Book excerpt: What were/are angels and what was/were their purpose(s) still agitates many readers of the many documents in which they are mentioned. This topic proved to both interest and challenge the presenters at the Seminar in Biblical Characters in Seoul, South Korea, from which this book is derived. Communication between the heavenly realms and the earth were/are at the core of the human consideration of, and openness to the existence of beings from the heavens who can and have visited us humans. Humans have constructed a taxonomy of types of what we employ with the catch-all term angels. Some are identified with warfare, others with healing, yet others with informing. Even others are associated with the role of guardian and teacher. These, however, do not exhaust the possibilities. What, apparently, humans volunteer is to acknowledge in their experiences is that extra or ultra-beings have, and continue to influence their lives and destinies. The essays contained in this volume reflect some of the thoughtful responses to this abiding concern.