Angelology
The angelology (from Greek. Ἄγγελος angelos "messenger" λόγος logos "word, doctrine") is the study of the angels . She deals with existence and origin, nature and number of angels and tries to create a system. It is traditionally a branch of theological dogmatics .
Angels appear in various cultures and religions as mediators between man and deity . Angelology is not always based on Christian belief, but can also contain elements from Judaism , Kabbalah or Greco-Roman or Germanic mythology and mysticism .
The teaching of the angels reached their greatest development and deepening in the Middle Ages . The Christian attempt at systematics is essentially based on a writing by Pseudo-Dionysius (n. 500 for short), who partly fell back on older traditions and described an angelic hierarchy with nine choirs of angels .
literature
- Johann Evangelist Hafner : Angelologie , Schöningh, Paderborn etc. 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-76738-7
- Michael N. Ebertz (ed.): Angels among us . Sociological and theological miniatures. Wuerzburg 2008.
- Andrei Pleșu : The Silence of Angels , Berlin University Press, Berlin, 2007
- Johann Ev. Hafner: Why there aren't only souls in heaven . The function of angels as a competitive group, in: Evangelische Theologie 65 (2005), pp. 350–365.
- K. van der Toorn; B. Becking; Pieter W. van der Horst (ed.): Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Leiden, Boston, Cologne, 2 1999, ISBN 90-04-11119-0 .
- Johannes Heinrich Oswald : Angelology. This is the teaching of the good and bad angels in the sense of the Catholic Church. With an appendix "Christian Faith and Demon Doctrine" by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Kulmbach 2015, ISBN 978-3-943506-32-7 .
- David Keck: Angels & angelology in the Middle Ages, New York [u. a.]: Oxford University Press, 1998
- Fridolin Stier : God and his angel in the Old Testament , 1934
- Popular reference books
- Heinrich Krauss: Small Lexicon of Angels: from Ariel to Zebaoth , Munich 2001
- Heinrich Krauss: The Angels: Tradition, Shape, Interpretation , 2000
- Rosemary Guiley: Encyclopaedia of Angels. 1996. ISBN 0-8160-2988-1
- Gustav Davidson: A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, Free Press 1994
Web links
- Selected specialist literature (Regensburg Association Classification)