Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
  • Register
  • Login
  • Language
    • Deutsch
    • English
    • Español (España)
    • Français (France)
    • Français (Canada)
    • Italiano
    • Język Polski
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Current
  • Archives
  • About
    • Editorial Team
    • About the Journal
    • Submissions
    • Review process
    • List of Reviewers
    • Scientific Council
    • Ethical Standards
    • Article Processing Charges and Submission Charges
    • Abstracting and Indexing Services
    • Privacy Statement
    • Open Access Policy
    • Archiving policy
    • Contact
  • Register
  • Login
  • Language:
  • Deutsch
  • English
  • Español (España)
  • Français (France)
  • Français (Canada)
  • Italiano
  • Język Polski

Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia

How to Understand the ‘Historicity’ of the Biblical Daniel? Different Directions for Explaining the Message of the Book of Daniel
  • Home
  • /
  • How to Understand the ‘Historicity’ of the Biblical Daniel? Different Directions for Explaining the Message of the Book of Daniel
  1. Home /
  2. Archives /
  3. Vol. 18 No. 4 (2025) /
  4. Articles

How to Understand the ‘Historicity’ of the Biblical Daniel? Different Directions for Explaining the Message of the Book of Daniel

Authors

  • Marek Parchem Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7233-4702

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2025.022

Keywords

historicity of Daniel, interpretation of the figure of Daniel, Book of Daniel

Abstract

The subject of this article is the issue of the historicity of the figure of Daniel, who is the main character of the biblical book bearing his name. The question of whether Daniel is a historical or just a literary figure is important because it influences the exegesis of the text of the Book of Daniel. First, the author will indicate the reasons for questioning the historicity of Daniel, and then he will present different approaches to interpreting the content of the Book of Daniel.

References

Anderson, Robert A. 1984. Signs and Wonders. A Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Interna-tional Theological Commentary). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Baldwin, Joyce G. 1978. Daniel. An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Leicester – Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.

Baumgartner, Walter. 1945. “Zu den vier Reichen von Daniel 2”. Theologische Zeitschrift 1: 17-22.

Berchman, Robert M. 2005. Porphyry: Against the Christians (Studies in Platonism, Neoplato-nism, and the Platonic Tradition 1). Leiden: Brill.

Boutflower, Charles. 1923. In and around the Book of Daniel. London: SPCK.

Breed, Brennan W. 2017. “Daniel’s Four Kingdoms Schema: A History of Re-writing World History”. Interpretation 71: 178–189.

Brzegowy, Tadeusz. 2001. „Ostateczne Królestwo Boga i Jego świętych (Księga Daniela)”. In: Wielki świat starotestamentalnych proroków II, eds. Janusz Frankowski and Tadeusz Brzegowy (Wprowadzenie w myśl i wezwanie ksiąg biblijnych 5), 151–189. Warsza-wa: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego.

Casey, P. Maurice. 1976. “Porphyry and the Origin of the Book of Daniel”. Journal of Theolog-ical Studies 27: 15–33.

Charlesworth, James H. 1992, “Pseudonymity and Pseudepigraphy”. In: The Anchor Bible Dic-tionary, V, ed. David N. Freedman, 540–541. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Clines, David J.A. 1995. The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, II. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

Collins, John J. 1984. Daniel with an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature (The Forms of the Old Testament Literature 20). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Collins, John J. 1993. Daniel. A Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Hermeneia). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press [Adela Yarbro Collins, The Influence of Daniel on the New Testa-ment, 90–112].

Collins, John J. 1999. “Daniel”. In: Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, eds. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking and Pieter W. van der Horst, 219–220. Leiden: Brill.

Collins, John J. and Peter W. Flint. 2001–2002. The Book of Daniel. Composition and Recep-tion, I–II (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 83,1–2; Formation and Interpretation of Old Testament Literature 2,1–2). Leiden: Brill.

