Merton and Interreligious Dialogue

The Merton Annual, 2017

The Merton Annual, 2007

1976

2016

This research project investigates the relevance of the spirituality of the well-known twentieth century Trappist monk, Thomas Merton (1915-1968), for a postmodern contemporary society. The research follows a phenomenological approach. This investigation is done especially in terms of his understanding of the inner journey which is, paradoxically, also the journey to God. The study commences with a short biography of Merton, highlighting the key events that shaped his life and that influenced his spirituality. Merton’s concept of the true self versus the false self is then analysed in relation to spiritual growth, psycho-spiritual development, or what Merton, towards the end of his life, referred to as ‘final integration’. This is followed by an analysis of contemplation, a major element in Merton’s spirituality. It includes an investigation of the relevance of contemplation for holiness, the world of technology, inter-religious dialogue, passivism and non-violence. Merton’s prophetic wisdom is also analysed especially in light of the value of contemplation within the work-place. The study is concluded by drawing together the threads of the research and extrapolating the major findings.

The Merton Annual, 2006

The Way, 2022

The Merton Annual, Vol 21, 2008

Buddhist-Christian Studies, 2015

In the last months of Thomas Merton’s life, he presented a paper to a conference in Calcutta that outlined a new kind of interreligious dialogue that has radically redefined the relationship between contemplatives of Christianity, Buddhism, and other religious traditions: the dialogue of contemplative practice. He himself engaged in this kind of dialogue while on his Asian journey, and his notes provided the ground for future dialogue carried out by Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (DIM in Europe), the dialogues at Naropa University, and numerous dialogues that have sprouted up throughout the world. This paper summarizes the main points of Merton’s vision, placed in a contemporary context.

Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 2011

Thomas Merton was intent on avoiding two extremes in interreligious dialogue: apologetics and syncretism. Drawing significantly on Karl Barth's study of Anselm, Merton proposed the medieval monk and his theological method of "faith seeking understanding" as a model for interreligious dialogue. He located in this method a position for dialogue that seeks common ground with the other and a purpose for dialogue that, already obscurely apprehending the truth in faith, seeks the joy of truth fully understood.

2012

This dissertation is about the tenets of spiritual development outlined in Thomas Merton’s writings. Merton (1915 – 1968) was a monk, scholar, author, spiritual practitioner, and mystical theologian. Beginning with the research question: “What is Thomas Merton’s contribution to the theory and practice of spiritual development as found in some of his selected writings on community vs. solitude, contemplative vs. “mental” prayer, and knowledge of self vs. knowledge of God?” I interrogate several veins of literature. These include previous scholarly investigation of Merton and his writings, spiritual development, spiritual direction; Merton’s intellectual, philosophical, and theological heritage; and his monastic and spiritual heritage. Using three selections from Merton’s corpus as data, I employ hermeneutic phenomenology, including Gadamer’s three levels of hermeneutic understanding, and analytical commentary to study objectively and react subjectively to three passages, one each from Merton’s books, letters, and journals. I ascertained Merton’s contribution to the theory and practice of spiritual development in sufficient detail to produce several findings and a model of spiritual development that describes the relationships between the themes of the study (from the research question), some of Merton’s other concepts, and the contributions of other theorists who have studied Merton or spiritual development. Previous Merton scholarship has failed to offer any coherent and comprehensive description of Merton’s views on spiritual development that is both methodologically sound and psychologically informed. The current study successfully fills a gap in the literature by examining Merton’s writings using accepted methodological tools, considering Merton’s thought in the light of other theories of spiritual and psychological development, and offering both a narrative description and model of the major elements of Merton’s approach to spiritual and psychological development.