Son Of Man Research Articles

Early Rabbinic Judaism and the Danger in Ezekiel 1

Rabbinic tradition indicates a revision of the text of the Book of Ezekiel in the first century ce and suggests the rationale behind it. Hanania ben Hezeqiah is said to have “harmonized” Ezekiel with the Torah shortly before the first Jewish revolt, to save the book from suppression by the rabbis. Hasty redaction, followed by immediate standardization, offers the best explanation for the atrocious grammar, orthography, and syntax of the received Hebrew text, along with the plethora of words and expressions common to post-biblical Hebrew. The goal of Hanania’s project was to discourage the conflation of the enthroned figure in Ezek. 1 with the “one like a son of man” in Dan. 7:13 and thus combat the “two Powers heresy.” His project is related to the outburst of speculation on the throne of yhwh and the merkabah in the mid-first century ce

Narrating Violence, Narrating Self: Exodus and Collective Identity in Early Rabbinic Literature

Narrating Violence, Narrating Self: Exodus and Collective Identity in Early Rabbinic Literature

Son of Man: A Rock Opera

Son of Man is a rock opera of twenty-two scenes which explore evangelical Christianity and the consequences of a theology that is not affirming of LGBTQ+ individuals. The opera introduces queer characters into a biblical world where Judas falls in love with Jesus and Hannah (a fictional younger sister of Jesus) is secretly in a relationship with another woman. The purpose of these variations is to explore the question "What if Jesus were like this?" By introducing modern understandings of sexuality and gender identity, the opera seeks to explore the ways Jesus' ministry is relevant to our lives today.

Messianism and Kingship in the Gospel of John: A Comparison Between the Fourth Gospel and the Royal Psalms 2, 72, and 110

ABSTRACTThe article shows that messianism and kingship in the Gospel of John are involved in the royal psalms, such as Psalms 2, 72, and 110. Although these psalms were never quoted in the Gospel of John, there is a strong likelihood that the royal psalms have been alluded in the Gospel of John. This article examines the similarities and differences between the royal psalms and the Gospel of John, and, thus, shows how each present the messiah as the ideal king, concentrating on the terms “the Son of God,” “the Son of man,” and “the kingdom of God” that John shares with the royal psalms in terms of the messianic views. It appears that John uses the terms, in a unique way to emphasize the divine aspect of the messiah, by putting weight on the main characteristics of the messiah as the ideal king who was pre-existent before creation.

‘The Poor Man's Son’ and the Corruption of Our Moral Sentiments: Commerce, Virtue and Happiness in Adam Smith

In order to operate effectively, modern capitalism depends on agents who evince a rather morally undemanding type of moral character; one that is acquisitive, pecuniary, recognition-seeking and merely prudent. Adam Smith is considered to have been the key legitimiser of this archetype. In this paper I respond to the view that Smith is actually sceptical about the value of material acquisition and explore whether he really believed that the pursuit of tranquillity and virtue—especially beneficence—offers a superior route to happiness than the commercial world of materialist acquisition. I approach these issues partly by considering the roles of beneficence and sympathy in Smith's system and partly by analysing the story of ‘The Poor Man's Son’ related in Book IV of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. As he narrates this story, Smith seems highly critical of the unrelenting drive for worldly success. But what is the real moral of the story? Should people contain their ambition for recognition and material success and pursue tranquillity and virtue instead? I suggest that Smith's discussion in and around the story of ‘The Poor Man's Son’ points to a significant tension between his personal ideal of happiness and his observations and recommendations as a social scientist.

Syndrome de Muir-Torre et syndrome de Turcot

Lynch syndrome (LS) is a syndrome that carries a genetic predisposition to certain cancers associating, either in a single individual or in a family, a visceral tumour, mainly colorectal, with a high risk of other synchronous or metachronous cancers. LS is linked with mutations in the genes coding for proteins in the DNA repair system. Phenotypic variants of SL exist, including Muir-Torre syndrome (MTS) and Turcot syndrome (TS), both of which predispose to colorectal cancer. They may be distinguished by the presence of benign or malignant sebaceous tumours in MTS, and tumours of the central nervous system in TS. A 59-year-old man, with a history of right colon cancer at the age of 36 years, consulted for a nose lesion shown by histopathological examination to be a sebaceous tumour. Immunohistochemistry revealed loss of expression of proteins MSH2 and MSH6, strongly suggesting a diagnosis of MTS. Eight years earlier, the man's son had developed a fatal glioblastoma; given the paternal phenotype of MTS, the hypothesis of TS in the son is probable. This case suggests that several variants of Lynch syndrome may be seen within the same family. It raises the issue of screening for cerebral tumours in patients with MTS and in their family members, even though such a recommendation does not exist; current recommendations in fact consist primarily of gastrointestinal and gynaecological monitoring.

