divine council
Mike’s Divine Council Book First Draft Now Completed
Many of you know that I've been working (puttering is more accurate) on a book for non-specialists (i.e., lay people and pastors, not the academy) on what I refer to as the divine council worldview of the Bible. It's entitled The Myth That Is True. I've been at it for...
Dan McClellan on “What is Deity in Septuagint Deuteronomy?”
Well, finally got around to re-reading Dan's paper from SBL of last year. I had attended the paper and taken notes, but I wanted to run through the paper once again. My thanks to Dan for sending me a copy (and for the heads up from Matt - and congrats to him and his...
Class 4 – Jesus & the Old Testament
This is the third in a series of lectures Dr. Heiser did at Grace Church Bellingham. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWM8L01cAkY
Where Did the NT Writers Get the Idea of Jesus as Co-Creator?
Last Sunday I gave a talk at church on Jesus as co-creator. Specifically, the discussion focused on the embodied "Word" idea and "Wisdom" in the Old Testament. Here it is: Editor's note: broken video removed. Michael Heiser December 6, 2009 from Grace Church...
Can We Please Stop Appealing to Rabbis for Biblical and Ancient Text Interpretation?
I have this topic stuck in my head today in the wake of some conversations with folks about the Dead Sea Scrolls. But it could just as well be about interpreting any passage in the Hebrew Bible. I've grown weary of people (especially in Christian Middle Earth)...
The Kind of Emails I Get and Why My Audience is Awesome
Every once in a while, I get an email from someone who simply cannot comprehend my email disclaimer -- the one where I alert people to the fact that I'm always hundreds of emails behind, which means that, while I will see your email, I likely will not reply to it....
Mike Visits the Secret Headquarters of the Bible Project
This past week I had the privilege of spending two days at the secret (not quite underground) location where the Bible Project folks are hard at work helping the world understand and appreciate the Bible. It was a lot of fun, trust me. I spent most of the time with...
Gods of the Biblical World
This looks like a useful online resource. Here is the explanation on the site landing page: Welcome! This website was constructed to supply resources for an undergraduate class at Wofford College, called “Gods of the Biblical World: Polytheism, Magic, and Israelite...
Book on Artistic Depiction of Mesopotamian Deities Available Online in PDF
Tallay Ornan's important book, The triumph of the symbol: Pictorial representation of deities in Mesopotamia and the biblical image ban, is now available as a PDF for free download. Here's the abstract: This book analyzes the history of Mesopotamian imagery from the...
Heavenly Worship in Second Temple Judaism, Early Christianity, and Gnostic Sects: Part 5
This is the 5th and final post in a series by guest blogger, Stephen Huebscher ------- This is the final post in this series, and I draw a number of conclusions here. At the end, I list all the works that I referenced in this series, in case I missed one earlier. This...
Mike Heiser’s ETS Paper: The Divine Council in the Pentateuch
A week ago I presented this invited paper in the ETS Pentateuch section: ets-2016-divine-council-in-the-pentateuch The paper isn't an academic work per se. It's more conversational. I took that route because of the time limitation. However, it does have some different...
The Function of the Divine Council in Heavenly Worship: Piety, not Mysticism: Part 2
Part 1 of this series can be found here. To introduce the topic and get things moving, there are two points to remember. First, the responsibilities of the divine council include (1) administrating Yahweh’s will to the nations, (2) administering justice, and...
The Function of the Divine Council in Heavenly Worship: Piety, not Mysticism: Part 1
Editor's Note: This is the first post in a series by my friend Stephen Huebscher. Stephen is a doctoral student in Hebrew Bible and is very acquainted with my work and the divine council in general. I hope you enjoy his contributions to the blog! -- MSH “Heavenly...
Mike Heiser on Reddit “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) Session Tomorrow
I'll be on Reddit tomorrow at 12:30pm Pacific time for an AMA - "Ask Me Anything" - session. I've never been on Reddit before, so I can't tell you much. This is a first for me. I've been told I'll be for 1.5-2 hrs and will have to type my answers. Lexham / Faithlife...