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In this article, I rely on religious existential philosophy to make sense of the moral restoration expressed by combat veterans who engage in reconciliation with former enemies after suffering from moral injury. Moral injury is the persistent feeling of having betrayed one's deepest moral values. Anthropological research and analyses of combat veterans' testimony suggest that moral injury may be associated with reconciliation, which is considered here as a manifestation of an inner transformation akin to existential philosophies of striving for moral authenticity. Specifically, it is argued that Thomas Merton's defense of living a morally authentic life, which constitutes a process of moving from spiritual woundedness to social engagement with the other, parallels the transition of combat veterans involved in postconflict reconciliation efforts. Given this correspondence, existential moral transformation is considered alongside the anthropology of peace for explaining moral injury as a precondition for reconciliation, notably after armed conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thomas Merton's interfaith dialogue with the Jewish rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel sets a resonating example of how these two religious figures from the twentieth century can learn from each other and respect their theological differences while still finding common ground in their social critiques, as fully revealed in their more mature prophetic writings from the 1960s. The purpose of this article is to show how both Merton and Heschel found, in their sacred humanism, a final integration between their mystical quest for God and their passion as modern prophets to denounce the social injustices of their time. Merton and Heschel have become exemplar cases of creative interfaith dialogue and witnesses for justice. In so doing, I hope to demonstrate how their interfaith friendship brought them closer together when facing the Second Vatican Council's efforts to write a major document like Nostra Aetate, or "in Our Time". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores William Blake's reception in the work of the twentieth-century monastic writer Thomas Merton. The paper explores the way Blakean proverbs function in Merton's work as a model of social critique. Following Blake, Merton came to see "wisdom" as a kind of subtraction: not an addition of meaning but a corrosive acid that burns away the falsehoods and illusions of social and religious norms, allowing an authentic spiritual vision to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I rely on religious existential philosophy to make sense of the moral restoration expressed by combat veterans who engage in reconciliation with former enemies after suffering from moral injury. Moral injury is the persistent feeling of having betrayed one’s deepest moral values. Anthropological research and analyses of combat veterans’ testimony suggest that moral injury may be associated with reconciliation, which is considered here as a manifestation of an inner transformation akin to existential philosophies of striving for moral authenticity. Specifically, it is argued that Thomas Merton’s defense of living a morally authentic life, which constitutes a process of moving from spiritual woundedness to social engagement with the other, parallels the transition of combat veterans involved in postconflict reconciliation efforts. Given this correspondence, existential moral transformation is considered alongside the anthropology of peace for explaining moral injury as a precondition for reconciliation, notably after armed conflict.

The idea of analogia entis has undergone a long intellectual development and gained unprecedented importance in the twentieth century with the elaboration of Przywara. It seems difficult to correlate the development of this classical theological idea with Thomas Merton (1915–1968). Nevertheless, in the face of the challenges of the modern world, Merton's way of thinking resonates with many of the connotations of analogia entis as articulated by Przywara. This paper attempts to argue that Merton, in his late works, alludes to the metaphysics, epistemology, and, by extension, the methodology of inter-religious dialogue that analogia entis entails by elaborating on the ideas of natural contemplation, symbolism, and metaphysical intuition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Merton, the reason for all conflicts and wars are human sins, especially greed and selfishness. When falling for them, one resorts to violence and hatred. As a result, they stop thinking clearly, start to fear for their own freedom and in consequence stop trusting themselves and others. They put masks on other people, what does not help to solve conflicts in a peaceful way. Thomas shows us that a Christian’s task is to build a world of peace. An important idea here is non-use of violence. It is a spiritual attitude which is based on loving God and other people. It means acting without hostility or aggression. One sees others as well as their problems and difficulties, and helps to fight them. Such a person is a sign of communion and unity of human beings. They open up to people, their desires and needs. Noticing Jesus Christ in others and treating them like brothers becomes a constant challenge. By committing acts of mercy one tries to reestablish understanding and peace in their environment. Thus, they become ambassadors of love and peace, especially among the closest ones. They find Christ’s peace inside themselves. This is the basis of every external activity. While taking care of personal spiritual development, one finds a mission to maintain peace in the world.

In his book review, the author describes and evaluates the content of “Notes on Genesis and Exodus: Novitiate Conferences on Scripture and Liturgy 2” by Thomas Merton. The book is another in a series of posthumously published books by this well-known author. Unlike the first edition published by Cascade Books in 2021, this edition, published by The Lutterworth Press in 2023 and edited by Patrick F. O’Connell, makes the selected texts available for the first time in a critical edition.

