Christophanic Exegesis and the Problem of Symbolization: Daniel 3 (the Fiery Furnace) as a Test Case

Aside from other strands in its rich history of interpretation, the episode of the three youths in the fiery furnace (Dan 3) was interpreted by early Christians as a theophany (or rather, more specifically, a manifestation of the Logos-to-be-incarnate, a "Christophany"), as a foreshadowing of the mystery of the incarnation, and, especially in Byzantine hymns about "the three youths equal in number to the Trinity," as an allusion to the Trinitarian God. The current scholarly concepts, however, fail to distinguish properly between the various types of exegesis involved in each of these cases and obscure the importance of the earliest and most enduring Christian exegesis of OT theophanies.