“What Martin Luther King was to the civil rights movement and what Henry Ford was to the automobile, Thomas Merton is to contemplative prayer. Merton has been called “the most influential proponent of traditional monasticism in American history” (Ursula King, Christian Mystics, p. The Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Justice carries on this philosophy. He was closely associated with the pacifist anti-Americans Daniel and Philip Berrigan and Dorothy Day. Merton was involved with the peace movement during the Vietnam War. His books have been translated into at least 29 languages. It has been continually in print since 1948. His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, sold 600,000 hardbound copies in its first year and millions of copies since. Nearly 70 of his books were published during his lifetime or posthumously.

Richard Foster quotes Merton at least 14 times in his popular book Celebration of Discipline.

T homas Merton (1915-68), was a Roman Catholic Trappist monk whose writings are influential within Catholicism, the New Age movement, the peace movement, as well as the centering prayer movement that lies at the heart of the emerging church and that is permeating evangelicalism.

This book is available from Way of Life Literature, P.O. NEXT: Handout 1: Community of Wholeness Scenariosĭownload all of A Place of Wholeness (Word) ( PDF) to edit or print.The following is excerpted from our book Contemplative Mysticism: A Powerful Ecumenical Bond.The bell stand also appeared in it, clearly, beyond doubt.Įncountered the hidden potential in the wood When the right tree appeared before my eyes, To see the trees in their own natural state. 'By this time all thought of your Highness I fasted in order to set my heart at rest.Īfter five days, I had forgotten praise or criticism.Īfter seven days I had forgotten my body with all its limbs. When I began to think about the work you commanded The prince of Lu said to the master carver: Khing, the master carver, made a bell standĪll who saw it were astounded. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. 'The Woodcarver' by Thomas Merton, from The Way of Chuang Tzu, copyright (C) 1965 by The Abbey of Gethsemani.

Merton chuang tzu