Early and personal life McClellan was born on July 23, 1980. He is originally from West Virginia and has lived in multiple locations, including Maryland, California, Colorado, Texas, Uruguay, Utah, the United Kingdom, and Washington. He did not grow up in a particularly religious household.
Education and academic career From 2013 to 2023, McClellan worked as scripture translation supervisor for the LDS Church. According to McClellan, he was expelled from the
University of Northern Colorado before attending
Collin Community College in
Plano, Texas. He received a
bachelor's degree in
ancient Near Eastern studies from Brigham Young University with a minor in
Classical Greek, a
master's degree in
Jewish studies at the
University of Oxford, and
a master of arts in
biblical studies from
Trinity Western University. In 2020, he received a
PhD from the
University of Exeter, where he wrote a dissertation under the supervision of
Francesca Stavrakopoulou. A revised version of his dissertation was published in 2022, titled ''YHWH's Divine Images: A Cognitive Approach''. McClellan's academic interests include
Second Temple Judaism, the early
Israelite religion, the
cognitive science of religion, and textual criticism of the
Hebrew Bible. He promotes a scholarly, historical-critical approach to biblical texts and advocates for incorporating perspectives from historically underrepresented groups.
Social media Since 2021, McClellan has been active on social media about the academic study of the Bible and religion. and is also active on
TikTok,
Instagram,
YouTube, and
Twitter.
Podcasting In 2023, McClellan and podcast producer Dan Beecher began cohosting the
Data Over Dogma podcast, which focuses on applying academic study of the Bible to popular questions about scripture. In an episode of the KUER public-radio program
RadioWest, the show was described as an exploration of “what the Bible actually says” that seeks to discuss disagreements about the Bible without vitriol, debate, or confrontation, instead emphasizing close attention to the details of the text. The podcast won a gold Signal Award, as well as being included among the 2025 Listener's Choice winners.
Political career McClellan has run for public office in Utah twice, though he lost both elections to incumbents. His first bid was for
Utah State House of Representatives (District 52) in 2018; he received 33.5% of the vote. In 2020, he ran for
Utah's State Senate (District 10) and received 34.8% of the vote. As of 2025, he is a registered Democrat — though he has also voted for Republicans and Independents at times in the past.
Electoral history ==Reception==