Marinating in Merton - The Crooked Mouth

5 Jun 2012 Over the next few weeks my reading for my?doctoral coursework?is self-selected, rather than assigned by the program's lead mentor,?Dr. Jason Clark. He gave us space this summer to pick one or two books and take our time reading them deeply. The books could be classic literature, theology texts, works related to our own research, whatever we like.?

I hemmed and hawed for a while. At first, I settled on reading through Jim McClendon's three volume systematic theology set. I have it and I've always wanted to read it. But that just seems tiring right now. Plus, I'm slated to dig into some of Paul Ricoeur's work for my own research this summer. I think that's heavy enough.

Next, I was going to read a couple books on writing. They will help me improve as a writer, especially in the area of creative nonfiction, but again, it didn't really seem to be in the spirit of Dr. Clark's freedom to read 'whatever.'?

A recent documentary helped make my decision. A couple weeks ago, while my family was out of town, I went through our Netflix queue to see if there was anything in there that only I'd be interested in watching. Near the bottom of the list was an?obscure documentary?from the mid-1980s on the life of Thomas Merton.?

I'd read?The?Seven Storey Mountain?while in graduate school and am familiar with some of his writings on contemplation. I was pretty sure I 'got' Merton. This short film proved me wrong. Toward the end of his life, Merton became increasingly convinced that the life of contemplation necessarily led to further engagement with the world, not further retreat.

At the time of his untimely death in 1968, Merton was writing and speaking out on issues of social justice, the threat of nuclear war, and the cold war. He looked back on his earlier work as naive and undeveloped.

This development in his thought and writing prompted me to pick up two of his later books:?Cold War Letters?and?Conjectures of a Guilt Bystander. Both were written in the years leading up to his death and represent his thinking late in his life. The former is 111 letters of correspondence published only after his death. The latter is a meandering book of journal entries, reflections, letters, and other musings.?

I'll be blogging bits of both books over the coming weeks. Thanks for continuing to journey with me in this space. I'm interested to see you reactions to what I find in these books as well.?

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