books by Thomas Merton

books by Thomas Merton

books:

Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton

Image, 1971

An excellent guide to contemplative prayer
Thomas Merton was a monk, and in this book he explains ways that the non-monastic can live a life of prayer. In doing so he provides exercises for the contemplative novice (like me) and warns against bad habits of prayer that are easy to fall into. Here is his ...

The Seven Storey Mountain

Thomas Merton

Harvest Books, 1999

After "The Confessions," maybe the best-ever 'autobiography of Faith'
Today I delivered a gift copy of this book to a widow, "Grace" whose husband had been my late father's closest childhood friend. A week earlier, Grace had asked: "Have you ever read Thomas Merton's SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN? I read it in 1953; and found it very moving. ...

Spiritual Direction and Meditation

Thomas Merton

Liturgical Press, 1986

Sound, sensible advice on the practice of prayer
As one who recives spiritual direction, I am constantly on the lookout for books that make sense of a discipline that can all too easily be shrouded in a fog of verbiage. This is one of the very few books that fits the bill; it speaks to the reader directly, in ...

Thoughts In Solitude

Thomas Merton

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999

Reflections in a Life of Solitude
Perhaps meant more as his inner reminders of purpose than for the general public, Merton's "Thoughts in Solitude" show him to be reminding himself of his mission. As is implied in the title, this book discusses Merton's thoughts about the solitary life as he journeys ...

A Book of Hours

Thomas Merton

Sorin Books, 2007

Short Meditations
This is a book of short meditations designed to help the contemplative in his daily life of prayer. Modeled after the Liturgy of the Hours practiced by Catholic religious, it contains thoughts, poetry, impressions, and opinions, some unorthodox, taken from Thomas ...

Praying the Psalms (By Thomas Merton)

Thomas Merton

Liturgical Press, 1956

Beyond the Liturgy of the Hours
As one who has recently discovered the beauty of praying the Liturgy of the Hours, I have found Thomas Merton's little treatise on praying the Psalms to be both enriching and encouraging... encouraging me to look to the whole Psalm for the fullness of the meaning ...

Watch For The Light: Readings For Advent And Christmas

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Donne, ...

Orbis Books, 2004

Loved it!!
I love that this series, including "Bread and Wine:Readings for Lent and Easter," because it challeneges our complacent culture-dictated experience of Advent and Easter. This is not a feel-good book, it is a faith-building book. Be prepared to be shaken up and for God ...

New Seeds of Contemplation

Thomas Merton

New Directions, 2007

"To hope is to risk frustration. So make up your mind in advance to risk frustration."
Thomas Merton's "New Seeds of Contemplation" is nothing short of life-changing: the complexity of his relationship with the interior life and titanic inward spirituality makes this the kind of book you will refer to for your entire life and may never understand it ...

No Man Is an Island

Thomas Merton

Shambhala, 2005

Inspired and Inspiring
"No Man is an Island" is a spiritually moving set of essays--or meditations, rather--that address many issues but ultimately center on our relationship with God, with each other, and with ourselves. Having read only a little of Merton, I found this book somewhat more ...

Thomas Merton: A Life in Letters: The Essential Collection (Merton, Thomas//Journal of Thomas Merton)
Thomas Merton

HarperOne, 2008

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was one of the most influential spiritual writers of modern times. A Trappist monk, peace and civil rights activist, and widely-praised literary figure, Merton was renowned for his pioneering work in contemplative spirituality, his quest to understand Eastern thought and integrate it with Western spirituality, and his ...

Wisdom of the Desert (New Directions)

Thomas Merton

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1970

Perfect for What it sets out to do
As another reviewer notes, Merton's selections are not as comprehensive as Helen Waddell's, and his introduction does not provide nearly as detailed an account of the historical and literary context of the desert fathers' sayings. This is not Merton's purpose. He ...

The Way of Chuang Tzu (Shambhala Library)

Thomas Merton

Shambhala, 2004

Like a fine wine ...
Like a fine wine, this collection is best consumed slowly. As it is clearly stated in the foreward, this is not a faithful reproduction of Chuang Tzu but a collection of personal and spiritual interpretations of his work. Readers that expected otherwise might ...

The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (New Directions Book)

Thomas Merton

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1975

Fascinating journal of Christian monk encountering the East
This book is a must-read for fans of Merton, and for anyone interested in encounters between Western Christianity and Eastern religions (particularly Hinduism and Buddhism). Merton achieved incredible realizations and great insight into Buddhism despite the fact that ...

Zen and the Birds of Appetite.

Thomas Merton

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1968

A little book with lots of meaning.
There is something refreshing about this little book. The title will seem a bit misleading - if expecting to find an account of Zen per se - minus the Christian based reflections of the author. However, Merton is known well enough - and these essays show him at his ...

The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century (Shambhala Library)

Thomas Merton

Shambhala, 2004

Inspirational
As adorable as it is, it's hard to report on it. Merton here captures nearly 150 snippets of life in the desert, stories from the early church hermits. It is entirely narrative, ranging from sentence-long to page-long vignettes about the lives of those who sought to ...