Thomas Merton’s Paradise Journey: Writings on Contemplation
Overview
Thomas Merton is recognized for his exploration of contemplation. In this book, renowned Merton scholar William H. Shannon explores the development of Merton’s meditations on the subject, tracing the evolution of his thoughts from What is Contemplation? to his later works on Eastern religions. This book also includes excerpts from The Inner Experience. Merton had requested that this text never be published, meaning that the excerpts are normally only available to those with access to the original manuscript. Shannon not only includes the excerpts, but provides insightful commentary.
Top Highlights
“The human story after the fall is the long arduous journey back to paradise. The way of that journey is contemplation. It is an interior journey, whereby we journey into our own depths and discover our true self and discover it in God.” (Page 3)
“So we can see the real self reflected in what we do, but the real self as it truly is can only be grasped in an intuitive darkness that coincides in some mysterious way with the intuition of the reality of God.” (Page 17)
“Merton sees the story of the fall from paradise in Genesis as mythologizing the alienation we all experience in our existence. For Merton it is a fall from the contemplative state:20 women and men experience a fragmentation of the human spirit and the loss of their original unity with God, with one another, with all humanity and indeed with all the cosmos.” (Pages 7–8)
“The God who in a certain sense is ‘known’ in the articles of faith is ‘known as unknown’ beyond those articles” (Page 11)
“Apophaticism is the contemplative tradition of darkness and negation” (Page 14)
- Title: Thomas Merton’s Paradise Journey: Writings on Contemplation
- Author: William H. Shannon
- Publishers: Burns and Oates, St. Anthony Messenger Press
- Print Publication Date: 2000
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Contemplation › History of doctrines--20th century; Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968
- ISBNs: 086012309, 0867163488, 9780867163483
- Resource ID: LLS:THMSMRTNPRDJRN
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T21:01:19Z