New Releases by Thomas Merton

The author describes the reasons for his trip to Asia and reflects on the constrictions of the monastic life.

This book contains the journal and letters Merton wrote during his Alaskan visit which were published in a limited edition in 1988 as The Alaskan Journal by Turkey Press.

This is the companion volume to Thomas Merton: The Development of a Spiritual Theologian, further exploring Merton''s writings and thinking.

Discusses Blake, Joyce, Pasternak, Faulkner, Styron, O''Connor, Camus, symbolism, creativity, alienation, contemplation, and freedom.

A contextual portrait of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, along with Pope Pius XII’s encyclical letter on the Doctor of the Church. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a dominant figure in the history of the Catholic Church and the last of the Church Fathers, died in his monastery in Burgundy on August 20, 1153. In commemoration of the eighth centenary of his death, Pope Pius XII issued one of his most significant encyclical letters—Doctor Mellifluus—which Thomas Merton presents here, together with an introduction to the life and teachings of the great mystic. The essence of Saint Bernard’s doctrine, Father Merton writes, is nothing else but the spiritual peace distilled in monasticism, and it is one of the purest and most authentic sources of Catholic tradition. Pius’s encyclical letter draws on that doctrine to bring the highest spiritual perfection within reach of all Christians. Praise for The Last of the Fathers “A study that will have to be on the shelves of all libraries and in the personal collections of all who are interested in spirituality . . . . Merton has provided an exquisite spiritual and intellectual setting for the jewel of the Encyclical [by Pope Pius XII].” —Catholic World

From the author of The Seven Storey Mountain, this book looks at an order of Catholic monks dating back to eleventh-century France. “The word ‘Trappist’ has become synonymous with ‘ascetic’ and definitely indicates a monk who leads a very hard life. But . . . Penance and asceticism are not ends in themselves. If monks never succeeded in being more than pious athletes, they do not fulfill their purpose in the Church. If you want to understand why the monks lead the life they do, you will have to ask, first of all, What is their aim?” In his bestselling memoir, The Seven Storey Mountain, Catholic poet, theologian, and mystic Thomas Merton chronicled his journey to becoming a Cistercian monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky. In The Waters of Siloe, he provides an enlightening account of the Cistercian Order, better known as the Trappists. With clarity and wisdom, Merton explores the history of the Cistercian Order from its founding in 1098, its development and waning, and the seventeenth-century reforms by the Abbé de Rancé, which began the second flowering that continues today. Throughout, Merton illuminates the purposes of monasticism and its surprising resurgence in America and elsewhere. “Only Thomas Merton could have written single-handed this history of Trappist monks, for it is a work of diverse gifts and skill, an ardent collaboration of scholar and story-teller, priest and poet.” —The New York Times

"With the [publication of this book], an ever-wider audience may more fully appreciate the ... range of the poet''s technique, the scope of his concerns, and the humaneness of his vision"--Back cover.

An exposition of the doctrines of St John of the Cross, the 16th century Spanish mystic, this volume provides interpretations of and insights into the Psalms, for those who view the Psalms as spiritual and those who regard them primarily as literature.

With simplicity, eloquence, and power Thomas Merton explores the mystery of the Risen Christ. Previously unpublished, this piece captures both the author''s energy and his vision of an authentic Christianity. It is pointless to view the Resurrection as a doctrine to prove or a problem to solve; it is the life and action of Christ alive in us. We are a pilgrim people. Our journey into the mystery of creation is in pursuit of real freedom. We are guided by the Law of Love and moved by the Spirit of God to serve our fellow man in response to the Risen Christ alive in us--from back cover.

Of the full-length prose works that Thomas Merton wrote before he entered the Cistercian Order in 1941, only My Argument with the Gestapo has survived--perhaps in part because it was a book that Merton never ceased wanting to see in print.

