Data Over Dogma

Data Over Dogma

This ain't your pastor's Bible podcast. This is a deep interrogation of the book, and we're bringing receipts. Bible scholar Dr. Dan McClellan and atheist podcaster Dan Beecher team up to discover what the Bible actually says, what it decidedly doesn't say (even if everyone thinks it does), and explore the history of the most popular book of all time.

Episodes

Faith vs. Works vs. Chaos Monsters

July 6, 2026 • 66 mins
This week we crack open the Epistle of James — a letter that may claim to come from none other than James the brother of Jesus — and wade into one of Christianity's oldest arguments: faith versus works. Does James contradict Paul on how a person is saved, and is that why Martin Luther dismissed the whole book as an "epistle of straw"? Then we go monster hunting for Leviathan, Rahab, and Behemoth, the primordial chaos ...
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The Twelve Tribes of Israel (Give or Take)

June 29, 2026 • 59 mins
This week the Dans try to count to twelve — and find that the number matters a lot more than the names. We dig into the twelve tribes of Israel: how Levi quietly drops out and Joseph splits into Ephraim and Manasseh to keep the total at twelve, why the Song of Deborah seems to remember only ten tribes (some with different names), and what it means that "Israel" may have begun as a confederation rather than one man's family tr...
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Moloch, Mormons, and Mike Lee

June 22, 2026 • 60 mins
Senator Mike Lee keeps accusing his opponents of sacrificing children to Moloch, so this week we ask who — or what — Moloch actually was, why abortion and child sacrifice are not the same thing, and the uncomfortable places child sacrifice really does turn up in the Hebrew Bible. Then, after the Pentagon quietly declined to list the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christian, we dig into the bigger questio...
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Sins of the (Grand)father

June 15, 2026 • 63 mins
The sins of the fathers! It's a phrase you've heard a thousand times, but did you know it comes straight from the Bible? This week it's Bible versus Bible, and the topic is generational punishment: God visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and fourth generation. It's in the Ten Commandments. And the other Ten Commandments. So what did those poor great-grandkids do to deserve it? And how do you square t...
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Inside purity culture and Christian nationalism with Monte Mader

June 8, 2026 • 63 mins
What happens when you're raised to be a militant Christian nationalist Supreme Court justice, but you decide to actually study church history instead? This week, we are thrilled to welcome social media powerhouse, educator, and musician Monte Mader to the show! You probably know her from her viral videos expertly dismantling Christian nationalist talking points, but her story starts far from the internet spotlight. Monte shares...
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Let's Get Weird!

June 1, 2026 • 67 mins
Most parents think their kids are pretty great. That makes sense. But if your son is the messianic savior of the world, the bragging rights are kind of through the roof. And that's what we get in Hebrews 1. The claim here is that God told the prophets about Jesus, and now all those awesome prophesies have come true. And Hebrews 1 seems to be bringing receipts. It quotes from all over the Hebrew Bible to point to Jesus being the ...
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C. S. Lewis and the Bible with Leslie Baynes

May 25, 2026 • 71 mins
Beloved novelist Clive Staples Lewis (Jack to his friends)(?) went through an atheist phase in his life. But that didn't last, and when he came back to Christianity, he came back HARD! Everyone who knows his work beyond life in a wardrobe is well aware of his obsession with the Bible and Christianity. But though he was an academic, Lewis was careful to remind people he was not a Bible scholar. He relied on the scholarship of ot...
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The Queen of Heaven?

May 18, 2026 • 58 mins
Just when you think you have biblical theology figured out, they throw you a curveball! In this case, the curve in question is the character explicitly referred to in Jeremiah as the queen of heaven. "Wait!" you might be saying to yourself, "I know heaven has a king, which is God, but what's all this about a queen!" Well, apparently yes. And Jeremiah is none too pleased about it! Then, we're tackling a claim that American Christ...
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Even Heretics Deserve Rituals! With Jeremy Steele

May 11, 2026 • 58 mins
For as long as there have been humans, there have been rituals. Every religion and spiritual practice has developed its own set of practices and rites, and attached sacred meaning to them. But behind the theology and mysticism, is there something happening that even the non-religious could benefit from? This week, we welcome back Jeremy Steele to talk about his new book Rituals for Heretics, a guide to reclaiming ritual, m...
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America (Almost Never) Reads the Bible

May 4, 2026 • 64 mins
Brace yourself, because your favorite Bible scholarship show is going to talk politics. It's not that we're veering out of our lane, though. Unfortunately, the politics have come careening out of their lane, and smashed headlong into us. It's not our fault! So yes, we're going to talk about the recent giant Christian nationalist piety performance that was "America Reads the Bible". This was an event where dozens of prominent mem...
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Is the KJV Crap?

