Pennsylvania – Dr. Michael S. Heiser, an American biblical Old Testament scholar and Christian author with training in ancient history, Semitic languages, and the Hebrew Bible from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin–Madison unexpectedly passed away on Monday, February 20, 2023. He passed away after a long battle with cancer. Dr. Mike was described as a great man of God whose work is literally changing the world of Biblical theology. Dr. Heiser was happily married to Drenna Heiser, an administrative assistant, and support at Miqlat. She created a Mealtrain campaign for the Heiser family
Who was Dr. Michael Heiser?
Michael S. Heiser, a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and a Christian author, received his education at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin-Madison. He also studied ancient history and Semitic languages. Since 2010, he has written more than ten volumes on these topics, with a concentration on the nature of the spiritual realm in the Bible and on spiritual themes more generally.
At Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, he was the executive director of the school of ministry as of 2018. He also taught at Liberty University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He manages the Miqlat ministry, which disseminates his studies, and the podcast The Naked Bible. Also, he has participated in media projects related to his field of interest and in reaction to well-liked talks on spiritual topics (such as material in the Stranger Things series, and in rebutting ancient astronaut conjectures).
Dr. Michael Heiser was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (M.A., Ancient History) and the University of Wisconsin- Madison (M.A., Ph.D., Hebrew Bible, and Semitic Studies). He has a dozen years of classroom teaching experience on the college level and another ten in distance education. Dr. Mike was a Scholar-in-Residence at Logos Bible Software, a company that produces ancient text databases and other digital resources for the study of the ancient world and biblical studies. You can get a more detailed answer to his academic background by reading through his CV.
Dr. Michael Heiser’s Career
Heiser has written at least eleven books since 2015 that explain the meaning of numerous biblical themes and cover other subjects linked to popular spirituality. He also wrote at least two novels in the early 2010s. Heiser served as a scholar-in-residence at Faithlife Corporation from 2017 to 2019. In 2018, he served as the executive director of the Celebration Church School of Ministry in Jacksonville, Florida, as well as a part-time instructor at Liberty University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. As of that time, Heiser ran the ministry Miqlat, which was responsible for creating and disseminating his content, as well as the podcast The Naked Bible.
Heiser had an appearance in the documentaries Pieces of Reality from 2018 and The Invisible World from 2019. Heiser’s book The World Turned Upside Down: Discovering the Gospel in Stranger Things, published in 2019, draws parallels between Christian theology and the Netflix series Stranger Things.
Tributes
Melissa Dougherty a video creator on Youtube wrote, “Dr. Michael Heiser passed away today. Join me in praying for his family. The thing I’ll probably remember the most about him was his kindness. You finished the race. Run wild and free, my friend. You’re home.”
Derek Gilbert. a TV/podcast co-host and author at Gilbert House Ministries wrote, “Drenna Heiser has let us know that Dr. Michael Heiser was called home by the Lord today, February 20, 2023.
He added, “It is an honor to call Mike our friend. We have been blessed by his willingness to share his knowledge and research with us and the body of Christ as a whole. We look forward to that day when we hear, as Mike now has, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”
Funeral arrangements will be officially released by the family.
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