I’m putting things into motion to move the divine council bibliography project down the road to completion. Thanks once again to all who contributed to the funding. As noted a few days ago, I’m going to leave the donation campaign open so that others who want access to the end result will be able to get that. Excess funding will go to other projects (should there indeed be an excess).

I want to briefly introduce the two people who will be doing the work.

Dino Schulmeier is a retired pastor, professor, and chaplain (and IT specialist) who resides in North Carolina. He has a Th.M. from Dallas Seminary with a major in Semitics. He’s also conversant with a wide range of issues related to the divine council worldview. He wrote me the following note while I was fielding emails by those who asked for project consideration:

I think that I am a seasoned exegete in the very fields of study that you are dedicated to with a similar hermeneutic.  I have read and thought about most of your papers and have concluded the same results.  Due to retirement I have had 5 years of independent research in the very fields of endeavor that are dear to us.

In short, Dino has the sort of competence I’ll need for certain stages of the project. I’m grateful he threw his hat into the ring. He added another note for the Go Fund Me contributors:

I wish to thank all of the contributors to the Divine Council bibliographic project for the support in the funding for the research position to Dr. Heiser.  I want to express my commitment to this work and humbly express gratefulness to you all for this opportunity provided through your generosity.  I feel the weight of the responsibility in being a part of this endeavor and keep in mind the many people behind the scene who have and are benefiting from Dr. Heiser’s ministry.  I realize the potential benefit to many others in providing tools for research to ultimately advance the faith of believers as we all strive to increase in our knowledge and love for our Savior, Jesus.

Melissa Nienhuis will also be participating in the project. Melissa is local, which solved one project-related problem up front. I have at least a thousand pages of photocopied items sitting in my office and at home that need to be scanned and converted to PDF for inclusion in the library. I also have books in my physical library that have choice chapters in them that need similar copying and conversion. These are tedious, but important, parts of the project. Melissa has degrees in anthropology and communications. While this task is beneath those credentials, she’s organized and meticulous. Those are two skills that I’ve found essential for this sort of task. I won’t have to wonder if she’s missed something. That’s gold for making this resource what it needs to be.

Both Dino and Melissa will get started next week. I’ll keep you all posted about their progress. No idea yet as to a completion date.