Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: May 13, 2024, 6:49 pm

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Why are angels always males?
#37
RE: Why are angels always males?
(May 4, 2021 at 11:48 pm)WinterHold Wrote: I tend to avoid believing in any kind of "Anthropomorphism" when it comes to religion.
This is wise, I think. As much as I love all that medieval and Renaissance art, the way they show angels has led to misunderstanding. There's a good reason for refraining from such imagery. 
Quote:Then, these two wings, three wings and 4 wings creatures have different jobs, for example there are the "carriers of God's throne":

There are a lot of similarities here between what you say here and the Christian tradition that developed over the centuries. It would be very interesting to know about cross-influences, common sources, etc. Ancient Mesopotamian and Sumerian art has multi-winged creatures before either Christianity or Islam were up and running, so I suspect they have roots in the same ideas. 

Pseudo-Dionysius, who did the most to describe angels in the Christian tradition, was from Syria, so he would be closer to Middle Eastern sources, at least geographically. 

He and Dante and others used to give angels a large and varied role, as you describe. Classical theologians often insisted that God himself took no action -- being perfect and impassible he could not change or move -- so interventions in the material world were ascribed to the angels acting on his behalf. They would know what was necessary without God giving them a push. 

These days I'm reading Marsilio Ficino, and he works hard to connect the angels with Plato's Ideas. He puts them in the level just "below" God himself. Since God is complete unity, the Ideas or the angels are the first emanation into multiplicity. From there, they act in the world in their various ways. 

Quote:Some of the Jinn are righteous, others are bad. The ones who follow "Satan's" way are called "demons".

This is very interesting! Again there are fascinating similarities between Jinn the spirits that the Romans called geniuses -- though differences too. It would be very nice to know about how the ideas developed, and from where.

You know that the guy who lives in Aladdin's lamp is called a "genie" in English. I had always assumed that it was a Jinn, but that the use of the word "genie" showed it to be the same species of thing as a Roman genius. Now I've been Googling, and it turns out that this coincidence can't be traced back farther than the French translator of The 1001 Nights. The French word for genius is "genie," and that guy thought it sounded similar to "jinn," as well as familiar to French readers. So he called it a genie and somehow the French word got taken into English. 

The scholars speculate that the words have a common root, but apparently no one's sure. It just seems too good to be a coincidence. 

If you meet one, please ask him!

Thank you for taking the time to answer in such a complete way. I love learning about these things.
Reply



Messages In This Thread
Why are angels always males? - by Fake Messiah - April 10, 2021 at 9:24 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Foxaèr - April 10, 2021 at 9:26 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Gwaithmir - April 10, 2021 at 10:27 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Rev. Rye - April 10, 2021 at 9:42 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by arewethereyet - April 12, 2021 at 12:02 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by BrianSoddingBoru4 - April 12, 2021 at 1:05 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Belacqua - April 10, 2021 at 9:51 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Irreligious Atheist - April 19, 2021 at 6:03 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Belacqua - April 19, 2021 at 6:15 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by BrianSoddingBoru4 - April 19, 2021 at 6:50 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Ferrocyanide - September 22, 2021 at 10:19 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Gwaithmir - April 10, 2021 at 9:54 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Foxaèr - April 10, 2021 at 10:14 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Belacqua - April 10, 2021 at 10:05 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Rev. Rye - April 10, 2021 at 10:20 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Belacqua - April 10, 2021 at 10:26 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by WinterHold - May 4, 2021 at 3:17 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Belacqua - May 4, 2021 at 4:43 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by WinterHold - May 4, 2021 at 11:48 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Belacqua - May 5, 2021 at 4:26 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by WinterHold - May 6, 2021 at 10:39 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Fake Messiah - May 5, 2021 at 4:30 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Belacqua - April 10, 2021 at 11:50 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Ferrocyanide - September 22, 2021 at 11:04 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Brian37 - September 23, 2021 at 4:01 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Ferrocyanide - September 23, 2021 at 10:58 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Brian37 - September 24, 2021 at 7:26 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Ferrocyanide - September 24, 2021 at 11:30 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Angrboda - April 10, 2021 at 11:51 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by BrianSoddingBoru4 - April 11, 2021 at 2:16 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by no one - April 11, 2021 at 1:28 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by BrianSoddingBoru4 - April 11, 2021 at 2:15 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by GUBU - April 12, 2021 at 8:14 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by arewethereyet - April 12, 2021 at 1:19 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by HappySkeptic - April 14, 2021 at 5:43 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by arewethereyet - April 14, 2021 at 6:14 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Drich - April 13, 2021 at 1:50 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by arewethereyet - April 13, 2021 at 1:51 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Drich - April 20, 2021 at 3:06 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by arewethereyet - April 21, 2021 at 10:22 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Fireball - April 21, 2021 at 8:08 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by arewethereyet - April 21, 2021 at 8:12 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Gwaithmir - April 19, 2021 at 8:33 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by John 6IX Breezy - April 15, 2021 at 12:13 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by onlinebiker - May 6, 2021 at 5:45 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by WinterHold - May 6, 2021 at 8:44 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by arewethereyet - May 6, 2021 at 8:53 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Ferrocyanide - September 22, 2021 at 10:28 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Brian37 - September 22, 2021 at 10:28 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by The Architect Of Fate - September 22, 2021 at 10:57 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by The Grand Nudger - September 23, 2021 at 12:07 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Gwaithmir - September 24, 2021 at 11:01 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by HappySkeptic - September 24, 2021 at 9:14 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Dundee - October 7, 2021 at 6:34 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by GUBU - October 9, 2021 at 9:42 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by Gwaithmir - October 8, 2021 at 8:33 am
RE: Why are angels always males? - by The Grand Nudger - October 9, 2021 at 2:13 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by The Grand Nudger - October 9, 2021 at 2:23 pm
RE: Why are angels always males? - by The Grand Nudger - October 9, 2021 at 2:26 pm

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Why does science always upstage God? ignoramus 940 130219 October 26, 2022 at 10:15 pm
Last Post: LinuxGal
  Proof and evidence will always equal Science zwanzig 103 6851 December 17, 2021 at 5:31 pm
Last Post: arewethereyet
  why is the thread about angels being male closed? Anomalocaris 11 2407 April 23, 2021 at 7:12 am
Last Post: BrianSoddingBoru4
  Always Proof Your Yeast! Fuck Proof of Gods! chimp3 12 2052 September 9, 2018 at 3:46 pm
Last Post: Ravenshire
  Information always arises from intelligence goombah111 39 4613 October 31, 2016 at 1:19 pm
Last Post: Doubting Thomas
Music Are the holy angels like the time-cops? theBorg 150 19265 October 11, 2016 at 3:54 pm
Last Post: Ravenshire
  Why do religious people always refer to God for answers. Prince 12 3750 June 1, 2015 at 5:05 pm
Last Post: AFTT47
  Angels For Those Who Don't Believe Nope 29 5333 April 10, 2015 at 2:05 am
Last Post: Invisible Sky Fairy
  Cousins in the Spirit: Angels of Iran zanOTK 0 1310 June 26, 2014 at 6:08 am
Last Post: zanOTK
  Is killing a Pastor always a bad thing? Mystical 85 23068 November 9, 2013 at 8:51 am
Last Post: T.J.



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)