designated the exilic thesis because it places origin of the document in the sixth century B.C. From this perspective the book’s origin, authorship, composition, and purpose are reasonably clear.1 According to K. Koch, the exilic thesis, which took the claims of the book of Daniel at face value, has been challenged since 1890 by historical-critical scholarship. In following Porphyry, the third century A.D. Neoplatonist enemy of Christianity,2 historical-critical scholars assume