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Rating: 
Summary: An incomplete exegesis
Review: I have twice taught the book of Daniel and am familiar with the various views both liberal and conservative. I have enjoyed the many practical comments that Dr Longman has made but find myself very disappointed on his lack of willingness to deal with the prophetic parts of the book. His chapter on Daniel Nine is a case in point. He does a great job in helping understand the powerful prayer of Daniel but then completely cops out with the prophecy of the 70 weeks. He says for instance that there are "many" decree's to choose from when deciding when the prophecy timetable starts -- yet he would obviously know there are only 4 decrees. He neither mentions them nor deal with them. After saying he will comment on the 70 weeks he completely ignors any attempt to explain why he believes they are not accurate forward history -- not a word! This is dishonest scholarship. I don't care if he agrees with my exegisis but I would like to at least be able to struggle with some sort of explanation from him.
Rating: 
Summary: Daniel is in the lions' pit and a great judge
Review: This Book is attributed to Saint John, but was probably written by his followers after his death on the basis of his oral teaching. It is an essential piece of Christian fantastique litterature.The story is perfectly gripping and inspiring. The symbols are very complex. The numerology is fundamental. God is heavily defined as binary : the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, He-is-and-He-was. In only one instance is he ternary, when he is defined as « He who is, who was and who is to come ». The second figure that is essential is seven : it is the symbol of God's power, God's punishment, God's cleansing of the world with the seven angels, the seven trumpets, the second set of seven angels and the seven bowls containing the seven plagues. Yet God is not only 2. He is also the multiples 4 and 8. And what is important too is the definition of the New Jerusalem as being square with three doors on each side, hence twelve doors. 12 is the figure of perfection, the absolute perfection of the City of God on earth. When we read this book with these simple ideas in mind we find that the story is thrilling, with the pregnant woman chased by the dragon, and then again the woman representing God, pregnant again, confronted to a second dragon. This symbolic image is fundamental. This « woman adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown » is the representation of perfect knowledge, of the solar year and calendar, of the lunar year and calendar and of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The dragon represents the negation of knowledge (idolatry), wisdom (fornication) and perfection (Babylon/Rome sitting on its seven hills). To conclude we must understand that this vision is the basis of all romanesque art and especially romanesque churches that will join under the influence of the Benedictines, the knowledge/wisdom/ science of old from the ancient Egyptians to the modern Greeks or Romans via le linking Celtic tradition. And then we understand why these churches are situated facing the East, with a North-South transept, and why these churches are the pilgrimage of the faithful from the West, the world, to the East, God, crossing the transept to enter the realm of God himself. These romanesque artists will only add Solomon's symbol, the two cups, one receiving (man's), one pouring (God's) God's light, the two triangles building a star, hence 3x2=6. Please, if you don't believe this Book of Revelation is the whole Christian wisdom in twenty pages, please visit the Benedictine abbey-church for women in Lavaudieu, France, and you will understand how this Book became the acme of Christian inspiration. It is so true that the leaves of the tree of knowledge that grow along the river that crosses the New Jerusalem is the cure for pagans (and not their punishment). Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating: 
Summary: Reformed Approach to Daniel
Review: This book is part of a series of NIV bible studies written by various authors. The author of this volume, Tremper Longman III, is a professor at Westmont College in California and was previously on the faculty of Westminster Seminary. The commentary is arranged by chapters and contains sections on the original meaning of the text, the context in relation to the whole Bible, and contemporary significance of the text. His writing is easy to comprehend and pleasant to read. The book would work equally well as reference or as a group Bible study. Longman is solidly reformed. He resists the temptation to use the prophesy in Daniel to set specific dates for the end-times. In fact, he has publicly debated Harold Camping on just this issue. Although not directly addressed, his traditional approach effectively answers the error promoted by dispensationalists.
Rating:
Summary: Daniel is in the lions' pit but also a good judge
Review: This book is very important because it is one essential prophetic book about Jesus, one essential source for the Book of Revelation. It also contains a well-known passage about Daniel in Babylonia and his confrontation to the lions. Daniel is able to interpret dreams and visions and he is thus prophesying the future. His confrontation with the lions in the lions' pit follows the miracle of three other deported jews surviving a furnace in which they are thrown. The first section is the basis of a church opera, Ludus Danielis, performed in Beauvais, France's cathedral in the XII-XIIIth centuries. A recording of it is available. But Daniel is also a model of fair justice against wicked injustice. That is how he saves Susanna from death, by logically revealing the two wicked lying elders. This is how he proves to Cyrus that Bel is an idol and not a God, and that the priests are cheating him, and all that only with logical means and devices. This is how he kills the dragon and reveals it is no God. We will note that the episode of Daniel in the lions' pit is given in two different versions. As a matter of fact the second version is merged into the first version for the church opera. This book is a good adventure book. It uses miracles only in extreme situations and it demonstrates that reason and logic are the fundamental tools of good government whereas deceiving and lying are the basic tools of profiteers and wicked people who detain power and want to retain it. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the faint hearted
Review: What is this trite, I want my money back. Pretentious "Bible Bashing " from a collection of boring writers, give it a miss.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint hearted
Review: What is this trite, I want my money back. Pretentious "Bible Bashing " from a collection of boring writers, give it a miss.
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