Dan McClellan

Who Is Dan McClellan?

Daniel O. McClellan is an American biblical scholar who has become one of the most widely followed academic voices engaging Bible-related content on social media and YouTube. He goes by the handle @maklelan online, a phonetic spelling of his surname that originated during his time as a Latter-day Saint missionary in Uruguay. McClellan's academic credentials are substantial: he holds a bachelor of arts in ancient Near Eastern studies from Brigham Young University, a master of studies in Jewish studies from the University of Oxford, a master of arts in biblical studies from Trinity Western University, and a doctorate in theology and religion from the University of Exeter, where his dissertation examined conceptualizations of deity in the Hebrew Bible through the lens of cognitive linguistics and the cognitive science of religion. He works as a scripture translation supervisor, a role that involves him in the technicalities of how biblical texts are rendered across languages and traditions. In 2023, he received the Society of Biblical Literature's Richards Award for Public Scholarship, recognizing his distinctive contribution to making academic biblical scholarship accessible to broad public audiences.

The Channel's Purpose and Approach

McClellan's YouTube channel originated as an extension of his social media presence on TikTok and Instagram, where short videos debunking biblical misinformation went viral repeatedly. His signature format is the response video: he presents a claim made by another creator or circulating on social media, usually a claim about what the Bible says or means, and then subjects it to rigorous academic scrutiny. His introduction, delivered consistently in a calm, measured tone, is typically some variation of "Hey everybody, I'm Dan McClellan, I'm a scholar of the Bible and religion," followed by a careful unpacking of the linguistic, historical, or textual issues at stake. The format is deceptively simple but intellectually demanding, requiring McClellan to translate technical scholarship into accessible language without distorting the complexity of the issues. He regularly engages questions about the original Hebrew or Greek meaning of words, the history of textual transmission, the diversity of ancient Israelite religion, and the historical context of specific biblical passages.

Areas of Scholarly Expertise

McClellan's primary area of scholarly expertise is the Hebrew Bible, with particular attention to the development of Israelite religion, the divine council tradition, the nature and attributes of God in early Israelite thought, and the history of biblical interpretation. His doctoral work on cognitive science and religion has given him a distinctive methodological lens that he applies to questions about how ancient peoples conceptualized divine beings. He is particularly known for his work on the development of monotheism in ancient Israel, arguing that the Israelite tradition moved from a form of monolatry (worship of one god among many acknowledged deities) to full monotheism over the course of centuries, a view that represents mainstream scholarship but differs from traditional confessional readings. His treatment of texts like Psalm 82 (the divine council), Genesis 6 (the sons of God), and Deuteronomy 32 (the Most High dividing the nations) reflects this scholarly consensus while making it accessible to non-specialist audiences.

Verse Distribution and Content Themes

The verse distribution across McClellan's 2,071 videos reflects his Old Testament focus with striking clarity. Genesis dominates at 246 references, followed by Exodus at 149, with John (121) and Deuteronomy (92) also heavily represented. The most referenced single verse is Genesis 1:1, which appears 51 times across videos examining the meaning of the creation account, including its relationship to ancient Near Eastern cosmology, the meaning of the Hebrew word bara (create), and the literary structure of the primeval history. His treatment of Genesis tends to challenge both young-earth creationist readings and popular Christian apologetic interpretations while presenting what he regards as the best current scholarly understanding of the text's original meaning and context.

Engagement with Contested Issues

McClellan has become one of the most prominent scholarly voices engaging contested biblical topics related to sexuality, slavery, gender, and violence. His videos on Leviticus 18:22 and related texts engage the ongoing debate about what the biblical texts actually prohibit and how they have been translated and interpreted historically. His slavery series draws on his knowledge of ancient Near Eastern law codes, including the Code of Hammurabi and the Laws of Eshnunna, to contextualize the biblical regulations within their ancient world setting. He consistently distinguishes between the historical-critical task of understanding what texts meant in their original context and the theological or ethical question of what authority contemporary believers should ascribe to them. This methodological clarity, combined with his willingness to engage uncomfortable texts directly, has made his channel both widely appreciated and, among some audiences, controversial.

Textual Criticism and Translation Issues

McClellan has produced extensive content on textual criticism and translation, including multiple series on verses that appear in some Bible versions but not others. His treatment of Matthew 17:21, Mark 16:9-20, John 7:53-8:11, and 1 John 5:7 as later scribal additions explains the textual evidence for these conclusions in terms accessible to general audiences. His video on 2 Timothy 3:16 and the meaning of theopneustos ("God-breathed") challenges common evangelical understandings of biblical inspiration by situating the verse in its historical context. His treatment of translation debates, including the rendering of the Hebrew almah in Isaiah 7:14 as "young woman" versus "virgin," brings the scholarly consensus to bear on questions that are often treated as settled in popular Christian discourse. He also co-hosts the Data Over Dogma podcast, which takes a similar approach to contested biblical topics in a longer audio format.

Relationship to Faith Communities

McClellan's relationship to faith communities is complex. He identifies as a Latter-day Saint and works for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a scholarly capacity, a fact that surprises some viewers given the secular academic content of his videos. He has addressed this apparent tension directly on the channel, arguing that careful historical-critical scholarship and faith are not inherently incompatible, though he acknowledges the tensions that arise when scholarly conclusions diverge from confessional readings. His tone toward religious believers is consistently respectful; he is sharply critical of misinformation about the Bible but not of religious faith as such. This posture has helped him maintain credibility with diverse audiences including both religious believers and secular skeptics.

Influence and Significance

McClellan represents a new model of academic public engagement in biblical studies: a credentialed scholar who operates at the intersection of academic rigor and digital accessibility, using short-form video to counter misinformation and introduce mainstream scholarship to non-specialist audiences. His 2023 Richards Award from the Society of Biblical Literature reflects the academic community's recognition that this kind of public engagement has genuine scholarly value. For students of the Bible, his channel provides a consistently reliable guide to what mainstream academic scholarship actually says on contested questions, free from both confessional constraints and anti-religious animus. His work is an important corrective to the widespread misinformation about biblical texts that circulates on social media.