Hey, everybody! I started this blog when I entered graduate school. The goal was to document my scholarship related to the Bible and religion, and you can still find all my old posts going back to 2009-ish. I’ve not posted here regularly for several years, but I’ve had a more prominent online presence since 2021, and so a lot more people are coming here now. I’ve gotta figure out how to make better use of this space, but in the meantime, here’s the “About Me” info I originally wrote in 2009 and have slightly edited a few times since then.
I’m originally from West Virginia, but I’ve also lived in Maryland, California, Colorado, Texas, Uruguay, Utah, the United Kingdom, and Washington State. I was married in May of 2006 to my special lady from Utah and have three precocious girls. I received my bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in ancient Near Eastern studies, where I focused on Biblical Hebrew and minored in Classical Greek. I completed a master of studies in Jewish studies at the University of Oxford in July of 2010 and a master of arts in biblical studies in 2013 at Trinity Western University just outside of Vancouver, BC. In early 2020, I defended my doctoral dissertation written for the University of Exeter on the cognitive science of religion and the conceptualization of deity and divine agency in the Hebrew Bible. In 2018, I was the Democratic candidate for the Utah State House of Representatives in House District 52, taking 16 points off the incumbent’s long-held 50-point lead. I ran for the Utah State Senate in 2020 against an incumbent with a 40-point lead and had similar results. I worked as a scripture translation supervisor for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City from 2013–2023, and have occasionally taught courses at Brigham Young University as an adjunct instructor.
While I have a number of research interests that wrangle for what free time I have available, my areas of specialization are Second Temple Judaism, early Israelite religion, textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, early christology, the cognitive science of religion, cognitive linguistics, and religious identity. At Oxford I focused on Second Temple Judaism, and my thesis was entitled “Anti-Anthropomorphism and the Vorlage of LXX Exodus” (available here). My thesis at Trinity Western University focused on the conceptualization of deity in the Hebrew Bible in cognitive perspective (available here). I have also been studying the way these conceptualizations of deity informed the development of the Christ tradition (I published a paper on this in 2017). My doctoral dissertation at the University of Exeter examined the concept of divine agency in early Israelite and Jewish thought and practice through the lens of the cognitive science of religion. I defended my dissertation in April 2020, and have since revised and published it through SBL Press as an open-access volume entitled YHWH’s Divine Images.
In addition to the study of religion, I do quite a bit of artwork (some here, and I also did the cartoon for Biblical Archaeology Review’s cartoon caption contest), I was a licensed massage therapist (I let my license expire & just work on family & friends now), and I love to play golf. I hope you find something educational, useful, or entertaining here, and I invite any and all comments here on my blog. Have a wonderful day!
Daniel O. McClellan 
August 25th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Dear Daniel
Surprised to see my name in your intro… where have we met? If you are at Yarnton any time, drop in and see me. I’m normally there Mon – Wed, but best to email or call in advance. I don’t recall meeting you, but that doesn;t mean much (I turn 50 this year…).
Garth
January 11th, 2020 at 8:01 am
It surprises me that he doesn’t mention he’s an Apologist for the Mormon cult.
January 11th, 2020 at 8:17 am
Lol, Carol. You’ve been trolling me for literally a decade. You really don’t have anything better to do?
April 29th, 2021 at 11:07 am
He’s an apologist for his leftist cult. I asked him direct questions about his views on Right-to-Life issues as a both a Democrat and a Latter-day Saint, he has refused to answer them in a forthcoming manner.
April 29th, 2021 at 11:17 am
Yeah, that’s simply a lie. I very directly, openly, and honestly answered your questions, they just didn’t give you the rhetorical ammo you were looking for, so you moved the goalposts to try to find a better way to lay your rhetorical snare and I wasn’t interested in playing those games. That was a couple weeks ago, too, so the cyberstalking doesn’t reflect particularly well on you. I know I’m doing something right, though, when I have unthinking ideologues on both sides getting upset with me.
January 5th, 2022 at 9:57 am
Hmmm.. carol seems very sus
June 8th, 2023 at 5:55 am
Hey Dan,
Well done. I came across your profile on YouTube and watched a video and was very impressed. Since then I’ve watched many more to the point that I had to find out who this Dan guy is. You’re calm and polite but are not afraid to call out bullshit and point out the harm that the misinformation causes. Thank you for taking the time that you do to try and make this a more sane world. I would be curious if you have written about (or better done a video about) correlation / causation of the ties between fundamental religious beliefs and extreme conspiracy theories. Does indoctrination into non-logical ideas as a child lead to a pattern of illogical believes as an adult?
August 25th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
We met at SBL in San Diego when you were raving about how phenomenal it was to find jeans in the United States that only cost $50. I told you I was interested in the program at Oxford and we talked for a while about it. You gave me your card and told me to drop by if I was ever near Oxford.
Ironically, it dawned on me a couple days ago that you might come across this and not remember me. Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify. By the way, I’ll be in your upcoming archaeology of ancient Israel class. Looking forward to it!
August 30th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Nice new blog!
I’ll resist the urge to defend the “interestingness” of the Second Temple Period… for now. 😉
December 20th, 2021 at 7:53 pm
Hey Dan, I love your work and recognise your objectivity so bare that in mind when I ask, Are you a practising Mormon? And if so I would love to hear how you reconcile your faith with scholarly contradictions. I love and respect your work and it doesn’t (in my opinion) devalue your work and research so please don’t interpret this as a “shot”.
August 30th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Thanks for the kind words Ken! And my comment was with tongue firmly in cheek. I love the Second Temple Period (reading 2 Maccabees and Josephus is what made me want to study the Bible), but I just can’t spend too much time away from pre-Exilic Israel.
PS – Ken, I see you’re at TWU. I was a week away from landing there for my MA when I got my acceptance letter from Oxford. Peter Flint and Rob Hiebert came and visited us at BYU a couple years ago and were great. Rob even reviewed a paper for me last year. I hope you’re enjoying your time up there.
August 30th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Yes, Trinity is great, but I’m insanely jealous that you got to go to Oxford.
Are you doing the Jewish Studies MA this year (2009) or were you there for 2008? A friend of mine from Trinity was there in 2008, Chelica Hiltonen, if you might have met her.
August 30th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
I’m doing it this year. Let me know if you know anyone who’ll be there between now and next June, and just to make you feel better, here’s our little cottage (we have the top floor):
August 30th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Oh, yeah, I feel much better now! 😉
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Daniel, I’m quite impressed that you made the Top 50 just a month into blogging! I was just now drawn to your blog with your mention of John Collins (I’m working through apocalyptic stuff myself–academically, not personally).
It appears that we have at least two things in common outside our biblioblogging activities. We both had our first baby born in December of 2008 (hurrah!). Also, both of our full names sound really cool when said with an Irish or Scottish accent.
[By the way, you might want to discontinue your method of publishing your email address and opt for something less easily snatchable by spambots.]
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Hey, thanks Patrick. I appreciate it. I started reading Collins because he’s going to have a lot to do with my next term and I’ll be applying to Yale this January. I’m really enjoying his writing, and I’m looking forward to his more recent King and Messiah as Son of God.
Congrats on the baby! I hope you’re getting more sleep than I am. Regarding our awesome names, I’ll be heading up to Scotland with my family when I get done at Oxford. We’re going to go get some authentic McClellan tartan and visit our ancestors’ castle. Should be a blast being hip deep in Scots, although we say “y’all” a lot, so we may not fit in.
Thanks for the comments, Patrick. Maybe I’ll see you in New Orleans.
December 11th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Hey Daniel,
I love your blog! keep up the good scholarship brother! I am always enlighten when I read stuff here on your blog. way to go man.
God Bless & Shalom,
Kyle
Mark 12:29-31
February 20th, 2010 at 1:58 am
Great Blog! you sound like me in your interests, and in your reasons for joining the biblioblogosphere.
November 10th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Dan,
I found your blog — well refound it. It looks like I commented once last October and without realizing the connection, you’ve actually been in my google reader for quite some time now. Going by a first name basis in class makes you miss the last name sometimes.
Anyway, looking forward to that pub.
November 10th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Funny how that happens, huh? James (the other MBIB guy from our LXX class) and I interacted with each other on the same message board for over a year before our program started. We realized at the programs orientation that we already knew each other.
November 21st, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Daniel,
I’m discussing with my brother, the likelihood that the book of Daniel has prophecy in it that was written after what it seems to be predicting. Have you posted or written anything on this?
I’m especially interested in the claims made about Daniel 9, that supposedly is “correct to the day” in predicting the number of years from Artaxerxes’ word to rebuild Jerusalem until the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Do you think that is the case?
Sincerely,
Bob Moore
November 25th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Hi Bob. Thanks for commenting. Daniel was definitely put into its final form in the Hellenistic Period. Pockets of the narrative may be earlier, but the prophetic sections clearly come from the Maccabean era. I’ve not written on this, although I am aware of the general scholarship. The number of years discussed in Daniel 9 is just a rhetorical way to reconcile the rebuilding of the temple with the clear absence of millennial-type restoration. It provides a new prophetic narrative for Israel’s restoration. In my opinion, any attempt to line up the years with any historical context misses the point of the rhetoric.
December 1st, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Dan, I have read that Job 37:18 (about God spreading out the sky/clouds as hard as a bronze/molten mirror http://bible.cc/job/37-18.htm ) is translated differently in the Septuagint. In fact the word translated as “mirror” only appears once in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning is uncertain even in the Hebrew. Could you please shed some light on the English translation of Job 37:18 in the Septuagint? I have discovered two different translations, one older, one relatively recent:
Wilt thou establish with him [foundations] for the ancient [heavens? they are] strong as a molten mirror. — THE BOOK OF JOB, from THE BRENTON TRANSLATION OF THE SEPTUAGINT, 1851
Click to access septuagint-18-job.pdf
*solidifications are with him for things grown old, *strong like an appearance of outpouring* — THE NETS TRANSLATION, 2007 http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/28-iob-nets.pdf
I’d like to know what the verse means, or if anyone can say with any certainty what each part of the verse most probably means.
Any assistance would be appreciated. I noticed that you were mentioned in the latest Biblical Studies Carnival as a biblioblogging expert on the Septuagint, so I thought I’d send you this question.
Thanks for any and all possible assistance,
Ed
December 1st, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Thanks for the question, Ed. This really is an interesting one. The Septuagint manuscripts have markings at this verse which show it is a Hexaplaric addition taken, most likely, from Theodotion‘s revision of the Septuagint. This means it comes from a very literal translation.
The Hebrew of this verse uses the verb תרקיע, which means to spread out. We’re not sure exactly where the root comes from, but it either has a fundamental sense of spreading, stamping, or beating firmly, or one of patching or repairing. In the Qal, the verb appears at 2 Sam 22:43; Isa 42:5; 44:24; Ps 136:6; Ezek 6:11; 25:6. In the Piel it appears at Exod 39:3; Num 17:4; Isa 40:19. It appears in the Pual once at Jer 10:9, and in the Hiphil only in our verse.
The Greek word here is στερεωσεις, which only appear elsewhere at Ezek 4:7 and in later quotations of both texts. It is related to words like στερεωσισ, “making firm,” and στερεωματιζω, “to stamp, trample out.”
In LXX Job 37:18 the translation is quantitatively literal, although not very literal semantically. That means each constituent element is represented, although the sense of each element, and their combined interpretation, may not match our reading of the Masoretic Text. This may also arise because of small differences between MT and the parent text the translator translated from. This probably explains why the first two elements of the Hebrew are pretty accurately transmitted, but the third, “the skies” in Hebrew, is rendered “things grown old” in the Greek. The second half of the verse is likely following the same Hebrew text, but the Greek follows quite slavishly the Hebrew: “strong as the seeing of stuff poured out,” rather than “strong as a molten mirror.”
The reference to the “firmament” in both the Hebrew and the Greek is likely the same. The skies were viewed as an expansive solid dome over the earth throughout much of Israelite history. God was the one who fashioned this expanse, whether they considered it hammered out, stretched out, carved out, or what. By the time of the Greek translation this vision of a solid dome likely didn’t hold, but the translation is more concerned about a very literal translation than about ideology, it seems, especially considering the bizarre rendering of the second half of the verse.
Hope that helps some.
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:23 am
Thanks! You wouldn’t know any more about the Hebrew term translated as “mirror” would you? How did the Hebrew translators arrive at “mirror?” Or perhaps you know an expert on Hebrew whom you could forward that question to, or whom I could contact?
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:42 pm
I can help out. Hebrew is my specialization. The Hebrew word is just a noun related to the noun מראה, which means “vision,” or “appearance.” The context in Job supports reading the word as related to some kind of metalwork.
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Thanks again! By the way, I edited a book titled, Leaving the Fold: Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists, and have noticed that quite a few moderates-liberals come out of relatively more conservative backgrounds. Was that the case for you as well?
I’m also interested in ANE parallels to the OT, and had a chapter on “The Cosmology of the Bible” published in April in a book titled, The Christian Delusion. My chapter is not very confrontational at all, especially for theistic evolutionist Christian readers, though I do point out even for them that they are admitting the Bible begins and ends with myths. I also have received many positive statements from readers who enjoyed my discussion of Egyptian and Babylonian cosmic geography not just Hebrew.
If you’d like a copy of the chapter I can snail mail you one.
Also, have you seen Thom Stark’s new book, The Human Faces of God? Check him out on the internet, including his new collaborative site, Religion at the Margins. Amazingly adroit and scholarly take down of inerrancy, something that seems is always needed each generation.
June 7th, 2023 at 5:55 pm
Dan!
Much love and respect!
*insert “we’re not worthy” gif*
I oftentimes hear scholars talk about when and where the first usage of a certain translation of a particular text appears. I was wondering if there’s a good resource for laypeople that would be useful for ascertaining such info to enrich our study. Could you elaborate, if possible?
Much love and respect!!!
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Hi Ed. No, I didn’t come from a more conservative background. I would characterize my position before I became LDS as agnostic. I brought very few presuppositions with me about the Bible, and so approached it from a more critical point of view. Our faith community also tends to take a more liberal view of scripture, so there is little conservativeness to confront.
I’d be happy to take a look at your chapter. I’m always interested in other positions on Israelite cosmology and cosmogony.
