About Chasing the Giants

Hi, I’m Jake Mooney.

I’m a storyteller and researcher, and I’ve spent more than 25 years studying Genesis 6, the Nephilim, ancient mythologies, and Second Temple literature. Chasing the Giants is where I gather that research — the ancient sources, the scholarship, the interpretations, and the sensational claims — and try to tell them apart honestly.

I’m also the author of The Descent of the Gods, a novel and screenplay retelling of the Genesis 6 story that I’ve been developing for over fifteen years.

How I found this passage

I grew up in a church that valued digging deep into the Bible. The deeper we went, the richer and more connected everything became. That gave me an early conviction that Scripture isn’t just a religious book — it’s God’s way of revealing Himself to His creation. You might not share that starting point, and that’s okay. I’m making this site with you in mind too.

Even in a church that treated the Bible so carefully, Genesis 6:1–4 was completely skipped over. Not in Sunday School, not in Bible study, not even in passing. It was like this strange little passage was invisible. I stumbled onto it as a kid working on a school report about the world before the Flood — and when I hit Genesis 6, I realized I was stepping into something different. I went to commentaries, searched online, and kept digging. Honestly, I was a little terrified by what I was finding.

The moment that stuck with me

When I took my questions to my pastor, he smiled and nodded at the associate pastor beside him. They chuckled — they didn’t even agree with each other on how to read these verses. But instead of steering me toward one view, they encouraged me to keep researching and weigh the evidence myself. I’m deeply grateful for that. They believed the Bible could withstand honest, critical examination, and that has shaped how I’ve worked ever since.

“Heretic”

Talking about this openly, I learned, isn’t easy. At one church I casually brought up the ‘sons of God’ and the Nephilim on a drive with the associate pastor. The very next Sunday, the senior pastor stood in the pulpit and declared that anyone who believed what I did about Genesis 6 was a heretic — not realizing he was also describing Peter, Jude, and most of the early church fathers. That was one of several reasons we eventually left.

Why I keep at it

I’m not a conspiracy theorist. In my circles, I’m usually the one debunking conspiracies. Friends send me photos of ‘giant skeletons’ expecting me to celebrate, and they’re always disappointed when it takes me under a minute to spot the bad Photoshop, the forced camera angle, or the art installation. That, more than anything, is why I think we need to actually understand these verses: how they read in Hebrew and Greek, how they were understood across three thousand years, and what that gives us to discern the claims that shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Over the past 25 years I’ve come to see Genesis 6 not as a minor curiosity but as a brief, deliberate glimpse into the overlap between the earthly and the heavenly — a window Scripture opens, then moves quickly past. Understanding it better helps us see the consistent story the Bible tells about rebellion, judgment, redemption, and ultimately the victory of Christ.

Still searching

I want to be honest about where I stand. I’ve researched these questions for many years, but I’m still working through difficult issues. My goal isn’t to hand you a verdict — it’s to help you understand the evidence, distinguish Scripture from the traditions that grew up around it, and avoid unnecessary speculation. I’m still searching. Still learning. If you’re here, maybe you are too.

The Descent of the Gods

I’ve read a lot of fiction that retells the origin of the Nephilim — a few genuinely good, most of them awful, and many doing real damage to how people understand the original story. I couldn’t shake the desire to tell it properly: an origin story that does justice to the weight of that event while staying theologically plausible and true to the biblical context.

That became The Descent of the Gods — both a novel and a screenplay, and the project I’ve spent over fifteen years trying to do justice to. It asks not merely what the Watchers did, but why: what has to happen inside a being who has stood in the presence of God before he abandons heaven for a mortal life.

You can follow that journey at thedescentofthegods.com.

Want to dig into the research yourself? Start with the ancient sources, the modern commentators, or the research papers.

I’d love to hear from you: jake@chasingthegiants.com