The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture's Most Controversial Issues

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Synopsis

Bible scholar Dan McClellan, who is also a popular TikToker and podcaster, know for his show Data Over Dogma, explores exactly what the Bible, one of the most influential books in the world, does and does not say about a number of significant issues. He tackles such questions as does the Bible say you should beat your kids? Does the Bile say slavery is wrong? Does the Bible say that sinners will be punished forever in hell? And does the Bible say God has a wife? He also uses his well-known "data over dogma" approach to peel away the layers to reveal what the data actually says about pressing social issues of our modern times such as abortion, homosexuality, what the Bible has to say about how women dress, and Biblical inspiration. The Bible Says So can be a great resource for those who might be trying to make sense of what the Bible actually says by delving deeper into the history, context, and original languages of this revered holy book.

Review

Daniel McClellan is a renowned biblical scholar with multiple degrees, including a PhD, in various areas of biblical studies. He's also become well-known to laypersons for his Data Over Dogma podcast and his social media posts in which he tackles what the Bible says about various issues, by deconstructing the original texts. In The Bible Says So, he basically does the same thing, taking a look at some controversial issues and whether the prevailing opinion of most pastors at large is actually what the Bible is saying about these topics. To do this he goes back to the origins of the biblical texts, analyzing the original languages in which it was written, when the various parts of the Bible were actually authored and by whom, and what was happening historically in the greater world at the time to paint a picture of how the writers, editors, and early readers of the Bible likely viewed it. He also tackles some of the more consequential issues of our current culture, such as homosexuality and abortion. But he additionally explores theological topics such as Jesus's divinity, the existence of hell, monotheism, and whether the Bible is inspired by God. In all, he covers nineteen controversial subjects and with each one comes to conclusions that may shake up the reader's views on what the Bible actually has to say about a whole host of things, some of which they may never have thought about much before.

I became aware of Daniel McClellan's work after first seeing my husband watching some of his videos on TikTok, and later viewing a few of them myself. I can't recall where I heard about this book, but having found the videos I'd watched rather interesting, I put it on my TBR list. I figured the book would probably expand on some of the ideas he'd explored on social media and I suppose that is indeed the case. However, my main issue with The Bible Says So is that it's not as accessible to the average reader as I'd thought it would be. I seem to recall the author mentioning in the introduction that this wasn't intended to be an academic book, but despite that, it is a very scholarly work that can be a little difficult to follow at times. I'm no slouch when it comes to reading comprehension, but Dr. McClellan often takes readers so deep down the proverbial information rabbit hole that I was losing the gist of the argument for his position on that topic. For that reason, I'm not sure if I'm the best person to review this book, since I sometimes felt so adrift that I wasn't sure if he'd successfully argued his point in a way that made logical sense or not. There were some chapters, though, that I was able to follow much better, and so for those parts, I'd say that the author did make some very valid points.

That all being the case, this was a tough book to rate. Throughout reading it, I couldn't help wishing for a book that was a little easier to understand, but at the same time, I wanted to be fair to the author given his extensive credentials that qualify him for biblical analysis. (After all, maybe it was me, and I just wasn't quite getting it.) I also appreciated his approach to the analysis, taking the emotion (dogma) that can often ratchet up the heat in religious spaces out of the debate and only looking at the facts (data) as he understands them from his years of in-depth study. I'm not sure that The Bible Says So left as much of an impression on me as I would have liked or that it moved the needle much on my own personal beliefs, but it did perhaps make me think about the Bible in a little different way that leaves me open to seeking out other similar (and hopefully more accessible) texts for further exploration in the future.

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