I am aware of Stark’s book, but I haven’t had a chance (or the funds) to take a look at it. It seems his book consolidates a number of contemporary movements in biblical scholarship to point them toward a specific conclusion, and based on what I’ve heard, there’s a lot of good data. At the same time, I hold to distinct views on some issues. I’d like to review it, especially since it has a lot to do with my thesis, but I don’t know where anyone is looking for reviewers.
December 2nd, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Hi Dan, I thought I’d sent my original query to two bibliobloggers, only one of which was Mormon. Now I’m confused, perhaps both of you are Mormon? You both were mentioned in the latest Biblical Studies Carnival in the Septuagint section. But you responded. The other person has not responded. And thanks again for the excellent responses.
I worked with a wonderful Mormon woman at the public library over 20 years ago, we both laughed a lot. I also know several ex-Mormons. And I’ve spoken in the past with a few Mormon missionaries. I’d say Mormons appear relatively liberal compared with some species of fire and brimstone fundamentalist Christians. But on the other hand I’m sure there’s some very devout Mormons as well who are very serious about their holy books, rituals, tithing, no caffienated tea or coffee, etc.
I also read that Mormons give more of their income to the church on average than any other Christian organization. Significantly more on average. And that a lot of sermons are about the necessity of tithing. Which perhaps leads me to the topic of the price of Thom’s book and your present financial circumstances. I’d be happy to purchase a copy for you, and send it to you along with a copy of my article on biblical cosmology. I bet you and Thom agree on a lot of matters concerning the Bible’s errancy, or questions pertaining to that topic.
Lastly, being a collector of testimonies I always enjoy reading about people’s personal journeys, especially any miraculous stories. I know for instance that shock-rock star Alice Cooper was raised Mormon, and had an infection inside his organ cavity that doctor’s determined that could do nothing about when he was young, so they closed him up and told his parents he was a goner, but his parents prayed and he recovered. Alice never wrote a song against religion for that very reason.
Of course anti-gay Mormons have gotten some bad press for spending so much money to try and tilt the voting on Proposition 18 in California.
And being a biology major in college, I recall reading that the genetic evidence doesn’t seem to support Mormon beliefs concerning the origin of North American peoples.
But nuff said, I’m sure you’ve heard it all.
I do recall reading something very nice said by an editor of Christianity Today about Mormonism the year that the Southern Baptists held their annual convention in Salt Lake City and went door to door trying to convert Mormons to the SBC. That was over 15 years ago I think. But he admitted that he didn’t feel comfortable with the SBC trying to convert Mormons via TV and billboard ads in Salt Lake City, and added that he knew some great Mormons, related to him, who lived in Utah and who had adopted needy children, and that he was impressed with their love and sincerity toward God and their neighbor.
I think everyone tries on religious beliefs and if they fit, they stick with them, if they don’t fit, they will fall away naturally with age and wisdom, or due to some other circumstances combined with age and wisdom.
December 3rd, 2010 at 10:51 am
Thanks for the comments, Ed. I’ll start from the end and work toward the beginning. I think there’s some truth to the notion that people try religious beliefs out and stick with them if they fit, whatever that may mean to each person. I can’t say that everything about Mormonism is a perfect fit for me (for instance, I don’t oppose gay marriage), but I’ve found that it makes me a better person and that, in short, it works. I investigated several other religious traditions before this one and never saw results like I see now.
I hadn’t heard that about the Christianity Today editor. That’s interesting, and not what I usually hear from Baptists about that experience. I had nothing to do with the church back then, so I don’t have any strong connection to that event, but I’ve heard a bit about it, and I’m glad that the LDS in that editor’s life could set a good example. Unfortunately, it tends to be far more influential when a Mormon sets a bad example.
On biology, that’s an interesting issue, but I find the rhetoric usually goes far beyond what the evidence actually supports. The biggest issue is what kind of geographic model the reader extrapolates from the Book of Mormon. Many traditional Latter-day Saints believe the book narrates civilizations stretching from the southern tip of South America all the way to Canada, and that the Lehite migration accounts for all Native Americans. Most academically-oriented Latter-day Saints will argue for what they call a limited geography model, which sees the civilizations of the narrative confined to a small portion of Central America, and representing only a fraction of the Native American genetic heritage. The former is problematized to a large degree by DNA research, but the latter is not. If you’re interested, a good primer on the question by a Latter-day Saint geneticist who specializes in Native American population genetics can be found here:
http://www.fairlds.org/Book_of_Mormon/Book_of_Mormon_and_DNA.html
On gay marriage, I’m not an opponent, but I think both sides of the debate are letting the rhetoric take over, which only serves to polarize the participants even further.
There’s a little “i’m a mormon” link in my sidebar that opens up my profile on the church’s website if you want a bit more of my thoughts on my conversion and experiences.
Latter-day Saints are expected to give 10% of their income for tithing. There isn’t a consistent emphasis on tithing over other principles in LDS preaching (things like pornography, finding happiness, being good to your family and neighbors, faith in Christ, fidelity to temple covenants, and morality are always the biggest issues), but it is something Latter-day Saints try to take seriously. Every month each congregation is also asked to fast for a 24 hour period and donate at least the money they would have spent on food to the congregation for local use in caring for sick and otherwise needy members. This is called the fast offering.
I’d be ecstatic to accept your very gracious offer, by the way. Books are sometimes better than food for a poor grad student, and this looks like a particularly interesting book. Your chapter will also be informative. A lot of my research focuses on early ideas on cosmology and cosmogony (one of my papers at SBL this year was on the notion of theogony in early Israel), and specifically within the wider Near Eastern literary context. I very much appreciate it.
There are definitely liberal and conservative positions on scripture and other ideologies within the Mormon church, but my experience has mostly been in the former. I’ve been around people my age and academics through most of my experience in the church. Even as a missionary in Uruguay I found most of the people with whom I spoke were closer to that camp.
I’m always happy if I can help out someone in their research. I didn’t think there was another LDS person blogging on Septuagint, though. The Biblical Studies Carnival lists John Meade as the other guy in the Septuagint section, and I believe he’s a Baptist. Is there someone else you’re aware of?
Thanks again for the comments and for your offer. I’ll shoot you an email so you have my address (I don’t often use the one above).
December 3rd, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Thanks for that kindly worded reply, I’ll need your address so I can send you Thom’s book.
I’m also going to read your story on the Mormon page. I only skimmed it last night.
On religions that work, they all have the potential to work, just as a wide variety of human cultures are possible according to sociologists who have studied cultures with some odd ideas and customs. A book by a sociologist named Harris, called OUR KIND, and other works by the same author opened my eyes to such variety.
I suspect that you’d like there to be more universally recognized positive evidence in favor of ancient history as depicted in the Book of Mormon, and less of a need to have to explain how it “might” be true regardless of questions raised by archaeology and biology.
You mentioned that some traditional Mormons believed that Hebrews occupied the Americas, while today’s more savvy apologists suggest a far smaller and less genetically distinct group — outnumbered and interbreeding with native populations. That reminds me of the modern day creationist downsizing of the numbers of humans living on earth during the time of the Flood of Noah. Today’s savvy creationist say only a couple thousand humans lived then, and in a limited area on the earth, hence, they say, their bones are unlikely to ever turn up, nor the brick walls of their dwellings, nor anything they made out of metal or wood. That explains the lack of evidence for pre-Flood man in the fossil record, small numbers, and God wanted to wipe all traces of them out completely. But do such answers satisfy the need we all feel for universally acceptable positive evidence?
Today’s creationists also resort to a “local Flood” scenario rather than a worldwide Flood.
By downsizing stories and expectations of ever finding evidence, one can believe, well, anything.
Take the inspiration of the Bible. Just downsize that to, “parts of it are inspired and truthful,” mainly the parts dealing with religious doctrines that lie behind an impenetrable metaphysical curtain, and hence are not universally recognized as true.
I struggled with such questions as a Christian. I would have liked more universally recognized positive evidence, including first person accounts concerning the miracles of Jesus. It would also be nice to read even in the NT about the “resurrection of many raised saints who entered the holy city and appeared to many.” Because those two lines from Matthew about the raised saints are succeeded and followed by the same lines in Mark who leaves out those brief Matthean lines of a tremendous miraculous resurrection of unnamed saints from graves. And the story is picked up again by no one in the NT. The ending of the earliest Gospel story about Jesus also puzzled me (“the women were very afraid and told no one”–so when did the story of the empty tomb first arise if they told no one? was it a later legend?) Some suggest that the ending of Mark was lost (and Christians composed three alternative added endings, which we possess). Both the ending of the oldest Markan manuscripts (“they told no one”) and the idea of a “lost ending” that at least three Christian authors simply felt they could “replace,” troubled my mind. How or why would God allow the original ending of the very first Gospel to be lost? And if the earliest Gospel was originally on a scroll, how does one “lose” the ending of a scroll, since it’s in a relatively safe place rolled inside the whole scroll? Theologians are still guessing concerning such matters.
I was also bothered by the prima facie evidence of the growth over time of the number of words and alleged lectures allegedly delivered by the raised Jesus from 1 Cor. to Mark-Matthew-Luke-Acts-John. Was the story true or simply grew over time as one might expect from legends accumulating and growing more descriptive?
And how many questions was I expected to ignore? Even the way the story changed at the empty tomb, from Mark and Matthew’s story in which the “young man” or “angel” say, “He is not here, but has gone before you to Galilee, there ye shall see him,” to the different story told in the last written Gospels, Luke and John where the apostles are told to “remain in Jerusalem” and Jesus appears in and around Jerusalem rather than “going before them to Galilee, for there ye shall see him.”
And then I thought, what about the way Jesus enters Jersualem seen by crowds shouting hosanna, but after his resurrection Jesus leaves relatively quietly, not in triumph, no crowds seeing him go, but is only seen by the apostles per Luke-Acts, rising into heaven. That’s pretty quiet compared to how he entered Jerusalem. Luke even adds that Jesus proved he was “not a spirit,” “ate fish,” then “led them [out of Jerusalem] to Bethany” from when he rose into heaven. So, the raised Jesus was walking the streets of Jerusalem out a city gate, no Hosannas, nothing (per Luke).
There’s other questions related to the resurrection that also concerned me. But in the end I didn’t see much point becoming a moderate and liberal Christian. I tried reading some moderate Evangelicals, like the witty and charming Robert Farrar Capon, that I enjoyed greatly, and also tried some Tillich (and even Reformed inerrantist apologists). But the questions continued to concern me. Today I tend to doubt that people can all love the same thing. Neither can I conceive of any infinite Being who would expect people to all love the same stories, and the same theological and metaphysical explanations. People don’t even love the same sorts of music. My former attraction/focus on Jesus also waned, but I must admit that was over a period of many years (I was raised Catholic, became born again, and was even charismatic throughout college before I began reading more widely concerning theology, science, history, etc.).
December 3rd, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Thanks for the comments, Ed. I agree with you that, from an academic point of view, a limited geography theory for the Book of Mormon looks like a retreat to the threshold of what the evidence can falsify. It didn’t arise out of apologetic contexts, though. Joseph Smith was the first to suggest it when he made comments about a city discovered in Mesoamerican possibly being the location of a specific city discussed in the Book of Mormon. In the text that city is south of a “narrow neck of land” which divided the northern portion of the land from the southern. The city that was discovered was north of Panama, however, which had been assumed by many to be that “narrow neck of land.”
The tension between those comments and the traditional view led a guy named Sorenson to write a book based on a geographic model internal to the Book of Mormon. He decided to see what kind of geography, independent of any known locales, the text alone described. He provided what he believed to be a real-world parallel to his model, and since then other apologists have been trying to fit his and similar models to different locations in the Americas.
There is also some decent evidence in favor of some of the positions to which Latter-day Saints hold about early links between the Old and New World. It’s not proof by any means, and the strength of the evidence is debated, but they’re not simply arguing from silence. Some unique Book of Mormon toponyms and personal names have been found in ancient records, and one scholar of Uto-Aztecan languages has even shown a large degree of overlap in their lexica, phonology, and morphology with those of Afro-Asiatic and Semitic languages.
On the other hand, I’m not really that concerned with evidence for Book of Mormon historicity. The different geographic, demographic, and historical models people produce to support and undermine the Book of Mormon rely on too much assumption and speculation for me to feel comfortable hanging my faith on them, or denying my faith because of them. I joined the church because of experiences I’ve had with living the gospel’s principles, and I remain a member because those experience continue to be confirmed and because it improves my life and the lives of those around me. I recognize that from a purely academic point of view ours is the weaker position, but I also recognize the methodological limitations of the academic approach and the scientific method, especially when it comes to questions of the supernatural. I operate professionally within those methodological boundaries, and I understand their purpose and value, so I leave my religious beliefs out of it.
December 3rd, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Thanks Dan for that excursus on the state of Mormon apologetics. I certainly can’t speak for your personal experiences except to say that positive ones can be found among all religions, denominations, cults, etc. And I also admit that a sense of certainty and a regulation of one’s beliefs via a church can produce a serenity and happiness that living with uncertainties and outside any social circle of fellow believers probably cannot produce. Though I also suspect people of differing religious/philosophical views can get along since we all live in the same general culture and work at jobs beside each other and need not haggle over religious beliefs at all since life consists of a host of shared and interesting things.
I also sensed from your knowledge and description of Mormon apologetics that such intellectual questions matter to you, the intellectual side of you.
I would probably question how many language parallels are due to seeing what an apologist wants to see, and how many might be due to inherent commonalities of language formation even in distant regions of the world, and how many might be pure coincidences.
And the idea of a city south of a narrow neck of land, sounds more like a cold reading by a psychic in its generality. How many other cities dotted that ancient landscape both “above” and “below” Panama and throughout Mexico and South America? No doubt some cities were founded near Panama as well, so that seems like a prophecy that one couldn’t get wrong even if one wanted.
Be that as it may, I sincerely appreciate your openness and your informative posts, and your liberal views. We share a lot of understandings on a host of subjects no doubt.
December 2nd, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Speaking of Mormonism, I can’t help but mention Laci Green, a charismatic young female raised Mormon who left the fold. She’s quite the young spokesmodel. I suspect that women are part of what can draw a man to almost any belief system. At least that’s been part of the story for some of my friends, even for my best friend who was driven home in high school by a young charismatic female Christian, and soon converted after she drove him to a few living room meetings. I’ve heard other stories as well, and such stories can lead in any religious direction. I’ve also read some recent studies that show men are led to make less discerning choices after they see an attractive woman. *smile* Anyway Laci’s gotten 3.5 million views of her relatively few videos on youtube, is into organizing, and blogs about female atheists on the web, her deconversion, and about being the lone atheist in a Mormon family. Did I mention she’s also funny?
