Customer Reviews

Sophia: The Hidden Christ of Thomas Merton

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After reading Merton's biography, I was especially intrigued with his prose poem "Hagia Sophia" and was sad to find that there was not much further information available regarding this "secret" work, as Merton characterized it. With the publication of this astonishingly good book, that is no longer the case. The author Christopher Pramuk delves into the heart of Merton's mystical approach to theology, places it within the context of the Church's tradition, and shows us why it merits sustained consideration in the Church today. While thorough scholarship is evident throughout, it is definitely not a dry read as it imaginatively takes us through lessons from Newman and Heschel as well as the Russian theologians Soloviev and Bulgakov. This book powerfully conveys to the reader the reality of the "sacramental imagination" as experienced by Merton and reminds us that the forms which guided him on the journey (scripture, liturgy, iconography, sacred music, poetry, theology) are there to guide us too. For help along the way, you couldn't ask for better companions than Merton's writings and this book. It is an astounding gift to those who truly wish to live hidden in Christ.

There are many fine books available about Thomas Merton. There is of course the "official" biography by Michael Mott entitledThe Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton, William Shannon's Silent Lamp: The Thomas Merton Story, and Basil Pennington's more personable reflection in Thomas Merton: MY BROTHER, all these titles have their merits and insights into one of the most interesting spiritual writers of the 20th century. But like most biographies, their overriding concern is chronology and narrative; they dwell briefly or only sketch Merton's intellectual life and theological interests. Finding books that discuss Merton in depth is harder to do. If you seek a more analytical and critical investigation into Merton's thinking, I would recommend Christopher Pramuk's fine effort to investigate Merton's Christology.

One of the great myths of Merton's life concerns his interests in Buddhism and Taoism. You can still meet people who think Merton was going to renounce Christianity and become Buddhist, and that his travels to Asian countries indicates a break in his life with Christianity and his monastic community. Pramuk's book illustrates pretty clearly that Merton had from the middle 1950's until his death firmly grounded his spiritual life in patristics and the Russian theological tradition, and that Christ, not Siddartha Gautama, was the focus of his spiritual interests. His deep interest in the Sophiological tradition and his readings in Bulgakov, Evdokimov, Soloviev, as well as his relationship with Boris Pasternak are reviewed and examined in some detail by Pramuk and reveal a monk immersed in his Christian theology, not simply an intellectual understanding, but a well integrated and dynamic interaction with Wisdom in the Trinity and reflected in the world. This theological growth coincided with Merton's growth as a poet and produced the prose poem "Hagia Sophia." Until I read Pramuk's book, I did not fully understand the significance of this somewhat odd piece in the Merton corpus, but his skillful investigation makes clear that it reveals much of Merton's thinking and should not escape the attention of those wishing to understand Merton's Christianity and his inner life. Though there are theological issues with the Sophiological tradition (How orthodox is it?), Pramuk explores these concerns and finds Merton was pretty good at maintaining a sound theological footing despite the pitfalls.

My criticism of the book? Pramuk's writing style is a little "heavy" and geared for the educated reader, not the sort of writing a casual Christian can warm to. If you are not well versed in Merton, don't buy this book until you have become more familiar with him. Sometimes Merton gets "hidden" in Pramuk's efforts to analyze him. Pramuk can cite and quote theologians as diverse as David Tracy, Cardinal Newman, and Abraham Heschel in the course of a few pages. There is also an incompleteness to Pramuk's analysis, and despite all the name dropping, Pramuk appears to have little concern for genuine influences in Merton's evolution that mirror the Sophiological tradition. Notably, Pramuk neglects English Romantic poets and the Franciscan spiritual tradition, both of which Merton was well versed. A good book to reference in this regard is Ross Labrie'sThomas Merton and the Inclusive Imagination. Though it is an academic work as well, Labrie, I think, does a much better job for the general reader in revealing Merton's intellectual influences. Also, Merton's interpretation of Evagrius' theoria physike could have been a little clearer, and I think the Pennington book cited above may provide a better explanation of Merton's understanding of this concept. Pramuk also delves into Merton's "robust doctrine of the 'true self,'" but I felt that the uninitiated reader may not fully understand its importance. There is a book (I think now out of print) by Thomas King,Merton: Mystic at the Center of America (Way of the Christian Mystics), that disusses Merton's concepts of the self and could really be helpful in this regard.

Pramuk's study is as much a literary analysis as it is a theological investigation, and you will find some interesting insights into Biblical interpretation, hermeneutics, and symbolism. Overall, a good book if you are ready for it.

The book was received in good time and in fine condition...I am very satisfied...

Carla Mae Streeter, OP