Biography thomas merton

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He suggested that Christians should rid themselves of "Augustinian assumptions and take a new view of man, of society, and of war itself."

Contemplative

Thomas Merton, or Father Louis by his monastic name, was cloistered at The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani for 27 years. He worked for a time at Friendship House under the mentorship of Catherine Doherty and then began to sense a vocation in the priesthood.

He wrote, "The only true joy is to escape from the prison of our own selfhood ... Much of his aesthetic sense was influenced by his father as well as the Medieval Catholicism he absorbed while in southern France. Merton's sometimes strident pronouncements stood in contrast to his writings on faith and inner transformation, for which the Trappist monk is best remembered.

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  • Mott, Michael. On Easter 1941, as Merton was leaving for a retreat at the Abbey, he was warned, "Don't let them change you," to which he responded, "It would be a good thing if they changed me." Finally, he was accepted as a postulant to the choir (with the intention of becoming a priest) at Gethsemani on December 13, 1941 (the Feast of Saint Lucy).

    Merton had worked in Harlem when young and was interested in jazz and the experience of blacks in America.

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    Thomas Merton was born in Prades, France, to artists, Ruth and Owen Merton.

    He continued to feel a calling to give his life to God, but was denied entry into the Franciscans, allegedly because of the incident with his illegitimate child. He rebuked those who claimed to be pacifists, yet advocated armed revolution in the Third World. He also made a visit to Polonnaruwa (in what was then Ceylon), where he had a religious experience while viewing enormous statues of the Buddha.

    Merton was educated in the United States, Bermuda, and France, since his father was a wanderer by nature and an artist by trade. Orbis Books, 2006.

    biography thomas merton

    Seeking Paradise: The Spirit of the Shakers.

    2004 - Peace in the Post-Christian Era. He led a boisterous life during this period and fathered an illegitimate child with a lower class girl. Merton was well-rounded but not trained academically in theological issues, and he was more strictly a popular writer than a theological one.

    Owen Merton met the American writer Evelyn Scott in Bermuda in 1922, and lived with her until 1925. Both of his parents were deceased by the time Merton was a young teen and he eventually moved to his grandparents' home in the United States to finish his education at Columbia University in New York City.

    The chronicle of this difficult journey inward bore the fruit of joy. The Dalai Lama commented that he knew of no other Christian who understood Buddhism so well. In these things, he also taught one to think, not only with the intellect but with the heart, seeking spiritual understanding and relationship with God.

    In 1967, one year before his death, Merton established the Merton Legacy Trust, naming Bellarmine College as the repository of his manuscripts, letters, journals, tapes, drawings, photographs, and memorabilia.