December 2nd, 2010 at 7:40 pm
I didn’t know a video link in the text would make it appear full fledged on your site. Sorry.
June 28th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Señor Dan,
I noticed your “discussion” with Master Bowman. In case you’re interested, here’s the list of all the posts on 2 Kings 3:
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Number six actually isn’t about 2 Kings 3, but it continues on from number five, so I included it.
Also, posts engaging Hess on Deut 32: One, two.
June 28th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Thanks for the list, Thom. It looks like our discussion may be over, but it’s good to have the resources. Are you familiar with Rob?
June 29th, 2011 at 7:43 am
I’ve read his book and I had an exchange with him on a blog once. I enjoyed reading what he thinks of my book. 🙂
Thanks for all the good work you do.
July 2nd, 2011 at 11:06 am
hey buddy- dont forget, you’re hosting the august carnival (covering july posts) scheduled for august 1. if you put out a call for submissions let me know so i can help spread the word.
and thanks again for doing it. really appreciate it.
August 31st, 2011 at 11:56 am
How do I email you to vote for a top ten biblioblogger?
August 31st, 2011 at 12:00 pm
bibliobloggerstop10 ~ at ~ yahoo.com. I’ve not been promoting it this month because I’ve been too busy, though, so there aren’t any votes so far. I will make a more concerted effort to do so in September, so I can put any votes you have toward that month if you’d like.
October 1st, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Hi Daniel. Let’s discuss OT TC (Old Testament Textual Criticism). Thanks. Philip.
October 1st, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Hi Philip. Thanks for the comment. I hope you will understand, but I am in the middle of a quite busy semester at school and work. This is the primary reason for not having blogged in some time. I got your email, and I will try to look over the document you sent along, but I’m afraid I have to ask for some time.
November 13th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Hello Daniel,
I am a student in Paul Derengowski’s World Religions class that you have blogged about…I am a muslim and have been violated in the way he is teaching these religions. He completely bashes the Mormon and Islamic religions..Me and another Muslim student spoke up against him as we quickly realized he was teaching Islam in such a horrible way, and proving our beliefs wrong in front of the whole classroom. He also made us do the mock trials and had me and the other student on the side of Islamic defense, as well as the Mormon mock trial, in which I was also on defense. I put his name on google, and so many inappropriate pages showed up where he is bashing these religions..I am taking them to the dean of our college, and I just thought you should know this.. He is an evil man! Teaching the students the wrong things about other religions.
November 19th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Randa – (Anonymous)
Seriously! How do you know the beliefs of Mormonism? Have you studied them? Have you researched them? I have lived in a state with a strong Mormon community. The comments Professor D made, I’ve heard before, without being given the opportunity to hear his research. You aren’t the first person in the world to criticize the Mormon beliefs. A lady I work with, her husband is an x-Mormon. His views on Mormonism aren’t any different that Professor D’s.
Thanks to you and the other student in the class we were robbed of the opportunity to hear Professor D’s research (30 years of education). Your religion was not portrayed to the class in an evil way – As you will recall – thanks to you and the other student in the class we were unable to finish the lectures of the Islam religion. Our class was lectured on two slides of his research. One thing you’ve left out in your untruthful rant – the book required for the class was approved by the school, not the professor. Your “prophet” is portrayed in the textbook approved by the education entity as a killer. The book your religion believes in – the Quran – also states this.
You’ve also left out the fact this professor has been teaching the same class, same information and same syllabus, approved by the education entity, for over three years.
Our class as well as the instructor was verbally threatened with our safety by the actions of you and the other student. Our class has been discriminated against by the administration of the school. The lecture was secretly taped which is against the Student Handbook. I’m wondering why weren’t you and the other student suspended from the school? You’re attempting to portray yourself as a victim and the real victims are the 30-35 students who have been robbed of the opportunity of learning the history and beliefs of other religions. Like any other class – you take from the class what you want and leave the rest behind. So anonymous, what do you think the class has “taken” from your religion based on your actions?
In the slanderous email you sent to the entire class, you stated you would not be returning to the class. However, you were there Thursday night. Also if you will remember – Professor D asked the entire class prior to his lectures on Islam, “when the religion of Islam is mentioned what do we think of?” Several people made comments. My thought of Islam – 9/11. After the rants of you and the other student – one of the students stated the way the two of you behaving is her true belief of Islam and found it scary.
As the other student left the class – he stated “you should be scared”. This threat was made to the entire class and the professor and is against the school policy – yet – the administration has allowed you to keep attending the class. Why hasn’t the academic entity taken this into account? You were also asked by the professor how well you knew your religion and you stated very well. I’m wondering – if you know your religion “so well” is the behavior you and the other student displayed to the class viewed as acceptable? You must be blatantly blind to the millions of people who are very discriminatory against your religion.
January 21st, 2012 at 8:47 pm
This is classroom fascism at best. Perhaps you should take time to re-educate yourself as it is clear that you have little to no understanding of non-traditional or non-Christian religions. If a professor teaches with bias and intellectual slant then their integrity is in question. Go back to school.
December 21st, 2011 at 7:35 am
I had just posted here on the Elkington Paleo-Hebrew matter. I used to be able to type in Paleo-Hebrew letters, on an older computer now long since dead. Been writing with them for years. 40 years ago, I had a professor who used to pace up and down the front row of students during lecture, twisting his head to look at our notes. I switched to using Paleo-Hebrew letters. He was fluent in Hebrew so I to do something original!
I hope you have a great and interesting scholarly life ahead of you. I am thrilled to know that someone wants to pursue more than just business and money in this day and age. Thought about taking a doctorate at Hebrew University? What a city in which to study ancient Israel!
שלום וברכה
-David Natanel (Haifa, Israel).
January 20th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
[…] result of his bigoted approach to teaching. Apparently two Muslim students who had had enough (one of whom commented on my blog) repeatedly interrupted his class during a lecture and one made threatening remarks that made Paul […]
May 20th, 2012 at 8:35 am
Daniel O. McClellan, I would like to know where I can find pictures of all the messianic tablets. I would like to give a try at decoding them on my own. I would be so happy to get a chance to do this.
Thank you,
May 20th, 2012 at 8:53 am
You can find all the photos that are available here: https://danielomcclellan.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/jordan-codices-photos/
October 31st, 2012 at 8:48 am
For some years now, I’ve been an on-again, off-again investigator. Thank you for posting some of your information on here… it’s very helpful.
April 8th, 2013 at 2:44 pm
I note you extensively quote from Tom Verenna.
I would not believe a word Verenna says. Verenna makes reviews without reading the book, and writes with an agenda rather than with balance. And then when he is caught out with errors and lies, he hides behind censorship like a little child, and will not debate his mistakes.
Tom Verenna biography:
http://thomasverenna.blogspot.nl
[Ed. note: please see blog owner’s response here]
June 23rd, 2013 at 7:32 pm
I notice you don’t mention that you are a polytheist yourself – don’t you think that sort of colors your “research” Daniel?
June 23rd, 2013 at 8:12 pm
Hi, Carol. No, my personal faith does not influence the academic positions I take. I’ve explained that directly to you on numerous, numerous occasions, and you’ve never even had the decency to acknowledge it, much less respond or challenge it.
September 16th, 2013 at 11:35 pm
Excellent investigative journalism, unlike other self proclaimed ‘investigative journalists’, on the deception found within the BAR Crowd. Question is, why does UNC-Charlotte, Huntington ‘University’, University of Nebraska and Hartford tolerate this academic abuse. Here in Israel, esp. in anthropology, it would not have been tolerated for a minute, but then it appears the above universities may have different academic standards. Keep up the good work.
September 21st, 2013 at 5:02 am
Shalom, as they laid that SLAPP on me I’m setting up a web site detailing some of their ‘awards’ under the title “More Amazing Dis-Grace” and with your permission would like to link your excellent article on their ‘Con Festival Award’.
Tabor won a similar award called the Hermes Award recently, if you did not see my comments on it, let me know and I’ll forward it. BTW, what you noted is not their first ‘try’ as this, if you are interested there are more, contact me off line.
Joe
September 21st, 2013 at 5:38 am
Of course you may link to my post, Joe. Thank you. And yes, I have seen your recent comments.
September 23rd, 2013 at 6:16 am
Shalom, I went to their web site to get some info. about all their awards and like I and others have always said, it’s nothing but hype.
Case in point was their 2013 Canadian Banff Rockie award, for a film about anxiety in which they won first prize. There were but four films in the category therefore everyone has a 25% chance of winning and as their Canadian film was the only Canadian film in the category, you know the rest….
Joe Zias http://www.joezias.org
Anthropology/Paleopathology/Guide
Science and Antiquity – Jerusalem Jerusalem, Israel
>________________________________ > From: Daniel O. McClellan >To: joezias@yahoo.com >Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2013 3:38 PM >Subject: [New comment] About Me > > > > WordPress.com >Daniel O. McClellan commented: “Of course you may link to my post, Joe. Thank you. And yes, I have seen your recent comments. ” >
November 7th, 2013 at 6:44 am
[…] But for this blog post, one thing I found quite notable was a comment made by Mormon apologist Daniel O. McClellan. Responding to another commenter who suggested that people in Joseph Smith’s time would have been […]
December 30th, 2013 at 11:36 pm
Hi Daniel, I came across your blog while searching for a McClellan family crest, and was interested in your explanation of the meaning of the name McClellan. Could you refer me to a resource with a summary of the McClellan family history, including when and where they settled in the New World?
I am also interested in the meaning of the different features of the family crest. My family is wanting to create one that is more personalized, while retaining some of the historical elements.
Thanks!
Allen McClellan
December 31st, 2013 at 4:31 am
Hi, Allen! A good place to start is the website for the MacLellan Clan, which has tons of good info:
http://www.clanmaclellan.net/index.htm
Then there are a bunch of websites that have other details about the name, the crest, and the history. For instance:
http://www.houseofnames.com/maclellan-family-crest
http://www.scotweb.co.uk/info/maclellan/
http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/maclell2.html
Let me know if there were questions for which you couldn’t find answers, and have a great day!
January 24th, 2014 at 9:27 pm
have some books want to sel them
April 7th, 2014 at 7:01 am
[…] by Daniel O. McClellan […]
June 9th, 2015 at 7:18 pm
Hello. Do you have any suggestions on who I can find to read writings on a paleo coin I have? Thank you.
June 9th, 2015 at 7:29 pm
I can certainly take a look, and Steve Caruso at Aramaic Designs can as well.
June 9th, 2015 at 11:17 pm
Most coins are highly abbreviated and difficult to read without experience. Your best bet is the coin identification blog on Forum-ancient-coins. http://www.forumancientcoins.com
September 12th, 2015 at 1:02 am
Hello Daniel. Would you clearly give credit to the Persians for introducing the concepts of The Devil, end times judgement, and the whole internal & cosmological dualism to Christianity? I’m a former Christian and I was wondering if I was correct in my assumptions that Jesus turned out to be a Judaism/Zoroastrian mix?
The Christian explanation was that ‘After the Temple was destroyed the Jews no longer had a centralized place to worship so they had to universalize their religion.’ And then they argue that textual criticism on Zoroastrianism is all post Christian era. Also, are there ANY ‘Prophecies’ at all about Jesus in the OT that even somewhat impresses you? Although I dumped religion Isaiah 53 was always a little freaky to me. Thank you.
September 12th, 2015 at 1:03 pm
I wouldn’t “clearly give credit” to Zoroastrianism. There is certainly some influence, but influence is happening to some degree between all cultures making contact with each other. By the time of Jesus, though, it was Judaism and Greco-Roman worldviews interacting with each other. On messianism, Fitzmyer’s The One Who Is To Come is a great analysis of the Hebrew Bible and the development of messianism in early Christianity.
September 13th, 2015 at 11:07 pm
Oh ok thanks I’ll check that book out. Also somewhere you had an article or paper on the God vs Gods debate in Genesis I’ll have to find that and read that too, I came across it in that City forum…I have to say you come across as razor sharp when it comes to witty come backs!! You kept Crushing some poor guy called ‘Eusebius’ haha I was dying. Did you ever consider technical debates against pro-Christian Old Testament scholars? There’s a guy Dr Michael Brown who enjoys a good debate, considered the best Christian debater against orthodox Jews, he knows the Hebrew like yourself. I love debates but unfortunately they always seem to have the SAME NT topics, a really good technical Hebrew OT debate would be so nice for a change. Thanks a lot and take care.
September 14th, 2015 at 4:44 am
Thanks, Dirk! I’ve not had many opportunities to debate about OT topics. I might be amenable to the idea, but I generally don’t find face-to-face debates very helpful.
September 15th, 2015 at 8:02 pm
Generally you’re right because debates don’t dig under the surface enough they are way too brief.
So Daniel would you say that you are an OT minimalist? A lot of your posts talk about interpolations. Are there any conservative scholars that you give more respect to than most conservatives? Conservatives who you disagree with but who you AT LEAST have respect for their arguments? I want to dig into some technical ANE research and what I would like to do is get material from scholars on opposite sides of the spectrum and compare them. I’ve already bookmarked a couple of your impressive articles (will take a few reads to fully absorb). Can you by any chance respond with some links of your most impressive work?
I’ve done more research by far on the NT side of the fence and there are a few conservative scholars that even have the respect of liberal scholars although they obviously disagree. Having never done too much OT research I was hoping you could recommend anyone who you personally think puts up the strongest conservative arguments? Who is critical in his/her inferences?
Guys like Craig Keener, Craig Evans, Darrel Bock, Dan Wallace etc are great representatives for NT conservative scholarship. They give very fair representations to the liberal arguments, they don’t attack straw men. I’ve read their stuff along side of a few liberal NT authors in order to get both sides of the argument. I’d like to know who the best conservative scholar critics are on the ANE side of it and I think that your opinion would be one hell of a good one! I’ve already mentioned Michael Brown but was wondering who you have most respect for (research wise). Yeah it’s probably a weird question to ask for your favorite scholar whom you dissagree with but you probably know what i’m getting at lol. I love finding the best 2 representatives on opposite sides of an argument!!
September 16th, 2015 at 3:54 am
Two conservative OT scholars with whom I disagree on a lot of things, but whom I also generally read because they’re quite informed, are Richard Hess and Abraham Malamat. My thesis advisor for one of my master’s degrees, Craig Broyles, is also very good. These guys aren’t apologists by any stretch of the imagination, but they are conservative in a lot of ways.
