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Thomas Merton and the Monastic Vision (Library of Religious Biography Series)

Name: Thomas Merton and the Monastic Vision (Library of Religious Biography Series)
Author: Lawrence S. Cunningham
ISBN: 9780802802224

by Lawrence S. Cunningham, Mark A. Noll (Editor), Abbot Timothy Kelly

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Overview

Taking up where Merton's own Seven Storey Mountain ends, this penetrating biography by Lawrence Cunningham explores Merton's monastic life and his subsequent growth into a modern-day spiritual master.

Though the basic story of Thomas Merton's life may be well known, the details of his spiritual development are less familiar. Cunningham shows that Merton's prolific writings and his continuing influence can only be understood against the background of his contemplative experience as a Trappist monk. "If one does not understand Merton as a monk," writes Cunningham, "one does not understand Merton at all."

Merton emerges from this balanced and reliable account as an extraordinary Christian seeker and pioneer whose faith in the power of the contemplative life remains highly relevant today.

Synopsis

Taking up where Merton s own Seven Storey Mountain ends, this penetrating biography by Lawrence Cunningham explores Merton s monastic life and his subsequent growth into a modern-day spiritual master.

Though the basic story of Thomas Merton's life may be well known, the details of his spiritual development are less familiar. Cunningham shows that Merton s prolific writings and his continuing influence can only be understood against the background of his contemplative experience as a Trappist monk. "If one does not understand Merton as a monk," writes Cunningham, "one does not understand Merton at all."

Merton emerges from this balanced and reliable account as an extraordinary Christian seeker and pioneer whose faith in the power of the contemplative life remains highly relevant today.

The Tablet (U.K.)

Professor Cunningham's new biography is a comprehensive and masterly study of Merton's writings and the development of his thought. It stands as the most rounded and sophisticated intellectual biography of Merton now available. On every page, it invites the reader to engage seriously with the burning intensity of Merton's restless search for truth. His presentation of the influences on Merton's mind is one of the most striking and valuable features of this book.... The 15-page bibliography is itself a brilliant and invaluable analytical essay on both Merton's own work and the books about him.

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Editorials

Choice

The most famous monk of the 20th century spawned an industry of biographical works: several, good; some, whimsical; others, dreadful. Cunningham's is among the best. One understands Merton as a monk or not at all, and that is how Cunningham frames the book. Merton kept careful journals, carried on extensive correspondence (with everyone) and published widely. Cunningham is thoroughly conversant with the entire written record and makes good use of it throughout, without becoming pedantic.... This book is a readable, reliable start to the reading of Merton himself. Recommended for general readers and for all academic levels.

The Tablet (U.K.)

Booknews

Cunningham (theology, U. of Notre Dame) explores Merton's monastic life and his subsequent growth into a modern-day spiritual master. Starting from Merton's entrance into the Abbey of Gethsemani in 1941, he highlights the development of Merton's monastic life against the cultural background of the American experience and the vast upheavals in the Roman Catholic Church, thus showing how his writings and continuing influence can only be understood against the background of his contemplative experience as a Trappist monk. Father Timothy Kelley, the current abbot of the Abbey of Gethsemani and a former novice under Merton, provides a foreword. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)