Thomas Merton’s interfaith dialogue with the Jewish rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel sets a resonating example of how these two religious figures from the twentieth century can learn from each other and respect their theological differences while still finding common ground in their social critiques, as fully revealed in their more mature prophetic writings from the 1960s. The purpose of this article is to show how both Merton and Heschel found, in their sacred humanism, a final integration between their mystical quest for God and their passion as modern prophets to denounce the social injustices of their time. Merton and Heschel have become exemplar cases of creative interfaith dialogue and witnesses for justice. In so doing, I hope to demonstrate how their interfaith friendship brought them closer together when facing the Second Vatican Council’s efforts to write a major document like Nostra Aetate, or “in Our Time”.

Mit Hilfe der Glaubensentwicklungstheorie James W. Fowlers und weiterer religionspsychologischer Analysen wird die krisenbewegte Biografie Thomas Mertons untersucht, um den Zusammenhang von Krisen und fundamentalistischen Reaktionen zu erhellen. An der Biografie Mertons wird auch nachgezeichnet, welche Ressourcen innerhalb der Religion das Verlassen fundamentalistischer Perspektiven erleichtern. Am Ende bringt der Artikel den Beitrag des Religionsunterrichts zur Sprache.

The idea of analogia entis has undergone a long intellectual development and gained unprecedented importance in the twentieth century with the elaboration of Przywara. It seems difficult to correlate the development of this classical theological idea with Thomas Merton (1915–1968). Nevertheless, in the face of the challenges of the modern world, Merton’s way of thinking resonates with many of the connotations of analogia entis as articulated by Przywara. This paper attempts to argue that Merton, in his late works, alludes to the metaphysics, epistemology, and, by extension, the methodology of inter-religious dialogue that analogia entis entails by elaborating on the ideas of natural contemplation, symbolism, and metaphysical intuition.

According to Merton, the reason for all conflicts and wars are human sins, especially greed and selfishness. When falling for them, one resorts to violence and hatred. As a result, they stop thinking clearly, start to fear for their own freedom and in consequence stop trusting themselves and others. They put masks on other people, what does not help to solve conflicts in a peaceful way. Thomas shows us that a Christian's task is to build a world of peace. An important idea here is non-use of violence. It is a spiritual attitude which is based on loving God and other people. It means acting without hostility or aggression. One sees others as well as their problems and difficulties, and helps to fight them. Such a person is a sign of communion and unity of human beings. They open up to people, their desires and needs. Noticing Jesus Christ in others and treating them like brothers becomes a constant challenge. By committing acts of mercy one tries to reestablish understanding and peace in their environment. Thus, they become ambassadors of love and peace, especially among the closest ones. They find Christ's peace inside themselves. This is the basis of every external activity. While taking care of personal spiritual development, one finds a mission to maintain peace in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important personality of the Catholic space of the 20th century and, at the same time, of the ecumenical and the inter-religious, Thomas Merton (1915-1968) is one of the most important authors of spiritual autobiographies in the Christian space. Knowing this and the fact that from other points of view, his work has been investigated by different researchers from all around the world, we will try to present the aspects of the political theology which can be found in works such as: The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), The Sign of Jonas (1953), among others, which he wrote and which contain passages of spiritual autobiographies. These works emphasise aspects such as his attitude towards racism (a problem which he encountered in the America of the 1960s), war or Communism (because of the fact that before he studied at Columbia University, but also during this period, he also sympathised with the Communists). The author will therefore try to present some practical aspects of his works, and show how they can be used to create bridges between society and church; the answer he gives to the challenges of his time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thomas Merton's "Letters to a White Liberal" identified "dwelling places" in which his readers could engage the struggle for civil rights as part of a larger theological and political confrontation with evil in the world. They revealed this struggle as a "kairotic" moment and demonstrated how an ethos of rhetoric informed by Christian principles and liberal ideals enabled readers to overcome racial oppression. Merton's ethos of rhetoric continues to serve as a clarion call for white liberals and Christians to transform the ongoing struggle for racial justice into a form of religious and socio-political redemption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important personality of the Catholic space of the 20th century and, at the same time, of the ecumenical and the inter-religious, Thomas Merton (1915–1968) is one of the most important authors of spiritual autobiographies in the Christian space. Knowing this and the fact that from other points of view, his work has been investigated by different researchers from all around the world, we will try to present the aspects of the political theology which can be found in works such as: The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), The Sign of Jonas (1953), among others, which he wrote and which contain passages of spiritual autobiographies. These works emphasise aspects such as his attitude towards racism (a problem which he encountered in the America of the 1960s), war or Communism (because of the fact that before he studied at Columbia University, but also during this period, he also sympathised with the Communists). The author will therefore try to present some practical aspects of his works, and show how they can be used to create bridges between society and church; the answer he gives to the challenges of his time. Contribution: The article presents the main aspects of political theology which can be found in Merton’s work and shows how keywords such as war, racism or Communism have been seen by him and the views he has of a potential attitude of the Church towards them.

