Dr. Dan McClellan is a public scholar of the Bible and religion. He received his PhD in theology and religion from the University of Exeter, where he wrote his dissertation on the conceptualization of deity and divine images in the Hebrew Bible through the methodological lenses of cognitive linguistics and the cognitive science of religion. Since March of 2021, he has been confronting misinformation on social media related to the academic study of the Bible and religion.
From Data Over Dogma. For as long as there have been humans, there have been rituals. Every religion and spiritual practice has developed its own set of practices and rites, and attached sacred meaning to them. But behind the theology and mysticism, is there something happening that even the non-religious could benefit from? This week,…
From Data Over Dogma. This episode, we’re covering a sensitive subject, but an important one: suicide. King Saul dies in the Bible by purposefully falling on his own sword. It was an act designed to rob his enemies of the satisfaction of killing him. But was it a sin? Certainly, Christian tradition has held the…
From Data Over Dogma. Brace yourself, because your favorite Bible scholarship show is going to talk politics. It’s not that we’re veering out of our lane, though. Unfortunately, the politics have come careening out of their lane, and smashed headlong into us. It’s not our fault! So yes, we’re going to talk about the recent…
From Data Over Dogma. When is God not actually God? Buckle up, because in this episode we’re letting linguistic nerdom take us on a fascinating journey. There are instances in the old Greek manuscripts where the word for God isn’t presented in the same way as others. Could something as simple as the lack of…
From Data Over Dogma. This week we’re taking something beloved and ruining it! Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but we’re definitely going to ruffle some feathers. The King James Version of the Bible is treasured for its poetic, often florid language. Many even believe it to be the most accurate, truest…
From Data Over Dogma. This episode, it’s something we’ve mentioned many times on this show, and it’s high time for the deeper dive. We’re talking about the Masoretes, and the creation of the aptly (but perhaps too literally) named "Masoretic text". This is a fascinating tale of dedicated scribes who had an enormous impact on…
From Data Over Dogma. This episode, we’ll be talking about 1 Esdras. It’s a book you won’t find in most Bibles these days, yet you will find most of the stories it contains. And if Esdras sounds a lot like the name of another Biblical book to you, that’s not a coincidence. So what is…
From Data Over Dogma. This episode, we’re going to figure out what the heck a Maccabee is. That is, we’re covering both history and a couple of books in the apocrypha. That’s right: we’re discussing the Maccabean revolt. What do we know about the actual historical event? Who were the main players, and how did…
From Data Over Dogma. This episode, we’re breaking down the Prophetic Critique, but we’re doing it with a twist! Has Dan McClellan been missing something in his discussions of this concept? He was called out by a listener–will he accept the criticism, or clap back? Find Simone’s critique of Dan’s critique of the Prophetic Critique…
From Data Over Dogma. This episode we’re talking about something that is in your Bible… but isn’t. Multiple books of the New Testament make explicit references to this, and even quote it, but because first Enoch didn’t make the canonical cut (with one exception), most readers would never know it. And yet, the idea that…
From Data Over Dogma. This episode, we’re talking about Hagar, the enslaved handmaiden of Sarai (and later of Sarah). Being enslaved is never a good thing, despite what some apologists might have you believe, but Hagar is done pretty dirty in a few ways. We’ll explore not just her nonconsensual heir-making with Abraham, but also…
From Data Over Dogma. It’s time for bunnies and chocolate, and recounting stories of brutal murder! For Christians around the world, Holy Week is an incredibly important time. But how well do you actually know the good, the bad, and the ugly of the last days of Jesus? But also… they weren’t the last days,…
From Data Over Dogma. This episode, we’re covering some spurious apologetic ground. If you’ve ever listened to a Christian apologist for more than a few minutes, you’ve likely heard the idea that "No one would die for a lie." This idea is either preceded or followed by descriptions of the horrific deaths endured by the…
From Data Over Dogma. There have been some disturbing things happening in the world lately, and some of the people most heavily involved in those things are invoking even more disturbing parts of the Bible as a rallying call. When world leaders remind us of biblical genocide when they go to war, you know we’re…
From Data Over Dogma. Look out, Cecil B. DeMille, because the Dans are coming for you! That’s right–making absolutely zero apologies to Messrs DeMille, Heston, or even Kilmer (for all you Dreamworks fans), we’re letting the data run roughshod over the story of the biblical exodus. The tale is beloved: a man of lowly birth…
From Data Over Dogma. This episode, we’re diving into that elaborate system of laws and rules known as the Covenant Code. Specifically, the part where we learn how the ancient Israelites were supposed to handle an ownership dispute. What does it mean when it says they were supposed to "come before God" to decide the…