with Dr. Dan McClellan, honorary fellow at Birmingham University’s Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion
People commonly appeal to the authority of the Bible as a trump card in debates about morality and public policy, but do they really know what it says? Does it even speak at all? In this presentation, Dan McClellan will discuss insights from cognitive linguistics, the cognitive science of religion, and critical biblical studies that demonstrate that “the Bible says so” almost always means “I say so, but I need the Bible’s authority.”
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
4:15pm
Olmsted Room, Mandelle Hall
Followed by a meet and greet reception with Dr. McClellan
Dan McClellan holds a PhD in theology and religion from the University of Exeter. His research focuses on the languages and history of the Bible, as well as on the conceptualization of deity, of scripture, and of religious identity through the methodological lenses of cognitive linguistics and the cognitive science of religion. He worked previously as a scripture translation supervisor for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is currently an honorary fellow at Birmingham University’s Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion.
McClellan’s first full-length book titled The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues was published in April 2025.
This event is free and open to the public.