According to one influential narrative, a significant root of our ecological crisis is to be found in the Christian appropriation of teleology, undergirding the anthropocentrism endemic to Western thought. This article challenges this argument in three steps. First, I present the Aristotelian understanding of teleology, which is intrinsic to living organisms, and which has been suggested as a resource for ecological ethics. Second, I argue that the rejection of intrinsic teleology in favour of an extrinsic teleology first occurs with modern philosophy, in tandem with a new pragmatic conception of knowledge. Third, I provide an alternative construal of the early Christian understanding of teleology, through the figure of Maximus the Confessor, arguing that his understanding of the contemplation of nature is a key resource to be recovered for ecological ethics. I end with a sketch of such a recovery, as articulated by Thomas Merton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay takes a new look at the mid to late century monk-poet, Thomas Merton. A progressive Trappist with both Zen and Catholic convictions and a man whose life as a contemplative was offset by fame as a diarist and letter writer, Merton cuts an unusual, contradictory figure in the 1960s counterculture. I examine his works of modernist criticism and his 1941 novel, My Argument with the Gestapo, for evidence of a consistent moral aesthetic scheme. Merton's fiction and modernist criticism invoked an ironic 'aesthetic of deadness' yet at the same promoted the spiritual dignity of individuals against what Merton saw as the stultifying uniformity of post-war secular humanism. Writing on the cusp between late modernism and postmodernism, his final decade also saw him return to modernist literature, albeit largely 'late modernists' – from so-called absurdists like William Faulkner and above all, Albert Camus, in order to develop an approach to modernist art as revelatory and premonitory of modern man's increasing spiritual impoverishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a speech given to students at Grosse Pointe High School on March 14, 1968, just three weeks before his death, Martin Luther King addressed the uprisings that consumed America during this time. During the same time that King delivered this speech, plans were underway for a retreat that would have brought King together with the Trappist monk Thomas Merton. While we will never know what both men would have talked about or what they would have done, I do believe--at least in so far as King is concerned--that he would have undoubtedly spoken about his concept of the Beloved Community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thomas Merton's ideas about solitude and eremitic life have been the subject of considerable scholarly focus. Employing findings from several recent studies, this essay revisits the circumstances around the composition and publication of Merton's monograph The Solitary Life (1960) in order to illumine a critical juncture in the development of his thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Theologia Catholica is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Este artículo explora la relación del monje norteamericano Thomas Merton con la revista argentina Sur, fundada y dirigida por Victoria Ocampo. Se busca estudiar las ideas de Merton en la revista, a través del análisis de ensayos y otros textos que aparecieron en la publicación. ¿Qué ideas de las que promueve Merton interesan a Sur? ¿Por qué Sur publica ensayos del monje estadounidense? ¿Tienen algún aspecto en común los diversos textos de Merton aparecidos en la revista de Ocampo? El objetivo principal de este trabajo es comprender los modos en que las publicaciones de Merton en Sur se insertan en el contexto social, literario y cultural de mediados del siglo xx, a través de la confluencia en las ideas de humanismo / personalismo.

