John Goldingay is a big name in the scholarly world, and I can understand why the editors of the Word Biblical Commentary (WBC) series would ask him to revise his popular volume rather than replace it. It’s also good to see this revision since we haven’t seen many new releases from this series in quite a while. A page near the beginning shows that several volumes are now in revision or are forthcoming. Likely you are aware of how highly rated this book is to scholars while in many cases it might not be as well-loved by conservative pastors. In short, the author has not changed his overall conclusions on the Book of Daniel, but he has expanded his explanations in several cases. The page count has grown by nearly 300 pages! I’ll make it easy for you to rate this volume if you’re already familiar with the one that has been around since 1989. The perspective has not moved to the right, but the scholarly contribution has been successfully updated to the point that I see this volume holding its lofty status for several more decades to come.

I compared his Introduction in the original volume since I had it on hand and have used it several times. I do not personally endorse his viewpoint, but I felt he explained it well and, in many cases, took on more introductory issues that were even found in the original volume. He even followed the reception of Daniel through the New Testament and into later history all the way to the current time. That is a fascinating contribution, to say the least. I thought his conclusion after studying Daniel scholarship in the 20^th century was that nothing changed at all during that time was quite surprising.

For you scholarly types, the bibliography has also significantly grown. He knows how to operate in the unique WBC format and his notes for scholars in every passage are extensive. He looks at structure more than some of these volumes do and the part that pastors would find most interesting still remains in the Explanation section. Sometimes his conclusion about the text or historicity leads him to places where I would strongly disagree. I don’t think this revision will majorly raise perceptions that pastors hold about this volume, but scholars are likely to give it the highest rating. Even if you don’t subscribe to all the author’s viewpoints, the book is simply too significant not to have access to for any kind of study or research on Daniel.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.