Human and the Divine in History

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 DanielGCOs 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 exileGCounderstood as foreign dominationGCothat Daniel envisions for the entire Jewish people.