This article considers the problems of fascism and nationalism today, particularly in the United States, and summarizes definitions of public theology that would be adequate to the current situation. Then three non‐theologians are consulted as resources for public theology: diplomat Madeleine Albright, philosopher Martha Nussbaum, and journalist Chris Hedges. I close with synthetic conclusions, including comment on the necessity of prayer, about the desired character of public theologies today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiritual landscapes arise from a dynamic relationship of spiritual beliefs, ritual practices, and embodied encounters in place. They can contain multiple spiritual and non‐spiritual elements that change over time. This paper offers an appreciation of the diverse, overlapping, and ambivalent meanings emerging from Trappist monasteries in the United States. With origins tracing back to eleventh‐century France, Trappist monasteries are Roman Catholic intentional communities belonging to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. Attempts to establish monasteries in the American scene began around the turn of the nineteenth century. Contemplation, a receptive state of interior spiritual silence, represents one significant component of Trappist spirituality. Like other aspects of the spiritual landscape, contemplation has been reprioritized as Trappist monks and nuns confront situations like political conflict, changes in monastic leadership, and economic problems. These places continue to address challenges and possibilities for reinvention as they become open to shifting social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este artículo busca glosar la poética de la traducción de Thomas Merton a partir del estudio de sus cartas a escritores. En ellas, Merton reflexiona acerca de lo que significa la traducción poética, los modos de traducir, y la experiencia de acercarse a lo extranjero (el extranjero) mediante la traducción. Luego, se realiza un análisis traductológico de una muestra de traducción por Merton, a fin de revisar la conexión entre su poética y su práctica de la traducción.

Given the growing contemporary interest among Christians of all traditions in monastic spirituality, the latter is discussed with reference to the most famous 20th-century monastic, former Protestant turned Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. Despite centuries of Reformed suspicion and disapproval of monasticism, it is asked whether, despite dogmatic differences, there are not elements of this Roman Catholic spirituality e.g. monastic spiritual practices and virtues worth reconsidering and incorporating into Reformed spirituality, especially given the challenges Christians face in the 21st century, or whether elements of this spirituality did, in fact, not survive outside its monastic context within the Reformed tradition.

On the 50th anniversary of the death of Thomas Merton (1915-1968), this article reviews the moral aspects of his work. In his Seven Storey Mountain, Merton narrates in first person how one's response to God's call enabled him to develop in himself moral coherence and ethical responsibility, beyond the obedience to norms and customs. The article also studies Merton's contributions to the dialogue between Spirituality and Moral theology, as well as his important contributions to Catholic thought on the themes of ecumenism and peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing the writings of German Dominican Meister Eckhart (1260–1328), American Trappist Thomas Merton (1915–1968), and American Catholic ethicist Margaret Farley (b. 1935), this essay argues that they provide an elucidating optic for the significance of communal spirituality and compassionate love. Transgressive of dualistic worldviews and shaped by their sociohistorical contexts, their thought is rooted in their respective understandings of the self and its relationship to God and the broader world. Eckhart, Merton, and Farley contend that spirituality is intrinsically relational and communal as they express reservations about dichotomies and atomistic individualism, inviting discourse with Buddhist thought. Living in a pre-Cartesian, yet bourgeoning capitalist and industrialized society, Eckhart wrestles with the illusion of a self. Eckhart nullifies the concept of a reified, substantial self-identity and uncovers the kinship potential of a relational understanding of no-self. Eckhart's God exists and lives in and through a kenotic, relational movement that resounds with Merton's and Farley's thought and creates an opening in our dialogue with Buddhism. Fueled by deep commitments to inter-religious dialogue, civil rights, and the peace movement, Merton focuses his critique on dogmatic individualism at the expense of the communal. His conversations with Buddhist thought renders lucid for him the necessity for compassion, which can only be experienced in relationship and community with others. Similar to Eckhart, Merton, and Buddhist thought, Farley dismantles dualisms since dualisms beget hierarchies and polarities, which, in turn, undercut the possibility for compassion. Developing an anthropology rooted in autonomy and relationality as well as an embodied spirituality, she argues that we need to promote compassionate respect and just love. While Farley shares Merton's concerns about individualism, she—through a feminist lens—sees the danger of the erosion of autonomy. For Farley, [End Page 231] autonomy is grounded in relationality and relationality in autonomy. Thinking comparatively, Farley's integrated autonomy and relationality and notion of compassionate respect and just love reflect the freedom of ego-less Buddha-nature. The dialogue between Eckhart, Merton, Farley, and Mahayana Buddhism voices the possibilities of widening our life- and thought-worlds by risking a kenosis of individualism and venturing on a journey of accompaniment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the dialogues and passages established among three texts: Francisco Zárate’s letter to the Viceroy of New Spain in 1579, Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal’s “Drake en la Mar del Sur”, and the translation of this poem into English by American poet and monk Thomas Merton. Based on Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory, the article explores lines of interaction which expose the value of perspectivism in building the identities suggested by the three texts.

The year 2015 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Merton who was born on31 January 1915. His writings cover diverse themes, which are of value to a myriad of faithtraditions. This article will trace his understanding of holiness and the way in which Mertonemphasised participation in the transformation of the world. It commences with a biographicaloverview of Merton and then Merton’s understanding of ‘holiness’ as growth of the ‘true self’in God is discussed. His work as social critic is outlined and the article ends with a reflectionof Merton’s understanding of ‘love’ and ‘compassion’ – a life before God.

