★★★★★ 5
Purchase or perish.
Format: Paperback, Format: Paperback
I don't think Mike can produce anything below 5 stars. In his recent Christmas episode on the Naked Bible Podcast I was a bit wary of listening to it. I realize this is a review of his book here, but let me make my point. The problem with not wanting to listen to his Christmas episode is that I don't really care if Christmas was/is a pagan holiday. So, honestly, it wasn't appealing to me. Somehow I ended up listening to it, and I'm telling you the amount of information he crammed in there was FASCINATING. I'm not kidding. I was so tired of hearing that subject (because I've been born and raised into Christianity), but Mike and Trey did their thing and it had me on the edge of my metaphorical seat the entire time. If you listen to that episode (Naked Bible Episode 195) you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. And what's the point of all that I just said? It's that Mike doesn't do anything half way. All that he puts out is serious work that is worthy of much consideration. No Hillary v. Trump fact checking here (though I'm sure he'd encourage you to research what he's saying). The point is, however, that not everyone has the training that he or his contemporaries have. And THAT is exactly why it is paramount that we rely upon scholars who have said extensive training.
I challenge you with this (something I've challenged myself to accept): You essentially know nothing about the Bible if you don't have not just Heiser's background, but other scholars such as John H. Walton. There are many to list, but Walton would be a good companion to list next to Heiser. If you're the lay-person, do yourself a favor and pick up this work, or The Unseen Realm (or both!) and any of Walton's work. Open up your mind and challenge yourself to realize that unless you are incredibly familiar with the Ancient Near East's way of life and thought processes, then it's highly likely that you don't actually understand what is going on when you read the Bible.
Enter "The Bible Unfiltered."
Considerations for the seminary student:
This is a great book for those who need a quick reference on a particular subject. Heiser's name is well known, and thus to reference this book in one's papers, even for a one-liner, is to reference legitimate scholarship. I'm not advocating that one does one's entire paper off of just one chapter from this book, but my point is more-so that with Heiser's reputation it will be known that you're not quoting Joe Scholar who earned his PhD in I Do What I Want. If you know Mike then you know that he's done a lot of work to present to you CONTEXTUAL research on any given listed topic. For that alone the price is worth it (though it undoubtedly cost him more to do the research that it does for us to purchase the book).
Considerations for the lay-person:
1. On p. 7, Heiser says, "If Bible study doesn't seem like work to you, you aren't really doing it." Yes, that's harsh, but so was Phinehas, Peter, Paul, and Jesus. (Even Bonhoeffer was harsh in his "The Cost of Discipleship")! Over and over again Heiser says on his podcast that Bible reading is not actually Bible STUDY (not yelling, I just don't have italics in this comment box).
2. This book is great for having a quick reference for subjects. You do not have to read the book in order to understand the content of any given chapter. I use this book to help direct me to other scriptures that I can't seem to remember. Here, Heiser treats topics with brevity, yet with depth at the same time--depth that stems from years of immersing hisself in the original cultural context, the surrounding culture's contexts, and original languages of the Bible. In other words, this book will act, for the lay person, as an appetizer that gets you excited for the full meal and subsequently spark a desire within you to finally take seriously contextual Bible study. If you've never read Heiser's stuff before, this is a great place for you to get introduced to his work. From here I'd recommend getting The Unseen Realm, and then Reversing Hermon. Follow all his other works at drmsh.com, nakedbiblepodcast.com, and moreunseenrealm.com (I'm not getting paid to say all of this).
Considerations for the scholar:
Rid yourself of your presuppositions, get with the times, and adopt the supernatural worldview of the Bible's authors, because yours isn't supernatural enough. (Can that be considered speaking the truth in love?...)
(Pictures won't rotate for some reason. Sorry!). My hand on the book next to the Schuyler Bible shows the size of the book.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2018
