Abstract

REDDING, Jonathan. Resistance or compliance: Reading Daniel 1 as a faux-hidden transcript. Scriptura [online]. 2019, vol.118, pp.1-16. ISSN 2305-445X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7833/118-1-1231.

This article examines imperial and economic forces of colonisation surrounding post-exilic Israel, specifically the late Persian period (334-330 BCE) transitioning into the Hellenistic era (332-64 BCE), to do a suspicious reading of Daniel 1 as a text of imperial resistance. Using a paradigm constructed from elements of James Scott's theory of hidden transcripts from "Domination and the arts of resistance ", Daniel 1 becomes a Hellenistic text capable ofplacating and appeasing as much as (or perhaps more than) opposing and resisting empire. This work emphasises suspicious tensions to examine socio-economic class structures in and around the composition of the book of Daniel to interpret Daniel 1 through a hermeneutic of suspicion with a focus on postcolonial theory.

Keywords : Hebrew Bible; Hellenistic Judaism; Daniel; Hidden Transcript; Materialist; Postcolonial.

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