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Mystic · Contemporary

Thomas Merton

1915–1968 · Cistercian contemplative; interreligious dialogue

Catholic Latin

Convert (1938); Trappist of Gethsemani from 1941; died accidentally in Bangkok at an interreligious monastic meeting.

The Trappist whose “Seven Storey Mountain” (1948) became the century's most read conversion story, and who wrote on contemplation (“New Seeds of Contemplation”), the Desert Fathers, the Cistercian tradition and the spiritual life with rare clarity. In his last decade he turned to social criticism, nuclear pacifism, civil rights and dialogue with Zen Buddhism, Sufism and Taoism, while remaining a monk under obedience.

Why he matters: Brought the contemplative tradition to millions of modern readers and gave the Church a model of monastic engagement with the world and with other religions; his early works remain standard spiritual reading.

Where to be careful

His late writings on Zen and Eastern religions, his affair with a nurse in 1966, and his sometimes uncritical enthusiasm for non-Christian contemplative methods require the discernment of the CDF's 1989 Letter on Christian Meditation; prefer the Merton of 1948 to 1962.

Reading

  • The Seven Storey Mountain
    Thomas Merton · The conversion story.
    Journal
  • New Seeds of Contemplation
    Thomas Merton · His best book on prayer.
    Journal
  • Letter on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation
    Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1989 · The discernment to apply to his later interreligious writing.
    Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error
I

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology
Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology
How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing
Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing
Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes
Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes
How should we speak of God? Apophatic (negative) way
Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way
How does creation speak of God? A book of signs and vestiges
Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges
II

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Fideism
Rationalism Fideism
Is truth objective? Objective truth
Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth
Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium
Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium
How should Scripture be read? Between
Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism
What is theology for? A wisdom ordered to loving
A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving
Does doctrine develop? A living development
Always the same, in the same words A living development
Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized
A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized
III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul
Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul
Is the body really you? Body–soul unity
Dualism Body–soul unity
Are you free? Free will
Determinism Free will
How fallen is human nature? Between
Totally depraved Basically good
Does nature desire God? Natural desire for the vision of God
Pure nature Natural desire for the vision of God
The body and its desires Contempt for the flesh
Contempt for the flesh Desire as its own law
Person and community Individualism
Individualism Collectivism
Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace
Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity
What makes you this one and no other? A positive thisness (haecceity)
This matter, this body A positive thisness (haecceity)
What is suffering for? A share in the Cross
An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross
IV

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law
Relativism Natural law
Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude
Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude
What is conscience? Conscience bound to truth
Autonomous conscience Conscience bound to truth
What is happiness? Beatitude in God
Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God
V

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace
Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace
Who can be saved? Indifferentism
Strict exclusivism Indifferentism
What is salvation for? Deification
Pardon and escape Deification
Hell and hope All will be saved
The many are lost All will be saved
Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? Between
The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth
VI

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Laicism
Laicism Social kingship of Christ
The economic order Socialism
Socialism Laissez-faire capitalism
Reform or tradition? Between
Remake by reason Guided by tradition
The nation and the Church Nation does not matter
Nation or race first Nation does not matter
May a Christian take up the sword? Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence
Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Liturgical development Receive and develop organically
Reconstruct and innovate Receive and develop organically
Icons and images Veneration of images
Iconoclasm Veneration of images
The way of prayer Stillness and the Jesus Prayer
Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation
The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy
Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy
What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato
Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato
The Second Vatican Council A new beginning
Reject the Council A new beginning
When the Pope speaks Between
Resist and judge Every word binds
Holy Orders and the Church's constitution Reformable by the people
A clerical Church Reformable by the people
Should the faith take the forms of each culture it enters? The Gospel in each people's own forms
One form everywhere The Gospel in each people's own forms
What are the Eastern Catholic Churches? Sister Churches with their own rights and theology
Rites of the one Roman Church Sister Churches with their own rights and theology
Contemplation or action? Contemplation: the one thing needful
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful

A profile of your philosophical and theological leanings, measured against the settled teaching of the Catholic Church, East and West. It is a tool for examination and reading, not an instrument of judgment.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.