September 16th, 2015 at 10:30 am
Awesome thanks a lot!!
September 13th, 2017 at 9:47 am
Dan, send me an email and let me know how you are doing.
Paul
March 3rd, 2018 at 10:20 am
Hello! I am interested in reading your thesis from Trinity Western, but the link is dead.
March 4th, 2018 at 6:51 am
Sorry about that, Joshua. Here’s an updated one:
Click to access 256182_pdf_246075_57AF479C-6921-11E3-BFD1-EA582E1BA5B1_mcclellan_d.pdf
January 15th, 2024 at 9:44 am
Dead link.
But it does live (forever) on Archive.org.
March 21st, 2020 at 4:22 pm
Dan, Send me your email so we can chat.
Paul Hoskisson
April 26th, 2020 at 2:39 am
[…] previously-held discussion, I am not the first Mormon to voice concern in this regard either. Enter Daniel McClellan, followed by a brief introduction to James White:Daniel O. McClellan received his BA from Brigham […]
April 26th, 2020 at 9:49 am
[…] previously-held discussion, I am not the first Mormon to voice concern in this regard either. Enter Daniel McClellan, who I will briefly introduce, followed by James White:Daniel O. McClellan received his BA from […]
February 6th, 2021 at 6:43 pm
Hi Dan
I am very interested in the changing concept of God from the early Bronze Age onward. I would like to read your work, however, the links to your theses do not work. Is this something that you can fix? could you email them to me? (I have downloaded your paper and very much appreciated the archaeological photos that you posted)
Kind regards
Penelope
February 8th, 2021 at 10:39 am
Hi, Penelope! I’ve fixed the links to my two theses, so you should be able to access them now. Let me know if you have any trouble!
April 23rd, 2021 at 8:39 am
Hi Daniel,
I greatly appreciate your blog and sharing of studies on the various topics. Could you by chance send me your email as I have a few questions if you have time for same? Thanks-
October 26th, 2021 at 12:18 am
Hello Dan,
I came across your videos on tictok and I was very interested in several of the videos you posted. Is there any way I could get a PDF copy of you paper on 2 Nephi 25:23? Thank you.
November 23rd, 2021 at 12:13 pm
Hello Dr. I was wondering if I could reach out with some question I have. I have been doing some deconstruction and quite honestly I am struggling.
December 9th, 2021 at 9:39 pm
I stumbled upon you on Tik Tok and love your snippets of Bible, Historical, and cultural context. Please know you reach a lot of people with fascinating and thought – provoking content and we really appreciate you.
December 10th, 2021 at 7:20 pm
Hello sir. I would like to ask, what does the phrase “ends of the earth” in Isa. 41:9; 43:6 mean?
December 26th, 2021 at 7:30 am
I am a very new student (personal study) of the history of the Old and New Testament.
I recently came across a few sources that questioned the translation of Isaiah 9: 6 and suggested that this wasn’t a prophecy of the coming of Christ and that it relates to the leadership of the Israelites after the Babylonian exile. I’m trying to find other sources to clarify this. Are you able to suggest further reading please?
December 26th, 2021 at 8:37 am
Hi, Debbie! Yes, Isaiah 9 originally referred to then-contemporary political concerns. A great discussion of the original context and how the Christian reading relates is found in the book The Bible With and Without Jesus, by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler.
January 8th, 2022 at 10:07 am
Daniel,
I’m not sure how active your website is, but I did see this post from the end of 2021. Recently, I have published two books dealing with science and the Old Testament story: The Infinite Creation, Unifying Science and Latter-day Saint Theology (Cedar Fort Inc., 2020), and, The Infinite Fall, A Scientific Approach to the Second Pillar of Eternity (Cedar Fort Inc., 2021). I have recently launched a series of blogs on my website trentdeestephens.com, where I will discuss scientific issues dealing with the weekly Come Follow Me lessons. I am very active in the Church and am a long-time scientist, working in the fields of Anatomy and Developmental Biology for over fifty years. Please visit my blogs dealing with the creation and fall. I would love to have feedback from you on my essays.
Trent Stephens, PhD
January 12th, 2022 at 9:59 pm
Hi Dr. McClellan!
I found you through TikTok and I’ve been absolutely fascinated with your work. I’m a senior in high school planning on studying Ancient History/Classical Archaeology at university next year, and I have some questions I’d love to ask you about your work and experience. Is there any chance you could share your email?
No problem if not, I’m sure you’re busy 🙂
Addie
February 16th, 2022 at 7:58 pm
Dan. I love your stuff. Did your time at Oxford or Exeter overlap with Francesca Stavrakopoulou. I wondered how your approach to the old testament and hers differ and intersect. Keep up the good work. I’m just starting a late in life semonary program. I am fasanated with it all.
Jamison Rhoads
February 17th, 2022 at 12:08 pm
Hi, Jamison! Francesca was my dissertation supervisor and the only reason I was at Exeter. She is a very good friend & our approaches overlap in a lot of ways. You can see her influence in my dissertation, which you can find by googling “deity and divine agency in the hebrew bible cognitive perspectives.”
February 18th, 2022 at 7:12 am
I enjoy your TIK TOK videos. It lends me to the question, are you a believer of any particular faith group? Also, can you respond to my email with the answer?
February 20th, 2022 at 2:28 pm
Brilliant. Thank you for scholarship and insights. I wished I knew about you 10 years ago.
March 29th, 2022 at 7:00 am
I follow your TikTok and in one you mentioned dictionaries cause more problems than they solve. For us that don’t speak Greek/Hebrew but want to dig in what are good resources?
April 9th, 2022 at 5:10 pm
You are amazing at the scriptures but your politics are not good. The Democratic party is the party of the devil.
April 26th, 2022 at 12:33 pm
Good afternoon Dan,
I am the host of the podcast Head On Fire, a search for answers to life’s biggest and smallest questions. I speak to experts in fields that are either overlooked or that people already think they know a lot about.
I have been following your videos on TikTok for quite some time, and I am so impressed by not only your depth of knowledge but by the grace with which you address the topics that come across your proverbial desk.
Would you be open to an interview for my show? I’d like to ask you about your work, your platform, the importance of good research, applying objective evidence to areas of life where it feels subjectivity is king, and continuing to choose belief in a spiritual tradition in a modern world.
I’m happy to work around your schedule.
Warmest Regards,
Don Martin
May 22nd, 2022 at 11:42 am
If I asked your mentor at Trinity Western about your Christian motives in your studies, would he say that you were studying to be an apologetic exponent for Mormonism to support your job at BYU, or to support the truth about biblical Christianity? I think you might have read UCLA’s Dr. Kara Cooney’s remarks about Kerry Muhlstein and his fraudulent Mormon apologia at BYU supporting Smith, Jr.’s writing of the Book of Abraham, calling him a pseudo-Egyptologist for using his UCLA PhD to pander lies. I wonder what your remarks would be about Dr. Stan Larson’s LDS Church funded intensive investigation of the accusations of plagiarism of Joe Smith. Jr. in 3 Nephi Sermon on the Mount of the BOM from the 19th Century King James Bible. and Dr. Larson’s conclusions. Dr. Larson has a PhD from the British University of Birmingham and was commissioned by the LDS Church in the 1980s, as B.H. Roberts was in the 1920s, to determine whether Smith, Jr. had plagiarized from the KJV. Dr. Larson determined that Smith had, indeed, plagiarized from the KJV to write the BOM. Are you an apologist for the Mormon Church, or a real translational scholar?
May 22nd, 2022 at 11:59 am
He would say I was studying to better understand the Bible. Yes, I have. I have published my own research on how the Book of Mormon makes use of the Phinney edition of the King James Version of the Bible. I am not an apologist.
May 22nd, 2022 at 7:35 pm
I would very much like to see your published study on Smith’s plagiarism of the KJV in the BOM, and to know if the Mormon Church published it. Please send it to me, if you will, at email nrnowlin@yahoo.com Also. please answer this question. Why would you not condemn homosexuality and homosexual marriage based upon the Hebrew scriptures of Leviticus and Romans 1:20-27 and the other Pauline New Testament scriptures of Greek translation in the KJV, RSV, and NIV, which also conform neatly with the Bishop’s and Tyndall Bibles, as you would probably condemn the viciously unnatural practices of bestiality and pedophilia, which are not mentioned and condemned in the New Testament? I read your article essay, “As it is Translated Correctly. . .” and noted how implicitly and deftly you used the LDS 8th Article of Faith to further Mormon doctrine without actually mentioning the Mormon Church. You are definitely a wordsmith.
July 22nd, 2022 at 2:53 am
Hey Daniel, I respect and admire your knowledge on religion but are you religious yourself? i know thats probably a stupid question but i’m genuinely curious, if you are or aren’t thats okay i just wanna know.
August 28th, 2022 at 7:46 pm
Hey Daniel,
Really enjoyed your article about 2NE 25:23
I’ve been diving into the scriptures about the relationship between faith, grace, and works and based on the scripture have probably a similar stance as you. I’m currently teaching a high school class on the subject and there is one scripture that gives me a bit of pause, Moroni 10:32-33. It’s seems that it’s saying if you do these things or works you get grace. I feel at face value this doesn’t jive with the rest of scripture on the topic. I didn’t know if you’d done any study on this or had some answers on this particular passage. Thank you!
Jared Brotherton,
September 27th, 2022 at 4:29 pm
I would like to ask you a question about Jesus/Dionysus comparisons. If you can take the question, what is best place to put that question to you?
September 30th, 2022 at 1:50 pm
I love your TikTok videos- so much fun.
I know you are busy but I wondered if you could guide me to a place (or do a video about) how to understand Psalm 110. “The Lord said unto my lord” bit has always confused me about who is sitting down on who’s right hand and how the footstool fits in. How can I find clarity?
Thank you so much for all your good work.
Robert H Lemon.
September 30th, 2022 at 1:59 pm
Hi, Robert! Thanks for the kind words. The first use of “Lord” in Psalm 110 is actually a substitution for the Hebrew YHWH, which is the divine name. Rather than translation the divine name, most English translations (and ancient Greek translations) substitute the word “Lord.” So this is really saying “YHWH said to my Lord”––and here “my Lord” refers to a Davidic king––sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” The idea is for the king to let God fight his battles, and the king’s enemies will be cut down low enough to function as a footstool for the king.
September 30th, 2022 at 2:06 pm
Oh- so is that why the Savior asks “If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?” YHWH is the son of El, not the son of David? But isn’t Jesus also a Davidic King?
By the way, if I had received a reply from John Bonham about drumming, I would not have been more excited. You are a scripture rock star.
September 30th, 2022 at 2:15 pm
Oh, you’re too kind! The text is being re-read in the New Testament with David as the author referring to the Messiah as “my Lord.” Thus the question Jesus poses to his critics is “how can the Messiah be the Son of David if David refers to the Messiah deferentially as “my Lord”? It seems like a contradiction, which is why no one was able to answer Jesus.
September 30th, 2022 at 2:17 pm
I am just going to buy your book and stop bothering you.
RHL
October 13th, 2022 at 3:25 pm
Is the Book of Mormon true? And how can one continuously support there opinion of it?
November 5th, 2022 at 6:30 am
Hi, I appreciate your research and have looked through you YouTube and TikTok channels but couldn’t find anything on the dating of Lehi leaving Jerusalem in context of the Bible history. Could you share anything on that?
November 20th, 2022 at 10:43 pm
Dan,
I really enjoy watching your TikTok posts and I get a giddy smile whenever I see some outlandish religious claim and then hear you say, “Okay, let’s see it”. It makes my day.
As a Mennonite Brethren raised evangelical in an Alliance church I find it weird that you were at TWU and now work for the Latter Day Saints. I was always raised to believe that they were … are … a… cult. Are my childhood ideas not based in fact? I’m not trying to be mean or jerkish here, but the mainstream evangelicals at my church would freak out at me listening to, and enjoying, a Mormon scholar. Well, scholarship belongs to everyone, so, whatever.
Anyway. Thanks for your work and I will probably do a dive on your writings soon.
Clay
December 10th, 2022 at 7:49 pm
Hello dan.
Since I’m a woman of my word and cant sleep without holding to my promise to send you a little info as you “requested” on Instagram just before blocking me. https://www.atour.com/education/20080826a.html on the orrigin of easter. To keep it biblical, I answered the call to give you a little information its not my responsibility anymore it is now yours. All of this is very sad.
December 10th, 2022 at 7:53 pm
There is absolutely no data from the ancient world in that post that in any way, shape, or form supports your claims. It’s citing other conspiracy theorists’ unsubstantiated claims. That’s not scholarship in any sense of the word whatsoever.
December 10th, 2022 at 8:00 pm
Since the post is quite long there is no way you have read it all. Thats the first thing I would say to my kids, nieces, nephews and who more. But since you are a so called grown up. Yeah ofcourse as I said not my responsibility anymore, I’ll catch my valuable sleep now. Since you are grown up enough to do your own research. Maybe duck into some actual pagan research and not the Christian view upon paganism. Have fun exploring other religious views test everything to the word of our heavenly Father. Watch out before you send people astray. The penalty for a religious leader is very high on the Day of the Lord.
December 10th, 2022 at 8:39 pm
I’ve seen all these conspiracy theories before. I research from a critical perspective, not a Christian one, and I am not a religious leader. You’re just asserting ridiculous dogmatism. I tried to give you a chance to share some data to support your claims and all you could do was post more ridiculous dogmatism.
December 11th, 2022 at 3:21 am
I know you are probably very busy with social media, work, and family; however, I wonder if you have a email or other way to communicate. I have some questions and I wonder if you’d be able to help! Thanks!
December 22nd, 2022 at 2:26 am
Dan,
I love your TikTok videos. Your perspective and learning must make it very difficult for you to believe the religion of the masses that has developed over time. It seems the religion we are left with is a bastardization of modern mythology, perpetuated by those who have no learning on the subject, and heavily infused by political rhetoric.
How do you reconcile faith and understanding in an age where people today wouldn’t recognize Christ if he were walking down the street? It seems most people are looking for a White Conservative Republican to fit whatever narrative they were raised on.
Given your learning/education, do you consider yourself a believer and, if so, how do you reconcile your educated beliefs with those of the masses?
