Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Thomas Merton

Discipline
Institution
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 1 - 25 of 25

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Review Essay: An Apostolate Of Friendship: Recent Publications On The Letters And Conferences Of Thomas Merton, Paul Pynkoski Mar 2024

Review Essay: An Apostolate Of Friendship: Recent Publications On The Letters And Conferences Of Thomas Merton, Paul Pynkoski

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


Surprised By Similarity: C.S. Lewis And Thomas Merton On The Self, John M. Gillespie Feb 2024

Surprised By Similarity: C.S. Lewis And Thomas Merton On The Self, John M. Gillespie

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Although they never corresponded, and they never met, the Anglican professor C.S. Lewis and the Trappist monk Thomas Merton nevertheless wrote in strikingly similar terms of the “true self,” or a person redeemed by Christ, and a “false self,” the rebellious person one believes themselves to be, but is not. There is very little academic work on the confluence of Lewis and Merton, and none thus far that specifically addresses their shared concept of the self. The aim of this paper is to address this gap in scholarship and, through an intertextual investigation of each man’s major works, fill it. …


How Is The Christian Virtue Of Detachment Epistemically Transformative?, Simon C. Summers Dec 2023

How Is The Christian Virtue Of Detachment Epistemically Transformative?, Simon C. Summers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to understand how the Christian virtue of detachment, understood as the proper ordering of one’s desires toward God, contributes to epistemic transformation. In order to achieve this result, I rely on the work of the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, beginning by mapping out his conception of detachment and demonstrating how it helps one to overcome competing desires and find their true self. Following this, I offer an account of the type of epistemic transformation required to access some theistic knowledge in order to connect Merton’s views on the topic with those of modern-day philosophers and show the …


Review Of Reading Thomas Merton And Longing For God In Haiti: Learning Wisdom In The School Of My Life, Jonathan Montaldo Aug 2023

Review Of Reading Thomas Merton And Longing For God In Haiti: Learning Wisdom In The School Of My Life, Jonathan Montaldo

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


The Martyrdom Of Thomas Merton: An Investigation (Book Review), Michael W. Higgins Jan 2019

The Martyrdom Of Thomas Merton: An Investigation (Book Review), Michael W. Higgins

Mission Integration & Ministry Publications

Journalists Hugh Turley and David Martin are not investigative journalists of the stature of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and they did not have the resources or the backing the latter had when they wrote their exposés of political skullduggery and ethical malfeasance. But they do benefit from the pioneering work of Seymour Hersh, whose 1974 disclosure of CIA spying practices on antiwar activists provides some underpinning to their central thesis in The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton.


No One Is An Island: Student Experiences Of A Catholic High School Curriculum Response To Bullying, Based On Themes From The Writings Of Thomas Merton, Thomas E. Malewitz Sep 2018

No One Is An Island: Student Experiences Of A Catholic High School Curriculum Response To Bullying, Based On Themes From The Writings Of Thomas Merton, Thomas E. Malewitz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This dissertation was an explorative study of student experiences of a first-iteration Catholic curriculum created to respond to the epidemic of adolescent bullying, from an expansive and holistic perspective (Huggins, 2016). The curriculum used in this study was inspired by themes from the writings of Thomas Merton (1915-1968) a Catholic monk, Civil Rights activist, inter-religious bridge, and non-violent resistor (Merton, 1975; Merton, 1983; Merton, 1989). This qualitative study utilized the methodology of educational criticism and connoisseurship (Uhrmacher, Moroye, & Flinders, 2017) using the Christian Humanistic ethic as a lens to examine and explain the emergent theological themes of the students’ …


The Niles-Merton Songs: A Performance Guide Of Selected Songs, Brittany C. Benningfield Jan 2018

The Niles-Merton Songs: A Performance Guide Of Selected Songs, Brittany C. Benningfield

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The Niles-Merton Songs is a two-opus collection of twenty-two songs by John Jacob Niles setting the poetry of Thomas Merton. The songs are beautiful but contrast from his more popular works in poetry and composition. This project explores reasons why these songs are rarely performed, and gives an overview and analysis of ten selected pieces. The document includes a brief introduction, biographies of Niles and Merton, information detailing Niles’s compositional process, and the technical and artistic requirements for performing the songs, including appropriate age and voice type.