Steve Biko Christ-figure: A black theological Christology in the <i>Son of Man</i> film

Son of Man (2006) is the first Jesus film to be produced in South Africa and the first Jesus film with an all-black cast amongst all films about the life of Jesus. Son of Man retells the story of Jesus from the pre-1994 South African context and the transition to democracy. The film portrays a Jesus who is concerned about social justice and seeks to dismantle systems that perpetuate and maintain subjugation, oppression, discrimination and marginalisation. The film reinforces the ideology of black consciousness and the praxis of black theology creatively and artistically through film. Jesus in Son of Man embodies the life of Stephen Bantu Biko, and Steve Biko is thus given a Christ-figure around four things: non-violence, ideology, disappearance and death. A black Christological perspective is used to analyse the nature of Jesus Christ in Son of Man.

‘Son of man’ in the Gospel of Mark

What are the origin and source, as well as the meaning of the term Son of man as it appears in Mark? Is the background of the term to be found in the Old Testament, in Ezekiel and Daniel 7, or in the apocalyptic figure presented in 1 Enoch 47–71 and 4 Ezra 13? What does the intertextual reference of the term imply? Did the historical Jesus use the term as a reference to himself or to a divine (extraterrestrial) deliverer he believed was coming to save the Jewish people, or is the term a post-Easter title applied retrospectively by the Gospel writer upon the pre-Easter Jesus? Did Jesus use the title as a self-designation, or did he use it in a self-effacing way to refer to himself as a mortal in contrast with God? Did he use the title as a generic designation for all humankind? What is the essence of the Gospel writer’s usage of the term? These questions are discussed in terms of the passages where Mark utilises the term.

Traços de resistência na obra de Augusto Roa Bastos

Este estudo tem como proposta a análise de alguns traços de resistência presentes em algumas das produções literárias do autor paraguaio Augusto Roa Bastos. As obras escolhidas são Vigilia del Almirante (2008) e a trilogia Yo, el supremo (2003), El fiscal (2008) e El hijo del hombre (2003). O primeiro romance trata da volta ao período do descobrimento e desenvolve uma confrontação entre Colombo, os cronistas e o narrador. A trilogia se ocupa do cenários belicosos da história paraguaia e de alguns ditadores e suas relações com o poder. O tratamento dado a essa matéria histórica nas narrativas supracitadas pode ser entendida como traços de resistência, bem como alguns artifícios narrativos aplicados pelo autor. A análise será realizada a partir das discussões sobre Resistência e descobrimento propostos por Galeano (1989), Bitterli (2012) e Grützmacher (2009).

