The Ancient of DaysDaVinci Coda Conference with Michael S. Heiser, PhDPart 1: "Introducing Gnosticism: Understanding the Worldview Behind The DaVinci Code"An overview of the beliefs of ancient Gnosticism as a backdrop to the claims in The DaVinci Code, this video defines many of the primary beliefs of Gnosticism, i.e., that the gnostic "God" is not a personal being, that there are/were a plurality of "archons" (including "Sophia" and "The Logos") present before the God of orthodox Christianity even came into being, and that Gnosticism defines YHWH of the Old Testament as a created being. This video also explores the importance of ritual or "sacred" sex in the Gnostic worldview, setting the stage for understanding why modern Gnostics believe that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were sexual consorts and perhaps husband and wife.Michael S. Heiser, Ph.D. earned the M.A. and Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004. Before attending the UW-Madison, Mike earned an M.A. in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania (major fields: Ancient Israel and Egyptology). Mike was hired as the Academic Editor of Logos Bible Software shortly after completing his Ph.D. Before joining Logos, Mike spent twelve years teaching biblical studies, history, and biblical languages on the undergraduate level. As Academic Editor for Logos, Mike is responsible for targeting and evaluating potential data projects for scholarly products, overseeing existing academic projects, and participating in creating academic content for the software.  Mike?s main research interests are Israelite religion (especially Israel?s divine council), contextualizing biblical theology with Israelite and ancient Near Eastern religion, biblical languages, ancient Semitic languages, textual criticism, comparative philology, and Second Temple period Jewish literature. He is the author of the science fiction thriller ?The Facade?. Mike is a member of The Evangelical Theological Society, The Society of Biblical Literature, & The Near East Archaeology Society. Mike's Academic Honors include: Scholarship recipient: Wisconsin Society for Jewish Higher Learning (1995, 1996, 1998) The National Dean's List (1996) Selected to: Who's Who Among America's College Teachers (1996) Fellowship recipient: James L Weinstein Fellowship in Hebrew Studies (1995) Scholarship recipient, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Ancient History (1992).This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.