Thomas Merton Peacemaker


Book Description




Seeds of Destruction


Book Description

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) is one of the foremost spiritual thinkers of the twentieth century. Though he lived a mostly solitary existence as a Trappist monk, he had a dynamic impact on world affairs through his writing. An outspoken proponent of the antiwar and civil rights movements, he was both hailed as a prophet and castigated for his social criticism. He was also unique among religious leaders in his embrace of Eastern mysticism, positing it as complementary to the Western sacred tradition. Merton is the author of over forty books of poetry, essays, and religious writing, including Mystics and Zen Masters, and The Seven Story Mountain, for which he is best known. His work continues to be widely read to this day.




The Root of War is Fear


Book Description

Providing an intimate and timely view of Merton, this book traces the theme of peace and nonviolence in Merton's life and writings, drawing in particular on extensive correspondence with Jim Forest, a Merton biographer.




Thomas Merton


Book Description

This volume provides a broad cross-section of Merton's work as an essayist, collecting pieces that are characteristic examples of his astonishing output and the fantastic breadth of his interests. The essays range from the wisdom of the desert fathers to the novels of Faulkner and Camus, from interreligious dialogue to racial justice.




The Hidden Ground of Love


Book Description

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) is the most admired of all American Catholic writers. His journals have recently been published to wide acclaim. The collection of Merton's letters in The Hidden Ground of Love were selected and edited by William H. Shannon.




The Social Thought of Thomas Merton


Book Description

This new edition traces the evolution of Thomas Merton's social thought, particularly as it evolved toward a way of nonviolence and peacemaking grounded in contemplation and Christian love. It identifies the social context that shaped Merton, including civil rights and racism, the Vietnam War, and a growing nuclear threat. And it explores the religious influences and experiences that shaped Merton, including Catholic social teaching--particularly Pope John XXIII's encyclical letter Pacem in Terris ( Peace on Earth )--the words and actions of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., the practice of contemplation and Zen, and Merton's own life as a Trappist monk.




Passion for Peace


Book Description

Essential writings on an urgent theme.




The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton


Book Description

Seldom can one predict that a book will have an effect on history, but this is such a work. Merton's many biographers and the American press now say unanimously that he died from accidental electrocution. From a careful examination of the official record, including crime scene photographs that the authors have found that the investigating police in Thailand never saw, and from reading the letters of witnesses, they have discovered that the accidental electrocution conclusion is totally false. The widely repeated story that Merton had taken a shower and was therefore wet when he touched a lethal faulty fan was made up several years after the event and is completely contradicted by the evidence. Hugh Turley and David Martin identify four individuals as the primary promoters of the false accidental electrocution narrative. Another person, they show, should have been treated as a murder suspect. The most likely suspect in plotting Merton's murder, a man who was a much stronger force for peace than most people realize, they identify as the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States government. Thomas Merton was the most important Roman Catholic spiritual and anti-warfare-state writer of the 20th century. To date, he has been the subject of 28 biographies and numerous other books. Remarkably, up to now no one has looked critically at the mysterious circumstances surrounding his sudden death in Thailand. From its publication date in the 50th anniversary of his death, into the foreseeable future, this carefully researched work will be the definitive, authoritative book on how Thomas Merton died.




Thomas Merton


Book Description

Thomas Merton: Social Critic organizes and critically analyzes the social thought of the Cistercian monk who has become an internationally known symbol of the spiritual element in man. The author evaluated all of Merton's writings, published and unpublished, then discussed his interpretations with Merton personally. The result is a perceptive relation of Merton's social thought to its genesis in his own life experiences and contemplation, a faithful rendering of Merton's thought on the problems of our time. Merton, the author makes clear, called for a spiritual, social, and religious union. It was a poetic and sometimes unimplemented solution to alienation and division, a valid and authentic, if at times limited, response to the contemporary chaos. This study will be greeted by a strong reaction from Mertonians everywhere.