Daniel, with an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature (Forms of the Old Testament Literature | FOTL)

by John J. Collins

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 1984

Overview

In his introduction to Jewish apocalyptic literature, Collins examines the main characteristics and discusses the setting and intention of apocalyptic literature. He begins his discussion of Daniel with a survey of the book’s anomalies and an examination of the bearing of form criticism on those anomalies. He explores the book’s place in the canon and the problems with its coherence and bilingualism. Collins provides a section-by-section commentary with a structural analysis (verse-by-verse) of each section.

Contents

Top Highlights

“‘ ‘Apocalypse’ is a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial insofar as it involves another, supernatural world.” (Page 4)

“The intention of Daniel in its historical setting is surely to exhort and console the faithful Jews in the face of persecution.” (Page 38)

“apocalyptic’ is not a literary genre but a mixtum composition” (Page 3)

“The dominant view of critical scholarship is that Daniel is not a prophetic book but an apocalypse, and is the only full-fledged exemplar of its genre in the Hebrew Bible.” (Page 29)

“the genre apocalypse should be distinguished from ‘apocalypticism’ and ‘apocalyptic eschatology” (Page 3)

Praise for the Print Edition

Using the best and most recent scholarship on apocalyptic literature, Collins places the Book of Daniel in a fresh perspective.

—George Nickelsburg, The University of Iowa

Product Details

• Title: Forms of the Old Testament Literature Series: Daniel, with an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature (FOTL)
• Author: John Collins
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 1984
• Pages: 132

About John J. Collins

John J. Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. His books include Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age; Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy: On Jewish Apocalyptic Literature; The Invention of Judaism: Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to Paul; and, most recently, What Are Biblical Values? What the Bible Says on Key Ethical Issues. Collins serves as general editor of the Anchor Yale Bible and Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library. He is on the editorial board of the Journal for the Study of Judaism and Dead Sea Discoveries. Previously, he has served as President of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Catholic Biblical Association.