If I’d known you when I was younger, I might still be a Christian. 4 Christian universities and a doctorate later, I got further from my Holiness origins with each passing day. But there is still a deep religious curiosity at work in me, a profound wondering, but it is snuffed the moment the ‘modern church’ and all its heresies and blasphemies emerge.
Do you offer classes? I appreciate your calm and rational approach.
Thank you, you have inspired me and I wish to learn more.
December 22nd, 2022 at 6:14 am
Hi, Marc! I appreciate the kind words! There are frustrations with being in my profession, but I’ve been around these issues for so long that I’m pretty used to it. I have a rule about not discussing my personal faith on social media, so I can’t answer the bigger questions you’re asking in this comment, but I do offer an online class every other month. This coming January 19 I’ll be offering a one-hour class on homosexuality and the Bible. If you’d like more info, you can visit dan-mcclellan.square.site
January 2nd, 2023 at 1:13 pm
Hi Dan,
I recently started following you on Tik-Tok. I find your researched, data-informed insights into biblical / religion issues to be refreshing and very interesting. I am going to take your class on Homosexuality and have already registered (although I only gave a $1 because I am not sure yet if I might have to work that night). I intend to steal a recent phrase of yours: “That sounds like Not Research.” LOL. People tend to think that Googling something is research. Anyway, I just wanted to compliment you on a wonderful series of informational videos. I wish you had a podcast that I could listen to regularly! (Just a thought.) Keep up the great work! Barry
January 9th, 2023 at 9:00 am
Have been watching you on tic tock. I certainly appreciate you work and knowledge. Also glad you endure since your topic and posts certainly invite a lot of nay sayers. Planning to catch more of you online classes and pod casts. Keep it up.
January 9th, 2023 at 9:47 pm
Hi Mr. McClellan. I first became aware of you from your Tik-Tok clips.
Love them. Hope to try some of your books, although I’m sure they’re over my head. I’ve had a very basic/dumb question for decades. Did people, during the time of Jesus, know the Earth revolved around the sun? And,
if not, what did they mean by “year”?
Thank you for any response, or directions towards sources for trivial questions of this sort.
H. Benson
January 14th, 2023 at 11:13 am
Dan,
Hello my name is John Ritchey. I follow your tic toc post, I mostly enjoy your testimony on truth vs someone’s inaccuracies about God, Jesus, and the Holy Bible. There is a person goes by Truther777 and he says Jesus is a lie that God is the only one. Can you please do a tic toc on this, PLEASE!!
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRgv9SPf/
He says Jesus is oil…
Thanks so much in advance,
God bless
-John
January 20th, 2023 at 9:21 pm
Did you record tonight’s session on homosexuality?
February 14th, 2023 at 7:31 am
Dan
I have followed your topic discussion on TikTok and you tube. I have deep respect of your knowledge of translation of ancient texts. You are making me think deeply on the present version of the old and new testament bible. You are a gifted teacher and speaker. I am just a country boy. Can we just sum the present bible and pastor interpretations as mumbo jumbo junk. VR-Denny
February 16th, 2023 at 5:04 pm
Hi Dr. McClellan, I regularly enjoy you on YouTube and but not sure of the best way to submit a question. So I’ll try here. What do you think of the following assertion: “Moses’ sojourn in Midian may have been inspired by a real event in which an escaping slave was found near death in the wilderness and brought back to health by a priest of the Midianite storm god known to the Egyptians as YHW”? Thank you, Tom
February 17th, 2023 at 11:43 am
Are you a practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?
February 24th, 2023 at 4:21 pm
Can you send me the link to join your classes?
February 26th, 2023 at 6:52 am
Hi Dan
Can I buy a 15 to 30 min zoom call from you? I’m an author – fiction, don’t sigh – and want a layman’s (that’s me) chat about the Ark of the Covenant.
I’m a Brit but live in Spain.
February 26th, 2023 at 11:40 am
Hi Daniel , I absolutely enjoy your views and breaking open the acient texts so that anybody can understand the Word a lot better.You aredoing great work , thanx.
Iam from South Africa.
Redards
March 2nd, 2023 at 8:10 pm
How might I get a link to hear you recent zoom class on satan and the Bible? I wasn’t able to catch it in time. Also I’d like to register for more of your upcoming classes on the Bible. Please inform. Thank you. You are very knowledgeable I enjoy your posts.
March 7th, 2023 at 10:42 pm
Hey Dan,
I really enjoy your work and research. For me it helps me to in understand the Bible in a far better way then I ever have. It actually strengthens my belief and understanding of the bible as things are put into context.
Thank you
March 13th, 2023 at 4:55 pm
Daniel, thanks for sharing your knowledge and opinions on biblical scholarship and ancient biblical religion.
I did have a question that I was hoping you could provide some insight to.
Throughout the Old Testament when referring to “parents” as in a mother and father, almost all instances translated into English do so as “Father and Mother” for example “Honor thy father and they mother” instead of “Honor thy parents”. It doesn’t appear that they are combined into a single term like “parents” until the NT Greek.
Was there a term in ancient Hebrew that could have been used for “Parents” specifically a mother and father combined and not ancestors or progenitors, etc?
Was it a limitation of language, a preference due to cultural practices (separations by gender that spilled over to language) or some other reason?
Thanks!
March 25th, 2023 at 8:53 pm
I love your tiktok segments. I found your biographical information very interesting. I was surprised that BYU had such a legitimate Bible studies department. I would have lumped them in with other religious colleges as promoting the dogma of the religion they were founded on. That shows my bias I suppose. Keep up the good work. Best of luck on future endeavors.
March 29th, 2023 at 1:10 pm
Dear Professor McClellan
I enjoyed your Interesting Torah.com article, The Angel of YHWH, with an understandable interpellation with G-d and His angels.
In the Genesis 18:1-3 Torah event, Abraham was approached by three strangers who came to announce that Sari was to have a child. Apparently, G-d’s presence observed this event in which Abraham served the strangers curds, milk, and meat. As G-d has no image or likeness, His voice was heard telling Abraham of the coming event of having a child. However, G-d did not chastise Abraham for mixing milk and meat.
I would greatly appreciate your understanding of Melachim and Hashem’s presence.
Robert Mandel
fibula4676@yahoo.com
March 30th, 2023 at 9:31 am
I have watched many of your videos, and eventually I want to watch all of them, including your writings. Moreover, I love how you can take big and very complex subjects and make them accessible to a dilettante like myself. I know you keep your videos strictly professional, and academic. Nonetheless, my human curiosity has gotten the better of me, and I find myself wondering about your personal beliefs. I certainly don’t mean to pigeonhole you or push you into any sort of identity politics, which I know you despise from your videos. However, if I may, are you a believer in the Christian God, and Christ? No judgement either way, it’s just that I have been a admirer of your work for so long, that in my humanism, I would love to know.
April 28th, 2023 at 6:46 pm
I’m an atheist and, like you, have been incredibly curious about how Dan reconciles his faith with his academic pursuits, but I don’t think he discusses his personal beliefs in public forums anymore; especially since becoming more popular on social media. I’ve looked at some older blog posts of his and what I’ve taken away (not attempting to speak for him) is simply that faith in the Mormon religion and practicing its principles has improved his life in big ways. Can’t really fault him for that. If something works, it works. I don’t hear him making any objective truth claims based on it so it doesn’t really impact my respect for him or his academic work.
I know you’d rather hear from him but I’ve never gotten an answer out of him and I relate to your nagging feeling of curiosity, so I’m hopeful I can quell yours somewhat by providing the little info I’ve obtained through my obsessive snooping, 😂
July 13th, 2023 at 3:46 pm
Hello, I read that too. It appears that he isn’t interested in the question, which make sense since he has a lot of followers and probably doesn’t want to offend anyone by showing his hand.
April 3rd, 2023 at 5:35 pm
Hi Daniel – I found you on TikTok and was immediately attracted to your scholarship. I have had none but positive experiences with Mormons but had never associated (please excuse me!) any with scholarship like yours. As a Roman Catholic who has done some graduate level study of Scripture but without the language background you have I am very impressed and have learned a lot. Keep it up! and Thank you.
April 5th, 2023 at 8:17 am
[…] about. With that in mind, we will be heavily relying on the content of studied scholars, especially Dan Maklelan, a biblical and religious scholar with degrees in Jewish studies, the Ancient Near East, Biblical […]
April 21st, 2023 at 11:05 pm
Dan, I have written a few books involving the Book of Mormon and am looking for various persons to review/comment on a draft of my next book, Book of Mormon Calendars and Chronology. I pay $500 per review. As the book involves pre-exilic material as well as Christ’s birth/death information you might find some of the information interesting. Sorry for posting on your blog, I would prefer just to communicate by email but couldn’t find one I was certain was current.
May 3rd, 2023 at 6:28 pm
Having become familiar with your tik tok presentations I was gobsmacked upon learning of your adoption of the LDS faith. I can’t imagine the degree of cognitive dissonance you must experience in light of your scholarship.
I’m reminded of a petroleum production engineer I worked alongside who was a young earth creationist. He was more than a full bubble off of level.
I’m certain you DGAF what I think nor should you but sadly I’m no longer in a position to accept your scholarly claims as credible. Regardless I sincerely wish luck to you in your future endeavors.
May 5th, 2023 at 3:52 am
I’m a Catholic raised woman who left the church because of their over activity in politics. i.e. Roe and all of the misguided information that these political Christians are pushing. I have felt a little lost until I happened to come across you on Instagram
You have answered more questions in the last few months, then anyone in my search of answers. Thank you
May 10th, 2023 at 6:38 am
Hello My name is Anita Delgado. I am turning 70 next week. I have a 1793 copy of the King James Bible with the Apocrypha. It’s 10 1/2 x 15 1/2.
My son and daughter show no interest in having it. And I was wandering if you would want it.
As a gift. Thanks
May 10th, 2023 at 6:39 am
That’s very kind of you, Anita! I’ll reach out to you over email.
May 10th, 2023 at 7:48 am
A few more details thanks again.
May 12th, 2023 at 5:39 pm
Dan.
My name is Heath Ogden. I am an evolutionary biologist and I work at UVU. I have a YouTube channel called “Accept Truth with Joy” and o. This channel I carry out interviews with specialists (scientists and scholars) in regards to truth. I would love to interview you and promote you new channel Data over Dogma and talk about your other efforts – like on TikTok. I am especially interested in discussing how LDS can renegotiate their faith in light of accepted scientific truth.
May 21st, 2023 at 5:43 pm
How accurate is the information in this video? Because this is really interesting but I have absolutely no idea how to verify it.
May 22nd, 2023 at 4:15 am
That video is providing a lot of good information, though I’m not sure about its thesis.
May 23rd, 2023 at 9:23 am
Thank you for the reply! And yeah, the conclusion is really bold, I hope the subject ends up much more thoroughly discussed in the long term.
May 23rd, 2023 at 9:32 am
I also just want to throw on that chariot mysticism would be an awesome subject for your podcast to cover.
May 23rd, 2023 at 3:14 pm
Hey Dan, do you believe that heaven is real?
May 24th, 2023 at 4:27 am
I find the Data over Dogma podcast interesting. Do you believe in Jesus as Savior or is it all a hoax to you?
I ask because I’m genuinely interested in critical thought in regard to the Bible but not heresy.
May 24th, 2023 at 10:09 pm
I was intrigued by Paul Foster’s analysis of the authorship of the Pastoral Letters.
I am finishing a Masters in Machine Learning at Columbia, here in New York. One type of analysis we’re taught is sentence probability given a body of documents.
Could you please share my email with Professor Foster? I would enjoy talking with him and (I hope) vice versa.
Sincerely,
Brendan
PS And feel free to email me if you did so.
May 27th, 2023 at 1:51 pm
What’s the best way to buy your books that nets you the most profit?
May 29th, 2023 at 10:46 pm
Dan,
Someone mentioned you and I found this blog of yours. I have over the last few years conducted a pretty intensive research on the Biblical genealogies and chronologies of Jesus and other biblical lives.
Would you mind if I picked your mind?
LeEric
June 1st, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Not sure how active you are on this sight anymore, but just wanted to hop on here and say I really appreciate your work! It’s helped me tremendously to further deconstruct my own previously held (as a teenager) biblical misconceptions and give some much needed solace from my kooky thinking of my youth that only the kind of in-depth academic work you’ve done could offer. I’m even more stoked to learn that you’re originally from my home state, W.V.! I grew up in Beckley, (now live in Princeton), but traveled out west in my 20s soul searching and trying to reconstruct meaning in the wake of razing my over zealous mystical biblical readings. Now at 31, after having spent many years finding other intelligent folks such as yourself, I finally feel relief not having as much underlying subconscious A.N.T.s directly resulting from my own naive biblical interpretations as a teen. I watch your main videos as well as the Data Over Dogma podcast as soon as new episodes are available. It’s like therapy, for real! Also, mad props to your cadence and calm succinct delivery of your responses and observations in your response videos. What a relief in today’s hot-take-a-palooza-fest. And then I find out you’re also an artist!? Damn, man, you were already cool enough, slow it down! Just kidding of course. If you ever come to the east coast to give a lecture or something I’d love to catch that. Much love and success in all your endeavors. Wishing you and yours well! — Jordan Furrow
June 8th, 2023 at 2:13 pm
Hi Dan! I found you on TikTok and was thrilled when I recently learned of your podcast. I am neither a scholar nor an intellectual, but I value your work and appreciate learning from you. Rock on!
June 8th, 2023 at 10:24 pm
Are you a member of the church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints?
June 13th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
Hi Dan. I enjoy your Tik-Tom’s. Do you have a statement of faith or what your beliefs are that I can read or listen too?
Thank you.
June 13th, 2023 at 10:09 pm
Hi Dan, as a big fan and fellow student of history, I was wondering about something. Do any of the miracles attributed to Christ in the New Testament have any broader significance in the context of the cultural and religious climate of 1st century Judea? Being born of a virgin, raising the dead, walking on water, etc, are obviously miraculous occurrences, but did they MEAN something specific to the people living in the area at that time? Is there a precedent for any of this in Jewish literature up to that point?
June 20th, 2023 at 10:08 am
Dan,
I’d really love to set down and talk to you sometime! I very much enjoy your knowledge and objectivity.
I’ve been wondering about something for a while and curious if you have any input. The literature ( religious and not) of ancient times all over the world speaks of elephants. Elephants were a key to development of the world. War, travel, construction. The point, elephants were key to development of the world.