Coxon, Peter W. 1993. “Another Look at Nebuchadnezzar’s Madness”. In: The Book of Daniel in the Light of New Findings, ed. A.S. van der Woude (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theo-logicarum Lovaniensium 106), 211–222. Leuven: University Press.

Davies, Philip R. 1998. Daniel (Old Testament Guides). Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

Day, John. 1980. “The Daniel of Ugarit and Ezekiel and the Hero of the Book of Daniel”. Vetus Testamentum 30: 174–184.

Delcor, Mathias. 1971. Le Livre de Daniel (Sources bibliques). Paris: Gabalda.

Eissfeldt, Otto. 1966. The Old Testament. An Introduction including the Apocrypha and Pseud-epigrapha, and also the Works of Similar Type from Qumran. Trans. Peter R. Ackroyd. Oxford: Basil Blackwell (original: 1964. Tübingen: Mohr).

Ferch, Arthur J. 1982. “Porphyry: An Heir to Christian Exegesis?”. Zeitschrift für neutestament-liche Wissenschaft 73: 141–147.

Flusser, David. 1972. “The Four Empires in the Fourth Sibyl and in the Book of Daniel”. Israel Oriental Studies 2: 148–175.

Ginsburg, Christian D. 1966. Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible. New York, NY: Ktav Publishing House Inc.

Goldingay, John E. 1989. Daniel (Word Biblical Commentary 30). Dallas, TX: Word Books Publisher.

Gruenthaner, Michael J. 1946. “The Four Empires of Daniel”. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 8: 72–82 and 201–212.

Hartman, Louis F. and Alexander A. DiLella. 1978. The Book of Daniel. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Bible 23). Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

Hasel, Gerhard F. 1979. “The Four World Empires of Daniel 2 against Its Near Eastern Envi-ronment”. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 12: 17–30.

Henze, Matthias. 1999. The Madness of King Nebuchadnezzar: The Ancient Near Eastern Ori-gins and Early History of Interpretation of Daniel 4 (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 61). Leiden: Brill.

Homerski, Józef. 2008. Księga Daniela. Wstęp, przekład z oryginału, komentarz, ekskursy (Pismo Święte Starego Testamentu XI/2). Poznań: Pallottinum.

Howard, David M. 1992. “Daniel (Person)”. In: The Anchor Bible Dictionary, II, ed. David N. Freedman, 17–18. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Knibb, Michael A. 1993. “You are Indeed Wiser than Daniel: Reflections on the Character of the Book of Daniel”. In: The Book of Daniel in the Light of New Findings, ed. A.S. van der Woude (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 106), 399–411. Leuven: University Press.

Koch, Klaus. 1985. “Is Daniel also among the Prophets?”, Interpretation 39: 117–130.

Koch, Klaus. 1993. “Gottes Herrschaft über das Reich des Menschen. Daniel 4 im Licht neuer Funde”. In: The Book of Daniel in the Light of New Findings, ed. A.S. van der Woude (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 106), 77–119. Leuven: Uni-versity Press.

Koehler, Ludwig, Walter Baumgarter and Johann J. Stamm. 2008. Wielki słownik hebrajsko-polski i aramejsko-polski Starego Testamentu, I–II (Prymasowska Seria Biblijna 30). Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza „Vocatio”.

Lacocque, Andre. 1979. The Book of Daniel. Trans. David Pellauer. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press.

Lebram, Jürgen C.H. 1975. “König Antiochus im Buch Daniel”. Vetus Testamentum 25: 737–772.

Meade, David O. 1986. Pseudonymity and Canon. An Investigation into the Relationship of Authorship and Authority in Jewish and Earliest Christian Tradition (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 39). Tübingen: Mohr.

Metzger, Bruce M. 1972. “Literary Forgeries and Canonical Pseudepigrapha”. Journal of Bibli-cal Literature 91: 3–24.

Michel, Diethelm. 1993. “Weisheit und Apokalyptik”. In: The Book of Daniel in the Light of New Findings, ed. A.S. van der Woude (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 106), 413–434. Leuven: University Press.