Thomas Merton : Evil, Suffering, Zen And The Purified Soul Theodicy., David Edward Orberson May 2017

Thomas Merton : Evil, Suffering, Zen And The Purified Soul Theodicy., David Edward Orberson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Thomas Merton was one of the most important Catholic writers of the 20th century. Hundreds of scholarly books and articles have been written about various facets of his life and work. However, one area of personal interest that has not been adequately addressed in Merton’s work is the theodicy question. Merton never wrote a book or even an article dedicated to the problem of evil. In this project, I examine Thomas Merton’s work to determine if he espoused any kind of theodicy. More specifically, I review Merton’s entire canon, i.e., books, journals, correspondence, articles and talks he gave to novice …


Pure Act: The Uncommon Life Of Robert Lax [Table Of Contents], Michael N. Mcgregor Sep 2015

Pure Act: The Uncommon Life Of Robert Lax [Table Of Contents], Michael N. Mcgregor

Biography

Pure Act tells the story of poet Robert Lax, whose quest to live a true life as both an artist and a spiritual seeker inspired Thomas Merton, Jack Kerouac, William Maxwell and a host of other writers, artists and ordinary people. Known in the U.S. primarily as Merton’s best friend and in Europe as a daringly original avant-garde poet, Lax left behind a promising New York writing career to travel with a circus, live among immigrants in post-war Marseilles and settle on a series of remote Greek islands where he learned and recorded the simple wisdom of the local people. …


A Monastery For The Revolution: Ernesto Cardenal, Thomas Merton, And The Paradox Of Violence In Nicaragua, 1957-1979, Brendan Jordan Jan 2015

A Monastery For The Revolution: Ernesto Cardenal, Thomas Merton, And The Paradox Of Violence In Nicaragua, 1957-1979, Brendan Jordan

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

In 1957, a young Nicaraguan poet named Ernesto Cardenal, recently graduated from Columbia University, entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani, located outside Louisville, Kentucky. There he met a prominent Catholic thinker and pacifist, Thomas Merton, who soon mentored young Cardenal. Though Cardenal departed Gethsemani in 1959, Merton continued to counsel him in spirituality, poetry, and social activism until Merton’s death in 1968. While Cardenal during these earlier years was a committed pacifist, his experiences after returning to Nicaragua in 1965 radically altered his view of social action. Cardenal established a semi-monastic community in the Solentiname islands in southern Nicaragua, and …


We Make Ourselves Real By Telling The Truth: Merton And Aging, Glenn J. Morrison Jan 2015

We Make Ourselves Real By Telling The Truth: Merton And Aging, Glenn J. Morrison

Philosophy Papers and Journal Articles

In No Man is an Island, Thomas Merton asserts that, “We make ourselves real by telling the truth”. Where such transcendent truth uncovers the reality of the self, there is something about the “telling” of a narrative that gives life to the psyche in both the body and soul together. When the process of ageing anchors itself in a formative journey of reminiscence and storytelling, it seeks to be grounded in the reality of spirituality, the very desire to become real. Reality then takes on a transcendent perspective in terms of awakening (to the risen Christ’s narrative of truth, love, …


You Are That: An Upanishadic Approach To Empathic Writing Instruction In A High School Social Science Course, Andrew Otto Davis Mar 2014

You Are That: An Upanishadic Approach To Empathic Writing Instruction In A High School Social Science Course, Andrew Otto Davis

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports the results of a qualitative research project investigating an approach to composition instruction in a high school social studies course that is based on the Upanishadic concept of tat tvam asi (you are that). Research for this study was conducted while I taught a section of Non-West History to high school juniors and seniors. This dissertation addresses the issues involved in the teaching of writing in a high school social science course. Specifically it focuses on the issues involved when a teacher attempts to construct a class that engages students to read and write in ways that …


Practicing Paradise: Contemplative Awareness And Ecological Renewal, Douglas E. Christie Apr 2012

Practicing Paradise: Contemplative Awareness And Ecological Renewal, Douglas E. Christie

Theological Studies Faculty Works

What would it mean for Christians to take seriously the idea that we are called to practice paradise, to inhabit the world as if “everything is in fact paradise”? In the Christian contemplative tradition, one finds recurring attention to the notion that paradise is somehow knowable, graspable, and inhabitable in this present reality, and that this experience of paradise can be incorporated into a meaningful spiritual practice. This essay asks whether, in a moment of deepening ecological degradation, the contemplative practice of paradise might help us learn again how to imagine the world as whole, inhabit it with tenderness and …


