A study of space in Daniel 1

Abstract

In Daniel 1 the Babylonian court presented a challenge to Daniel and his compatriots to continue serving the Lord as they did in Jerusalem. In the liminal phase of preparation for service in the court they created a strategy to sustain their Judean identity. This article indicates how their scheme of eating their own food was not only created from the ideological space of what Soja calls 'Thirdspace', but was also conceptualised in bodily terms as a theology of containment.