Michael Steven Heiser (February 14, 1963 – February 20, 2023) was an American Old Testament scholar and Christian author with training in ancient history,

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, and the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

and the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. His expertise and work focused on the nature of the spiritual realm in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

and about spiritual matters more generally, and he wrote more than ten books on these subjects since 2010. He served as executive director of the School of Ministry at

Celebration Church Celebration Church is a multi-site church based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is a member of the Association of Related Churches. and is led by Senior Pastors Tim and Jen Timberlake. History Celebration Church was founded in 1998 by Stovall We ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, and previously as scholar-in-residence at Faithlife Corporation. He ran ''The Naked Bible'' podcast and Miqlat, a ministry to disseminate his scholarship. He also hosted the ''Peeranormal'' Podcast until 2021 which discussed peer-reviewed research on the paranormal. He had additionally been active in media productions around his area of interest, and in response to popular presentations relating to spiritual matters (such as material in the ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...

'' series, and in rebutting ancient astronaut conjectures). Heiser died from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

on February 20, 2023.Christian Headlines website, article by Milton Quintanilla dated February 22, 2023
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Early life and education

Heiser was born on February 14, 1963, and raised in Lebanon,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He was one of seven children. He received an MA in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MA and PhD in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Semitic Languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (with a minor in Classical studies).

Research interests

Heiser's area of expertise is the nature of the spiritual realm in the Bible, namely the "

Divine Council A Divine Council is an assembly of a number of deities over which a higher-level one presides. Historical setting The concept of a divine assembly (or council) is attested in the archaic Sumerian, Akkadian, Old Babylonian, Ancient Egyptian ...

" (e.g., in Psalm 82) and the hierarchy of spiritual order in the Bible. In many of his works, Heiser stressed the overarching importance and role of the Divine Council in the Old Testament, and Kevin Bauder, Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, has referred to Heiser as the "most prominent evangelical defender" of the divine council interpretation of

Psalm 82 Psalm 82 is the 82nd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Sept ...

; he notes that Heiser "has become a .. evangelist for the divine council theory, giving it wide exposure in popular books and articles, and defending it..." through his blogging and other internet activities.

Criticism of ancient astronaut arguments

Heiser spoke out critically against proponents of pseudoscientific ancient astronaut conjectures, especially as popularized by Zechariah Sitchin. Heiser appeared in ''Ancient Aliens Debunked'' as an expert on the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Faithlife Corporation. He was Executive Director of the School of Ministry at

, and a distance-learning professor at

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also produced a podcast (''The Naked Bible''), and created a ministry called Miqlat, dedicated to the production and dissemination of his content. Heiser appeared in the 2018 documentary film ''Fragments of Truth'', and in the 2019 documentary film ''The Unseen Realm''. In 2019 he released the book ''The World Turned Upside Down: Finding the Gospel in Stranger Things,'' referencing the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''

'' as analogies to Christian theology.

Personal life and death

Heiser was married to Drenna, and had three daughters and a son. In 2021, Heiser was diagnosed with

. On January 4, 2023, his wife Drenna, posting on his Instagram page with an accompanying picture of the hospitalized Heiser, noted that he had been admitted for severe anemia, that physicians had stabilized him and were seeking to determine a source of blood loss. On January 22, he announced on his Facebook page that he was "at the end of the road in the late stage (4) of a very aggressive pancreatic cancer". Heiser died on February 20, a week after his 60th birthday.

Selected works

* * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Michael Heiser homepageDr. Michael S. Heiser
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

SitchinIsWrong.comMichael's work blog

Miqlat official website

Naked Bible podcast site

Fringe Pop 321
on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heiser, Michael S. 1963 births 2023 deaths American biblical scholars Deaths from pancreatic cancer Old Testament scholars University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Bob Jones University alumni Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty Liberty University faculty People from Lebanon, Pennsylvania