Humour in the Bible: book 27: Daniel

Nov 2, 11 • Daniel, Humour • 9 Comments • Read More »

Like Esther, Daniel is set in a foreign court and telling to the trials and triumphs of exiled Judeans and is packed with humour at the expense of the imperial overlords.

In this podcast I’m following an article by Hector Avalos from CBQ and focusing on the repeated lists of Dan 3. For his comparison text Avalos went to the early English Piers Ploughman but I’ll refer to “How the Whale got his throat” from the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (for obvious reasons 😉

Audio file: Humour in the Bible: book 27: Daniel the humour of lists

 

Avalos, Hector I. “The comedic function of the enumerations of officials and instruments in Daniel 3.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 53, no. 4 (October 1991): 580-9.

9 Responses to Humour in the Bible: book 27: Daniel

  1. Dr. Hector Avalos says:
    November 3, 2011 at 2:27 am

    Thank you very much for bringing attention to the use of comedic devices in the Bible.

  2. tim says:
    November 3, 2011 at 6:29 am

    Thank you for a fine article, which I raided shamefully. (Worse I just spotted I had neglected to give the reference. An oversight that is now corrected.)

  3. Sarah’s Laughter – Isaac’s Name Pun « « Coat of Many Colors - Coat of Many Colors says:
    November 7, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    […] (Thanks again to the Five Minute Bible blog which has inspired me to look for the humor in the sacred. Tim’s most recent post on Humor in the Bible is about the Book of Daniel.) […]

  4. Margo, Children's Ministry Academy says:
    November 10, 2011 at 5:58 am

    When teaching children’s ministry, I think all leaders would agree that it helps if the kids have fun and are able to laugh a little (or a lot). For this reason, I was so excited to stumble upon this blog post! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for linking to the audio podcast as well.

  5. Biblical Studies Carnival 69 (November 2011) | Remnant of Giants says:
    December 1, 2011 at 9:05 am

    […] Tim Bulkeley (5-minute Bible) continues his podcast series on humour in the Bible with a look at Daniel, engaging Hector Avalos on Daniel […]

  6. Remnant of Giants says:
    December 1, 2011 at 4:19 pm

    Congratulations! This post was included in the November 2011 Biblical Studies Carnival. This is quite an achievement. My word, yes.

  7. Mike Poteet says:
    December 14, 2011 at 4:25 am

    This is a real revelation to me! I knew there was humor in Scripture, of course, but never looked for it in the book of Daniel. Thanks for this!