Faith and Violence - by Thomas Merton (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Merton's classic Faith and Violence makes a powerful case for a theology of resistance that speaks with enduring urgency.

Violence in the modern world is a complex matter. The majority of the world's most egregious acts of violence are not perpetrated at the level of the individual--rather, they occur at the hands of systematically organized bureaucracies. It is this "white-collar" violence that Merton addresses in Faith and Violence. Writing at the height of the Vietnam war, Merton masterfully illustrates the disastrous consequences of wielding and promoting violence. As an alternative, he proposes that Christians retrieve and embody a conception of love that seeks to win over one's adversaries as collaborators rather than crushing or humiliating them. Merton's poignant reflections deal with issues ranging from the Vietnam War to the civil rights movement and the mid-20th century Death of God movement.

Review Quotes

"Faith and Violence is a Merton reader for our time. . . . Its thrust is simple: that 'theology today needs to focus carefully upon the crucial problem of violence.' Carefully and crucial are the key words there--the ones that interiorly bind together the pieces collected in the volume. The pieces, in turn, attempt to give a wide, interior acquaintance with the violence that Christianity has made peace with in the West. . . . Merton's ability to mine [his themes] is often startling--and taken as a whole his is a valuable sourcebook in an area (theology and violence) that inspires much alarm and dogmatism, but little open and perdurable thought." --New Book Review

"Although it comes from a man who has chosen a life of silence and contemplation, this is an impassioned book, showing that the cloister may be a retreat from, but not necessarily an escape from the world, if one is genuinely committed to the Christian faith. Merton's chief concern is not with the haphazard violence of oppressed individuals that is expressed in riots but with what he calls 'white-collar violence, the systematically organized bureaucratic and technological destruction of man. . . . His thinking is radical, but unless one is committed to the belief that the status quo is the will of God, what he proposes deserves serious consideration." --Pulpit Digest

"Merton . . . provided a theology of Christian concern and commentary that America and the church in America desperately needs. This book is valuable for an authentic Christian testimony on the tragic years of the 1960's." --Christian Living

"Thomas Merton's courage, honesty and concern for all humanity and for his own people particularly is so terrifyingly positive that many of his own country and faith might find him extremely disconcerting. That surely is his strength. Faith and Violence is a meaningful book--direct and powerful--to which young minds in schools and colleges of this country should be exposed, both for its profound ideas and for the rich variety of its English prose style." --The Courier-Journal & Times

About the Author

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani for twenty-seven years, serving as Novice Master for over a decade.