ANGELS. An introductory overview of the term "angel" in a historical and religious context necessitates a preliminary discussion of the limits and context of this word, which has become deeply entrenched in Western culture. If it is correct that the word "angel" applies to ranks of spiritual or heavenly beings which serve as intermediaries between the earthly and divine worlds, it would be appropriate to restrict the scope of an investigation to cultural situations that are most generally associated with monotheistic theological ideas—Judaism, Christianity, Islam—or else to religions with strongly monotheistic leanings, albeit with a mythological framework and large number of gods in a secondary role, such as Zoroastrianism. Religious movements such as Gnosticism, Manichaeism, and Mandaeism, which have common cultural links with both the monotheistic Judeo-Christian spirituality, and the diverse world of Greek, Hellenistic, and late antiquity culture, should also be examined. Soteriological and eschatological...