Michael S. Heiser

Michael S. Heiser is an American biblical scholar.

Heiser was raised in Lebanon PA. He attended Lebanon High School and Cedar Crest High. He received an M.A. in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in the Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (with a minor in Classical studies).^[1] Heiser received his undergraduate degree from Bob Jones University and also attended Bible college for three years.^[2]

Heiser taught college for twelve years and is the Academic Editor for Logos Bible Software.^[1]

Heiser's doctoral dissertation examines Israel's divine council and compares the "two powers" theology of second temple Judaism with the theological relationship of Baal and El in the Ugaritic texts. Heiser argued the Hebrew Bible demonstrates multiple persons of Israel’s one God and that this served as the theological matrix leading historically to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Heiser objects to modern critical reconstructions of the evolution of Israelite religion which see Israelite history as a progressive evolution from henotheism or polytheism to strict monotheism after the exilic period. He maintains that the Bible relates a uniform doctrine of divine plurality and that later texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Deuteronomy, Isaiah and the New Testament authors all believed in a divine council of genuine gods who were created by and are ontologically subordinate to Yahweh.^[3][4] Heiser is featured in a debunking of Ancient Aliens, as an expert on the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern texts and has also researched UFO conspiracy theories such as the Roswell UFO incident.^[5] Heiser argues that a second yod vocalization in the book of Numbers and the Aramaic grammar shows that the Nephilim in the book of Genesis must be understood as "giants" and not Ancient astronauts.^[6]

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