angelomorphic

English

Etymology

From angel +‎ -o- +‎ -morphic. First attested in the 19th century, but popularised after the 1950s on the basis of French angélomorphique as used in the work of Jean Daniélou.

Adjective

angelomorphic (not comparable)

1. (theology) Having the form of an angel; representing a specified person or object in such a manner.
   • 2005, Matthias Reinhard Hoffmann, The Destroyer and the Lamb […], →ISBN, page 80:

     Other early Christian texts describe Christ in angelomorphic or angelic categories. For instance, in the Pseudo-Clementines Christ is ascribed the role of an archangel and becomes identified with Michael […]

   • 2007, Bogdan G. Bucur, The Theophaneia School: Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism‎^[1], page 4:

     This larger theological articulation results in a quasi-Trinitarian structure of the divine world, featuring the Father, the Son/Spirit, and the angelomorphic Spirit.

   • 2017, Christine Hayes, “‘The Torah was not Given to Ministering Angels’: Rabbinic Aspirationalism”, in Charlotte Fonrobert et al., editors, Talmudic Transgression: Engaging the Work of Daniel Boyarin, →ISBN, page 135:

     For Fletcher-Louis the sectarian use of angelic descriptors (angelomorphic language) in reference to the high priest strongly implies an angelic transformation such that the priest is both “functionally and ontologically angelic”.