Papers by Gary P Hall
Merton's monastic vocation was, amongst other things, a constructive response to perceived socio-... more Merton's monastic vocation was, amongst other things, a constructive response to perceived socio-political crisis. His writing and other works are, in the main, expression and extension of that overarching monastic practice, a movement from one socio-cultural location to another, then a persistent struggle to remain faithfully attentive and responsive to an approaching and present Christ. By remaining a monk and publishing into the milieu from which he departed, Merton's monastic witness became a form of public action which establishes an irreducible, creative tension for sympathetic readers who do not make an equivalent move. Combined with the interpersonal aspect of his writing, the tension is experienced as a type of relational dialectic. Merton's distinctive contribution to presentday theological discourse and faith praxis is bound up with this dialectic which extends from his sustained communicative action in the face of critical social conditions, rather than being found in attempts to systematize his 'scattered' theology or to distil propositional content from a multifaceted and fragmentary body of work. Interpretations of the trajectory of his life which imply that, at some point or in some way, Merton reversed or softened his secession from mainstream society by 'returning to the world' can undermine the capacity of the corpus to hold readers in the creatively expectant tension characteristic of Merton's historical witness and, more broadly, of openness to eschatological strands of a biblical counter-narrative of prophets, psalmody and Gospel that Merton mediates. iv DEDICATION In memory of Marjorie Ann Hall. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank my supervisor, Dr David Cheetham, for guidance and encouragement throughout the gestation of this thesis. The friendship and support of Dr Paul Pearson during twenty-five years of getting to know Merton has been a real gift: for guidance around manuscripts and recordings, and for giving time to this thesis, I am especially grateful.
The Merton Annual, 2022
In March 1958 Merton famously wrote of a vivid sense of love for passing strangers in Louisville.... more In March 1958 Merton famously wrote of a vivid sense of love for passing strangers in Louisville. The episode first reached readers as a radically re-worked and de-historicised reflection in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, a passage which has subsequently been amplified and floodlit to such an extent that it is regularly assumed not only that people know about ‘the corner of 4th and Walnut’, but that they recognise it to be pivotal for our understanding of the trajectory of Merton’s life. In this essay I consider whether other episodes transcribed in his journals may be no less emblematic or consequential than the transient moods and insights of that Spring day down town.
Cistercium Revista Cisterciense, 1997
Words can be built into structures like dam walls, monastery walls, castle walls; or words can fa... more Words can be built into structures like dam walls, monastery walls, castle walls; or words can facilitate communication, even communion. Merton was aware that his raw, candid writing in the form of private journals would eventually be available and open to judgement. The sheer volume of his writing, along with his colloquial style and the unguarded nature of his ‘private’ work can generate an impression of intimacy between reader and author. The ways in which readers get to know Merton reveal an interesting and creative tension between approaches based on mapping and ordering his writing, and those which tend to emphasize pastiche, impressionism, and disclosure.
Liberationist theologies gave rise to a re-emphasise on Christian life as being primarily histori... more Liberationist theologies gave rise to a re-emphasise on Christian life as being primarily historical life, and Christian spirituality as rooted in faithful and honest attention to the immediacy of historical reality. But for many people living in media-saturated, overdeveloped societies, any distinction between actual reality and a mediated pseudo-reality is blurred. Another facet of life in a mediasaturated context is that of being regularly confronted with impressions of destitution, violence and ecological degradation whilst at the same time being further distanced from the realities represented through communications media and their 'virtualizing' tendency. This rapid change in our relation to reality has, I suggest, profound theological and missiological consequences.
Book chapters by Gary P Hall
Das Menschenbild als Abbild Gottes bewahren, 2019
A version of this script appeared in the 2015 centenary publication from the Thomas Merton Societ... more A version of this script appeared in the 2015 centenary publication from the Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain and Ireland. It is an extended meditation on a poem by Thomas Merton inspired by a picture sent by the young Grace Sisson.
Gegensätze vereinen, 2015
Guard the Human Image for it is the Image of God: essays on Thomas Merton, 2019
Reflections on what Thomas Merton's late work suggests about how theological writing provokes rec... more Reflections on what Thomas Merton's late work suggests about how theological writing provokes receptivity to the coming of God.
Book Reviews by Gary P Hall
A year ago Don Cupitt published his forty-seventh and allegedly final book. Then before the year ... more A year ago Don Cupitt published his forty-seventh and allegedly final book. Then before the year was out, Turns of Phrase appeared. In his 78 th year, he continues to write with urgency. Whether or not Turns of Phrase turns out to be the final flourish of this extraordinarily prolific writer, it seems fitting to weave into this review some acknowledgement of the life task of Cupitt.
Conference Presentations by Gary P Hall
Gegensätze Vereinen, 2015
Centenary reflections on Thomas Merton's My Argument with the Gestapo.
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Papers by Gary P Hall
Book chapters by Gary P Hall
Book Reviews by Gary P Hall
Conference Presentations by Gary P Hall