Examples of Faith and Virtue: Cyprian's Use of the Book of Daniel.

The article examines how Cyprian, bishop of Carthage in the mid-third century, extensively used the Book of Daniel from the Greek Old Testament—including the Prayer of Azariah, Bel and the Dragon, and the Book of Susanna—in his pastoral theology. Cyprian employed Daniel primarily as a source of models exemplifying steadfast faith, unity, confession, and divine provision to address the existential challenges of persecution, schism, and social welfare faced by his Christian community. Key figures such as the three youths and Daniel himself serve as exemplars of faith under trial, while King Nebuchadnezzar is portrayed negatively for failing to practice almsgiving. Cyprian's interpretation integrates direct application, prophetic fulfillment, and especially the use of biblical exemplars to exhort, console, and unify his flock, reflecting the mid-third century Carthaginian practice of treating deuterocanonical texts as Scripture.