The Origins of John’s Gospel ed. by Stanley E. Porter and Hughson T. Ong

Reviewed by: The Origins of John’s Gospel ed. by Stanley E. Porter and Hughson T. Ong Mary L. Coloe PBVM stanley e. porter and hughson t. ong (eds.), The Origins of John’s Gospel (Johannine Studies 2; Leiden: Brill, 2015). Pp. xi + 319. $142. This volume brings together a number of essays on the topic of “origins,” grouped under four headings. First, “Dating, Sources, and Traditions of John’s Gospel.” The contributors here are Porter, “The Date of John’s Gospel and Its Origins”; Ilaria Ramelli, “John the Evangelist’s Work: An Overlooked Redaktionsgeschichtliche Theory from the Patristic Age”; Michael Labahn, “‘Secondary Orality’ in the Gospel of John: A ‘Post-Gutenberg’ Paradigm for Understanding the Relationship between Written Gospel Texts”; Craig L. Blomberg, “The Sayings of Jesus in Mark: Does Mark Ever Rely on a Pre-Johannine Tradition?” The second section is “The Johannine Community,” which contains Ong, “The Gospel from a Specific Community for All Christians: Understanding the Johan-nine Community as a ‘Community of Practice’”; Marc-André Argentino and Guy Bonneau, “The Function of Social Conflict in the Gospel of John”; Ruth Sheridan, “Johannine Sectarianism: A Category Now Defunct?” The third section is “Structure, Composition, and Authorship of John’s Gospel”: Paul N. Anderson, “On ‘Seamless Robes’ and ‘Leftover Fragments’—A Theory of Johannine Composition”; David I. Yoon, “The Question of Aporiai or Cohesion in the Fourth Gospel: A Response to Urban C. von Wahlde”; Lorn [End Page 740] Zelyck, “Irenaeus and the Authorship of the Fourth Gospel.” The final section is “Johannine Anti-Judaism and the ‘Son of Man’ Sayings,” containing Jonathan Numada, “The Repetition of History? A Select Survey of Scholarly Understandings of Johannine Anti-Judaism from Baur until the End of the Weimar Republic”; and Panayotis Coutsoumpos, “The Origin of the Johannine ‘Son of Man’ Sayings.” Indexes of ancient sources and modern authors follow. Porter provides an overview for the dating of John and the implications of this for theories of the origins of this Gospel and the reconstruction of the history of NT development. Ramelli makes use of patristic studies that present John having access to the Synoptic Gospels and as the redactor of earlier material, written or oral. The issue of sources behind John continues in the essays of Labahn, who proposes an oral milieu and material available in a collective social memory, and Blomberg, who identifies many links with Mark’s Gospel, suggesting early Johannine traditions prior to Mark. The section on the Johannine community begins with the distinction made by Ong between the community/ies from which the narrative developed and the community for which it was written. The community of origins, Ong asserts, shared much with the larger Christian community even as it had its own distinctive practices as witnessed to by the unique literary characteristics of this gospel. Argentino and Bonneau draw upon the work of Lewis Coser (The Functions of Social Conflict [New York: Free Press, 1964]) which “serves as a means of constructing one’s personal identity” (p. 139). In Coser’s terminology, Jesus is a “heretic” who remains within the group (Judaism) but breaks down its values and becomes a source of division. The disciple characters in the narrative could be described as “renegades” in that they have broken with the group. The essay then looks at three characters on the fringe of the group: Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and the man born blind. Sheridan offers a helpful overview of sociological and linguistic approaches to the text as a means of gaining insight into the community behind the text. She cautions against simplistic categorizations such as “sect” or “cult” and moves toward the genre theory of Carolyn Miller (“Genre as Social Action,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 70 [1984] 151–76), where the genre enacts a particular social situation (p. 164). The third group of essays addresses the complexity of the text and the question of author/editors. Anderson attempts to deal with too many issues—composition, authorship, and an overview of scholarly approaches. In my opinion, the overview would have been sufficient for this volume. Yoon addresses the question of whether the Gospel is a composite document resulting from many stages of development (von Wahlde...

Healing in the Gospel of Matthew: Reflections on Method and Ministry by Walter T. Wilson

