Show #499 – Evolution of God?

In this episode, we look at a question that has popped up for many about the idea that the God of the Bible is part of Ancient Near Eastern religious evolution. This theology was pushed significantly by Dr. Michael Heiser before he died in books like “Unseen Realms” among others. We discuss Heiser’s theological positions and look at various subjects like the idea that El Elyon is distinct from YHVH and is a chief deity. We also talk briefly about the idea of a “council of the gods,” something Heiser was big on. 

This is not the first time we have discussed Dr. Heiser’s work on our show. Every time we touch on this topic we see a significant amount of Heiser supporters come forward and claim we have not read Heiser or that we are intentionally misrepresenting him. This, however, is not a good argument against our criticisms. When faced with works that Heiser wrote that are not widely read (like his Ph.D dissertation) many of our critics fall silent. In this episode, Rob challenges supporters of Heiser to produce specific evidence of manuscripts referenced in Heiser’s work.