Spirits and the stars

a spirit-filled cosmology

David Bradnick

pp. 213-226

in: Amos Yong, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Kirsteen Kim (eds), Interdisciplinary and religio-cultural discourses on a spirit-filled world, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

Many ancient religions ascribed significant roles to stars by associating them with a variety of spiritual beings, including gods, angels, and demons. The Sumerians, for example believed that the heavens were the realm of the gods, while the Assyrians and Babylonians believed that the stars were, in fact, embodiments of the gods. The Judeo-Christian tradition is no exception. Apocalyptic literature, in particular, often correlated celestial bodies with angels and demons, and numerous early Christian fathers maintained these notions. So, there is a long-standing tradition within religions of Semitic descent to identify celestial bodies as manifestations of divine beings or, at least, symbols of divine beings.