Reviewed by: Healing in the Gospel of Matthew: Reflections on Method and Ministry by Walter T. Wilson Kay Higuera Smith walter t. wilson, Healing in the Gospel of Matthew: Reflections on Method and Ministry (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014). Pp. 240. $39. In Healing in the Gospel of Matthew: Reflections on Method and Ministry, Walter T. Wilson presents a practical theology of healing and disability with a strongly christological focus. He summarizes the Gospel of Matthew, chaps. 8–9, as a carefully narrated florilegium of miracle stories written for the purpose of laying out the “cosmic drama” of Jesus’ eschatological announcement of the reign of God (p. 112). He foregrounds a christological component in each of these narratives and also reads these stories as dramatizations of a variety of ways to be human in the world, all with particular limitations, which Jesus overcomes. Wilson employs several methodologies and critical approaches in his analysis. He utilizes form, source, narrative, and redaction criticism read through a classic, historical hermeneutical lens. He interweaves into those approaches the hermeneutical perspectives of feminist, reader-response, disability, and even medical anthropology disciplines as well. The book consists of fourteen chapters. In chap. 1, W. lays out his methodologies. He expresses his debt to earlier redaction critics in presenting Jesus as Messiah “in words and deeds” (p. 16, 294; e.g., Heinz Joachim Held, “Matthew as Interpreter of the Miracle Stories,” in Tradition and Interpretation in Matthew [ed. Günther Borkamm, Gerhard Barth, and Heinz Joachim Held; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963] 251–52). He also cites Saul M. Olyan’s “limits model” of disability studies (Olyan, Disability in the Hebrew Bible: Interpreting [End Page 723] Mental and Physical Differences [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008] 2), in which ability and disability are reconceived not as binaries but as points on a spectrum (p. 25). In chaps. 2–8, W. exegetes two literary triads that he finds in Matt 8:1–9:8. The first of the three triads of miracle stories includes the healing of the man with a scaly skin condition, the centurion’s boy, and Peter’s mother-in-law (Matt 8:1–16). He notes here that in each case a person on Israel’s social boundaries (a leper, someone associated with a gentile, and a woman) is restored in some way. The second triad consists of the rescue at sea, the exorcism in Gadara, and the healing of the paralyzed man in Capernaum (8:18–9:8). It is here, W. argues, in the rescue at sea, where we see Jesus as Son of Man and Son of God, the apocalyptic deliverer who is able to calm the primordial seas. In the story of the healing of the paralyzed man, W. notes the christological theme of Jesus as Son of Man—now additionally, eschatological judge (p. 148). In chaps. 9–13, W. discusses Matt 9:8–38. In chaps. 9 and 10, he interprets three pericopae about eating as pronouncement stories that prefigure the future eschatological banquet (Matt 9:9–17). These stories highlight another christological theme, Jesus as Wisdom/Sophia (pp. 177–79). In chap. 11, Wilson takes up the final triad of miracle stories, the synagogue leader’s daughter and the woman with the hemorrhage, the two blind men, and the demonized man who cannot speak (9:18–34). Again, his emphasis is primarily christo-logical, highlighting the role of Jesus as Messiah. Chapter 12 deals with the healing of the two blind men, which W. lays out as a christological statement about Jesus as Son of David. Here he also takes up the stigma of blindness in biblical narratives as well as the ramifications of such depictions (p. 233). In chap. 13, he addresses the final story in the third triad and wraps up his analysis of Matthew 8–9. In this final story, in which Jesus exorcises a demonized man who is mute (Matt 9:32–34), W. foregrounds Jesus as “Eschatological Shepherd” (p. 285). Finally, in chap. 14, W. returns to disability studies to argue for a theology of “limits.” What he means by this theology of “limits” is that Matthew 8–9 is about demonstrating the range of human limitations as...

The Veracity of Prophecy and Christ's Knowledge

AbstractIt is widely assumed by scholars that Christ was in error on such matters as an expectation that the final judgement and its accompanying events would occur within the timeframe of a generation. While accepting that Christ did indeed prophesy his return within this timeframe, a recent co‐authored work When the Son of Man Didn't Come aims to defend the veracity of his prophecy by drawing on the same historical‐critical method that has given rise to doubts about it. The authors propose a distinction between Mosaic and Jeremianic prophecy, arguing that Christ's was of the latter kind, which was present in the Ancient Near East, the Old and New Testaments, and other Jewish and Christian authors. Their argument, however, is at risk of reducing the truthfulness of a prophecy to its success. Hence this article explores a further distinction between two kinds of prophecy made in Thomas Aquinas's account of the truthfulness of prophecy, mapping it onto the Mosaic‐Jeremianic distinction, and arguing that, in view of this linking of Aquinas's understanding of prophecy to the argument of the book, the book certainly adds to the set of proposed theological explanations of how Christ's prophecy of his return was true.

Eklezja Mateusza – eschatologiczną „Resztą Izraela”?

In a holistic look at the history of Israel and the Church, Evangelist Matthewseems to express the hope that taken by him idea of “Rest”, proves tobe a kind of bridge for the followers of rabbinic Judaism. He also trusts thatin the eschatological times – finally closed by the Second Coming of the Sonof Man – they profess, at least some of them, faith in Jesus from Nazarethas the Messiah and Son of God at the same time. Faith confessed by themwill allow to enter into the Church and obtain the same equal rights as otherparticipants of that idea in the following centuries of the God’s salvationhistory, in which the chosen people of Abraham will be able to participateas the only nation from the beginning until the definite its completion, withonly a short break discontinued, however, by conversion and return to GodYahweh – the Father of Jesus.

