Theology: A Who's Who of Heaven & Hell

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An agnostic who began his Dictionary as "a literary diversion," Davidson thinks that primitive man came to believe in angels because of his need to account for the fearful things he could not see or understand. Many contemporary Christian theologians concede the mythic character of most religious references to angels. Although unable to say for sure how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, Davidson otherwise has come to several conclusions about them as a group. Most are male, and their principal language is Hebrew—one reason, perhaps, why 11,000 angels are alleged to guard every Jew. Davidson, of course, also knows whom to send to the aid of any woman who happens to have her garter stolen—Nergal, chief of hell's secret police.