Classic F/SF Ideas: Angels and Devils

Once they were abstract concepts, metaphors, or simply undefined "messengers" (the original meaning of malakh, the Hebrew word for "angel.") Since at least the 17th Century, however, angels and demons have been mythologized as entities who could be commanded and feared - and then turned into characters of fiction. Modern fantasy, especially, has treated these beings as just individuals with great power, wisdom, and life span, following the lead of John Milton and taking it even farther.

Paradise Lost, John Milton
Hellblazer, comic, Alan Moore, Jamie Delano, John Ridgway
The Prophecy, film, Gregory Widen
Black Easter, James Blish