April 27, 2026 • 62 mins
This week we're taking something beloved and ruining it! Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but we're definitely going to ruffle some feathers. The King James Version of the Bible is treasured for its poetic, often florid language. Many even believe it to be the most accurate, truest version available in English. Those people are wrong. Or at least, we'll show you why that's a problematic stance. Then, when is God not ...
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Mysterious Texts

April 20, 2026 • 57 mins
The world of ancient holy texts is shrouded in mystery. Where did texts come from? How were they transmitted? Were they altered, and if so, by whom? First this week, we'll be talking about 1 Esdras. It's a book you won't find in most Bibles these days, yet you will find most of the stories it contains. And if Esdras sounds a lot like the name of another Biblical book to you, that's not a coincidence. So what is Esdras? Why is i...
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I Will Have Mercy, Not Dogma

April 13, 2026 • 64 mins
This week we're taking two topics that we've skimmed the surface of, and we're diving deep! First, we're going to figure out what the heck a Maccabee is. That is, we're covering both history and a couple of books in the apocrypha. That's right: we're discussing the Maccabean revolt. What do we know about the actual historical event? Who were the main players, and how did it all shake out? Is the story presented in the books ...
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In Chains: Slaves and Angels

April 6, 2026 • 64 mins
This week, we're really into bondage, but not in a fun way. First, we're talking about Hagar, the enslaved handmaiden of Sarai (and later of Sarah). Being enslaved is never a good thing, despite what some apologists might have you believe, but Hagar is done pretty dirty in a few ways. We'll explore not just her nonconsensual heir-making with Abraham, but also her ejection from their house leading to the almost-death of her and ...
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Killing in the Name Of

March 30, 2026 • 58 mins
There have been some disturbing things happening in the world lately, and some of the people most heavily involved in those things are invoking even more disturbing parts of the Bible as a rallying call. When world leaders remind us of biblical genocide when they go to war, you know we're in trouble. So this week, we're discussing Amalek, and the Israelite encounters with the people who bear his name. There is no love lost betw...
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The Legend of the Septuagint

March 23, 2026 • 62 mins
If you've listened to this show for any amount of time, you know what the Septuagint is (if you haven't, don't worry- it's just the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible). But do you know where that name came from? Or the legend of its creation? This episode, we're diving deep into the lore of this very important document, and yes- there is LORE! The most important of which is a very long letter from a man calling himself Arist...
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The Bible Gets Sexy!

March 16, 2026 • 62 mins
Look out, romance novelists, because the Bible is coming for your jobs! That's right: Data Over Dogma is finally covering the Song of Songs, and it's fifty shades of ancient erotic poetry hotness! But wait- isn't it supposed to be read as an allegory for the love between God and Israel? Or between Jesus and the church? And isn't it called Song of Solomon? Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe it's just supposed to be sexy love poems with...
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Everyone is Wrong About 2 John!

March 9, 2026 • 63 mins
We've talked a lot on this show about issues like scribal errors, where a scribe copying a text gets one little thing wrong, and changes the meaning of something forever. But how can we know when something like that has happened? Especially if it happened almost two thousand years ago, and we don't have any older source texts to compare it to? This episode of Data Over Dogma, we welcome Lincoln Blumell, a scholar who has made a ...
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Literally Not Literal!

March 2, 2026 • 61 mins
This week we're diving in to some deep controversy, and we gotta say: come on in, the water's fine. First, we're looking at biblical literalism. There are a lot of Christians out there these days who claim that they believe that the Bible is to be taken exactly at face value. It's literally true exactly as it is, no interpretation needed. Well, if you've been with us for any amount of time, you already know that's a position tha...
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What Is The Bible?

February 23, 2026 • 62 mins
Most people who talk about the Bible are pretty sure they know what it is they're talking about. But do they? Do you? How sure are you that when you say "the Bible" you're talking about the same thing as the person next to you? Today, we're diving into the surprisingly broad category of books that all bear the name "Bible". We'll explore who believes which canon, and why certain texts made certain cuts, while others were exclude...
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