The Koran talks about elephants, Asian writings, everywhere that the elephant lived.
My question is, if elephants were “prominent “ in writings of the time, why does the Bible not specifically talk about elephants?
Thank you for any insight you may have.
June 23rd, 2023 at 7:49 pm
What’s up my dude – seen you on TikTok, I’m basically an on the fence Christian, not really more so have family that is – i have been pretty derived of Christ after my last experience in life – just want to know what books I should read not to learn more about loving jesus but more about how all this came to be. I’m a data scientist and I love how you provide the disambiguation of words, very interested in more stuff I should read. If Jesus teaching agape love is all I should know – fuck yeah – because that’s freaking awesome but would love to just know more about all this stuff
June 27th, 2023 at 8:14 am
Hi Dan!! (My middle name is Danielle so can I be part of the club? Haha)
I’ve been watching your content for a while now and I find it fascinating. My degree is in history (from West Virginia University, I’ve lived here all my life), specifically ancient history. I also have a minor in anthropology. I’ve studied religion in general terms and have been teaching myself basics of linguistics and word etymology (being 51 I’ve got time now that the kids are out of the house!)
I really love when you dig into linguistics (since Hebrew and ancient Aramaic seem like complex languages especially in comparison to modern English) and linguistics vs archaeology. I also find it invaluable when you reference scholarly work on the subjects you discuss. I have to say birthday and Christmas can not come soon enough as I needs those books!!
I also have noted some criticism of erm…your personal faith. While I appreciate that I know your connect here since as you say, everyone is viewing thing through some lens, even if they are unknowing of it or actively try to view data as data. I’ve not looked at any comments to read back and forth, nor have I seen you discuss it. I know, and I don’t care. I’m atheist, who cares! You appear to give good data and have source material to back it up. You are extremely well educated, well-spoken and seem to care about people in general and do not seem to stand for people being mistreated and using the Bible or other text to do so. I don’t know how you are really because I don’t know you nor presume to do so. At present, you’ve given me no reason to believe it’s important with regards to your scholarly opinions.
You give data and you give me places to read scholarship to see for myself. You provide contextual data that I can read about and look into in order to get all the info I need to make decisions. I’ve not once felt you have guided me to something only due to your personal faith. In fact, at times you seem to give direct data that would contradict what many Mormons hold as true.
While we need to know your lenses, your personal faith to me, has little to do with your scholarship. Just knowing who your PhD adviser was gives me the comfort to know that you were given excellent training.
Keep up your good work. I look forward to continuing going broke from getting books you recommend and write.
Yours in West Virginia,
Lisa
June 27th, 2023 at 10:21 am
Hello Mr. McClellan, I have a question. I just started reading your book on YHWH’s Divine Images and I’m wondering how you are able to remain a “faithful latter-day Saint” despite what you know about biblical interpretation and how it is used. I’m not picking on the LDS church specifically, but all religion that stems from the Hebrew Bible.
Many people spread biblical misinformation as being the truth. Although there are many individuals who truly believe that their specific interpretation of the bible is the intended interpretation of their god, there are those who knowingly spread lies for their own self interest (such as some Christian apologists). Knowing, through historical study, that the bible doesn’t mean what many today thinks it does, and that many of the claims in the bible are indeed false, how can you remain loyal to a religion that believes the bible to be the truthful word of God when you know this isn’t the case?
P.S. I’m amazed at how your view on the bible can remain so objective despite your loyalty to a religion that follows the bible. How do you prevent yourself from losing that objectivity?
June 27th, 2023 at 1:48 pm
Accomplished scholar, artistic talent, extremely personable, and obviously handsome as the saying goes Mr. McClellan if you didn’t exist it would be imperative to invent you.
Big fan; thank you for sharing your work.
July 2nd, 2023 at 11:46 am
Hola from Ohio. I recently discovered your videos on TikTok and then the Podcast – both are fantastic. Granted I feel like a lot of the stuff you present I have to take on face value because “doing my own research” to the breadth of knowledge the scholars have is just not in my future. I have always been fascinated by the impact of religion and the Bible and other holy texts on the culture of humanity, but don’t have a passion so hot that it would lead me to years of study either. I have also been very disappointed with how ignorant people are and how they take things at face value that should be a lot more contextual. How the Bible is used and a weapon for – how have you described it? Establishing social order? And if God as monotheistic deity does exist – how could said being be contained in one book?
This little intro was amazing to read because I am also an artist and also love massage therapy. You are a geek and a nerd and an artist. That is a good combo! I may be biased…but I can admit that.
I look forward to learning and exploring this bit of history through you and the colleagues you suggest to follow and maybe some books as well.
It’s been a blast so far! Thanks for sharing and for all your hard work at being so entertaining as well as educational.
July 2nd, 2023 at 4:44 pm
Dan, you’re great. Thank you for the extremely informative videos.
Two questions and an observation/recommendation.
1. I must of watched at least 20 of your videos, not once did youb mention you’re an Mormon. One of the ex-Mormon channels mentioned this. Why don’t you mention this more often? I think mormonism is useless in your research.
2. You nust be agnostic or atheist. You’re too intellect to think otherwise.
3.i like you videos with the other Youtubers.i think you regular videosbl should have your lighter personality in them.
Thank you,
Ray Dunn
(267-294-8675)
July 3rd, 2023 at 9:06 am
Hi Dan
I found you on tick tock, they very educational and backed up with facts
Keep up the good work
Marc from Canada
July 3rd, 2023 at 4:55 pm
Hello Dan,
I hope you doing well. I have studied the bible for years but watching you YouTube videos and listening to you podcast I need to learn more. Can you give me an idea on where to start digging deeper? What books to read or videos to watch.
Thanks!
July 3rd, 2023 at 5:08 pm
I follow you on TikTok and YouTube and have learned quite a lot from you. I appreciate your insight on many issues. I’m not sure if you’ve ever mentioned it (or even want to) but I’m curious about your personal beliefs about the existence of God. Do you hold any kind of theistic beliefs? Thank you for your time.
Respectfully,
Lonnie Dunbar
July 6th, 2023 at 10:09 am
I enjoy your tick tock videos. I get the impression you are more of a literary scholar than believer in the divine nature of Jesus Christ. I really like the matter of fact way you explain passages in scripture without preaching as if they are absolutely the word of god. In fact you often rightfully point out inconsistencies.
So all that said, in my mind, I believe no one really knows who Jesus really was or if he actually existed. I believe New Testament gospel writers were certainly moral scholars who did great service to mankind. How could they get people to follow? Put out a story that these things were quotes from a divine being. Who after all could question God?
Now scientists are discovering that much of what we have assumed to be our true nature and origins may be an illusion. I’m referring to quantum physics that seems to find time, space, distance and physical things being illusion. That our true nature is simply intelligence that creates this Illusion.
Full circle, I recently read the ancient Gospel of Thomas and found some therein in parallel to the science of quantum physics.
Just curious, I respect your opinion, what do you think about all this?
July 7th, 2023 at 10:49 am
Dan, in your limited time, could you do a short YouTube video addressing the thoughts raised in this video?
July 7th, 2023 at 1:21 pm
Hello Daniel. I am attempting to arrange a live, public, moderated debate in Lancaster, PA on either Fri., Sept. 15th or Sat., Sept. 16th on the theme, “Is Homosexuality Compatible with Biblical Christianity?” featuring conservative Evangelical apologist Dr. James R. White of AOMin.org who will be representing the negative position on that question. I believe you may be the ideal participant in this debate to affirm that question. Please contact me to discuss this invitation to you in greater depth @ ChrisArnzen@gmail.com or (631) 281-7002 ASAP. I eagerly await your reply!
July 9th, 2023 at 9:59 am
So what are your true beliefs on Holy Bible? Is it the infallible word of God? Is it the inspired word of God? I have seen alot of your tik toks and it seems that you are trying to take the power away from it. I’m not saying you are, but that is how it seems. I am very curious as to what your beliefs are on faith and the scripture as most Christian churches teach it today.
July 9th, 2023 at 5:26 pm
Hello, I recently happened upon you on Tiktok of all places. I want to gain knowledge about the Bible. My question is this: is there a beginner guide somewhere, because I’m overwhelmed with everything. I grew up in church, mostly Baptist and you will answer someone’s question and I will be blown away, so is there a starting place? Also, do you mind if I ask if you believe in God and Jesus? I find your post/videos so intriguing. Thanks
July 10th, 2023 at 12:07 am
I recently stumbled across your work on Instagram and have been watching the clips you post, and going as far back as I can at the moment. Your scholarship is amazing and I love your insistence of data over dogma (I couldn’t resist buying a shirt!). The one thing I haven’t heard you address in your videos is your viewpoint on the historicity of Jesus. I’m not a biblical scholar, but it doesn’t seem to me, from what I’ve read, that the data supports a historical Jesus. I was curious about your views on the matter. Thank you, and thank you for the great work you are doing.
July 10th, 2023 at 2:31 pm
Dan, trying to dig a little deeper on the origins of the Bible, what books do you recommend?
July 10th, 2023 at 2:35 pm
I’d definitely recommend John Barton’s book, A History of the Bible. I’d also recommend a good study Bible, like the New Oxford Annotated Bible.
July 13th, 2023 at 1:09 am
Were you in any church films? You look so familiar
July 13th, 2023 at 11:43 am
Dan, I’ve watched a few of your videos and I find them intriguing. One question I have is: Who do you say Jesus was/is?
July 13th, 2023 at 2:02 pm
Thanks for all your valuable research.
July 13th, 2023 at 11:13 pm
Love your TikToks! You manage to make me interested in the bible as a multi-faceted piece of history and literature that dogma does not.
July 15th, 2023 at 1:52 pm
Hello to you Mr. McClellan, my name is Paul Bowen and I recently came across a few of your videos on TikTok. From there I went to your link to learn a bit more about you. You’re a very well accomplished in your biography and have learned many things. A simple question I have for you; are you a follower of Christ?
July 17th, 2023 at 7:57 pm
I really enjoy what I’m learning from you. Thanks for taking the time to enlighten myself and all the others who enjoy your enterpretations of actual scripture.
July 19th, 2023 at 6:31 am
I love your stitches on tiktok and it Reminds me of how stupid people can be. You are doing a great Job. Keep on!
July 19th, 2023 at 7:41 pm
Hey Dan,
I’ve been following you on TikTok for a while now. I grew up in the LDS church and always struggled with the apologetics that seemed to come up in church. I really appreciate the way you break down the “data vs dogma” of the Bible.
July 21st, 2023 at 12:31 pm
Hi Dan- Big fan of your work here.
I’m looking for advice or perspective on managing the gap between scholarly and traditional pastoral (dogmatic?) uses of the Bible. You mention in this thread how you’ve found social utility in the LDS church as a structure that helps, but how do you keep the cognitive dissonance at bay?
I attend a unicorn church that has solid independent evangelical roots but is now known in our town as an inclusive, gay-friendly place for worship. While we champion alternatives to the classic dogmas of evangelicalism (inerrancy and univocality, complementarianism, penal substitutionary atonement, etc.), we still get a steady diet of popular, culturally eisegetical interpretations of scripture. I understand the value of the Bible as a devotionally inspiring work of art that can deliver many personal meanings, but I usually sit in my seat thinking, “That doesn’t make sense according to what I know about the socio-political context of the passage.” Every time I hear about “John, the beloved disciple,” or “Peter wrote in First Peter…” or “Jesus said this or that…” I cringe a little bit because I guess I know too much about the scholarly consensus on what’s really going on in the gospels and other texts.
Can you recommend anything that helps with the pastoral-academic conundrum?
July 23rd, 2023 at 9:16 pm
My wife and I are very interested in joining any Israel tour you host in the future, as you mentioned in a recent Listen Learn Love podcast with Richard Ostler.
July 26th, 2023 at 4:51 pm
Hi Dan, I am a Roman Catholic who has many (many) friends who are, or were, Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I’ve enjoyed your videos on Instagram for about a year and I’ve often wondered if you had ever discussed the Book of Mormon in your videos. I must confess, I was surprised to learn that you are member of the LDS Church (no judgement there – just surprise). If you have ever discussed the LDS Church or its teachings in your videos, would you kindly direct me to where I might easily find them? I’m very curious about your thoughts about the faith and how you address the differences between the teachings of the LDS Church and more mainstream Christian theology. I’ve had many pseudo-theological discussions with the missionaries, but, frankly, they are young and their theological knowledge is mainly limited to the basics of their faith. I am hopeful that your videos will provide a deeper dive into the topic.
Thanks for your outstanding videos! I look forward to each and every one of them (and the snarkier your “okay, let’s see it” the better!
norm
July 27th, 2023 at 8:42 am
Amy chance we could have a chat? I have a scripturally backed theodicy that I would like to discuss.
My phone number… 716.229.1343
Thanks.
Christopher Musante
July 28th, 2023 at 7:44 pm
Do you have discourse with individuals in a one on one style setting for those who have questions as they pertain to the evolution of faith?
I’m a fan, and appreciate your work that I follow on Youtube and TikTok. I am interested in conversing through email, if you would be willing and have time. I have provided my email in the form.
July 31st, 2023 at 3:49 pm
Prof. McClellan,
I’ve been watching you for a while and am fascinated and deeply impressed by your depth of knowledge and how easily you access it and deploy it.
I have to ask, do you still consider yourself a Believer? I’ve read your “about” which lists where you’ve worked and studied. I recall a “alright, let’s see it” video where you mentioned being a missionary.
I grew up Catholic and only know a fraction what you do and couldn’t maintain even a pretense of religious belief.
I know I’m a complete stranger asking a personal question, but I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
August 8th, 2023 at 8:31 am
Hi, Dan.
I am a fan of your work! As someone raised a d living with no religious faith or spiritual background, my secular interest in the Bible and genuine curiosity are seldom endulged as welcomingly anywhere as they are on you YouTube channel and podcast.
I have a question pertaining to “negotiating” with the text and faith. It seems so easy to suggest that because every community of faith has a tradition which stems from its negotiation with the text, that every community is, for lack of better terminology, making up what it needs to as it goes along. Is there literature which discusses “correct and incorrect” ways to negotiate with the text (that are not also negotiating with the text)? Is subjective negotiating with the text, or any religious or spiritual text, something that should be suppressed or manifested in some other way, given how cognitively inclined people are to having some aspects of what we would call spiritual or religious beliefs?
