Norman Porteous - Contributions

Contributions

Norman Porteous was one of the panel of translators of the New English Bible and latterly Dean of the University of Edinburgh, where he was also Senior Professor Emeritus; he may also have been its oldest graduate.

In 1965, Porteous postulated that an anonymous writer wrote the Book of Daniel during the persecution under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. According to this theory the anonymous author attributed events that were witnessed by this writer in the 2nd century BCE to Daniel as prophecies. Paul Roche agreed with Porteous. since the writer's incomplete and erroneous view of historical details in the second half of the sixth century, Daniel’s era, support the theory of a late date of writing.

Porteous and Roche agree that the Book of Daniel is composed of folktales that were used to fortify the Jewish faith during a time of great persecution and oppression by the Hellenized Seleucids some four centuries after the Babylonian captivity. James VanderKam and Peter W. Flint further explain that the stories of Daniel and his friends, set in Babylon during the Exile, encouraged readers to remain faithful to God and to refuse compromise in the face of their oppressors, and offered the prospect of triumph over wickedness and idolatry. These themes may have brought encouragement to the Qumran covenanters who were persecuted by other Jews and also threatened by Hellenization.

The discovery of the scroll 4QDanc (dating 125 BCE) at Qumran does not reassure critics that Daniel was written in the 2nd century BCE. G. R. Driver recognized that "the presence and popularity of the Daniel manuscripts at Qumran" conflicted "with the modern view which advocates the late dating of the composition of Daniel".