The Intimate Merton: Thomas Merton's Life from His Journals - Softcover

Merton, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745952348 ISBN 13: 9780745952345

Publisher: Lion Books, 2006

Synopsis

Thomas Merton's searingly honest and visionary writing has the power to inspire believers and non-believers alike. From within one of the strictest monastic orders, he campaigned for social justice and peace, wrote poetry, a play and popular books on the spiritual life, as well as essays engaging his passionate interests in religion, world literature, politics and culture. His writing continues to have enormous influence on readers of all ages. This selection from his journals (originally published in seven volumes) is a powerful chronological presentation of his life. By turns inspiringly profound, breathtakingly beautiful and hauntingly moving, Merton here describes the daily sadness and joys of his relentless search to know God.

About this title

Review

Thomas Merton is one of the world's most famous monks, but can a monk be famous and still be a monk? Merton is captivating because he is a contradiction. He wrestled with his vocation to be a Trappist monk, hidden in the Kentucky woods, and his call to be a writer. Voicing the struggle in his journal, Merton quotes the Chinese sage Chuang Tzu, "Who can free himself from achievement and from fame, descend and be lost amid the masses of men...such is the perfect man."

Merton kept a journal from the age of 16, and this selection from its seven volumes shows him struggling almost daily with the clash between his monastic vocation and his desire to move on a bigger stage. Lovers of Merton will love this book; those who view him with more scepticism will find it hard not to be attracted by his clear style and pursuit of an innocent vision. Edited by Patrick Hart, a fellow monk at Merton's old monastery, and Jonathan Montaldo, the director of the Thomas Merton Centre, the book redacts Merton's journals to a fascinating chronicle of his life from just before he entered the monastery to the day of his death in an electrical accident in Bangkok. Eight pages of black and white photos capture the zest and spirituality of the man, while a complete index illustrates the wide range of his reading and friendships. Together with a handsome design and solid feel they make The Intimate Merton an excellent companion to Merton's classic autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain. --Dwight Longenecker

About the Author

THOMAS MERTON (1915 - 1968) is one of the 20th century's great spiritual mystics. Through his books, poems and other writings he detailed his conversion from a hedonistic youth to Catholicisim in his 20s to his subsequent life as a Trappist monk and hermit. Throughout his life he maintained a passionate interest in the great causes of his day - social justice, anti-war campaign and inter-religious dialogue.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lion Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0745952348
• ISBN 13: 9780745952345
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 448