Thomas Merton on the Christian Life

Audio Sample:

This set of captivating talks brings you face to face with an intimate side of Thomas Merton—the monk, poet, scholar of literature, and social activist who rocked the 20th century.

Merton delivered these talks in 1967—two years after the conclusion of Vatican II. His prescient words are as relevant now as ever. When Merton published the beloved spiritual autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain in 1948, he viewed his decision to become a monk as a means of escaping the predominant culture. 20 years later, however—when Merton gave these talks—his perspective had shifted. You’ll hear first-hand how Merton ultimately came to see himself not as turning away from the world, but embracing it and exploring its relationship to the Church.

As with so many of the talks that Merton gave to his novice monks at Gethsemani, these talks, given to an audience of Carmelite sisters, put the progression of his thinking—from cloistered monastic life to issues of social justice and interreligious understanding—on view.

Throughout The Christian Life Today, Merton stresses the importance of cultivating relationships with other cultures as a method of better understanding our own. Citing the definition of “catholic”—meaning “universal”—Merton insists on the spiritual necessity of transcending cultural differences. Other topics of interest include:

• The concept of spiritual poverty;

• Cultural ideas of poverty;

• Otherworldliness; and

• The contemplative life (as distinct from the religious life).

Join Merton’s original audience 50 years into the future and be moved by his vision of active faith.

*Photographgraph of Thomas Merton by John Howard Griffin. Used with the permission of the Merton Legacy Trust and the Thomas Merton Center.
**This set was previously published under the title “Living Contemplatively: Address to the Carmelite Sister of Svannah (1967)” It contains essentially the same content.