Dr. Michael Heiser's "Supernatural Seminar" video series (gratis post)

In anticipation of my forthcoming post...

(Three temptations of Christ, detail of second temptation / Sandro Botticelli, Sistine Chapel, 1481-1482)

Looking ahead to my next post, which will be an attempt to name, investigate, and articulate the specific type of evil that stirs up our worst “passions” against us (what is meant by “temptation” in the diabolic sense), I thought it might be useful to recommend in advance a series of videos by the late Dr. Michael Heiser (1963 - 2023), whose stimulating biblical studies (and exploration into peer-reviewed paranormal research, as well) are superb. He was an Evangelical of the non-fundamentalist variety, so I can’t say that I share every single aspect of his perspective — but I can say I share something like, oh, 90-plus percent of it, making some allowances here and there. There is very little, if anything, that an Orthodox or Catholic Christian couldn’t take on board from an engagement with his work (indeed, it’s certainly congruent with a general Orthodox view of Scripture).

His area of expertise was explaining the “unseen realm” as presented in the Old and New Testaments, a subject of vital importance for the genuine understanding of both Christian and Jewish thought. Without an appreciation of the relevant “spiritual” background to be found in the Hebrew Scriptures, the relevant intertestamental literature (such as the book of 1 Enoch), and the worldview of the ancient Near East, it’s virtually impossible (for instance) to interpret Jesus’ self-knowledge and mission in any plausible fashion; likewise, much of Paul and the other New Testament writers will inevitably be “lost in translation” without some knowledge of that background. It should go without saying, but unfortunately can’t go unsaid in our day, that Jesus understood himself in the context of the “biblical worldview” — he certainly cannot be interpreted, for example, as a “political” figure (right or left) such as we would recognize that designation today, and — yes — when he referred to himself as “the Son of Man” and Messiah (and it’s more than likely that he pronounced himself to be both), he meant that he was someone of immense significance and, in fact, transcendent of standard categories. Dr. Heiser is very good at dispelling the continuously billowing fog of misleading ideas on such topics as biblical literature and Christ that so frequently appear, say, on social media and sensationalist YouTube channels, or in New Yorker interviews with pop scholars by Adam Gopnik (who’s much better on the Marx Brothers and S. J. Perelman than when discussing Jesus), or on theo-trendy podcasts featuring self-styled “heretics.” If nothing else, Heiser won’t bore you with the same old, soft-peddled “average stuff.”

The following four-part video series, Supernatural Seminar, is a fine overview of the much more detailed scholarly exploration that comprises his book The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. His website can be accessed here, and his podcast, The Naked Bible, can be found here. (His short-lived podcast series on peer-reviewed scientific research into the paranormal, Peeranormal, can be accessed here.)

Here is the video series, in anticipation of my forthcoming post: