Dr. Michael Heiser has generated a good amount of interest in evangelical circles over his “divine council” theory and related OT-hermeneutical positions. I find some of Heiser’s positions and insights intriguing. Some of them, however, don’t at all seem half as ‘new and innovative’ as it seems he thinks they are; and some of his views are kind of goofy and rather problematic at best.
Jordan Cooper has offered three podcast episodes dealing with Heiser from a confessional Lutheran position. I would commend his critique of Heiser. It’s head-on, but fair and measured.
An Evaluation of Heiser’s Divine Council Theology
A Critique of Heiser’s Interpretation of the Nephilim
An Alternative to Heiser’s Divine Council Theology
And a postscript. One feature of Heiser I find especially unsettling is his gripe with ‘confessional encumbrances’ on biblical interpretation. His supposed ‘Naked Bible,’ however, belies a biblicism that merely operates on an unwritten confession. And a part of that unwritten confession appears to be ANE custom and practice. In the end, such biblicism tends to make a guru (oracle?) of the academic, fosters another magisterium, and paves the way for rationalism. Friends, nothing is new under the sun. Listen to Heiser, but listen to him with a good helping of caution.
West Port Experiment 