Book by Dan McClellan
YHWH's Divine Images
A Cognitive Approach
By Dan McClellan, co-host of Data Over Dogma. It comes up in 14 episodes of the show.
Free to read from SBL Press (Ancient Near East Monographs, open access).
Affiliate links: the show earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.
On the show
- Lilith Unfair▶ 38:02
Topic: Standing stones/stelae as divine images
Excerpt“…in my book, "Adonai's Divine Images: A Cognitive Approach," I make the argument that the cognitive motivations are the same, and that the concept of divine images, and particularly stele, builds on the exact same cognitive foundation as our engagement with headstones today…”
- I'll make you a STAR! with David A. Burnett▶ 52:55
Topic: Divine images
Excerpt“This is like Dan's bread and butter right here. Wrote a whole book on it. So I will default to him on all divine image stuff.”
- The Bible Law Nobody Obeys▶ 24:28
Topic: Reinterpretation of ambiguous or problematic legislation/texts over time
Excerpt“…this is something that I talk about in my 2022 book, "Adonai's Divine Images," is that if there is ambiguity in a term or in legislation or something like that, a lot of times it sticks around precisely because it is easily reread.”
- In the Beginning▶ 31:48
Topic: Humanity as a divine image / knowledge and immortality as attributes of deity
Excerpt“…this is something I talk about in my book, "Adonai's Divine Images."”
- The Holy Ghost (and Bears!)▶ 2:15
Topic: Cognitive science of religion and how conceptions of the human spirit/self map onto the Spirit of God
Excerpt“And this is actually something that I discuss at some length in my book, Adonai's Divine Images, which is an open access volume that is freely available online.”
- Can Jesus Forgive Sin?▶ 47:28
Topic: The angel of the Lord bearing God's name/identity and exercising divine prerogatives
Excerpt“And so I argue in my book that this seems to be, they're accounting for why the angel's identity gets mixed up with God's identity, which we see with the angel who appears to Moses in the burning bush…”
- Bible Magic!▶ 32:09
Topic: The Bible and material objects as vehicles of divine presence (Ketef Hinnom scrolls, mezuzah)
Excerpt“I talk in my book about how, my book, "Adonai's Divine Image: A Cognitive Approach," totally open access, you can go find the PDF online, about how inscribing the divine name…”
- Pay Your Tithing!▶ 39:35
Topic: Deity concepts developing to monitor and punish free-riding/anti-social behavior
Excerpt“And in my book, "Adonai's Divine Images," I talk quite a bit about how deity concepts develop out of this need to have some kind of watcher, some kind of way to monitor social behavior and pro-social behavior so that free riding can be punished…”
- The Dave Ramsey Takedown▶ 45:44
Topic: Name theology and the divine image bearing God's name
Excerpt“…one of my theories that I develop in my book, "Adonai's Divine Images," and that I've got to further develop in a paper I'm going to be presenting at a conference later this year, is that the pronunciation of the name became taboo…”
- Bibliomancy! The Biblical Dance with the Devil?▶ 49:04
Topic: The Bible as a divine image / object of divination
Excerpt“…it mentions a book called Adonai's Divine Images: A Cognitive Approach. So I thought that that was interesting. By some weirdo.”
- Hear, O Israel!▶ 43:26
Topic: Renegotiation of divine presence/images after the destruction of the temple
Excerpt“…in my book, "Adonai's Divine Images," I talk about this, how there seems to be a renegotiation of divine presencing.”
- Dismantling Martyrdom Apologetics▶ 2:41
Topic: Post-bereavement perception of a deceased loved one's presence, applied to resurrection appearance claims
Excerpt“And as I even have talked about a little bit in my book, "Adonai's Divine Images," after people lose loved ones, I think it's upwards of like 40% of people who lose spouses, people they've lived with their whole lives, report having perceived their presence…”
- The Queen of Heaven?▶ 10:00
Topic: Why ancient peoples resisted cult statues for their gods; divine presence beyond the image
Excerpt“And I write about that in my book, "Adonai's Divine Images," that the notion that, "Oh, well, God's not actually in the statue. God's actually up in heaven.”
- Was Aaron's Rod an Asherah Pole?▶ 9:09
Topic: The Ark of the Covenant and tablets as divine images
Excerpt“…as I argue in my book, Adonai's Divine Images, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tablets of the Law are divine images which manifest the presence of God.”
Excerpts come from machine transcripts and may contain transcription errors.