isbell@marvin.DEC (Chris Isbell ) (03/05/84)
[There must be a reason for this line...]
I have be reading net.religion for a couple of months. A lot of the
submissions strike me as being of the "How many angels can reside on a
pin head" variety. Not very useful for the person who wants to practise
the religion.
As a small contribution, I have a request and an offer...
1. Can anyone provide general information on the work and life of Thomas
Merton?
2. I noticed a request for informative submissions on religions other
than Christianity and Judaism. I am willing to provide information on
Buddhism if it is requested.
Chris Isbell.
(...decwrl!rhea!marvin!isbell)amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (John Hobson) (03/06/84)
About Thomas Merton: Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a Catholic monk and author. He was originally brought up as a more-or-less agnostic. He converted to Catholicism in the late 1930s, and entered a Trappist monastery in 1940. The Trappists (Order of Cistercisans of the Strict Observance) are an offshoot of the Benedictines with a very strict rule. The name Trappist comes from the Abbey of La Trappe in France where the order was founded in the late 13th or early 14th centuries (Cistercisans is from the Abbey of Citeaux, where they were founded). Trappists are a good example of what is called "contemplatives," that is, monks (or nuns) who spend all their lives inside the monastery, working, praying and "contemplating" God. Shortly after becoming a monk, Merton wrote his first, and best known, book, THE SEVEN STORY MOUNTAIN, which was an account of his life up until that time. It is well written, a masterpiece of autobiography, and documents fairly well what led him to join the Trappists. It is not a bad piece of Catholic apologetics (look it up) either. He went on to write other books, such as: THE WATERS OF SILOE, a description of life in his abbey (Gethsemane in Kentucky); THE WISDOM OF THE DESERT, a book about the very earliest Christian monks in 5th century Egypt; CONJECTURES OF A GUILTY BYSTANDER, a book of general essays, of which two are outstanding, one on Adolph Eichmann [the head of the Nazi effort to exterminate the Jews in WWII] and an essay defending the contemplative life against charges of just sitting back and doing nothing; THE SILENT LIFE, a description of the major Catholic contemplative orders, such as the Carthusians and the Trappists; and others. Towards the end of his life, he obtained permission to live in a hermitage in a remote corner of the abbey grounds. In 1968, he took a trip to Asia to look into Buddhist monasticism (very good book came out of that, THE ASIAN CHRONICLES OF THOMAS MERTON), and, while in a hotel room in Bangkok was electrocuted in a freak accident. Merton is generally considered to be one of the best Catholic writers of the 20th century, and a man who was genuinely trying to define monasticism for modern times. John Hobson AT&T Bell Labs--Naperville, IL ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2
amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (John Hobson) (03/06/84)
When I gave the title THE ASIAN CHRONICLES OF THOMAS MERTON, it should have been THE ASIAN JOURNALS OF THOMAS MERTON. Sorry about that. John Hobson AT&T Bell Labs--Naperville, IL ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2
ahearn@parsec.UUCP (03/07/84)
#R:decwrl:-604300:parsec:45700008:000:441
parsec!ahearn Mar 6 12:53:00 1984
Well, seing this reference to Merton on the net made my day.
As I understand him, Merton establishes for the Western church
two things:
1. The need for contemplative practice
2. The essential similarity in practice and results between Buddhist
and Christian monastic orders
What do you folks out in net-land make of these ideas?
Joerf@wu1.UUCP (03/09/84)
Joe (parsec!ahearn) writes:
As I understand him, Merton establishes for the Western church
two things:
1. The need for contemplative practice
2. The essential similarity in practice and results between Buddhist
and Christian monastic orders
The nature of monasticism is one of a very few things most
religions agree on. Monasticism is, ultimately, based on
mysticism -- the experience of religion. It thus is an area of
agreement, rather than controversy. How refreshing!
From the asbestos mailbox of:
Randolph Fritz
{philabs, allegra!sunrise}!wu1!rf