What the Church Means by 'Faith'; What Eric Voegelin Meant by 'Faith'

In a familiar passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They answered: “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus asked: “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The faith of Peter implicit in his declaration, which Christ recognized as revealed to Peter by the Father, is the faith of the Church, which Christ founded on Peter by virtue of his answer. It is a faith “by hearing,” as in “hearing the Gospel,” passed down from the disciples through all the generations to the present through the Church. It is the only faith possible, this side of Christian mysticism, for those who did not know Christ when He walked the earth, that He was Who He said He was, who Peter understood Him to be. We might imagine the question “But who do you say that I am?” put to Eric Voegelin. Would his answer be: “You are the differentiation of soteriological truth?”; “You are what Paul will behold in his ‘Vision of the Resurrected’”?; or something else? These sorts of answers would not have gotten Voegelin promoted to first Pope. Voegelin, who hated to be labeled, spoke of himself, perhaps with tongue in cheek, as a “pre-Nicene Christian.” The Council of Nicea rejected Arianism, the doctrine that Christ was the Son of God in the sense that He was created by God the Father, and therefore subordinate to the Father, in favor of a Christology holding that the Father and Christ were consubstantial, the first two Persons of the Trinity. Did Voegelin view Jesus as just a man who came to the full realization that he was God’s son in the sense in which we all are in some sense God’s sons, thereby emphasizing Christ’s humanity at the expense of what the Church considers to be His divinity as well? Voegelin’s Christology, and his approach to Christianity generally, is notoriously controversial, and much has been written on it. In particular, Voegelin rejected the concept of reason as it appears in the theology of the Church as definitive of the distinction between the natural and the supernatural. On the other hand, Voegelin did have a concept of faith that was central to his work. His concept of faith was not limited to Christianity, and can be found independent of it. It is not the faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, passed on “by hearing” through the mediation of the Church, although Voegelin may have accepted that faith as well. It is rather faith “by experience,” specifically the experience of tension toward transcendence which, Voegelin would say, constitutes the meaning of human existence. Voegelin found faith in this sense expressed not only in Christianity, but in Greek philosophy, and whenever and wherever a sufficient degree of “differentiation” had been achieved in human history. Voegelin would say that the “tension” in “tension toward transcendence” can also be rendered as the Christian theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Two related questions appear: Was Voegelin open to the “faith” of the Church, and does the Church recognize “faith” in the Voegelinian sense? The paper explores these concepts and issues by comparing Voegelin on faith with Thomas Aquinas, the paradigmatic orthodox Christian theologian-philosopher.

The Non-Messianic Psalter of Gerald H. Wilson

The sequential reading of the macrostructure of the Psalter pioneered by Gerald Wilson produced a seachange in Psalms scholarship, however, his non-messianic reading of the Psalter continues to evoke controversy and attract criticism. In this article I attempt to answer Wilson’s critics who find fault with his reading of the Psalter on the basis of the presence of Psalms 110 and 132 in Book v, psalms that are usually classified as ‘royal’ and seen as promoting a strongly messianic hope. After a review of Wilson’s arguments, I analyse the immediate context, the key words and the theocratic focus of Psalms 110 and 132. These features provide support for Wilson’s thesis that ‘David’ in Book v is no messianic cipher, but an exemplary model of loyal devotion to God’s kingship. This viewpoint in no way undermines a Christian reading of the Psalter, with the Book of Psalms read as pointing forward to the God-man, Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate model of human devotion to God, the apocalyptic Son of Man, and the Divine King come to save his people.

"One Like a Son of Man" in the Court of the Foreign King: Daniel 7 as Pointer to Wise Participation in the Divine Life

ABSTRACT It is a commonplace of Danielic interpretation that ch. 7 functions as a literary hinge in the book of Daniel in that it affects the reading both of the court tales and of the visions. This article proposes that Dan 7, and particularly the figure of the one like a son of man, may also be interpreted as programmatic for a theological appreciation of the court tales in Dan 1–6. The central point of ch. 7 is the vision of the one like a son of man in the throne room of the Ancient of Days, a vision that is then interpreted in terms of its significance for "the holy ones," who emerge in the second half of ch. 7. The interplay between the one like a son of man and the holy ones reflects a dynamic of participation on the part of the holy ones in the divine life. I explore this dynamic further by looking at the gospel iteration of the Son of Man, other biblical strands of the theme of participation, resulting understandings of the theological doctrine of the incarnation as both "deification" and "inhominization," and the ethical significance of participation in the divine life. In the wider context of the Daniel tales, a theological understanding of the wise contextualization of their faith on the part of the young men at court may now be guided by the programmatic theme of participation in the divine life that emerges in Dan 7. The outcome is an appreciation of the role of the holy ones as participants with the one like a son of man in the throne room scene, from whence they exercise wisdom in the routine conduct of the life of faith. Their conduct arises out of their participation. And their stories become part of our own ethical participation in the divine life.

