Blessed Baruch!

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th, and never miss a meme or milestone, all protected with end-to-end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone. Learn more at whatsapp.com.

SPEAKER_2 (0:29)

For a limited time at McDonald's, get a Big Mac Extra Value Meal for $8. That means two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun, and medium fries, and a drink. We may need to change that jingle.

SPEAKER_3 (0:43)

Prices and participation may vary.

Dan Beecher (0:45)

Maybe Paul read this. Maybe Paul was into this thing.

Dan McClellan (0:48)

Maybe Paul was, I think, Paul was probably into a lot of the, you know, the more underground stuff. You've probably never heard of it.

Dan Beecher (0:57)

I liked Baruch back when it was, I liked his early stuff.

SPEAKER_6 (1:00)

When it was Hebrew, yeah.

Dan McClellan (1:07)

Hey everybody, I'm Dan McClellan.

Dan Beecher (1:08)

And I'm Dan Beecher.

Dan McClellan (1:10)

And you were listening to the Data Over Dogma podcast, where we increase public access to the academic study of the Bible and religion, and we combat the spread of misinformation about the same. How are things today, Dan?

Dan Beecher (1:24)

Good. You're coming in kind of mellow. You got an NPR vibe coming around. I'm coming in hot. I always come in hot. I'm a brash goofball.

But yeah, I was just going to say, this week is going to probably be a slightly truncated show. Dan is being very kind and recording on a day that we normally don't record. He's taking time away from his family that normally they get some day and time because I have to go and take care of some family business and an emergency trip coming up.

Dan McClellan (1:58)

So yes, you must you must abandon our good nation.

Dan Beecher (2:02)

I'm fleeing the country.

SPEAKER_6 (2:04)

Fleeing, I say.

Dan McClellan (2:08)

But it is all for a good cause.

Dan Beecher (2:10)

Yeah, so hopefully be forgiving. Oh, oh, ye of our of listeners, of listen dumb.

Dan McClellan (2:18)

Yes.

Dan Beecher (2:19)

And and and we'll come back hot next week with something extra spicy, just just for you.

Dan McClellan (2:26)

And it won't just be the chili.

Dan Beecher (2:28)

It won't just. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_6 (2:29)

I'm going to be having it in since you're going off to Cincinnati.

Dan Beecher (2:33)

I'm going to Canada. It's going to be crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_6 (2:36)

All right.

Dan Beecher (2:37)

So we're only going to be doing one segment this week, and it's going to be Is It Canon?

Dan McClellan (2:47)

Will it Canon?

Dan Beecher (2:49)

Will it blend?

SPEAKER_6 (2:50)

And you can too.

Dan Beecher (2:52)

Then this week's Is It Canon is interest. It's so it's Baruch. Now, we've mentioned the Book of Baruch. We have before in conjunction with the Letter of Jeremiah, which is sometimes tacked on to the end of Baruch as just the final chapter of Baruch.

Dan McClellan (3:14)

Yeah, it is chapter six, just right on the end there, although most scholars agree this is definitely not written by the same crew, and it is included in other parts.

Dan Beecher (3:27)

And as I read it, when I got to chapter five of Baruch, I was like, wait, this is literally exactly the same thing as the Letter of Jeremiah. It is, it's like, I mean, it's not identical, but it just does the same thing. And it's so weird. It's weird to tack on.

Yeah, if I were to read that as one book, I would be like, why are we doing this again? It's like someone was trying to remember what they just wrote and rewrote it again.

Dan McClellan (4:02)

That's a funny thing. If anybody out there ever ends up taking a course in like Ugaritic or something like that.

Dan Beecher (4:11)

Which, who among us hasn't?

Dan McClellan (4:12)

Yes, I mean, that's the perennial question. Every, when the leaves start changing and everybody wonders, is now the year that I take a course in Ugaritic.

Dan Beecher (4:24)

But are you in first year Ugaritic with me? Who do you have for Ugaritic?

Dan McClellan (4:32)

But you read these mythological texts and there's an awful lot of repetition. The same thing over and over again. I don't know how many letters I translated where I would skip over the first line because I knew it was going to say, so and so to so and so, at the feet of my Lord I fall seven times, even eight times I fall at the feet of my Lord. Just this, the the gravelling at one's feet. It's grovel. It's grovel. But yeah, so there's gravel.