Archivists of radicalism working in any institutional framework may be be touched by the material which they study. In such circumstances that may mean that change is less about insurrection and more about reformation, involving as it does the constant dialectic between being a manager and a radical, unsurprisingly so, for, as Blake put it, 'Without Contraries is no progression (Marriage of Heaven and Hell 3, E34). This essay explores the archives of radicalism which started with visits to Brazil which led to the study of the texts and images of William Blake (1757-1827) and the writings of Gerrard Winstanley (1609-1676). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Soter: Journal of Religious Science / Religijos Mokslo Žurnalas is the property of Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Theology-Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article investigates the intersection of psychology and spirituality as seen through the works of Thomas Merton, Carl Jung, Fritz Kunkel and Viktor Frankl. The themes of spirituality contextualised in human identity, psychological and spiritual transcendence, and the true self versus false self metaphor are traced through the works of all four thinkers. Epistemological flexibility and holistic thinking and being are suggested as methods for transforming interdisciplinary practitioners, such as pastoral counsellors, spiritual directors and spiritually oriented psychotherapists, in order that they can offer care in a less bifurcated and more integrated way. Practical applications, including a vignette and specific recommendations for broadening and deepening personal and professional integrative practice, are offered.

Este artigo analisa relatos de viagem do escritor e monge trapista Thomas Merton (1915-1968). Em tais textos,registrados em seus diários (journals) e na precoce autobiografia A montanha dos sete patamares, Merton se vale da tradicional representação cristã da vida como peregrinação ao céu. Apropriação do pensamento teleológico cristão que permitirá a nosso autor harmonizar, na ótica da fé, períodos de sua vida anteriores e posteriores a sua conversão ao catolicismo, realizada em vida adulta. Apropriação do finalismo cristão, que permitirá, igualmente, que Merton organize aquilo que via como sua própria escalada rumo ao alto, controlando múltiplas e, por vezes, contraditórias demandas pessoais e institucionais.

This article looks to Wisdom-Sophia as a lyric name and memory of God who brings hope for human beings and for suffering creation. The irruption of the feminine divine into Thomas Merton’s consciousness is followed by a consideration of witnesses to the divine Presence emerging from Holocaust narratives and Jewish feminist post-Holocaust theology. Building from a poetic and narrative description of theological hope in a sophianic key, the article concludes with implications for spirituality, the theology of God, and discipleship: What would it mean to “live together with Wisdom” in the practices that shape our daily lives in the world and church? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By education and inclination, Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967) was a politically engaged artist. His gifts suited him well for producing cartoons and collages in left-wing publications. But could he integrate his abstract, avant-garde painting with his activism? The solution came largely through his readings and lifelong friendship with Trappist monk Thomas Merton. Reinhardt's famous "black" paintings embody negation theology--defining the deity by what it is not. Further, because these paintings require several minutes of intense looking simply to grasp, they exemplify what I call "slow art," which recreates in a secular idiom the conditions for rumination common to spiritual practices. To jettison the ecclesiastical was not, for Reinhardt, to abandon the spiritual: Merton described his own "black" painting as "a very 'holy' picture ... an 'image' without features to accustom the mind ... to the night of prayer and ... set aside trivial and useless images that wander into prayer and spoil it." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opening the Bible 0970) is Thomas Merton's major critical account of the Bible and biblical theology. Writing the book made him anxious; and the first version of the book for Time-Life Books in 1966 was never published. Yet he also knew he had to complete the book. For Merton, the Bible's message is urgent. In times of great crisis, everything human culture holds sacred must come under scrutiny and judgement. Everything must be measured according to the Bible's mandate to love God in neighbour. Yet there is a central paradox in Merton's discussion, and it is this which makes what he says all the more compelling. On the one hand, Merton commends a book which he claims offers no explanations. It asks us to look to the future; and it asks us not to put faith in ourselves but in a truth which is not seen. On the other hand, the Bible is God's word and it is authoritative. Its authority, however, is revealed in human history. The Bible's over-arching historical narrative is one which asks those who hear its message to transform lives and human relationships. Using a range of critics and writers, including Barth, Bultmann and Faulkner, Merton contends that the 'word of God' is recognised in actual experience and in its power to fundamentally change how people see each other and the created world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]