A Thomas Merton Reader provides a complete view of Merton, in all his aspects: contemplative, spiritual writer, poet, peacemaker, and social critic. In this closely knit volume are significant selections not only from his major works but from some lesser-known, yet equally valuable, writings as well. Presented here is a living Thomas Merton, expounding through prose and poetry on an abundance of important themes -- war, love, peace, Eastern thought and spirituality, monastic life, art, contemplation, and solitude. M. Scott Peck puts the writings included here into the context of Merton''s life.

The Wisdom of the Desert was one of Thomas Merton''s favorites among his own books—surely because he had hoped to spend his last years as a hermit. The personal tones of the translations, the blend of reverence and humor so characteristic of him, show how deeply Merton identified with the legendary authors of these sayings and parables, the fourth-century Christian Fathers who sought solitude and contemplation in the deserts of the Near East. The hermits of Screte who turned their backs on a corrupt society remarkably like our own had much in common with the Zen masters of China and Japan, and Father Merton made his selection from them with an eye to the kind of impact produced by the Zen mondo.

Life and Holiness is Thomas Merton''s classic text on incorporating spirituality into everyday life. Merton here makes clear that he was a monk who knew the world. Of course, Merton lived a secular life until he became a Trappist monk in his late twenties, but even in the monastery he was deeply engaged in the questions of his day. In this succinct and readily accessible work, he offers compelling thoughts on what it means to be holy in the face of the anxieties of the modern age.

Merton’s classic Faith and Violence makes a powerful case for a theology of resistance that speaks with enduring urgency. Violence in the modern world is a complex matter. The majority of the world’s most egregious acts of violence are not perpetrated at the level of the individual—rather, they occur at the hands of systematically organized bureaucracies. It is this “white-collar” violence that Merton addresses in Faith and Violence. Writing at the height of the Vietnam war, Merton masterfully illustrates the disastrous consequences of wielding and promoting violence. As an alternative, he proposes that Christians retrieve and embody a conception of love that seeks to win over one’s adversaries as collaborators rather than crushing or humiliating them. Merton’s poignant reflections deal with issues ranging from the Vietnam War to the civil rights movement and the mid-20th century Death of God movement.

This collection of his prose writings reveals the extent to which Thomas Merton moved from the other-worldly devotion of his earlier work to a direct, deeply engaged, often militant concern with the critical situation of man in the world. Here this concern finds expression in poetic irony and in meditations intentionally dour. In these brief, challenging pieces, Father Merton does not offer consolation or easy remedies. He looks candidly and without illusions at the world of his time. Though he sees dark horizons, his ultimate answer is one of Christian hope. To vary the perspective, he writes in many forms, using parable and myth, the essay and the meditation, satire and manifesto, prose poetry and even adaptations from a medieval Arab mystic (Ibn Abbad) to humanize and dramatic his philosophical themes. The themes of Raids on the Unspeakable are as old as the myths of Prometheus and Atlas, and as timely as the human evils of today. They range from the "Message" written for an international congress of poets to the beautiful yet disturbing Christmas meditation, "The Time of the End Is the Time of No Room." And there are essays inspired by the world of three significant contemporary writers: Flannery O''Connor, the French novelist Julien Green, and the playwright Eugene Ionesco. A number of Father Merton''s own drawings are also included in the book—not as "illustrations," but as "signatures" or :"abstract writings," which stand in their own right as another personal statement.

Collection of essays and meditations on the liturgical year

Free renderings of selections from the works of Chuang-tzŭ, taken from various translations.

These essays explore the coming together of the active and the contemplative life and the relationship of individuals to society. Merton''s writing is both lively and profound as he leads the reader through the hard questions of modern existence. "Merton was...one of the most prophetic Catholic writers of our time" (New Republic). Preface by Father M. Louis.

Merton shows us how to draw out the richness of worship from the psalter and to use it to achieve "the peace that comes from submission to God''s will and from perfect confidence in him".......Catholic Review Service