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The Bible and the Liturgy
To a deplorable extent, Christians accept Church rituals as sacred but baffling heirlooms from the Church’s past. It is to remedy this situation that Father Daniélou has written this book. The Bible and the Liturgy illuminates, better than has ever before been done, the vital and meaningful bond between Bible and liturgy. Father Daniélou aims at bringing clearly before his reader's minds the fact that the Church's liturgical rites and feasts are intended, not only to transmit the grace of the sacraments, but to instruct the faithful in their meaning as well as the meaning of the whole Christian life. It is through the sacraments in their role as signs that we learn. So that their value will be appreciated, Daniélou attempts to help us rediscover the significance of these rites so that the sacraments may once again be thought of as the prolongation of the great works of God in the Old Testament and the New.
372 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
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About the author
Jean Daniélou
127 books42 followersJean Daniélou S.J. (1905–1974) was a theologian, historian, cardinal and a member of the Académie Française.
Jean-Guenolé-Marie Daniélou was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine, son of Charles and Madeleine (née Clamorgan). His father was an anticlerical politician, several times minister, and his mother an educator and founder of institutions for women's education. His brother Alain (1907–1964) was a noted Indologist.
Daniélou studied at the Sorbonne, and passed his agrégation in Grammar in 1927. He joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1929, becoming an educator, initially at a boys' school in Poitiers. He subsequently studied theology at Fourvière in Lyon under Henri de Lubac, who introduced him to patristics, the study of the Fathers of the Church. He was ordained in 1938.
During World War II, he served with the Armée de l'Air (Air Force) in 1939–1940. He was demobilised and returned to civilian life. He received his doctorate in theology in 1942 and was appointed chaplain to the ENSJF, the female section of the École Normale Supérieure, at Sèvres. It was at this time that he began his own writings on patristics. He was one of the founders of the Sources Chrétiennes collection. In 1944 he was made Professor of Early Christian History at the Institut Catholique de Paris, and later became dean. Beginning in the 1950s, he produced several historical studies, including The Bible and the Liturgy, The Lord of History, and From Shadows to Reality, that provided a major impetus to the development of Covenantal Theology.
At the request of Pope John XXIII, he served as an expert to the Second Vatican Council, and in 1969 was consecrated as a bishop and made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. He was elected to the Académie Française on 9 November 1972, to succeed Cardinal Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant.
His unexpected death in 1974, in the home of a prostitute, was very diversely interpreted. He died on the stairs of a brothel that he was visiting. It turned out he was bringing her money to pay for the bail of her lover. Thanks to a group including Henri Marrou, his reputation was cleared.
Jean-Guenolé-Marie Daniélou was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine, son of Charles and Madeleine (née Clamorgan). His father was an anticlerical politician, several times minister, and his mother an educator and founder of institutions for women's education. His brother Alain (1907–1964) was a noted Indologist.
Daniélou studied at the Sorbonne, and passed his agrégation in Grammar in 1927. He joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1929, becoming an educator, initially at a boys' school in Poitiers. He subsequently studied theology at Fourvière in Lyon under Henri de Lubac, who introduced him to patristics, the study of the Fathers of the Church. He was ordained in 1938.
During World War II, he served with the Armée de l'Air (Air Force) in 1939–1940. He was demobilised and returned to civilian life. He received his doctorate in theology in 1942 and was appointed chaplain to the ENSJF, the female section of the École Normale Supérieure, at Sèvres. It was at this time that he began his own writings on patristics. He was one of the founders of the Sources Chrétiennes collection. In 1944 he was made Professor of Early Christian History at the Institut Catholique de Paris, and later became dean. Beginning in the 1950s, he produced several historical studies, including The Bible and the Liturgy, The Lord of History, and From Shadows to Reality, that provided a major impetus to the development of Covenantal Theology.
At the request of Pope John XXIII, he served as an expert to the Second Vatican Council, and in 1969 was consecrated as a bishop and made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. He was elected to the Académie Française on 9 November 1972, to succeed Cardinal Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant.
His unexpected death in 1974, in the home of a prostitute, was very diversely interpreted. He died on the stairs of a brothel that he was visiting. It turned out he was bringing her money to pay for the bail of her lover. Thanks to a group including Henri Marrou, his reputation was cleared.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 1, 2020
A supremely valuable study of the biblical foundations of liturgical typology. One of the most valuable insights Danielou gives, in my opinion, is to show that early Christians did not "invent" a typological reading of the Bible, as if allegory/typology is a mere "method" of exegesis employed for a certain polemical purpose. All that early Christians (indeed, the NT itself!) did was to show that the OT types and figures had their reality in the man, Jesus. But a typological hermeneutic is inherent to the OT itself. The prophets express future, eschatological hope from within the conceptual framework of the events of Israel's history. The NT shows that these events are fulfilled first of all in the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth, and also in His body, the Church (hence "and the Liturgy"). Even so, the NT realities are themselves effective prefigurations of the final eschatological hope, where the realities that already exist in a hidden way in the Church will one day be made manifest. For example, Baptism is a new creation, as announced by the prophets, as well as a participation in Jesus' passion, which is the creation of a new humanity. It is also a sealing for and prefiguring of the eschatological reality of the new heavens and the new earth which is still to come.
