Michael Heiser and Polytheism

So, Michael Heiser…. Nothing too controversial, right?

I intend to address the central question regarding Michael Heiser: did he teach polytheism? My awareness of this issue started with Doreen Virtue’s video (which I have yet to watch), so most of my knowledge of any significant issues with Heiser is recent.

While I am also now aware that some people take issue with Heiser’s methodology (on which I’m not yet taking sides), I’m significantly less interested in that, as Christians can have bad or poor methodology without compromising their fidelity to Christ and the church (not that I’m saying such issues shouldn’t be addressed and rectified).

So, my dominant focus is going to be almost exclusively this: Did Michael Heiser teach anti-Christian theology or doctrine? Anti-Christian theology or doctrine is something that cannot be reconciled with essential doctrines or that necessarily leads someone away from Christ. Examples include teaching that Jesus was a created being, that it is okay to sin, or most variations of Marcionism. Or, particularly, polytheism.

If it’s true that Michael Heiser did, indeed, teach something like this, then any Christian endorsing or recommending him today needs to stop and withdraw. If, on the other hand, he didn’t, then there are really only two possibilities:

• There may be a reasonable misunderstanding of what he taught, in which case those accusing may need to retract their statements but not necessarily apologize.
• There’s no reasonable misunderstanding, and anyone who accused him needs to repent of false witness.

This issue is a bit personal for me because I am friends with, have done ministry with, and/or support people on both sides of the aisle. This means that it seems very likely that I will have to confront at least one set of my friends, people I respect. So, while I take great pleasure in research, to be honest, I am kind of dreading this project and its fallout.

To be clear: I have yet to read a Heiser book and am only briefly informed about the divine council and related theologies. So I'm not entering this opposing or supporting him.

Before I start describing this project, here's some of my other current research, followed by how I will approach this issue since there’s some overlap.

Other research

• PEN Banned Books list
  • This is a list of 11 top books banned from school libraries, so I’m reading through them. I’ve already finished four of them, but three of them are part of three separate series, so I still have at least 10 more books to read in addition to the seven remaining on the list.
• 1946
  • While Progressive Christianity is still my overall focus, I’ve made the 1946 homosexuality issue my subfocus. This means I have a few dozen books to read, mainly on ancient homosexuality, and I will need to learn biblical Hebrew, Koine Greek, Latin, German, and Russian. And possibly Thai. And maybe Sumerian…….
    • Slight exaggeration, but not much. My focus is on the history of LGBTQ euphemisms, covering the immediately involved cultures (biblical, ANE, Greco-Roman, etc) and some related cultures (German and Russian, especially, possibly also Thai). And since I’m dealing with euphemisms and cultural connotations, the more I understand the original languages, the better I understand the original texts and scholarly assessments.
  • I focused all of last year on modern Hebrew and six months (I selected 1946 in ~July) on German, and I started this year on Latin and Russian. I’ll be picking up biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek in a few weeks and then adding additional German after I build those habits and then grow over time. My primary apps are Duolingo and Drops, but I’ll add Biblingo and Mango later this month. Then Rosetta Stone, probably in February, and probably some more in time, gradually building from just two to four languages daily plus additional languages weekly and monthly.
  • One of my goals here is to obtain at least some fluency in biblical Hebrew by year’s end.
  • I suspect I’ll also have similar competency in Latin by the end of the year since I’ve spent a substantial amount of time over the last few years learning a variety of Romance languages, and I’m picking up pretty quickly what Latin I dabbled in before.
• The Incarnate Christ and Its Critics
  • I’m also reading this beautiful beast over the next five months.
• Normal Reading Goals
  • I’m continuing my annual reading goal of at least 300 books and 40,000 pages. While all of the above books will be included in these numbers, I still have plenty left to read to meet my goals.

This leads me to the Michael Heiser Project. So, what does this research look like:

• Learning the biblical languages overlaps with other projects, thankfully. However, the overlap adds a burden to work faster rather than more casually.
• Reading Michael Heiser’s books. My current list has 11+ books with +3,000 pages.
• The Logos Michael Heiser courses. Unknown hours and reading.
• Studies on the referenced apocryphal books, such as Enoch. That’s probably going to be 5-6 books.
• Studies on ANE culture and worldview. That’ll finish a few books I’ve already started and probably require several more.
• Videos. I already have several videos to watch, most of which are 1-2 hours long. In addition to watching them, I’ll try to backtrack their sources and citations.
• Blogs and Posts…. I have a dozen or so already marked and that will probably multiply.
• Podcasts. Well, significant portions of the Naked Bible podcast, in addition to….

Logos will be my very best friend throughout all this, that’s for sure. And I’m certain this list will grow extensively as I reach out to others and get more recommendations.

I might list all these books, pages, posts, and episodes in a future post, but not today.

If anyone is interested in joining me on this journey, though, feel free to join The Citadel and then PM me there; I’ll add you to the private group.