You are most welcome!
Important is, that the story shows how 13th century people used to trade, negotiate or otherwise interact with people of other 'abrahamic' religions began to regard religious differences: there is just one Dominion, and educated people know about their differing understanding.
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Actually... Elysium has the old Bible stories in it...
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As a practical matter, the Bible is clear that Satan (and presumably, by extension, other demons) can masquerade as an angel of light. So, whatever angels do communicate in Mythic Europe, demons appearing as angels would be clearly motivated to offer counter-communications to confuse things.
Dig into this much further, and we'll notice that the omnipotent God of Mythic Europe theoretically could prevent demons from pretending to be angels (or lock up demons permanently in Hell, or even simply annihilate them), hand everybody the power to Sense Holiness and Unholiness, send swarms of angels to dispense theology and moral advice from every church, synagogue, and mosque, or many similar actions. But the God of Mythic Europe clearly doesn't do that.
So, pretty soon, the entire issue of angels not managing to clear up the divisions between religions bottoms out in the usual questions of theodicy. For whatever reason, the God of Mythic Europe is choosing to not make things any clearer to mortals than they currently are, and accordingly the angels are carrying out that policy. Any angel that would rebel against God's commands in this matter and give simple, clear answers would, as a result of such rebellion, be cast out and become a demon, and you certainly couldn't trust a demon's simple, clear answers.
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I'm not keen on pulling the Big Bang into ME. I thought we'd moved on from ArM v3 Rational auras, and it just makes the world more complicated. (I don't have a problem with the idea that God isn't the creator, but a power Post-Dating the creation. That's no more complicated, just a different perspective.)
Also, in my head canon, there are a significant number of holy people of all the main monotheistic religions with Sense Holiness and Unholiness, and who have been into churches, mosques and synagogues, and therefore understand the commonality of these religions. And perhaps work to moderate inter-faith and inter-sect conflict. Rabbis, monks and imams in Jerusalem who nod quietly to one another if their paths cross. (If it's not clear, I much prefer the v5 version of the Dominion to the v3 one.)
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It's probably a matter of choice an Free Will: How can you choose to be good
/ become a better person if God must always shows show you the right path?
And now that i think about it, God does send angels to guide humans towards good and away from evil. They are called Guardian Angels, and I believe everyone has one. Problem is, people ignore them, instead giving in to sin and temptation.
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The standard means for communities of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to learn "the right path" are of course the books: Thora and Talmud, the Bible, the Quran and the Hadith. Those community members who cannot study and interpret them will rely on those who can. Angels are not an alternative: learning from them is very suspect, because it cannot be controlled by the community.
An exemplary conversion to Christianity widely known in the middle ages is the one of Augustinus, as he writes in Confessiones Book 8 Cp. 29:
- I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo, I heard the voice as of a boy or girl, I know not which, coming from a neighbouring house, chanting, and oft repeating, Take up and read; take up and read. Immediately my countenance was changed, and I began most earnestly to consider whether it was usual for children in any kind of game to sing such words; nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So, restraining the torrent of my tears, I rose up, interpreting it no other way than as a command to me from Heaven to open the book, and to read the first chapter I should light upon. For I had heard of Antony, that, accidentally coming in while the gospel was being read, he received the admonition as if what was read were addressed to him, Go and sell that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me. Matthew 19:2l And by such oracle was he immediately converted unto You. So quickly I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I put down the volume of the apostles, when I rose thence. I grasped, opened, and in silence read that paragraph on which my eyes first fell —Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Romans 13:13-14 No further would I read, nor did I need; for instantly, as the sentence ended — by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart — all the gloom of doubt vanished away.
Here the angel just hints. The book contains the teaching.
This might also serve as an example to SGs, should they ever need to inspire PCs by angels.
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To add my two cents: the irl middle ages are full of mystics who say very strange things about God that don't fully mesh with the standard "party line" for their respective faiths. The RoP:D book seems to take the line that God is literally beyond logic, which is a minority view among medieval theologians afaik, but still an option. I prefer to leave that route an open question, as affirming it opens a can of worms. I prefer mystery to be presented as due to limits in understanding rather than a fundamental metaphysical "vagueness" baked into the setting.
I take the line implied (imo) by mechanics like Divine Gloom - the closer you come to the truth of the Divine, the less capable you are of communicating this understanding. The greatest mystics may well understand that their God is the Originating Good worshipped rightly by many in various ways. But they are the ones who have effectively lapsed fully into the silent peace of contemplation, aiding the world by their potent prayers rather than their wordly activities. Those who are active in the world are either direct agents of God (e.g. angels, saints) with a specific mission (so they aren't just here to satisfy human curiosity - remember it is considered a sin by most to "seek the things that are too high for you") or normal people (your standard priests, bishops, etc) whose understanding is still imperfect, "as in a mirror dimly".
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In case my username doesn't make it obvious, and because I think laying my irl cards on the table can be useful, I am a Roman Catholic interested in medieval theology, who mostly SGs for non-Christian players. So I'm interested in these issues of how to present it without collapsing into banal Christian triumphalism or the ultra-subjectivity of something like Mage: The Ascension.
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I think in terms of Ars Magica what medieval theologians actually thought, believed, or argued needs to take a back seek to what is workable for a roleplaying game. After all we are not trying to address why angels did not come down and reveal the truth to all mankind in the middle ages, we are trying to address how to handle the question in game. Having rules and norms which support the game is more important than towing a theological line from 800 years ago.
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I agree - but where the two can be brought together, I prefer to do so! Just as with all aspects of the medieval setting.
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It shouldn't be difficult. The world of religion has 14,000 ears of ambiguity from celestial sources to draw on whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, the Oracle o Delphi etc. Of course, only about 8,000 of those years are recorded history.
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