The only complaint I have is that the discussion of the Eucharist seems very brief compared to the discussion of Baptism and the Paschal Cycle as a whole. What Danielou does have is helpful, but the biblical types, NT references, and patristic commentaries seem to warrant a much broader discussion of the Eucharist in such a work than what he gives.
The only complaint I have is that the discussion of the Eucharist seems very brief compared to the discussion of Baptism and the Paschal Cycle as a whole. What Danielou does have is helpful, but the biblical types, NT references, and patristic commentaries seem to warrant a much broader discussion of the Eucharist in such a work than what he gives.
February 23, 2010
Read this with Dr. Hughes Oliphant Old in a direct study on the Theology of Worship.
I consider this 'Through New Eyes' in reverse. Danielou is/was Roman Catholic and that comes out in a few places, but not in overbearing or obnoxious ways.
Jordan's Through New Eyes begins with reading the Bible typologically and ends piecing it together in a robust theology of worship and sacrament and mission. Danielou begins with the liturgy and sacraments and goes backward into the Scriptures showing how the Church's prayers and sacramental life is rooted in the deep typologies of the Scriptures.
If there was more of this going on in the RC Church there would be a lot of reason for hope.
I consider this 'Through New Eyes' in reverse. Danielou is/was Roman Catholic and that comes out in a few places, but not in overbearing or obnoxious ways.
Jordan's Through New Eyes begins with reading the Bible typologically and ends piecing it together in a robust theology of worship and sacrament and mission. Danielou begins with the liturgy and sacraments and goes backward into the Scriptures showing how the Church's prayers and sacramental life is rooted in the deep typologies of the Scriptures.
If there was more of this going on in the RC Church there would be a lot of reason for hope.
January 29, 2015
This was my second read of this book; first read it maybe 30 years ago. I appreciated it much more this time around as I've become more attuned to how the early church and Patristic fathers interpreted the scriptures. The book is a tremendous resource for understanding just what reading the Old Testament christologically means. The connection between this christological reading of the OT and the liturgical and sacramental mind of the Church is quite profound.
May 29, 2013
I read this years ago and now have reread it carefully. It's incredible, teaching how to see a rich liturgical worship grounded in a whole Bible, typological reading of Scripture. He shows how the Church Fathers read scripture taking his cue from how the NT writers read the OT.
May 17, 2012
Excellent and inspiring!
November 11, 2014
A very enjoyable read as I always find Danielou and De LuBac to be.
July 7, 2021
This is, in my mind, an essential book for all who wish to study biblical typology, patristics, or liturgical theology. From one of the key leaders of the Nouvelle Theologie, the French Jesuit Jean Danilou, "The Bible and the Liturgy" is an engaging exploration of biblical types of the major rites and festivals of the Church's life. Arranged in twenty chapters, Danielou leads the reader through ancient liturgies, patristic writings, and New Testament scriptural passages which uncover the crucial Old Testament typological antecedents for the liturgical traditions of the Christian Church; these Old Testament types then form the imaginative, ritualistic, and dogmatic foundation for worship, and therefore, for theology itself.
December 5, 2023
This is a classic to which I've referred often, and there's a lot more yet to explore. The book includes reflections on Sunday as the Lord's Day, the worship seasons of Easter and Pentecost, and both baptism and the Eucharist (Holy Communion). The author, Father Jean Danielou, brings great depths through understandable words.
January 12, 2024
This was much more interesting than I expected it to be. Well-grounded in the Church Fathers, it talks mostly about the Sacraments of Initiation and some of the most important feast days on the calendar. A bit on the academic side of things, but I think still fairly accessible to anyone already basically familiar with Catholic liturgy. Definitely recommended
April 19, 2018
Daniélou shows the biblical—especially OT—origins of traditional Christian liturgy. The Bible and the Liturgy is a helpful (and edifying!) case study in early Christian interpretation of the Bible and the 20th Century ressourcement of it in the Nouvelle Théologie.
October 21, 2013
Danielou is a very good writer and careful christian scholar, and there definitely is a logic to all of his insights in this book. This book helped me see the very clear orthodoxy of the early christian church, while illustrating at the same time some of the silly interpretations of what would later come to be essential to the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church. Danielou, of course, defends the essential rites of the RC liturgy, but thankfully, in this book, he does so in a very tasteful manner.
However, since I'm not Roman Catholic, I wasn't convinced of every argument as being essential to maintaining a biblical liturgy. For example, I thought the rite of confirmation was very poorly defended, even by the early church fathers. Also, the rite of sphragis (the sign of the cross) was fascinating, but not fascinating enough to be entirely convincing. It did give me a greater respect for the rite though. All in all, this book is worth the read, especially if you enjoy the thoughts of the early church fathers in connection with essential RC liturgical rites.
However, since I'm not Roman Catholic, I wasn't convinced of every argument as being essential to maintaining a biblical liturgy. For example, I thought the rite of confirmation was very poorly defended, even by the early church fathers. Also, the rite of sphragis (the sign of the cross) was fascinating, but not fascinating enough to be entirely convincing. It did give me a greater respect for the rite though. All in all, this book is worth the read, especially if you enjoy the thoughts of the early church fathers in connection with essential RC liturgical rites.
March 12, 2016
Beautiful treatment of the Fathers' take on the liturgy and sacraments. Repetitive at times since it would go through the various Fathers, but still a good read. Will get more out of it the second time around.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews