The Divine Council Worldview & The Catholic Church: Critiquing Michael Heiser's Book "The Unseen Realm"

 

The Unseen Realm and the Historic Churches:

A Comparison with Catholic, Orthodox, and Patristic Teaching**

Introduction

Michael S. Heiser’s The Unseen Realm has helped many modern Christians recover a worldview that permeates Scripture but often goes unnoticed in Western Christianity: the divine council, the heavenly assembly of God’s celestial family who participate in His governance of creation. Heiser argues that modern readers, shaped by rationalism and post-Enlightenment assumptions, tend to overlook or downplay these supernatural elements.

But as a Catholic, my own interest in the divine council did not come through Heiser. I discovered this ancient worldview first through Eastern Orthodox apologetics, where the concepts of angelic hierarchy, theosis, and the heavenly liturgy are openly affirmed and richly developed. Only after encountering the divine council through Orthodox teaching did I later come across Heiser while researching the topic further.

This is important to clarify, because Heiser did not give me a supernatural worldview—I already held it through the historic Churches. What Heiser offered was additional scholarly support and biblical-exegetical clarity for ideas that the Catholic and Orthodox traditions have preserved from the beginning.

This article explores that connection. It compares Heiser’s core arguments with:

• Catholic doctrine

• Eastern Orthodox theology

• the teaching of the Early Church Fathers

and it shows that the divine council worldview is not foreign to historic Christianity. On the contrary, it forms the hidden architecture beneath doctrines such as the Communion of Saints, the angelic hierarchy, the heavenly liturgy, and theosis/divinization.

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1. The Divine Council and the Populated Heaven

Heiser’s Thesis

The Bible portrays a real and structured heavenly court—“sons of God,” holy ones, angels, watchers—who together form God’s celestial family and administrative council (Ps 82; Job 1; Dan 7; 1 Kings 22).

Catholic & Orthodox Teaching

Both Churches formally affirm:

• a hierarchy of angels and spiritual powers,

• a heavenly host that participates in God’s governance,

• a liturgical assembly surrounding the throne of God,

• and “angelic princes” over nations (as in Daniel 10).

Though they don’t typically use the term “divine council,” their doctrinal content is the same reality under older Christian vocabulary.

Patristic Echoes

Fathers such as:

• Irenaeus,

• Athanasius,

• Origen,

• Cyril of Jerusalem,

• Gregory the Theologian,

• Augustine

speak of the heavenly assembly as real, populated, and hierarchical. Early liturgies address God “together with the angelic powers” who stand before His throne.

In other words: Heiser “rediscovers,” through modern scholarship, what the historic Churches always taught.

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2. Humanity’s Destiny: Ruling With God (Theosis)

Heiser’s Thesis

Humans were created as God’s imagers—meant to rule creation as part of His divine family. Salvation through Christ restores this vocation so that believers will one day judge angels and share Christ’s throne.

Catholic & Orthodox Teaching

This is simply the doctrine of theosis: humanity becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4).

• Catholics affirm this explicitly in the Catechism.

• The Orthodox make it the central definition of salvation.

• Both traditions teach that redeemed humanity will reign with Christ in glory.

Patristic Echoes

The Fathers are unanimous:

• Athanasius: “God became man so that man might become god.”

• Irenaeus: Christ restores humanity to its original royal vocation.

• Maximus: Human destiny is deification by grace.

Heiser’s language of “joining the divine council” and “sharing divine rule” aligns cleanly with the patristic understanding of glorification.

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3. Christ’s Victory Over the Powers

Heiser’s Thesis

The nations were allotted to spiritual beings (Deut 32). Many rebelled. Christ conquers these powers through the cross and resurrection, reclaiming the nations.

Catholic & Orthodox Teaching

This is classical Christian cosmology:

• Real angelic/demonic powers influence earthly affairs.

• Christ triumphs over them (Col 2:15).

• Evangelization is a cosmic reclamation project.

• Baptism, exorcism, and sacraments dethrone these powers in human lives.

Patristic Echoes

The Fathers interpret:

• Daniel 10,

• Ephesians 6,

• Psalm 82,

• Revelation,

as revealing a real supernatural conflict culminating in Christ’s victory.

Heiser’s work strongly parallels the patristic spiritual-warfare worldview.

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4. The Heavenly Liturgy and the Earthly Liturgy

Heiser’s Thesis

Revelation offers a glimpse into the divine council gathered in worship, and earthly liturgy mirrors this heavenly assembly.

Catholic & Orthodox Teaching

This is explicit dogma:

• The Mass and Divine Liturgy unite heaven and earth.

• Worshipers join angels and saints in praise.

• The earthly altar is mystically the heavenly altar.

The preface of the Mass:
“With Angels and Archangels, and with all the hosts and powers of heaven…”

Patristic Echoes

The earliest Christians understood worship as a real intersection of heaven and earth, and the Fathers consistently describe heavenly liturgy using council imagery.

This is one of the most direct points of overlap between Heiser and ancient Christianity.

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**5. The Communion of Saints:

The Divine Council Fulfilled in the Church**

This is where Catholic and Orthodox theology goes beyond Heiser.

