Crosby 1
The term angel derives from a Greek translation of the Hebrew word mal'akh, which first
meant "Shadow side of God," and now means messenger (Jeremiah 59). Angels as an article of
faith have become an unshakeable part of our society. One in every ten popular songs involves
angels in some way (Freeman 2). They appear in paintings and in museums as sculptures. Our
culture is filled with angels that appear on clothing, cards, or as souvenirs, and jewelry. It would
be reasonable to assume that one might find the most information about angels in the Christian
bible. However , the bible only mentions three angels by name and actually contains very little
information about these beings. Almost all of the information we have about angelic attributes
comes from the three great Chronicles of Enoch. In these chronicles Enoch describes his journey
to the ten Heavens where he saw angels in heaven's penal and punishment area, punishing sinners.
His view was that hell existed in small pockets that were distributed throughout heaven. This
view was not consistent with the later Church that believed heaven and hell were two separate
places. Because of this, St. Jerome declared these texts apocryphal (Godwin 9). However, a lot
of material from these chronicles appears in the New Testament. Though much of what we know
currently about what angels are and what they do is based on misconception and myth, the
concern of this paper is with the genus Angelus Occidentalis. This is the term used to describe a
number of angelic species and sub-species in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity (Godwin 7). The
term angel describes not only the benevolent forces of heaven but also the malevolent forces of
hell. When Lucifer fell from heaven a supposed one third of the angels sided and fell with him.
One third remained in heaven, and one third were neutr...