Thomas Merton: Insights and Interviews - An Anthology Drawn from 35 Years of the Merton Annual (1988-2022) - (Fons Vitae Thomas Merton) (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This book is the first of a 2-volume set. Neither book is like any other Merton book you may have read. Volume I, " Intervals", includes original works by Merton, only published in the Merton Annual. We are all familiar with his works written with a common theme such as Faith and Violence or New Seeds or Contemplations. We are also familiar with his volumes of journals, grouped by time period, or his letters, grouped by addressee. " Intervals" is different. These works, which have only been published in the Merton Annual over a period of more than three decades, are a virtual " sampler" of Merton works. The essays included in Volume One serve as a kind of roving overview of Merton's corpus filling in gaps and lacunae here and there, but also noting the periodic lapses or historical " intervals" that appear in between each essay." They show his progress as a writer from a teenager in England all the way to his writings on Eastern religions towards the end of his life. The gathering of these writings under one cover shows not only the progress and fluidity in his writing style, but also the diversity of works that he was capable of penning.

About the Author

David M. Odorisio, PhD, serves as Director of The Retreat at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, and is Associate Core Faculty in Pacifica's Mythological Studies graduate degree program. He received his PhD in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and teaches in the areas of methodology, psychology and religion, and comparative mysticism. He has published in numerous journals in the fields of Jungian and transpersonal psychology, as well as The Merton Seasonal, and is co-editor of the volume Depth Psychology and Mysticism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). TK Thomas Merton (1915-1968) is arguably the most influential American Catholic author of the twentieth century. His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, has sold over one million copies and has been translated into over fifteen languages. He wrote over sixty other books and hundreds of poems and articles on topics ranging from monastic spirituality to civil rights, nonviolence, and the nuclear arms race.