Professor Mike Heiser's Homepage

Welcome distance learners of Taylor University's College of Adult and Lifelong Learning!  Below you will find some helpful information relating to the distance education classes I teach and oversee.

About Professor Heiser

I am an Adjunct Faculty member for the College of Adult and Lifelong Learning at Taylor University.  I have been teaching since 1992, but only recently joined Taylor's adjunct faculty.  My primary area of expertise is Old Testament / Hebrew Bible, but I have also taught courses in theology, New Testament, and ancient history.  I have masters degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (ancient history) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages).  I am currently working on my doctoral dissertation at the latter institution in the field of Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages.  My dissertation deals with the study of heavenly beings in Jewish religious literature in the intertestamental period.

My main areas of interest are Old Testament religion, ancient near eastern religions, Biblical Hebrew and other "odd" languages (like hieroglyphs, for instance), the history of the Bible, and the doctrine of angels.  Aside from these scholarly interests, I'm a big baseball and football fan, enjoy learning how to do more things on my computer, and am widely read in paranormal phenomena.  I have published several scholarly articles, and my first novel, a supernatural thriller entitled The Façade, is presently being considered for publication.

My wife Drenna and I are both natives of Pennsylvania (Lebanon, to be exact; it's near Lancaster), and we have three children:  Amy (8), Molly (6), and Calvin (15 months).  Needless to say, there's never a dull moment.  My wife has a degree in Biology Education, and is currently homeschooling our two daughters.
 
 

Class Information and Materials

Archaeology and the Old Testament

• Professor Heiser's review article of Graham Hancock's book on the ark of the covenant, The Sign and the Seal
• Misplace your Learning Agreement?  Here are the Assignments
• List of Articlesthat are part of your learning agreement
• Professor Heiser's article on Mount Sinai
• Assignment Comments

• Misplace your Learning Agreement?  Here are the Assignments
• List of Articlesthat are part of your learning agreement
• Assignment Comments
• Professor Heiser's notes on the image of God
• Professor Heiser's article,"Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and the Sons of God"

• Misplace your Learning Agreement?  Here are the Assignments
• List of Articles that are part of your learning agreement
• Professor Heiser's notes on the image of God
• Assignment Comments
• Professor Heiser's article,"Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and the Sons of God"

• Misplace your Learning Agreement?  Here are the Assignments
• List of Articles that are part of your learning agreement
• Christian liberty notes
• Moral Dilemma notes - Christian views
• There are no Assignment comments for this class

• Misplace your Learning Agreement?  Here are the Assignments
• List of Articles that are part of your learning agreement
• Professor Heiser's article on Mount Sinai
• There are no Assignment comments for this class

• Good online resource for DSS study
• Internet reading on the Second Temple Period
• Short DSS Nomenclature Quiz - make sure you have a proctor before viewing it!
• Online article on the history of the Hebrew text
• Professor Heiser's article on Deut. 32:8-9 in response to David L. Stevens' article
• There are no Assignment comments for this class
• Links to online introductions to various DSS
• Damascus Document  (CD)
• Charter of a Jewish Sectarian Association (1QS)
• Habakkuk Commentary (1QpHab)
• Link for a brief overview of the belief in Two Messiahs at Qumran
• Charter for the Last Days (1QSa)
• The War Scroll (1QM)
• The Book of Enoch (fragments of which were found at Qumran)
• The Hodayot (Thanksgiving Psalms)

• There are no Assignment comments for this class
• There are NO articles for this class

• Misplace your Learning Agreement?  Here are the Assignments
• There are NO comments on the assignments for this class
• List of Articles that are part of your Learning Agreement
• Professor Heiser's article on Deut. 32:8-9 - you need only read the parts pertaining to the history of the Old Testament text (as demonstrated by Qumran evidence)
• Professor Heiser's overview of "Types of Errors in Old Testament Manuscripts"- Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, and Page 4
• Overview of the History of the New Testament text

• Misplace your Learning Agreement?  Here are the Assignments
• Overall Literary Flow Example (I Thessalonians)
• Thought Unit Layout Example (I Thessalonians)
• Grammatical Terms - Definitions and Notes
• Word Study Procedure (Page 1, Page 2) and Examples
• Theological Analysis Suggestions

Wisdom Literature

• Misplace your Learning Agreement?  Here are the Assignments
• There are no Assignment comments for this class
• List of Articles for this class