Gregory K. Hillis tackles an argument that has long haunted Thomas Merton’s legacy: that Merton somehow was not a faithful-enough Catholic.
Thomas Merton
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Thomas Merton can still teach us a lot about nuclear war
Faced with anxieties we have not experienced since the Cold War, perhaps it is time to return to Thomas Merton’s writings on nuclear weapons and the Christian responsibility to advocate for peace in a nuclear age.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Thomas Merton, unfiltered
Patrick Collins gives a close read of Thomas Merton’s correspondence in “A Focus on Truth: Thomas Merton’s Uncensored Mind.”
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
Rejection is part of life—even for God
The people of Nazareth thought that they were putting a local upstart in his place. The sad irony is that they were rejecting God.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk who Thomas Merton called a brother
Thich Nhat Hanh, who died on Jan. 21, had a profound influence on Thomas Merton, who said, “I have far more in common with Nhat Hanh than I have with many Americans, and I do not hesitate to say it.”
Posted inBooks, Faith
The four Thomas Merton books you have to read
The essential Merton is all of these books taken together. Read them all, and in this order, if you can.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Farewell Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the non-conforming Catholic poet who inspired Bob Dylan and Thomas Merton
The death of cultural icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti on Monday reminds us of the many artists and writers he influenced and was influenced by—including Thomas Merton.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Jim Forest’s new memoir delves into his ‘unusual conscience’
Jim Forest’s memoir functions as both a personal history and a snapshot of a tumultuous era in American society—the 1960s—when Forest solidified his opposition to unjust war and his faith in active nonviolence.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
We’re all monks now
Advice for living under quarantine from Trappist monks
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Comedian Pete Holmes’ sense of wonder comes alive in a new memoir
Pete Holmes discovers a new meaning to Christ’s words “Go and do likewise,” not as a moralistic command, but as a call to an awakening, a conversion, the practice Catholic tradition calls the “imitation of Christ.”