The Trinity and the Temple

By Jean Daniélou, S.J.

“The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” In the same spirit of this poetic proclamation by Gerard Manley Hopkins about the relationship between Creator and creation, Jean Daniélou examines two core mysteries of Revelation: God is a trinity of Divine Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and God has willed to actually reside in the midst of creation, establishing the “Temple” as the form of His dwelling-place. Examining the Trinity and Temple together, Daniélou brings to light the progression of God’s dwelling with men, from the self-announcing God of Abraham to the “hidden” God of Mount Sinai, from the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary to His dwelling in the Mystical Body, the new Temple of the Catholic Church, and in every member of that Mystical Body.

Truly, the world we live in is a world filled with the Trinity.… The whole of nature is like a temple in which God dwells. (Jean Daniélou, S.J.)

The Trinity and the Temple combines two brief works from Daniélou’s corpus: God’s Life in Us (La Trinité et le mystère de l’existence, 1969) and The Presence of God (Le signe du temple, 1959). Offering great insights into not only who God is but also where He is to be found, The Trinity and the Temple affirms that nature is never spent because the Divine has taken it upon Himself and brought it to dwell in His glory.

Jean Daniélou, S.J., (1905–1974) was one of the leading theologians of the twentieth century. Renowned for his scholarship in the field of Patristics, he was the author of numerous works, including The Lord of History, Prayer as a Political Problem, and the three-volume History of Early Christian Doctrine.

* * *

Paperback: 160pp.

ISBN: 978-1685952525