Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was a 20th century American Catholic writer. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist and student of comparative religion. In 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis. Merton wrote more than 70 books, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews, including his best-selling autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), which sent scores of disillusioned World War II veterans, students, and even teen-agers flocking to monasteries across US, and was also featured in National Review's list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the century. Merton was a keen proponent of interfaith understanding. He pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama, D.T. Suzuki, the Japanese writer on the Zen tradition, and the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Merton has also been the subject of several biographies.
Books17
with Eberhard Arnold
with Vernon Watkins, John Hollander, Valentine Penrose, Louis MacNeice, H.D., Ingeborg Bachmann, Stephen Mitchell, Robert Kelly, Peter Russell and Max Jacob
Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas
with Charles Moore, John Chrysostom, Kathleen Norris, Evelyn Underhill, Meister Eckhart, Sylvia Plath, Romano Guardini, Madeleine L'Engle, Eberhard Arnold, Martin Luther, Brennan Manning, Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Donne, Henri J.M. Nouwen and Philip Britts