Montgomery, James A. 1927. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (The International Critical Commentary). Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.

Newsom, Carol A. and Brennan W. Breed. 2014. Daniel: A Commentary (The Old Testament Library). Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.

Noth, Martin. 1951., “Noah, Daniel und Hiob in Ezekiel XIV”. Vetus Testamentum 1: 251–260.

Parchem, Marek. 2008a. Księga Daniela. Wstęp, przekład z oryginału, komentarz (Nowy Komentarz Biblijny. Stary Testament 26). Częstochowa: Edycja Świętego Pawła.

Parchem, Marek. 2008b. “Nauka o władzy w Księde Daniela”. Verbum Vitae 14: 71–90.

Parchem, Marek. 2010. „Wprowadzenie do apokaliptyki”. In: Pisma apokaliptyczne i testa-menty, ed. Marek Parchem (Apokryfy Starego Testamentu 2), 21–114. Kraków – Mogi-lany: The Enigma Press.

Parchem, Marek. 2007 and 2020. „‘Tradycja Danielowa’ w Qumran”. In: Przeznaczyłeś nas dla Twojej prawdy (4Q495). Fs. Zdzisław Kapera, ed. Waldemar Chrostowski (Rozprawy i Studia Biblijne 29), 266–317. Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza „Vocatio” (reprint in: Marek Parchem. 2020. Interpretacja Biblii w Qumran i inne studia (Biblica et Judaica 8), 271–332. Pelplin: Wydawnictwo Bernardinum.

Parchem, Marek. 2012. “Upbringing in the Book of Daniel – The Ideal of a Young Jewish Man according to Daniel 1:3–7”. Verbum Vitae 21: 65–82.

Parchem, Marek. 2019. „Periodyzacja historii w Księdze Daniela”. Verbum Vitae 35: 119–142.

Perrin, Andrew B. and Loren T, Stuckenbruck (eds.). 2021. Four Kingdom Motifs before and beyond the Book of Daniel (Themes in Biblical Narrative 28). Leiden: Brill.

Porteous, Norman W. 1965. Daniel: A Commentary (The Old Testament Library). Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press.

Rad, Gerhard von, 1986. Teologia Starego Testamentu. Trans. Bogusław Widła. Warszawa: Instytut Wydawniczy Pax (orig. 1960. München: Chr. Kaiser).

Rhodes, Arnold B. 1961. “The Kingdoms of Men and the Kingdom of God. A Study of Daniel 7:1–14“. Interpretation 15: 411–430.

Schedl, Claus. 1996. Historia Starego Testamentu. V: Ku pełni czasu. Trans. Stanisław Stańczyk. Tuchów: Mała Poligrafia Redemptorystów w Tuchowie (orig. 1964. Inns-bruck: Tyrolia Verlag).

Speyer, Wolfgang. 1989b. “Fälschung, pseudepigraphische freie Erfindung und ‘echte religiöse Pseudepigraphie’”. In: Frühes Christentum im antiken Strahlungsfeld, ed. Wolfgang Speyer (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 50), 100–139. Tü-bingen: Mohr.

Speyer, Wolfgang. 1989a. “Religiöse Pseudepigraphie und literarische Fälschung im Altertum”. In: Frühes Christentum im antiken Strahlungsfeld, ed. Wolfgang Speyer (Wissenschaft-liche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 50), 21–58. Tübingen: Mohr.

Stefanovic, Zdravko. 2007. Daniel: Wisdom to the Wise. Commentary on the Book of Daniel. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press.

Swain, Joseph W. 1940. “The Theory of the Four Monarchies: Opposition History under the Roman Empire”. Classical Philology 35: 1–21.

Towner, W. Sibley. 1984. Daniel (Interpretation). Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press.

Tronina, Antoni. 2013. Księga Hioba. Wstęp, przekład z oryginału, komentarz (Nowy Komen-tarz Biblijny. Stary Testament 15). Częstochowa: Edycja Świętego Pawła.