I suppose now after having written my questions that I’m wondering if there’s any literature on the phenomenon of negotiating with the text, and the development of such traditions, from maybe a more cognitive standpoint.
Thanks,
August 13th, 2023 at 9:32 am
How do I sign up for your class on creation stories in the Bible. I went to twitter and the site wouldn’t open.
August 13th, 2023 at 9:58 am
You should just be able to go to didaskaloi.com to register. I just opened it up and it seems to be working fine on my end. You might try a different device or maybe a different browser.
August 13th, 2023 at 4:52 pm
Thank you, see you on September 20.
August 15th, 2023 at 8:03 am
I’m sure you have written or spoken about this before, if so, direct me to wherever it is.
What advice do you have for the deconstructor who has been exploring outside the evangelical literalist bubble and discovered the mountains of scholarly material that reveal the broader hermeneutical landscapes of academia, yet finds him or herself in a long term relationship with a local congregation that finds it necessary to hang onto those old wineskins? Now that I know too much, the Sunday sermon with its uncritical interpretations and personalized applications have become a mental chore for me to sit through. Does it matter if we keep insisting that Jesus said such-and-such when the gospels actually record a developed Christology that may differ considerably from how the actual Jesus thought of himself?
August 17th, 2023 at 11:57 am
Hey Dan,
I appreciate you and your work. Your voice-supported by scholarship—denouncing hateful and dangerous rhetoric needs to be elevated within the community of our faith tradition (and universally).
August 17th, 2023 at 12:01 pm
Hey Dan,
I appreciate you and your work. Your voice—supported by scholarship—denouncing hateful and dangerous rhetoric based on misinterpretations of scripture needs to be elevated in the community of our faith tradition (and universally).
Thanks again.
August 19th, 2023 at 2:08 pm
Hey, Dan! Big fan of your work. I was wondering how your approach to your faith has been affected by your scholarship. I don’t imagine you keep the two separated. I have my MDiv from Perkins School of Theology and we learned much of what you talk about in your work. It’s caused me to situate and express my faith differently and I wonder if that’s true for you. Keep up the good work!
August 23rd, 2023 at 8:50 pm
Hello there Daniel,
My name is Sylvana, I found you on tiktok originally and love your content. Now I’m not sure if you’ll see this, but I am currently on my faith journey and have dedicated my time to reading the Bible from beginning to end (NIV). I have always had a hard time believing Jesus is God, seeing that the next never matched up, but tonight I read John 1: verse 18, and I am not really sure what to think. If possible, an explanation would be great!
Best,
Sylvana
August 26th, 2023 at 6:23 am
Hi Dan,
You cite various source material and books in your podcasts and videos. Where can a non-scholar find repositories of those materials?
Thank you for your time.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:06 am
Hi Dan, I greatly appreciate your work. I was wondering if there is a synopsis video introducing the major concepts and themes you discuss publicly and basic tenets of scholarly methodology? I’m thinking of something more detailed than the personal introduction videos on your social channels.
There are people I would like to introduce to your work—people with a purely ideological relationship to the bible and Christianity—and I doubt my own ability to introduce your approach without triggering their defenses. I’m sure you can imagine (actually, I’d bet you don’t have to imagine) the prospect, for example, of unpacking a critique of univocality to someone who has never even questioned how the book in their hands came to exist.
Many thanks.
August 30th, 2023 at 12:47 pm
Youre a roman catholic after being an expert on new testament ?
Like jesus saying not to call anyone father (pope) except One ?
Or not to let others see you fast ? Ash wednesday
Or paul’s saying one has to call on the name of the Lord and be saved ?
If Jesus’ work was not finished at the cross I guess were constantly in an insecurity – the atonement was not complete and now it still has to work itself out ?
Oh my God. Im not trolling. I saw mormon real stories podcast and it was anout homosexualiry in ot and new and not either mormon or homo. No inclinations. But it upset me greatly , emotionally, that paul arguments were mow Empirically false “
Are you a closet atheist or agnostic in the Roman catholic church?
W t f sincerely
August 31st, 2023 at 4:10 pm
Dan! In 1977 I was born on and still live on Vancouver Island. My upbringing was through mostly pseudo-atheist parents and secular schooling for the majority of my childhood. I came out as a gay kid in high school…. Found my life headed into a very psychedelic direction and spent my 20’s and 30’s traveling (Mostly staying large portions of time in Uruguay; which is so cool as I just learned that you also lived there!). I would have considered myself on the pagan side of beliefs; aiming for unconventional existence. Got super into shamanic circles of people, up until the pandemic. In January 2022 I [randomly] decided to learn the gospel of Matthew, and haven’t stopped immersing myself in scripture teachings since. I have been attending church weekly since then and even got baptized in December.
An agnostic friend I work with suggested I find your videos; and have really gained so much from the information you share! I’ve once paid to be able to watch your master class on homosexuality in the Bible and was beyond fascinated. I listen to Data over Dogma, when I can, also!
The thing is, Dan, I’m still totally gay and I think that I’m ok with it. You can only imagine some of the pushback I’ve received from some of my new religious friends; Not to mention some very odd pushback from my non-religious friends! The pastor at my church is a friend now and I believe his idea for me is that I live a life of celibacy. The closer I become to living out the gospel in my own life, the more this makes sense to me. But then of course, feelings of doubt come about regarding my orientation and it’s compatibility with my new faith. Most days I feel like it will all work out, in some capacity or another.
I am telling you all of this about myself to present my query to you;
Being that you are so in touch with scripture and also so much else in our worldly paradigms… I am so curious if you still believe in King Jesus as our only Lord, or if you, too, face moments of incompatibility between faith and material understanding. Not that your answers will go on to define my beliefs, but it somehow means something to me that a wise fellow like yourself can adhere to what many would consider antiquated theology.
I would LOVE to just talk to you in person one day. I really appreciate how much time you take to share your expansive knowledge
Thanks Dan!
Stu
September 2nd, 2023 at 9:45 pm
What is a good book (or books) to learn both Biblical Greek and Hebrew? I took a Koine Greek class at Westmont College and so have at least somewhat of a foundation to start from.
You’re social media content is awesome btw, my only issue with it is I’m worried I might end up buying too many of the books you recommend – I just bought a hardcover of “The Body of God and the World of Ancient Israel” for like 90 usd haha
September 7th, 2023 at 12:13 pm
Hey Dan
I really love your content on YouTube, its so refreshing to see. I grew up LDS and loved my time there, love the people, love my mission, and if I had to pick a certain religion, it definetly would be that one.. but already as young teen I kind of felt odd about the God of the Old Testament, who often times seemed so unloving, unpatient, not living up to his own rules, needing and requireing all this worship, changing minds all over and so forth.. I still am very spiritual, and as composer I view God as a beautiful piece of music that posesses the power to touch people from all nations, all backrounds, all races and even all religions. One may feel inspired to write a book by that, another to sing along, another to stand still in awe, but in the end everyone has been divinely inspired, and so to me, God is everything that causes us to become more loving, more respectful, more patient more selfless, treating others the way we want to be treated, and all of that out of the right reasons, meaning not out of fear or merely out of meaningless obidience..
Anyways, dont want to waste too much of your time, otherwise there are less videos you may upload, but if you read this, there are a few topics I would love to know your opinion about..
1. What do you think about Yahweh being just one of many Elohim that never intended to become the God of the entire world? Biglini has written a good Book (The naked Bible), and in that regard I keep wondering what there is that could speak for the idea that there truely have been otherworldly beings that presented themselves as God. Biglini seemingly sees a lot of evidence for this by doing a literal translation of the Bible without the religious lense– meaning, much of the spiritual topics were just put in later on..
2. Biglini also claimes that the word “God” does not even really exist in the Bible, but that it usually is “Elohim” but that noone really knows that Elohim stands for.. Could you agree on that?
3. How do you personally actually see the God of the Old Testament, is he truely the God of the whole earth to you
4. Personally I found many of my believes confirmed in the Gnostic writings, but how much credit would you actually give the gnosic books
5. How does LDS theology fit in there for you?
There are certainly more questions, but right now I would leave it with that, knowing you may not even have the time to respond…
What I would love to see though one day, would be you running into all these Apologia Studio guys on the street and doing a great debate with them.. they really go hard after LDS for their believes, though I feel they are much closer to the truth than they are.. would be fun to see and certainly get you a lot of views too.. they really love filming their debates secretly, so, mayby one day someone has to do just that to them too 🙂
Anyways, if you ever need some music for your videos, let me know, glad to support ..
Best wishes
Simon from Germany, brother of a Daniel too 🙂
September 8th, 2023 at 2:42 pm
Hi Dan,
I saw your post on Facebook regarding what the Bible states about homosexuality. You had explained the period at the time that a male be submissive in a male to male sexual intercourse is the real sin. I wonder if you use that same logic with an animal. Would it only be a sin if the man received it, or is it a sin if you’re doing the penetration—I think you used that term a lot when it came to a man having sex with people. I’m just curious how someone can try to use gay revisionist arguments and expect a true Christian believer to agree with that. What happened to society just accepting something is wrong and calling it out as it is, as opposed to people always having to convert their sin to line up with Gods approval. I believe maybe you should focus on this verse in the Christian bible: 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 3-4
September 17th, 2023 at 4:54 pm
Hey Dan! Love the stuff you’re doing. I have a podcast called the “What If Project” where we explore the question “what if there are ways of thinking about God and faith and the Bible that are different than what our traditions have handed us?” I’ve had Bart Ehrman on the show before and Elaine Pagels, John Dominic Crossan, and others and wanted to extend an invite to you for sometime early in 2024. Thanks for the consideration and the great work you’re doing!
September 19th, 2023 at 5:32 pm
Hello Dan,
I’m an ex Church goer of the evangelical persuasion. I enjoy listening to you and Dan on Data over Dogma. You mentioned a translation of the Bible which you recommend. Can you tell me what it is? I used to read the Living Bible which you may cringe at! But I’m dissatisfied with that.
I would appreciate your response.
Kerry
September 19th, 2023 at 7:05 pm
Hi, Kerry! I have a video where I recommend some Bible translations here: tiktok.com/@maklelan/video/7180119258112822570
September 20th, 2023 at 3:51 am
Thank you Dan. I appreciate you taking the time to answer.
September 20th, 2023 at 11:13 am
Hey Dan,
Love the work you do, its refreshing, well grounded and actually has confirmed most of what I have always believed, but where I was simply not able to find some good scholarship on. There is nothing more precious than to look at things how they are, instead of trying to bend things to fit someone own dogma… A motto I have for my life is to love truth above al lies, even if these lies are my present truth, and this motto has lead me to your work and makes me really appreciate it..
What I would love to get a video on sometime, would be on:
1. What your thoughts are on all these ancient alien theories (like mentioned from Biglini)
2. Something on the topic of “Sola Scriptura”
3. Your view on the Gnostic Writings
If you ever need some good music for your work, let me know.. just look up my name and if you like what you hear, you are welcome to use it for your videos, though I doubt you actually need it 🙂
Best wishes from Germany, where you get the best sausage..
Simon
October 4th, 2023 at 9:43 am
Hi Dan,
You mentioned on one a podcast (don’t remember which one) a book similar to Sapiens but written from the lens of religious history. Do you remember the book?
October 4th, 2023 at 9:44 am
Was it Ara Norenzayan’s book, Big Gods?
October 4th, 2023 at 9:56 am
That’s it. Thanks! Love what you are doing!
October 9th, 2023 at 3:50 pm
hi, i only discovered you in the last 5 months or so. love your insight. of course i have questions. since jesus fulfilled the law, what happens to it? the law? some of it he did away with while he was still with his disciples. mostly in regard to food and who you can hang out with. who decides what is and isn’t ok today? for example, i believe that 3000-4000 or more years ago when people got tattoos it was to show off their gods. if you saw someone with a tattoo it meant they worshiped specific gods, so God said, “don’t put tattoo marks on your bodies.” i don’t think that applies today. what else doesn’t matter. and who gets to choose what rules should be followed or not? what things are still sin? as far as i know the only 2 people who mentioned drinking negatively were solomon who said, “beer is a brawler and wine a mocker”, and paul who said, “don’t be drunk on wine.” many people think drinking is a full on sin, but i don’t think the bible says it is. is there a way to ask more private questions? thank you for all the lessons. take care, nathaniel
October 19th, 2023 at 9:32 am
Hi Dan, my question is what do you think of Benicio del Toro’s speach at the beginning of the movie Snatch when he’s talking about the translation of the texts about “virgin” and “young girl”? Thanks! Nathaniel
October 23rd, 2023 at 4:24 pm
Dan, I so appreciate your work! The short videos exposing Biblical disinformation are gratifying and so needed in this time. I would like to suggest you consider taking a look at this pastor/influencer who has been shown to peddle historical misinformation in service of Christofascist political goals. It would seem likely he promotes Biblical distortions as well. https://vimeo.com/579438295; https://www.rightwingwatch.org/?s=jack+hibbs . Thank you for your important work.
October 26th, 2023 at 12:11 pm
Dear Daniel. My pastor recently sent me link to your comments about Mike Johnson. Ans I would like to follow you on your website or blog. Please send me a link. Jack Callas in Detroit.
November 4th, 2023 at 1:12 pm
Hey Brother,
I was wondering if I could set up a video discussion with you?
I’m currently in comunication with individuals who hold to the veiw point of Dr. Michael Heiser’d divine council worldview.
I’ve watched some of your interviews and teachings. And I think there are certain topics that you can speak to much better than I can.
Ik the DCW teaches that Israelite culture and thought when it comes to demonolgy and the “unseen realm” is pretty much the same as ugeritic and ancient mesopotamia religion.
I do not hold this veiw but some of the people I am currently interacting with do.
Please consider
Thank you!
November 9th, 2023 at 2:10 pm
Hey Dan, not sure if you’ll see this but I have a question for you. In one of your recent videos, you said that the Bible suggests that the universe and the earth is only 6k years old. When you tell this to Christian’s, they simply show you some of the old Church fathers who didn’t understand it to be literal. How would one respond to this?
Thank you.
November 9th, 2023 at 2:18 pm
Hey Dan, I had a question for you if you wouldn’t mind. I was watching one of your recent videos in which you mentioned the 6 thousand year old universe/earth found within the bible. When you present this fact to Christians, they show sources from early church fathers (before science established the actual age of the universe) who did not take those as 24 hour days. If early church fathers were interpreting the bible like this, then how can we respond to them to prove the bible had it wrong?
