Our 8th Question and Answer episode! Transcript 82 Q&A 8 00:00 – Intro and holiday update01:00 – Genesis 32:22–32 – Is Jacob wrestling with God a unique story?06:55 – Enoch – Was Genesis 5's Enoch based on earlier material or real?17:45 – Enoch’s 365 years and...
divine council
What Is Spiritual Warfare? Mike’s (Brief) Take
This question is asked of me so often that I've decided to post an *unedited* excerpt from my forthcoming Demons book (due out sometime in 2019 -- it's in editorial now). Here's a brief take on the issue; part of a larger discussion: What is spiritual warfare-from...
Elohim, Divine Council, Psalm 82, OT Monotheism Archive
I get a lot of email about my views on Yahweh and divine plurality. You’d think people would find my material via Google or my divine council website, but I guess not. I’m making this page for you all, of course, but also to provide myself a convenient one-stop link...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 146: Ezekiel 32
Ezekiel 32 is a lament for the empire of Egypt, whose hubris was compared to a rebellious divine council member in the previous chapter (one of the “trees” of God’s garden in Lebanon/Eden). This episode focuses on two items in the chapter. Early in the chapter, the...
Five Differences Between Qur’anic (Sharia) Law and Old Testament Law
I'd recommend this interesting essay to readers. It was published by the Christian Research Institute. The essay has some deficiencies, in that there are other important differences (and nuances within the differences noted). For example, the OT law was also something...
Naked Bible 96: Q&A 11
Our 11th Question and Answer episode! Link referenced: AllAboutGod.com In this wide-ranging listener Q&A episode, Dr. Michael Heiser answers theological and biblical questions that touch on some of his most well-known teaching topics. The questions cover...
Naked Bible 71: Q&A 7
Our 7th Question and Answer episode! Transcript 71 QA7 Timestamps & Questions Timestamp Question Summary 00:00–02:00 Intro by Trey Stricklin — housekeeping, podcast updates 02:00–06:38 Can you explain more about the “two Yahwehs” idea in light of Deuteronomy...
The Divine Council and Early Christian Writers
Readers familiar with me and my work know that I think our theology needs to derive from the text, not tradition. This applies pointedly to the Old Testament -- the three-quarters of our Bible upon which our New Testament theology ought to be erected to have any hope...
Regional SBL Papers
[Note: For other posts on Mike's work on the divine council, click here for the archive.] [Note to those who left comments on this post: I have fixed the bad link in the earlier post.] Here are my two regional SBL papers (keep in mind that in both I spent part of my...
What is the Bible’s Big Story? Part 1
A guest post by Dr. Ronn Johnson I recently heard that we see more images or pictures in one day (whether on our phone, on the TV, on a billboard, etc.) than a pre-Renaissance person would have seen over the course of their entire lifetime. Apparently our brains have...
Naked Bible Podcast Episodes 190, 191, and 192: Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Interviews
The interviews from the 2017 SBL meetings had to be broken up into three episodes: Episode 190 (SBL, Part 1) We get caught up with David Burnett, now in his first semester of doctoral work at Marquette University. We also chat with Marina Westerdahl, a former student...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 148: Q & A Number 19
The episode is now live. In Episode 148 of the Naked Bible Podcast, Dr. Michael Heiser tackles deep theological questions from listeners on topics ranging from spiritual death to the divine beings in Genesis and the resurgence of Gnosticism in modern Christian...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 145: Ezekiel 31 and the Cosmic Tree
Ezekiel 31 is part of the prophet’s oracles against Egypt (chs. 29-32). The chapter strikes an analogy between the mighty nation of Egypt and a great cedar tree in Eden, the envy of other glorious trees in the garden of God. The symbol of the “world tree” or “cosmic...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 139: Q & A Number 18
The episode is now live! In Episode 139 of the Naked Bible Podcast, Dr. Michael Heiser responds to a range of listener-submitted theological questions that dive deep into biblical interpretation, supernatural worldview, and ancient context. This Q&A installment...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 134: ETS-SBL Interviews with Scholars: Part 6
During the recent annual meetings for biblical studies scholars held in San Antonio, Dr. Heiser interviewed a number of scholars about their recent work. In Part 6 of those interviews, we chat with Stephen Huebscher (PhD candidate at Clarks Summit University), David...