Copyright holder: Tyndale University, 3377 Bayview Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2M 3S4 Att.: Library Director, J. William Horsey Library Copyright: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Copyright license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Citation: Leung Lai, Barbara M. “Daniel.” In The Peoples' Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, edited by Curtiss Paul DeYoung ... [et al.], 1014-1015. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2009. ***** Begin Content ****** TYNDALE UNIVERSITY 3377 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON M2M 3S4 TEL: 416.226.6620 www.tyndale.ca Note: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Leung Lai, Barbara M. “Daniel.” In The Peoples' Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, edited by Curtiss Paul DeYoung ... [et al.], 1014-1015. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2009. Daniel Daniel is a book that includes six diaspora stories. (chs. 1-6) and four visions (7:1-28; 8:1-27; 9:20-27; 10:1 —12:13), all set within a textual frame- work that extends over three empires: Babylonian, Median-Persian, and Greek. The book contains some of the best-known tales in the Bible, including the stories of Daniel’s interpretation of Nebu- chadnezzar’s dreams (ch. 2) and “the writing on the wall” (ch. 5), Daniel’s miraculous deliverance from a den of lions (ch. 6), and the courageous counter-Babylonian resistance of the three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (ch. 3). Within the Hebrew Bible, Daniel also contains the only full-fledged example of apocalyptic literature—a literary genre with a particular interest in revealing heavenly secrets to a visionary through dreams, visions, or angelic beings. The book was written in two languages (2:4b—7:28 in Aramaic, the rest in Hebrew) within a narrative framework based on the exilic experience and visions of a pious exile named Daniel. I engage the text of Daniel as a first-generation Chinese Canadian and as a minority person in my profession. I see significant juxtapositions between Daniel’s “captive” experience and my own experience. The Chinese individual “I” (small self) is situated within the collective “we" (big self). Within this perspective, reading and hearing the “I” voice of Daniel in chapters 7-12 allows for a sense of identification with him. Text and Culture Daniel is a text surrounded by people of diverse cultures. Daniel’s social world is unpleasant and difficult because of foreign rule. Perseverance and the ability to adapt are necessary tools for survival. If we read Daniel as a success story, the overall stance of the narratives in chapters 1-6 is one of loyalty, optimism, and accommodation towards the ruling power. Crossing borders between the home and the host culture, immigrant families today have to go through the same journey of alienation, adaptation, assimilation, and, for some, reorientation. As in Daniel, pleasure or pain and success or failure are among the possibilities of this border-crossing experience in the Diaspora. Likewise, remaining in a borderland existence or negotiating an ever-expanding “in-between space” are among the options in the life of an immigrant. Daniel exemplifies an individual’s breaking away from a captive status to become an aspiring sage in an adopted culture. Failing to perceive this pos- sibility in life, we would remain perpetual captives in a free land. Text and Community As a profoundly pastoral book, Daniel is a text for people of different faith communities. It was written at a time of great national peril to encourage faithful Jews that God is still in control, despite [ Page ] 1014 their current situations. Within my own interpretive communities, Daniel has been heavily em- ployed, reflected upon, and critiqued among many postcolonial discourses. In my own culture- specific faith community, the book has been strategically appropriated in helping members come to terms with the new world realities after the tragedy of September 11, 2001. The world of Daniel is full of conflicts and turbulence, as well as the rise and fall of kings and kingdoms in the course of human history and beyond. I am in the prime of my life, with a ministry among my privileged peers—well-educated, middle-class professionals, Chinese and non-Chinese baby boomers. Within this context, one reality persistently disturbs the community of baby boomers: Our collective Canadian culture, our professional lives, and our social and economic status cannot adequately provide answers to our inquiry into the magnitude and intensity of human suffering. As in the case of Daniel, we look into the future with a high degree of uncertainty but glimpses of hope. Text and Contextualization Daniel is a text that often is appropriated by people who discover that it speaks to the contexts in which they find themselves. In 9:2, Daniel himself turns to a book—Jeremiah—as he seeks to un- derstand his present situation. In doing so, he mirrors our own search for meaning and significance in our contexts. Daniel can be read as a manual for survival—and even success—under a hostile and dominating empire. Yet the means for resisting kings and empires as reflected in chapters 1-6 is the creative use of satire and humor, as David Valeta has argued. This may have profound implications for coping strategies on the part of minorities today, particularly in the academic religious or theo- logical disciplines. The sharp contrast between the public Daniel as an aspiring sage (chs. 1-6) and the private Daniel as a dysfunctional seer (who speaks as “I” in chs. 7-12), suggests a degree of cog- nitive dissonance which contemporary minority students and scholars of the Bible may recognize. — Barbara M. Leung Lai [ Page ] 1015 ***** This is the end of the e-text. This e-text was brought to you by Tyndale University, J. William Horsey Library - Tyndale Digital Collections *****