Heiser’s Thesis

He affirms a populated heaven but does not affirm intercession of departed believers, as he works within an evangelical framework.

Catholic & Orthodox Teaching

The saints are:

• alive in Christ,

• active in the heavenly court,

• reigning and interceding,

• linked to the Church on earth in a single communion.

Revelation 5 and 8 depict saints offering prayers before God—precisely the activity of a divine council.

Patristic Echoes

From the catacombs forward, Christians asked martyrs and saints to pray for them.
Fathers such as:

• Cyril,

• Chrysostom,

• Jerome,

• Augustine,

affirm the heavenly intercession of the saints.

Thus the Communion of Saints is the divine council perfected, expanded to include redeemed humanity.

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6. Principal Differences

1. Method

Heiser: Scripture + ancient Near Eastern texts
Churches: Scripture within Tradition, liturgy, and conciliar teaching.

2. Terminology

Heiser embraces calling angels “gods.”
The Churches avoid the term for pastoral clarity, while affirming the same metaphysical reality.

3. Sacramental Life

Heiser does not incorporate sacraments into divine-council participation.
Catholic and Orthodox theology places sacraments at the center of our deification and readiness for heavenly participation.

4. Invocation of Saints

Heiser rejects invoking saints.
Catholics and Orthodox insist it is the natural outgrowth of understanding the divine council correctly.

5. Speculative Details

Heiser emphasizes Nephilim, giant clans, etc.
The Churches leave these interpretations open, not foundational.

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**Conclusion:

Heiser Reconstructs What the Churches Preserve**

The most fruitful way to understand the relationship between The Unseen Realm and historic Christianity is this:

Heiser recovered—through scholarship—what the Catholic and Orthodox Churches never lost, but often stopped emphasizing.

The Bible’s supernatural worldview:

• a populated heaven,

• heavenly rulers over nations,

• cosmic warfare,

• angels and saints in liturgical assembly,

• humanity destined for divine participation

is simply the biblical basis for doctrines like:

• the Communion of Saints,

• the angelic hierarchy,

• the heavenly liturgy,

• theosis,

• and Christ’s cosmic kingship.

My own journey reflects this.
I encountered the divine council not through Heiser, but through the theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Only later did I discover Heiser, who—without intending to—confirmed much of what the ancient Church had been teaching since the earliest centuries.

In the end, the divine council worldview is not a fringe theory or an evangelical curiosity.
It is the oldest Christian worldview—the supernatural cosmos of the apostles, the Fathers, and the great liturgical traditions.

It is the world of Scripture as they saw it.
And it is the world restored in Christ.

Author’s Note:

Why I Returned to the Catholic Church**

I did not return to the Catholic Church because of sentiment, culture, or nostalgia. I returned—and remain—because Catholicism preserves the full, supernatural, cosmic, and historical worldview of ancient Christianity. It retains the worldview the apostles assumed, the Fathers proclaimed, and the early Church worshiped within: a world filled with angels and powers, a divine council surrounding God’s throne, and a destiny far greater than “dying and going to heaven.”

Many Evangelical and modern Protestant traditions tend to reduce salvation to a simple formula: accept Jesus, be forgiven, and go to heaven when you die. But the earliest Christians believed—and taught—something infinitely deeper, richer, and more awe-inspiring. Salvation was not merely rescue; it was participation. It was entry into God’s cosmic family, His heavenly council, and His eternal kingdom.

The Catholic Church never lost this vision.
It preserved it in its liturgy, in its sacraments, in its theology, and in its doctrine.

This is why I came back.

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**1. The Ancient Christian Vision:

A Populated Heaven and a Cosmic Destiny**

From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture reveals a universe alive with spiritual beings—angels, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers—assembled around God in a celestial court. Humanity was made to join this council. As the Psalmist writes:

“You have made them a little lower than the angels,
and crowned them with glory and honor.”
— Psalm 8:5

The Fathers understood this as humanity’s intended destiny—to surpass even the angels through union with Christ.

St. Irenaeus taught:

“The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ… became what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is.”
— Against Heresies 5. Preface

This is not “mere heaven.”
This is cosmic elevation.

It is the teaching that we will:

• Reign with Christ (2 Tim 2:12; Rev 20:4)

• Judge angels (1 Cor 6:3)

• Become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4)

• Be “like Him” when we see Him as He is (1 John 3:2)

This is the language of theosis—a doctrine preserved faithfully in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

St. Athanasius famously said:

“God became man so that man might become god.”
— On the Incarnation 54

Not “God by nature,” of course—
but God by grace, glorified and united to Him.

This remains Catholic teaching to this day.

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**2. The Divine Council:

The Communion of Saints in Its Original Form**

What modern Christians call “saints,” the biblical authors saw as the “holy ones” of God—the heavenly council around His throne (Dan 7:9–10; Ps 82; Ps 89:6–7).

The Catholic Church preserved this worldview in its doctrine of the Communion of Saints—the belief that the Church on earth is mystically united with the Church in heaven and that the saints participate actively in God’s governance.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote:

“We mention those who have fallen asleep… believing that their souls are alive with God and that they pray for us.”
— Catechetical Lectures 23.9

The early Christians called on martyrs and saints not out of superstition but because they believed—correctly—that the saints were alive, exalted, and already sharing in the life of the divine council.