Thank you!
November 10th, 2023 at 8:13 am
I see from your BIO you stand with the Democratic Party. Am I correct then in assuming you’re a proponent and supporter of abortion, which of course is one of the foundational planks of that party?
November 16th, 2023 at 1:36 pm
Hi Dan,
I love your podcast Data>Dogma and your TikToks. I never thought Bible scholarship could be so fascinating! I have a question:
Did God regret? Is there any indication in the texts that He wished he hadn’t created humans or flooded the earth? Could you make an argument that God makes mistakes and admits to them?
Thanks Dan!!
Wayne S.
Las Vegas, NV
November 17th, 2023 at 12:16 pm
Hi Dan
I am interested in learning/reading what your current spiritual/religious beliefs are: if you are an observant Mormon then I probably know unless you are a hybrid????
Thanks
Louis
November 21st, 2023 at 3:08 pm
Hey Dan, could you please please please please make a short video completely debunking the argument made in this video? Thank you.
November 22nd, 2023 at 3:23 pm
Dan, I love your stuff. A few emails ago mentioned some resource — I think it was a webinar — about hell? Can you tell me what that was? Thanks
November 28th, 2023 at 4:03 am
HEY DAN, A NON-POLITICAL QUESTION HERE!!
LISTENING TO JOHN C LENNOX, HE DIVULGES HIS INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS AND THE DAYS OF CREATION AS BEING READ (SOMETHING LIKE) “DAY 2 = SOME INDETERMINATE AMOUNT OF TIME SINCE DAY 1”. OR MAYBE, BETTER PUT, THE TERM “FIRST DAY” MEANS MORE ALONG THE LINES OF “FIRST PERIOD OF TIME”. IS THIS, TO YOU, A GOOD READING OF THE TEXT?
PS. CONTINUALLY LOVE YOUR WORK, SPECIALISTS LIKE YOURSELF HELP RAISE EVERYBODY’S WORLDVIEW AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE REGARDLESS OF YOUR PERSONAL, POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS! (I’M AN ATHEIST BUT HAVE A HUGE INTEREST IN THE BIBLICAL TEXTS!)
December 1st, 2023 at 11:05 am
Question 1: Having learned to read French and reading through the Bible in French something struck me: In the passage where Jesus tells Judas the “poor will always be with you”. In French the word used can be translated into English as “always” or “still”…. what would be the best translation of that particular passage?
Question 2: Tithing was described in the old testament as a tithe was levied on the “increase” of the flock or belongings. I know some churches say tithing is 10percent of net or gross income while others claim it is just on an increase of net worth. What is your take on the tithing in the Bible.
One comment having lived in a foreign country and speaking the language the one thing that stands out in my mind on translating anything: without a knowledge of the customs, culture and mentality of the people (how they think) correctly translating anything is at best difficult or at worst subject to the translator’s on biases; the translators own customs, culture and mentality.
Thanks for your time. Really enjoy your videos. Very thought provoking.
December 2nd, 2023 at 8:51 am
Dan, I have recently watched you in IG and you have peaked my interest.
Do you consider yourself Christian, and/or follow and religion?
Thank you for what you do!
Ginny
December 7th, 2023 at 11:50 am
First of all, I love your short/TikTok Videos and I’ve binging “Data Over Dogma” since I discovered it.
I do have a question I was hoping you could weigh in on. One of the most frequently arguments apologists make for the Resurrection of Jesus is the Women coming to the tomb to find it empty. Allegedly they’re coming to rub/anoint the body of Jesus with Spices.
The big issue that sticks out for me is: Why? Is there some kind of 2nd Temple Jewish Law that requires the body of someone to be covered in spices after they’ve been interred? Was there some unmentioned plan to reinter the body of Jesus in the new future and thus they needed to have him smelling less pungent considering as far as everyone knows, he’s presumably been rotting for the last 36 hours in the tomb? In short, why are they rubbing spices on a corpse that presumably isn’t going to be removed from the tomb in the foreseeable future?
This is future complicated by the Guards at the tomb in the gospel of Matthew who presumably weren’t going to just let them in and John 19 you have this “39 Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. 40 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews.” which indicates Nicodemus already did all the spice anointing so there’s little reason for Mary to show up on Easter sunday if this is the case.
Thank you.
December 7th, 2023 at 3:06 pm
Dr. McClellan, I have been following you on Instagram for a while now, and I look forward to your posts. I am in awe of your knowledge and accomplishments, your ability to clearly and concisely comment on biblical and religious issues, and your clarity with regard to the meaning of biblical citations in the context of “academic consensus.”
Today, I was inspired by your responses to some particularly aggressive challenges, and decided I needed to read more of your work. Here I am, on your blog, and I may try to access some of your works, but most likely your courses.
I enjoyed your comments on the Genesis 1 version of creation compared to Genesis 2 and 3. And in these times I wish to read more on the academic consensus on the biblical writings (very few, I understand) on gender preferences and identities.
I root my spirituality in the teachings of Jesus and the law of love. I want to see how my spiritual beliefs align with biblical academicians, such as yourself. I expect it will be a curious journey.
December 13th, 2023 at 9:10 pm
Check out this video and the others on this channel about the census in Luke (especially the longer 38 minute video). Do you do deep dives into views you disagree with or are you in a scholarly echo chamber? It’s an honest question. I hope you will dig deep.
December 14th, 2023 at 12:45 pm
Hi Dan,
Love your content!
Thanks for recommending “Big Gods”. Really enjoyed it.
Can you recommend something (accessible to the layperson) on how biblical literalism became a thing? I’ve heard you and others talk about how this is a fairly recent thing and I’d like to understand how we got to where are now.
Thanks!
D
December 20th, 2023 at 5:59 pm
Hi,
I love your work. Have always been really interested in the Bible but moreso the OT. I really like your no nonsense approach to reading the text and not cherrypicking. I have a masters in NLP and would like to see if there are any opportunities to applying this Biblical study. Basically, even more broadly how do I get involved with Biblical study.
December 25th, 2023 at 4:38 pm
Dan do you attend a Mormon Church weekly? I dont really care but since you are a Biblical Scholar it would seem the Mormon Bible would be far fetched to you. Of course, not any more than the Hebrew Bible. Im getting flack from my friends giving you any credence. Can you help me out on this?
December 26th, 2023 at 8:16 am
HI
Have you published a list of accessible reference materials a person could acquire?
January 5th, 2024 at 11:18 am
Hello Dan,
I found you through your TikTok videos and have been in awe of your knowledge in theological studies. I graduated with a bachelors degree in history in 2017 with a focus in pre antebellum studies/culture/religion. But my main passion was my minor in philosophy of religion- specifically East Asian and early Christian studies. I only just scratched the surface of early Christian writings and different translations of both the old and the New Testament. It opened a sort of Pandora’s box for me and I ended up presenting two different papers at a couple different universities on the story of Abraham and Job. I took a very harsh and critical view of God in both of those papers… I was more pessimistic leaning then in my views… BUT my long winded comment here has a purpose! Ultimately I want to become more educated on both the old and New Testament – I just purchased a study Bible that you recommended on tik tok – the fifth addition of the new Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. I would love any more recommendations to understanding text better, if you have any, that are accessible to the general public. I would eventually love to further my education in biblical and philosophical studies in the future. I really loved learning and adding conversation to such an expansive yet niche field when I was a college student…. I also want to thank you for your TikTok page as well as your podcast – Data over Dogma. It has been a pleasure listening to you and learning from you. My passion for philosophy of religion has been ignited again!
January 15th, 2024 at 9:16 am
Professor McClellan;
I really enjoy your video shorts and the generous sprinkling of bon mots throughout. Well done!
Wow! Those anti-Mormon comments are putrid. Haven’t seen that level of trollish-ness since I browsed a copy of Christianity Today during Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.
Which brings me to my point, in a sidelong way: I fear for you and other religious folks whose faiths were born in the wake of the Second Great Awakening if the vaunted Christian Nationalists ever rise to power in the US. As an atheist, I know what these well-meaning, but totally delusional people, have in store for me. Once they get to decide who is and is not a Christian, the world of American Christiandom will be terrorized by accusations of pedophilia, blood libel, demonic worship, and all manner of impieties. Look forward, dear Christian neighbors, to the normalization of sectarian violence.
I know it has become popular to derisively attack the concept of the separation of church and state, but the ill-informed faithful rarely stops to consider the implications of further intrusion of the state into church matters. How would they react if Arianism were to replace Trinitarianism as the approved christology? Maybe most of them have no idea what I just wrote.
Good luck in your mission to chip away at the rampant disinformation surrounding Christianity. I sense that you are trying to jam a champagne cork in the end of a fire hose, but I appreciate the effort.
January 21st, 2024 at 2:54 pm
Dan, enjoy your work. do some believers say that the baptismal formulas in the NT (“. . . in the name of the father, son and holy ghost. . .”) are evidence that early believers had a form of the trinity? If so, what would your response be to them?
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:36 pm
Can you tell me when it became widely accepted to define God as existing outside the universe; outside of both time and space, and completely immaterial, or am I misunderstanding the Bible, and He has always been understood in such a way?
Thank you, Laura Saylors
January 22nd, 2024 at 7:30 pm
Have you identified the abomination of desolation dan 12:11
January 30th, 2024 at 11:31 am
Hello Dr. McClellan,
I am a frequent watcher of your Tiktoks and listener to your podcast Data over Dogma. I have always appreciated the compassion with which you treat people that disagree or spread misinformation and your attempts to give an objective take on biblical scholarship. I work as media monitor form Europe that seeks to contain and combat the spread of anti-religious hatred by reporting stereotypes, misinformation and incitement of violence. (if you are interested, it is the Get the Trolls Out project). Especially now with the Israel-Hamas conflict, we see increasing use of reference to jewish religious works like the Talmud – a work not many are well versed in. Very few are equiped with the historical context in which these works were created. The basic question that many of my fellow media monitors (who are active in different parts of Europe) face is: is this article based in factual text, or is this taken out of context to serve an anti-semitic narrative? We are always looking to improve our work, and from the good year I have watched your content, I really believe you can give the well-balanced view that we need to do our non-profit work. So my humble question is: would you be open to discus this topic with us? We could use it to disseminate to our national agencies, or use it as fuel to write cross-country reports. In any case, I think scholarship could really enrich our thinking and duties.
With kind regards,
Sven
January 31st, 2024 at 2:40 pm
Hello Dan question are u still part of the latter day saints organization, I seen ur post on social media, I really like what u doing explanation of the bible and help us with knowledge. It question alot about religion,
February 4th, 2024 at 4:07 am
How do you justify aligning yourself with the Democrat partys politics with things like abortion and advocating homosexual relationships and being a Christian at the same time?
Andrew
February 12th, 2024 at 10:30 am
Hello Dan,
I have a question. I once found a page that showed the orginal (I believe it was greek) text, and below the original text was a word for word translation (did not have changes to the syntax of the language, just translated the words.) I did not save the page, and have been looking for something similar for a few years now. I would like to be able to read some original text without embelishment or alteration due to translation. Any idea where I might find something like that?
March 1st, 2024 at 4:30 pm
get a vines expository dictionary
February 22nd, 2024 at 1:48 pm
I am a descendant of Sidney Rigdon according to my grandmother; whose maiden name is Rigdon. I myself am not Mormon as I’ve seen no proof but the claims are both fascinating and amusing to ponder. She claims he wrote the Book of Mormon and got tarred and feathered for it. I have no idea if it’s true. Also I’m a cousin of yours! Same Scottish clan! Ultimately we trace our lineage to Scythia(called Magogia by Ancient Greeks). Why do you think Scythian veterans decided to migrate to an ancient city in Megiddo Valley in such numbers that Ancient Greeks called it “Scythopolis”? Scythopolis originally was an ancient Israelite town called Beit She’an. Maybe the Scythians are originally Hebrew?
Magog means that we would be Japetites. I’m reading some conflicting info about the ancient familial lines; I really need some help piecing together our genetic origins around the time of the Jewish Patriarchs. Firstly; it’s noteworthy that us Gaels consider Scythia to be about a thousand years older than most people accept Scythia becoming a nation. That is a good one and is explained by the royal family being so small back then, perhaps? Goidel Glas (progenitor of the Gaels) is the son of Nel (who was allegedly at the tower of Babel event), son of Fenius Farsaid (progenitor of the Iranians (Persians), so all this was clearly before Esau was born. I’ve been reading some new stuff saying that Scythians descend from Esau!
So, Dan, are we actually Semites?! Or are the Semites actually Japetites?! Where is this new conflicting information going to lead us??? Either way; in honor of some people tracing my lineage to the Jewish patriarchs I’m doing my own taxes this year and I invite everyone in the clan to do the same! I simply wanted to share this conspiracy- That we are actually Jews!!!
Fun facts about our heritage- The progenitor of our Scottish clan married in to the Geatish royal house Bonde (formerly known as the Wulfings), who ultimately trace their lineage to Aryan origins as well; the eastern Scythian tribe called the Jats! Geats is pronounced “Gey-jats”… I assume “Gey” means “West” in some ancient tongue… so before the Jats invaded India some of the tribe migrated to Scandinavia. Many northern European things you wouldn’t expect are Iranian in origin; the Scandinavian nasal helms and strapped shields were also Iranian in origin but everyone assumes otherwise.
February 22nd, 2024 at 11:43 pm
Dan,
I’ve just listened to an excerpt of what is supposed to be a translation of Pontus Pilates report about Jesus death and resurrection. It’s from Archko Volume.
It sounds a bit spurious to me. Jesus with blond hair????
I’d love to hear your expert opinion of this because mine is based on ignorance!
February 25th, 2024 at 1:00 am
Hi Dan, I would appreciate if you could do a video where you directly interact with – Danam, Gnanadas (2018) The Sacrifice of the Firstborn in Hebrew Scriptures. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield.
March 1st, 2024 at 3:37 pm
[…] of how life began, plus links to two opposing articles on the origin of COVID-19, a short video by Dr. Dan McClellan on why Moses and the Exodus are probably not historical, and an interview with Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, […]
April 8th, 2024 at 9:16 am
How does one get in touch with you? I have a wonderful idea that might be very interesting and helpful.
April 8th, 2024 at 9:18 am
Hi, Troy! This is a very busy time for me, so I can’t promise a prompt response, but you’re welcome to email me at dan@maklelan.org.