Daniel
About this date: Dates are broad scholarly estimates of composition or final editing, not dates of the events narrated. Traditional attributions and scholarly assessments can differ.
Daniel combines court stories of faithful resistance with symbolic visions of empires, judgment, and resurrection. The story's sixth-century setting and common critical dating of its final form to the second century BCE are different claims; traditional dating differs.
Historical context
Hebrew and Aramaic material coexist in Daniel. Catholic and Orthodox forms also include Greek additions, while the Old Greek and Theodotionic forms raise further textual questions.
Key points
- The human-like figure in chapter 7 appears alongside an interpretation involving the holy ones; competing readings should examine both.
- The resurrection language belongs to a setting of oppression and endurance.
- Susanna, Bel, and the prayer and song in the furnace are not additional stand-alone books in this catalog's counts.
Scripture
- Daniel 3:13-30 — The refusal to worship the image belongs to the court-tale cycle; numbering and extent differ when the Greek prayer and song are included.
- Daniel 7:9-27 — Read the judgment scene, human-like figure, and angelic interpretation together.
- Daniel 12:1-4 — Deliverance and awakening from the dust are associated with the time of distress.
- Mark 14:60-64 — Mark's trial scene brings Son of Man language into relation with Daniel and Psalm 110; the theological implications remain an interpretive question.
Primary sources
Origen describes differences between copies:
Origen's reply to Africanus defends the church's use of Susanna while acknowledging its absence from the Hebrew copies discussed. This records a real textual disagreement, not uniform ancient agreement.
And in many other of the sacred books I found sometimes more in our copies than in the Hebrew, sometimes less.
Passage context and translation
Replying to Africanus's objection to Susanna, Origen discusses Greek and Hebrew differences in Daniel, Esther, and Job. Acknowledging differences is distinct from accepting every explanation he offers for them; this excerpt does not establish deliberate corruption by a religious community.
Sources and further reading
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles: canonical books and Apocrypha
- Catholic Catechism §120: canon and book list
- Daniel: public-domain WEB text and additions
- Origen, Letter to Africanus 2-5: Daniel and Susanna
- Orthodox Church in America: canon of Scripture
- Orthodox Church in America: Old Testament historical books
- USCCB Bible introductions: historical and literary notes