Heaven, for the early Church, was not a cloudy afterlife but a kingdom, a courtroom, a temple, a family, and a government. And humanity was destined to join it.

Catholicism preserved this mystical, supernatural communion when much of the Christian world forgot it.

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**3. Liturgy:

Where Heaven Touches Earth**

One of the greatest reasons I remain Catholic is that the Catholic Mass reveals the supernatural worldview of the early Church in its full power. The liturgy is not a meeting, not a lesson, not a memorial meal—it is participation in the heavenly liturgy described in Revelation 4–5.

St. John Chrysostom wrote:

“The angels surround the priest; the entire sanctuary is filled with the powers of heaven.”
— Homilies on Hebrews 17

During every Mass, Catholics join:

• angels,

• archangels,

• thrones,

• dominions,

• saints,

• martyrs,

• apostles,

• and the Mother of God

in a single cosmic act of worship.

Where else in Christianity do we see this vision preserved so clearly?

When the priest says,
“With Angels and Archangels, and with all the hosts and powers of heaven,”
he is not being poetic—he is stating metaphysical reality.

This is Christianity as the apostles knew it: a seen and unseen unity of heaven and earth.

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**4. Christ the King:

Lord of Angels, Nations, and the Cosmos**

Protestantism often centers Jesus as personal Savior—which is essential—but Catholicism adds what Scripture also proclaims: Christ is King of the cosmos, ruler over the angelic powers and the nations (Eph 1:20–23).

The early Christians believed that Christ’s resurrection enthroned Him as head over the entire supernatural order.

St. Gregory of Nyssa writes:

“The dominion of the Lord extends over all rational and spiritual powers.”
— The Great Catechism 26

The Catholic Church, in her liturgical year, feasts, and prayers, continues to proclaim Christ not only as Savior but as cosmic King, enthroned above angels, principalities, and powers.

This is the biblical worldview.
This is the patristic worldview.
This is the Catholic worldview.

And it is breathtaking.

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5. Why I Remain Catholic

I remain Catholic because it is the one place where:

• the supernatural worldview of the apostles is intact,

• the divine council becomes the Communion of Saints,

• the heavenly liturgy becomes the Mass,

• theosis remains the goal of salvation,

• Christ’s kingship is cosmic,

• and humanity’s destiny is nothing less than
  union with God and participation in His rule.

Modern Christianity often shrinks salvation down to an escape:
Believe → be forgiven → go to heaven.

Ancient Christianity taught something far grander:

“He has raised us up with Him,
and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places.”
— Ephesians 2:6

Not spectators.
Not passive residents of heaven.
But council members, rulers, glorified sons and daughters of God through Christ.

This is the Christianity of the Bible.
This is the Christianity of the Fathers.
And this is the Christianity the Catholic Church still teaches.

For me, there is nowhere else to go.

I came back because the Catholic Church preserves the beautiful, terrifying, supernatural, cosmic, and eternal vision of salvation that Christ Himself proclaimed.

And I remain because this worldview is not only true—
it is worth giving one’s life to.

Endnotes (Chicago Style)

1. Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 13–18.

2. Ibid., 25–40.

3. Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), §§328–336.

4. Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995), 25–33.

5. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.8.3.

6. Origen, De Principiis, 3.3.2–3.

7. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 23.9.

8. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, Ps. 82.

9. Heiser, Unseen Realm, 121–135.

10. Catechism, §460 (quoting Athanasius, On the Incarnation).

11. Ware, The Orthodox Way, 129–144.

12. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 54.

13. Maximus the Confessor, Ambigua, 7.

14. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5.36.1.

15. Heiser, Unseen Realm, 113–120; 166–179.

16. Col 1:16; Eph 1:20–23; Eph 6:12.

17. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, 26; Origen, Commentary on John, 1.28; Augustine, City of God, 10.15–19.

18. Heiser, Unseen Realm, 275–288.

19. Roman Missal, Preface Dialogue.

20. The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Anaphora.

21. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews, 17.

22. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 23.10.

23. Catechism, §§946–962.

24. “Domine, Petre, ora pro nobis,” inscription in Catacombs of St. Sebastian, 3rd century.

25. Jerome, Against Vigilantius, 6; Augustine, City of God, 22.10; Chrysostom, Homilies on 2 Corinthians, 26.

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Bibliography (Chicago Style)

Primary Sources

Athanasius. On the Incarnation.
Augustine. City of God.
Augustine. Expositions on the Psalms.
Cyril of Jerusalem. Catechetical Lectures.
Gregory of Nyssa. The Great Catechism.
Irenaeus. Against Heresies.
Jerome. Against Vigilantius.
John Chrysostom. Homilies on Hebrews.
John Chrysostom. Homilies on 2 Corinthians.
Maximus the Confessor. Ambigua.
Origen. De Principiis.
Origen. Commentary on John.
The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
The Roman Missal.

Secondary Sources

Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997.
Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015.
Ware, Kallistos. The Orthodox Way. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995.