What can Daniel offer our generation?

For quite a while I've been drawn to the book of Daniel. When something is held up as a book for our generation I start to salivate a little!!! There is a little leap in my heart that in this story there might be something that can help me make sense of the tensions of living in this unusual passage of history. I'm teased by the idea that as I thumb these pages I might discover a way that overcomes the challenges of growing up in a culture that appears so secure, materially prosperous, progressive in philosophy and the arts, and powerful on the world stage. Babylon certainly represents so many of the promises that western life holds out to us and this small groups of exiles had to figure out how to live as part of the elite class of citizens.

Sometimes when I'm reading of the poverty of Jesus and the somewhat ascetic undertones of the new testament I'm left wondering whether I'm disqualified from the Kingdom of God because I find myself among the well educated, materially prosperous and seemingly powerful class of our society. Out of guilt I've often thought to myself..."should I withdraw and distance myself from this secular culture, hide away and wait for God's return". Then at times I've swayed to the other extreme and been provoked by the aggressive fundamentalists that shout and yell and decry a depraved generation as doomed for hell. Is this the kind of faith that God is looking for? These zealots leave me wondering if perhaps I've somehow sold out.

Despite these unnerving feelings there are whispers around me that seem to provide a third way. A way that affirms the goodness of creation; a way that genuinely has faith in the redemptive work of God; a way that that is neither coldly detached nor violently zealous, and yet a way that is still deeply subversive. Can I really build a house here, plant a garden and seek the good of this city? Is it really ok to be fully engaged with the life and times of the world around me? Where are my boundaries in the finely balanced call to be engaged but not corrupted? Can Daniel give me any clues?