Customer Reviews

Thomas Merton: Spiritual Master

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The editor chose most wisely--"Thomas Merton:Spiritual Master:The Essential Writings" is an excellent overview of Merton's writing. The book has great appeal to someone who has never read Merton, or to someone quite familiar with his works.The bibliography included is fantastic. Cunningham's work is a lovely and compelling piece of scholarship.

I read this book as a Graduate Theology student. It was part of a semester course on Thomas Merton. Lawrence Cunningham did a great job compiling this anthology.

Because Merton was incredibly prolific, it's hard to know where to start--so many books, so many topics. Merton wrote on prayer, contemplation, solitude, war, monasticism, art, etc.

I recommend this book as a starting point You can read this anthology and go off in various directions depending on your particular Merton area of interest.

Additionally, Cunningham's introduction is worth the price of the book. He is an astute scholar of Merton and brings much wisdom to Merton's life and writing.

If you like Thomas Merton, buy this book. You won't be disappointed.

Dr. Cunningham has brought together some of the very best classic pieces from the Merton corpus, spanning most of his life at Gethsemani. In such essays as "Rain and the Rhinoceros" and "Contemplation in a World of Action," we see Merton at his literary and contemplative best, speaking from the tradition of theologia as lived experience rather than philosophical speculation. If I were to add anything, it would be something from Merton's collection of social essays, such as "Auschwitz: A Family Camp" or "A Devout Meditation in Memory of Adolf Eichmann." Overall, an outstanding collection. Dr. Cunningham used this book in the Merton class I had with him at Notre Dame, and I use it in the class I teach at St. Louis University.