Biblically Accurate
“BE NOT AFRAID!”
– a calming thing to hear from a terrifying monster or a terrifying thing to hear from some guy
As a self-described “Atheist Bible Nerd,” I’ve always had a bit of a quibble with this whole “Biblically Accurate Angel” meme. Don’t get me wrong, the designs are cool and I always enjoy seeing how creative they can get (I’ve even dabbled in designing a few myself, hidden somewhere in my old workdesk doodles) but like, they’re not quite “Biblically Accurate.”
Even skipping over the countless discussions of canonicity, what books are accepted by what sects, how cultural understandings differ from what is literally in the books themselves – most depictions of angels in the Bible just look like people. Not even winged people, just like… guys.
The image conjured by the “Biblically Accurate” meme, with the wheels and eyeballs and wings, is basically a combination of various heavenly beings – thrones, ophanim, seraphim, etc. – that are described in the books of Ezekiel and Revelations. There are deeper discussions about what is or is not an angel, angelic hierarchies and the like, but my main concern is just the name, “Biblically Accurate,” which doesn’t feel quite accurate – attaching a seraph’s wings to the eyeball wheels of the ophanim feels like just as much a departure from canon as other, less-than-literal, depictions.
Though cherubs are absolutely not winged babies. No idea how we got there from the badass chimera warriors described in the books.
– James