"One Like a Son of Man" in the Court of the Foreign King: Daniel 7 as Pointer to Wise Participation in the Divine Life

ABSTRACT It is a commonplace of Danielic interpretation that ch. 7 functions as a literary hinge in the book of Daniel in that it affects the reading both of the court tales and of the visions. This article proposes that Dan 7, and particularly the figure of the one like a son of man, may also be interpreted as programmatic for a theological appreciation of the court tales in Dan 1–6. The central point of ch. 7 is the vision of the one like a son of man in the throne room of the Ancient of Days, a vision that is then interpreted in terms of its significance for "the holy ones," who emerge in the second half of ch. 7. The interplay between the one like a son of man and the holy ones reflects a dynamic of participation on the part of the holy ones in the divine life. I explore this dynamic further by looking at the gospel iteration of the Son of Man, other biblical strands of the theme of participation, resulting understandings of the theological doctrine of the incarnation as both "deification" and "inhominization," and the ethical significance of participation in the divine life. In the wider context of the Daniel tales, a theological understanding of the wise contextualization of their faith on the part of the young men at court may now be guided by the programmatic theme of participation in the divine life that emerges in Dan 7. The outcome is an appreciation of the role of the holy ones as participants with the one like a son of man in the throne room scene, from whence they exercise wisdom in the routine conduct of the life of faith. Their conduct arises out of their participation. And their stories become part of our own ethical participation in the divine life.

The Elevated Imagination: Contemplation and Action in David Hume and Adam Smith

In this paper we seek to draw attention to some striking and heretofore unnoticed textual connections between Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments and David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature. We find significant textual parallels between the parable of the poor man's son of TMS 4.1 (TMS 4.1.8-4.1.10) and the famous conclusion to Book 1 of Hume's Treatise. These passages are often regarded as especially intense and moving parts of their respective works. We explore the nature and substance of these connections and comment on their larger significance. The nature of the connections suggests that Smith consciously engaged Hume in his work through philosophical conversation. We suggest that these related passages show both Hume and Smith exploring and developing a particular dialectic between contemplation and action in human life. Both move to invert the classical relationship between contemplation and action through what we call the elevated imagination.

Kristologi Dalam Injil Sinoptik

Confusion may occur in considering Jesus’ function in the Gospels without comprehending the different terminology used for Him. Without a clear understanding of such terms that are appled to Jesus, one will be left with a fragmentary perspective of the person of Jesus, which will result in misinterpreting God’s Word and miss His will for believers. The Gospels are the biographies that develop the life of Jesus Christ. They are the seed-bed from which Jesus’ twelve apostles and other followers derived most their theology and information about Him. Within the study Christology found in gospel genre, understanding the following five terms gives a complete picture of Jesus: Christ, Lord, Servant of Yahweh, the Son of Man, and the Son of God.

“Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians” (nrsv Daniel 4:9): Explorations in Identity and Context from the Career of Daniel

In Daniel 4:9, the faithful Jewish wise man is addressed by King Nebuchadnezzar as “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians”. This is a telling phrase in two respects. First, it shows Daniel bearing, apparently without protest, the name given to him by the Babylonians in honor partly of their deity Bel. It thus raises questions of identity. Secondly, it places Daniel/Belteshazzar squarely in the context of the court practitioners of the pagan arts of the Babylonian wise men. It thus also raises questions of the level of Daniel’s adoption of the mores of the Babylonian court context in which he finds himself. Both of these questions, of identity and of context, run through the biblical book of Daniel and its account of his life. These are explored in a close study of Daniel 1 and the subsequent court tales of conflict and contest (Daniel 2–6). The study culminates in a consideration of the one like a son of man in Daniel 7.1