Daniel Reconstructed: Reading, Teaching, and Preaching with Fresh Eyes

Thanks to an excessive reliance on long-standing Western interpretations, American Christians rarely preach and teach Daniel. When they do, the book is reduced to trite moral proverbs or gloom-and-doom, end-of-the-world scenarios. Dominant approaches make Daniel an eschatological and apocalyptic proof-text, designed to foreshadow Christ's prophetic fulfillment. Such readings are dangerous, as they veer too close to supersessionist replacement theology than most Christians admit.

For this reason, Daniel Reconstructed reads Daniel from a Christian perspective beyond the sole purpose of perpetuating previous Christian interpretations. It takes a deconstructive approach and offers new pathways for interpretation through a new translation and chapter-by-chapter reading. Jonathan D. Redding reads Daniel anew to help Christian audiences reconsider how Daniel functions, prompting them to grapple with the question of what Scripture is and can be for modern Christ followers. Christians too often make themselves the victors in Daniel's stories and visions. Such an approach begs the question, What if Daniel does the opposite and presents a mirror before the reader, entreating us to ask if we see the truth about who we are instead of how we imagine ourselves to be?

Daniel Reconstructed invites us into the conversation as it engages mainstream interpretations of Daniel to read against that grain, specifically as it pertains to Christian understandings of divine sovereignty. Many readings of Daniel operate under an unquestioning certainty around God's actions and choices. Seeing Daniel anew with reconsiderations toward accepted notions of divine sovereignty has far-reaching significance for biblical studies, theology, and how Christians perceive God's working in the world.