Daniel

Lederach, a trained seminarian, eschews the sensationalistic features of most popular Daniel commentaries, addressing his book instead to serious laity and clergy. A biblically oriented, pacifist Mennonite, he holds that ``events on earth... are ultimately controlled by heaven'' and that the book of Daniel was written for two basic reasons, neither of them having to do with a detailed account of the future. First and foremost, exiled Jews were to be reassured that, despite their circumstances, God had not forgotten them; and secondly, Daniel is an ``evangelistic'' tract to the nations. Each story in Daniel is treated by means of the same basic structure: ``Preview,'' ``Explanatory Notes,'' the ``Text in Biblical Context'' and the ``Text in the Life of the Church.'' At the close of the volume is an informative collection of essays that amounts to an extended glossary. Amply annotated, this is a readable work from a scholar with a real flair for story retelling. (Feb.)