Place-Making As Contemplative Practice, Douglas E. Christie Jul 2009

Place-Making As Contemplative Practice, Douglas E. Christie

Theological Studies Faculty Works

In an age of chronic and widespread displacement, the work of place-making—the discovery and cultivation of a sense of place—has gained new significance and meaning. In this essay, I propose to consider how place-making can be understood as a form of contemplative practice. Anthropologist Keith Basso describes place-making as a work of “retrospective world-building” that enables a person or community to see a place in all its richness and complexity and hold that place in the imagination. Following the work of photographer Robert Adams, I want to suggest that what makes this work contemplative in character is the integration and …


The Work Of Loneliness: Solitude, Emptiness, And Compassion, Douglas E. Christie Jan 2006

The Work Of Loneliness: Solitude, Emptiness, And Compassion, Douglas E. Christie

Theological Studies Faculty Works

The article examines the meaning of solitude in the spiritual life in reference to the life of ancient desert monks and the works of religious poem writer Thomas Merton. The expression of solitude in the Christian monastic tradition was also discussed. The self transforms into a bearer of compassion and experiences the presence of God.


Standing Where Roads Converge: The Thomas Merton Papers At Syracuse University, Terrance Keenan Jan 1995

Standing Where Roads Converge: The Thomas Merton Papers At Syracuse University, Terrance Keenan

The Courier

Keenan describes the contents of the Thomas Merton Papers, focusing on Merton's ideas about Zen Buddhism.


Courier, Volume Xxx, 1995, Syracuse University Library Associates Jan 1995

Courier, Volume Xxx, 1995, Syracuse University Library Associates

The Courier

An Interview with Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie / Paul J. Archambault, p. 5 -- Gustav Stickley and Irene Sargent: United Crafts and The Craftsman / Cleota Reed, p. 35 -- An Interview with Thomas Moore / Alexandra Eyle, p. 51 -- Dr. Freud and Dr. Spock / James Sullivan, p. 75 -- Arna Bontemps's Creole Heritage / Charles L. James, p. 91 -- Peaks of Joy, Valleys of Despair: The History of the Syracuse University Library from 1871 to 1907 / David H. Stam, p. 117 -- The Planning and Funding of the E. S. Bird Library / John Robert …


"For Me Nothing Has Ever Been The Same": Composing The Niles-Merton Songs, 1967-1970, Kerstin P. Warner Jul 1987

"For Me Nothing Has Ever Been The Same": Composing The Niles-Merton Songs, 1967-1970, Kerstin P. Warner

The Kentucky Review

No abstract provided.


Robert Giroux Speaks About Thomas Merton: An Interview From The Thomas Merton Oral History, Victor A. Kramer Jul 1987

Robert Giroux Speaks About Thomas Merton: An Interview From The Thomas Merton Oral History, Victor A. Kramer

The Kentucky Review

No abstract provided.


Merton And Kentucky: Call For Remembrances, Victor A. Kramer Jul 1987

Merton And Kentucky: Call For Remembrances, Victor A. Kramer

The Kentucky Review

No abstract provided.


Thomas Merton As Theologian: An Appreciation, Lawrence S. Cunningham Jul 1987

Thomas Merton As Theologian: An Appreciation, Lawrence S. Cunningham

The Kentucky Review

No abstract provided.


Birthday Theology: A Reflection On Thomas Merton And The Bermuda Menage, Robert E. Daggy Jul 1987

Birthday Theology: A Reflection On Thomas Merton And The Bermuda Menage, Robert E. Daggy

The Kentucky Review

No abstract provided.


Merton's "Zen Camera" And Contemplative Photography, Christopher Meatyard Jul 1987

Merton's "Zen Camera" And Contemplative Photography, Christopher Meatyard

The Kentucky Review

No abstract provided.


Victor Hammer And Thomas Merton: A Friendship Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, David D. Cooper Jul 1987

Victor Hammer And Thomas Merton: A Friendship Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, David D. Cooper

The Kentucky Review

No abstract provided.


"The Paradise Ear": Thomas Merton, Poet, George Kilcourse Jul 1987

"The Paradise Ear": Thomas Merton, Poet, George Kilcourse

The Kentucky Review

No abstract provided.