Young, Edward J. 1949. The Prophecy of Daniel. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Van Henten, Jan W. 1993. “Antiochus IV as a Typhonic Figure in Daniel 7”. In: The Book of Daniel in the Light of New Findings, ed. A.S. van der Woude (Bibliotheca Ephemerid-um Theologicarum Lovaniensium 106), 223–243. Leuven: University Press.

Walton, John H. 1986. “The Four Kingdoms of Daniel”. Journal of the Evangelican Theologi-cal Society 29: 25–36.

Wilson, Robert D. 1938. Studies in the Book of Daniel. New York, NY: Revell Company.

Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia

Downloads

  • PDF (Język Polski)

Published

2025-12-15

How to Cite

1.
PARCHEM, Marek. How to Understand the ‘Historicity’ of the Biblical Daniel? Different Directions for Explaining the Message of the Book of Daniel. Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia. Online. 15 December 2025. Vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 457-476. [Accessed 16 December 2025]. DOI 10.12775/BPTh.2025.022.
  • ISO 690
  • ACM
  • ACS
  • APA
  • ABNT
  • Chicago
  • Harvard
  • IEEE
  • MLA
  • Turabian
  • Vancouver
Download Citation
  • Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
  • BibTeX

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 4 (2025)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Marek Parchem

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

CC BY ND 4.0. The Creator/Contributor is the Licensor, who grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work on the fields indicated in the License Agreement.

  • The Licensor grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work/related rights item specified in § 1 within the following fields: a) recording of Work/related rights item; b) reproduction (multiplication) of Work/related rights item in print and digital technology (e-book, audiobook); c) placing the copies of the multiplied Work/related rights item on the market; d) entering the Work/related rights item to computer memory; e) distribution of the work in electronic version in the open access form on the basis of Creative Commons license (CC BY-ND 3.0) via the digital platform of the Nicolaus Copernicus University Press and file repository of the Nicolaus Copernicus University.
  • Usage of the recorded Work by the Licensee within the above fields is not restricted by time, numbers or territory.
  • The Licensor grants the license for the Work/related rights item to the Licensee free of charge and for an unspecified period of time.

FULL TEXT License Agreement

Stats

Number of views and downloads: 11
Number of citations: 0

ISSN/eISSN

ISSN: 1689-5150

eISSN: 2450-7059

Search

Search

Browse

  • Browse Author Index
  • Issue archive

User

User

Current Issue

  • Atom logo
  • RSS2 logo
  • RSS1 logo

Newsletter

Subscribe Unsubscribe

Language

  • Deutsch
  • English
  • Español (España)
  • Français (France)
  • Français (Canada)
  • Italiano
  • Język Polski

Tags

Search using one of provided tags:

historicity of Daniel, interpretation of the figure of Daniel, Book of Daniel
Up

Akademicka Platforma Czasopism

Najlepsze czasopisma naukowe i akademickie w jednym miejscu

apcz.umk.pl

Partners

  • Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie
  • Akademickie Towarzystwo Andragogiczne
  • Fundacja Copernicus na rzecz Rozwoju Badań Naukowych
  • Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
  • Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
  • Instytut Tomistyczny
  • Karmelitański Instytut Duchowości w Krakowie
  • Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego
  • Państwowa Akademia Nauk Stosowanych w Krośnie
  • Państwowa Akademia Nauk Stosowanych we Włocławku
  • Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa im. Stanisława Pigonia w Krośnie
  • Polska Fundacja Przemysłu Kosmicznego
  • Polskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne
  • Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze
  • Towarzystwo Miłośników Torunia
  • Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu
  • Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
  • Uniwersytet Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie
  • Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika
  • Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
  • Uniwersytet Warszawski
  • Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna - Książnica Kopernikańska
  • Wyższe Seminarium Duchowne w Pelplinie / Wydawnictwo Diecezjalne „Bernardinum" w Pelplinie

© 2021- Nicolaus Copernicus University Accessibility statement Shop