biblical texts. There is, however, one issue that cannot be dealt with in this way: the controversial claim that Muḥammad was the Messenger whom Abraham had prayed God would send to his progeny. In the final section of the article, the author shows how the liturgical character of Sūrat Āl cImrān encourages belief in the veracity of this claim.

The first eight chapters of the Apocalypse of Abraham, a Jewish pseudepigraphon preserved solely in its Slavonic translation, deal with the early years of the hero of the faith in the house of his father Terah.1 The main plot of this section of the text revolves around the family business of manufacturing idols. Terah and his sons are portrayed as craftsmen carving religious figures out of wood, stone, gold, silver, brass, and iron. The zeal with which the family pursues its idolatrous craft suggests that the text does not view the household of Terah as just another family workshop producing religious artifacts for sale. Although the sacerdotal status of Abraham's family remains clouded in rather obscure imagery, the authors of the Slavonic apocalypse seem to envision the members of Terah's household as cultic servants whose “house” serves as a metaphor for the sanctuary polluted by idolatrous worship. From the very first lines of the apocalypse the reader learns that Abraham and Terah are involved in sacrificial rituals in temples.2 The aggadic section of the text, which narrates Terah's and Abraham's interactions with the “statues,” culminates in the destruction of the “house” along with its idols in a fire sent by God. It is possible that the Apocalypse of Abraham, which was written in the first centuries of the Common Era,3 when Jewish communities were facing a wide array of challenges including the loss of the Temple, is drawing here on familiar metaphors derived from the Book of Ezekiel, which construes idolatry as the main reason for the destruction of the terrestrial sanctuary. Like Ezekiel, the hero of the Slavonic apocalypse is allowed to behold the true place of worship, the heavenly shrine associated with the divine throne. Yet despite the fact that the Book of Ezekiel plays a significant role in shaping the Abrahamic pseudepigraphon,4 there is a curious difference between the two visionary accounts. While in Ezekiel the false idols of the perished temple are contrasted with the true form of the deity enthroned on the divine chariot, the Apocalypse of Abraham denies its hero a vision of the anthropomorphic Glory of God. When in the second part of the apocalypse Abraham travels to the upper heaven to behold the throne of God, evoking the classic Ezekielian description, he does not see any divine form on the chariot. Scholars have noted that while they preserve some features of Ezekiel's angelology, the authors of the Slavonic apocalypse appear to be carefully avoiding the anthropomorphic description of the divine Kavod, substituting references to the divine Voice.5 The common interpretation is that the Apocalypse of Abraham deliberately seeks “to exclude all reference to the human figure mentioned in Ezekiel 1.”6

Angelology emerged under the domination of Jewish groups. Reconstructing a brief history for Jewish groups of the Second Temple Period is necessary to ascertain which Jewish group may be aligned with the angelology of 1 Enoch. Moreover, angelology developed within this natural historical context. An exploration of the tradition of angelology includes angelic origins, their functions in the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint, possible mythical associations, and speculation about why angels surfaced within Israelite religion. Examining the background, structure, and contents of 1 Enoch will ensconce the Enochic writings, within the Second Temple Period. Various theories exist concerning the origins, genre, and characteristics of the apocalyptic. Although there is no agreement about these issues, I propose that 1 Enoch exhibits an apocalyptic perspective. While the notion of angels possibly appeared early in Semitic literature, a proliferation of angelology developed by the time of the writing of the books of I Enoch. It is judicious to examine which group possibly produced the Enochic corpus and pos&1"ble reasons for an increase in angelic speculation within these writings. It is my conviction that 1Enoch6 was dependent upon Genesis 6:1-4, which seived as a midrash of this earlier mythical tradition. I aspire to validate that both Genesis 6: 1-4 and the Book ofW atchers exhibits priestly concerns that are in sync with the Pentateuch. Priestly interests evident in the Enochic tradition may suggest the writer was a priest, who sought to address contentious issues involving the Jerusalem priesthood of his time. I believe this research is necessary to establish that Enoch's angelology influenced late Second Temple Jewish society. This is evidenced within subsequent Jewish literatures, which display Enochic angelic concepts, and reflects the belief system of a segment of Jewish society during that time. I am appreciative of the University of South Africa, the examining committee, and professor Spangenberg for their guidance.
Biblical and Ancient Studies
D.Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies)

This chapter begins with the wisdom literature of postexilic Judaism of the Second Temple, which belonged to both the canonical and noncanonical literature. It does not simply discuss Judaism as a matter of angelology, which is placed as a “buffer” between the ostensible “distance of a God becoming increasingly transcendent” and his earthly people, Israel. It is more about the return of at least two gods in the Jewish heaven. The second part of the chapter is devoted to the dialectic process of exchange and delimitation. It also covers Rabbinic Judaism and Early Jewish Mysticism, which analyzes different strands of classical rabbinic literature in a narrower sense and early Jewish mysticism in a combined context.

This chapter explains that one of the prominent characteristics of the world that Maimonides consciously rejected is its angelology. There are a number of aspects of traditional beliefs about angels that Maimonides must have found hard to accept: their independence, corporeality, and vice-regency. However, while he could not have been happy with rabbinic personification of angels, with rabbinic doctrines of fallen angels, and with some talmudic texts which present the angel Metatron as a kind of vice-regent to God, none of these presents more difficulties than biblical anthropomorphism. Why is he so troubled by the existence of intermediaries between God and humans? It is the prominent place of angels in extra-rabbinic literature that was probably the focal point of Maimonides' concern, but it is also likely that the ease with which talmudic rabbis saw angels as intermediaries between humans and God troubled him as well. Examining a custom widespread throughout the Jewish world today will illustrate the point.