Divine Council Theory

[Jragzz123]

I’ve been hearing about this theory called the divine council. Basically from my understanding there are lesser gods than God the father and he rules over them like a council. The council shows up several times in scripture. I think Dr. Michael Heiser proposed the theory. I was wondering if there is any catholic teaching on the matter.

 

[EndTimes]

’ve been hearing about this theory called the divine council. Basically from my understanding there are lesser gods than God the father and he rules over them like a council. The council shows up several times in scripture. I think Dr. Michael Heiser proposed the theory. I was wondering if there is any catholic teaching on the matter.

I’ve neither heard of him
nor run across anything of import within Scriptures, Tradition and Magisterium re: that notion…

It suffices to maintain a focus upon Jesus … via FAITH…

 

[BartholomewB]

This is the second time in less than a month that we’ve been offered the thoughts of Michael Heiser, here at CAF. The other one was a waste of time, as well.

Judaism and Two Yahweh's? Non-Catholic Religions

@YHWH_Christ, did you look at any of the three Biblical passages that Michael Heiser mentions? Here is the first of the three: http://www.usccb.org/bible/daniel/7 Can you see anything there about “two Yahwehs”? No? Neither can I. Can you see anything there about “a high sovereign God (El)” and a “second, appointed God (Baal)”? No? Neither can I. I think you’re wasting your time.

 

[twf]

I think the Church would generally view references to a heavenly plurality to refer to either a) the Trinity or b) God and His angels (as the heavenly court).

The older references in the Old Testament won’t always be clear as the doctrine of the trinity had not yet been revealed (though certainly we can now see it “hidden” in the Old Testament texts) and the doctrine on Angels developed gradually over time.

 

[MNathaniel]

I’d be wary of going down the rabbit hole of non-Catholic interpretations of the Bible, that don’t seem to have obvious reflections in Catholic teaching.

I don’t know much about Dr. Heiser, and have nothing against the man, but from a quick google it seems apparent that while he self-identifies as ‘Christian’ (and I take him at his word), he seems to avoid ever identifying which Christian denomination he belongs to (correct me I’m wrong and you’ve found it)… and it is so very, very risky for a Christian to be entirely without belonging to a specific tradition they can trust to have interpretive authority. Because the individual sets himself up as the ultimate authority, and of course all of us could come up with 10 theories each for how to interpret each ‘strange’ thing (like a ‘council’) that is mentioned in the Bible. People who don’t affiliate with a denomination might think they’re escaping the biases of a denomination… but really they’re usually jumping out of the frying pan of ‘denominational bias’ into the fire of ‘private bias’.

I’ll stick entirely with what the Catholic Church, founded by Jesus Christ himself, preserves and hands down to us for our salvation and the good of our souls. That’s plenty enough to be interested in, without going out and investigating every wacky idea proposed by a non-denominational Christian.

Unless of course you’re you’re a theology student studying this topic yourself. In which case I’ll shush and let others answer, who might have more specific information to share about such ‘council’ passages from a Catholic perspective.

PS my initial assumption, without even looking into the topic at all, would be that such a ‘council’ would either refer to the fact that God is a Trinity of Three Persons; or could be using the word ‘gods’ in the context of speaking of angels or even humans (unusual to modern sensibilities but does seem to happen in the texts).

 

[HomeschoolDad]

This is pretty bizarre, and on the face of it, sounds more like Mormonism, after a fashion.

I wouldn’t waste my time even thinking about it. Immerse yourself in solid, orthodox Catholic videos and reading material.

 

[EndTimes]

I’d be wary of going down the rabbit hole of non-Catholic interpretations of the Bible, that don’t seem to have obvious reflections in Catholic teaching.

I don’t know much about Dr. Heiser, and have nothing against the man, but from a quick google it seems apparent that while he self-identifies as ‘Christian’ (and I take him at his word), he seems to avoid ever identifying which Christian denomination he belongs to (correct me I’m wrong and you’ve found it)… and it is so very, very risky for a Christian to be entirely without belonging to a specific tradition they can trust to have interpretive authority.

I received the same strong impression… re: Christian