The Human and the Divine in History: Herodotus and the Book of Daniel

by Paul V. Niskanen

The Human and the Divine in History investigates the possibility that the author of Daniel knew and drew upon the Histories of Herodotus. Daniel uses and develops Herodotean concepts such as the succession of world empires, dynastic dreams, and the focus on both human and divine cauration in explaining historical events. A comparative reading of these two texts illuminates Daniel's theology of history, showing it to be neither as exclusively eschatological nor as sectarian as is often supposed. Rather, it is specifically the end of exile-understood as foreign domination-that Daniel envisions for the entire Jewish people.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Paul V. Niskanen is associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of The Human and the Divine in History: Herodotus and the Book of Daniel (T&T Clark International, 2004).

Reviews

[Sculusoy]

An account of Greek-Persian rivalry based on the texts of Heredotus' Histories and Daniel, to what extent one influenced by and borrowed from the certain other and drew inspiration from the classical scripture.Throw in the mix Ptolemaic-Seleucid and Assyrian-Median kingdoms and succession of the world empires from west to east including Rome with an occasional hint of far fetched Seleucid-Jewish empire.

Daniel is a seer, a tragic warner, a sole survivor of interpreters, a wise man who fashioned himself as an advisor to the King Nebuchadnezzar.He lived through the rather moderate rule of Darius only to see through and record the oppressive rule of Antiouchus IV which still hangs in balance and according to him the culmination of all evil.His aim is not a return to remote past Davidian dynasty or previous more tolerable rule.

Still hangs in balance too, a rather modern image of Heredotian practical advisor,military man Themistocles -the second man if you will- older still, reduced to a child's dimensions, eyes terror stricken at the sight of an alafranga coffin in an otherwise empty limewash old country house chamber only to leave it to a seemingly absent second party whose presence is strongly felt.

At the heart and soul of the cosmic scheme lies the divine will and glory of human endeavor against the evil machinations of men which is bound to collapse along with the sorry exhibition of human behaviour according to author of this book.