The French title is En lisant Philemon, On reading Philemon, but it seems sensible to add “of Gaza.”
This is Daniel’s final book, published posthumously in fact, and in some ways his crowning work, particularly as the summation of his meditations on the Trinity, which were greatly enriched by his reading Philemon’s meditations on each of the four gospels. Daniel follows some of Philemon’s methods, without actually saying too much about Philemon. Philemon scatters throughout his writings ascriptions of praise and wonder, and again and again in this offering of Daniel’s we find phrases such as “How wonderful!” So that gives a good taste of this great book — wonderment.
The persistent theme, as in other of Daniel’s later works, is the divinity of Jesus. Daniel says this can’t be “proven” but is constantly “demonstrated” — is there to be contemplated, both in the Old and New Testaments. Above all, I would say that Daniel’s investigation of Jesus’ statements such as “I am in the Father and the Father in me” is really a pinnacle of his writings as he looks at the nature of God, the mutual deep loving relationships within the Trinity, and in particular, Daniel’s other favourite theme, the humility that characterizes all three Persons of the Trinity. To summarize once more, the theme is the transcendence of God, transcending understanding. It’s deeply moving.
Along the way, there are, among others, discussions of the names of God focusing on translations of the Tetragrammaton; of the use of grammatical solecisms, as suggested to Daniel by Philemon; of “plurals of majesty” — God referring to himself both as singular and plural; divine passives, again picking up on Philemon; the name of Jesus; how to meditate a text. A number of topics from other books are mentioned and gone into more deeply, from the Trinitarian angle. Uniquely, there is a most interesting passage concerning repentance as touching Elijah.
As in other books, Daniel includes his prayers, but here they are frequent, concluding each short section, both summarizing the content of the section and expressing Daniel’s adoration. As readers, we are incorporated into Daniel’s transcendent view of God, or, better, his deep appreciation of God’s transcendence.
I am adding the following fairly length excerpt.