A Song in the Furnace: : The Message of the Book of Daniel

by Lawrence R. Farley

The Book of Daniel should be read with the eyes of a child. It’s a book of wonders and extremes—mad kings, baffling dreams with gifted interpreters, breathtaking deliverances, astounding prophecies—with even what may be the world’s first detective stories added in for good measure. To argue over the book’s historicity, as scholars have done for centuries, is to miss the point. In A Song in the Furnace, Fr. Lawrence Farley reveals all the wonders of this unique book to the receptive eye.

Genres: Christianity

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 25, 2018

About the author

Father Lawrence, born in 1954, completed his M. Div. at Wycliffe College, Toronto School of Theology in 1979. After 6 years in pastoral ministry with the Anglican Church of Canada, he entered the Orthodox Church and completed a Certificate program at St. Tikhon’s Seminary in Pennsylvania and was ordained to the priesthood in 1986. Since 1987 he has served as the pastor St. Herman of Alaska Church in Langley BC, a missionary parish of the OCA (Archdiocese of Canada) founded by local laity, which has since grown to attain regular parish status and purchased its own building. Several priests, deacons, and lay members of new missions have emerged from the membership of St. Herman’s. Fr. Lawrence is the author of the Orthodox Bible Study Companion Series from Conciliar Press, and of a number of other books and articles, and appears in regular weekday podcasts on Ancient Faith Radio. He lives in Surrey B.C. with his family.

Reviews

[Kristie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some interesting insights and I would have given it a 4, but I have a problem with some of the handling of the dating, genre, and historicity of the book and the person of Daniel. He writes about this with much of the arguments that modern biblical “scholars” say, but brushes off the counter arguments with ease, using words like “obviously” and dismissing other counter arguments as something “conservative” Christians say.

I also don’t care for his handling of the patristic interpretation that it is the pre-incarnate Christ who appears in the fiery furnace. He declares that this interpretation is a matter of translation and that his translation shows it more accurately, but he gives small weight to the early church’s interpretation and hymnology which express the interpretation.

He references Jerome’s doubts of the preincarnate Christ interpretation (no other fathers, just Jerome), but conveniently he doesn’t mention how Jerome contradicts his opinion regarding the dating of the book and how Jerome fought against the idea that Daniel was written ~400 years later during the Jews around Antiochus Epiphanes’ time, when the same argument as biblical scholars today make was brought up back then.

He also does not discuss how the church placed Daniel in the prophets, but he uses the argument that the Jews placed the book in the writings section. I prefer to put greater weight on the church’s deliberate categorization of the book.

Overall, while the book has some good insights, it fell flat due to the handling of the historicity of the book and the lack of pastoral insight, which I expected more of and have received more of from Fr Lawrence Farley’s other books.

[Ted · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the best chapter in the book was the "Conclusion" in which Farley makes it clear why the book of Daniel should not be read as history but more as parable. Modern biblical literalists want to defend the historical accuracy of the Bible, but Farley notes Daniel is not written with the modern idea of historical accuracy but rather conforms to a more ancient reading in which historical accuracy is not the point but other lessons and morals are the purpose of the literature. The truth offered therefore is hidden in the story, the historical details are there to support the moral of the story and so may be factually inaccurate in order to help point to the truth (moral, lesson) which is being taught. Unfortunately, it seemed to me that for most of the book in which he interprets line by line the book of Daniel, he moves between sometimes reading the story literally and sometimes reading it with a historical-critical framework. He talked about the story being an exciting children's story but then turns it into the very thing he said it isn't. In the last chapter he does mention a more Christian reading of the story but I think other Orthodox writers do a much better job showing how the story was understood Christologically in the Patristic period. The biblical literalist vs modern scholarship divide which arises from Protestantism is the trap much of modern American Christianity finds itself in. The Patristic writers were not literalists in reading Scripture (neither was St Paul for that matter) but did have a particularly Christian way to read the Scriptures. Farley mentions little of this in his commentary.

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

It’s not every day you read a Biblical commentary that makes you view its subject manner in a completely new and paradigm-shifting way. In this conversational book, Fr. Lawrence Farley, explores the theme of relying on God’s faithfulness despite the most monstrous of circumstances. Fr. Farley frequently reminds readers to look at the Book of Daniel with fresh eyes, the eyes of a child, seeing wonders unfold before them. I particularly like the fact that the author sets aside all questions related to the authorship and date of Daniel until the conclusion. Nevertheless, he doesn’t shy away from including pertinent details in the footnotes. I think this allows the reader to focus on his main point—looking at the stories anew—without getting bogged down by the academic arguments for different positions. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has been daunted by the apocalyptic nature of Daniel’s visions and those who would like to reexamine the narratives in Daniel from a new perspective. If you are looking for a book that is going to argue over the multitude of different positions regarding details surrounding the Book of Daniel, you’ll be sorely disappointed. However, you will find yourself looking at the stories contained in a new way that will be immensely applicable for your own life.

[Father Titus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a biblical commentary of the book of Daniel. The recurring theme in the book is how God delivers His faithful servants in the midst of trouble and adversity. Beautifully written and the author focuses the reader on the spiritual dimension rather than the academic study. It is also a great interpretation for the apocalyptic visions of Daniel. It is a great book for those who want to experience the scriptures at a deeper level. Also, it is an excellent orthodox resource for bible study and those who are entrusted with teaching the scriptures.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book on the Old Testament book of Daniel written by an Eastern Orthodox priest. The essential message thereof is that God's people need to remain faithful in spite of rulers like King Nebuchadnezzar or Antiochus Epiphanes who try to make one conform to idols they set up. In our day that would mean resisting the temptations of today's secularism where they conflict with the Faith.