Are Genesis 1 and 2 separate creation accounts? Is Genesis 2 a zoomed-in sequel? Or might there be something else entirely going on? It’s a fair question, and one that has animated debates among scholars, theologians, skepti…
I have given my thoughts about Dr. Heiser's work in many places, and I won't reproduce them here in full, but it’s worth saying again: his impact on me, and on many others, has been profound. And I think there are many reasons for …
The “divine council” refers to the biblical and ancient Near Eastern idea that God presides over a heavenly assembly of spiritual beings. Far from a fringe concept, this imagery appears throughout the Hebrew Bible and Second Templ…
So here's a common question from people who follow Dr. Michael Heiser's work, or really any of the current flurry of interest in 1 Enoch: Why isn’t 1 Enoch in our Bibles? I mean, after all...you've found out that it's quoted in the Bible and…
This is just a general rumination (and frankly, lament) because I was led to go on a bit of a research side-trail today due to an interesting question about the Babylonian base-60 number system and if the Bible has anything to do with that. (Q…
Being in the space I’m in—biblical theology podcasting, moderating the DCW (Divine Council Worldview FB group), and spending time in the strange crossroads of hermeneutics, canon, and spiritual imagination—I see some patterns. One…
This post is a special request. (Okay, to be fair it wasn’t really a request for a blog post, but it was a question someone asked, and to answer it, I need to do so in a formatted way. So here we go! This can help with our un…
This blog post is a resource for episode 136 because I know it’s a lot of data and I know your hand is going to cramp while trying to write notes as you're listening, so here you go. (Promise me you'll still write notes, tho, right???)&n…
Biblical Theology. Real Community. No Noise. The Community You’ve Been Looking For, Built Around the Bible and the People You Love If you’ve landed here, you might already feel it—that quiet frustration, that sense that the Churc…
I just realized it's Monday and usually this is "blog day." I've been pretty occupied with a few things lately, so time had gotten away from me.I'm going to keep this a bit short and sweet, but don't let that fool you: I am so excited ab…
From the First Supper to the Last: The Threefold Body of Christ What if I told you that the whole story of salvation--the arc from Eden to New Creation--could be followed through meals? That a table, of all things, might be the thread that ti…
A Response to a Common Critique So, a common critique from skeptics is that the fields of linguistics and anthropology “completely falsify” the idea that the Babel story in Genesis could have any historical validity. That’s …
We toss around the labels Old Testament and New Testament like everyone’s always known what they mean—but have you ever stopped to ask where those titles came from? Behind these common terms lies a story of translation, theology, a…
In this week’s episode of Genesis Marks the Spot, I proposed a clarifying distinction that we will continue to explore in future episodes: covenantal blood‑sacrifice operates differently than purification sacrifice. But…mode…
Here’s another common question centered on taking the divine council worldview into application for today. These are essential points for us, because I don’t think we should leave biblical context in the realm of intellectual engag…
What do the gods have to do with Social Justice? One of the most discussed—and debated—texts when it comes to the divine council worldview (DCW) is Psalm 82. A recent objection raised a familiar critique: how can the figures…
“The sons of God without a shadow of a doubt were the Sethites.” — H.C. Leupold Let’s be honest: when someone firmly establishes their argument with “without a shadow of a doubt,” it’s a bit of a red …
So Many Bibles—Which One Do I Trust? For many people just beginning to take their study of the Bible seriously, whether through formal biblical studies or personal theological growth, one of the first and possibly most disorienting questions …
From Joy to Judgment and from Wisdom to the Wedding Feast "What does it mean to receive joy as a sacred act?" -- The Cup of Joy: Wine, Blessing, and Sacred Celebration - Episode 124 Wine in the Bible is quite the metaphor when you really loo…
Ahh, but the question is, which literal? ... ... I thought I’d tackle a critical question today that I’ve been asked more than once, and oddly almost in similar wording each time. Critic: “Why don’t you take Jesus seriou…
Mount Hermon is a towering peak visible from miles away, looming on the northern horizon of ancient Israel. It has long attracted religious significance across cultures, from Canaanite to Roman, and perhaps most famously in the Jewish apocalyp…
Okay, so unlike my previous posts about the historicity of Adam, this one should be a shorter one, because it boils down to a pretty simple, straightforward idea for consideration. (Again, keep in mind that I’m just trying to give you th…
Along with Michael Heiser, John Walton has been a major player in the world of biblical theology, unveiling ancient context for modern understanding of the Bible. The newest book in his popular series, New Explorations in the Lost World of Gen…
When people hear the term “biblical theology,” it’s easy to assume it simply means “theology that is biblical.” But in scholarly and church circles alike, biblical theology refers to a specific method of doing the…