“Something Breaks Through a Little”: The Marriage of Zen and Sophia in the Life of Thomas Merton

Pramuk, Christopher

doi:10.1353/bcs.0.0006

bcs

2008

DOI: 10.1353/bcs.0.0006

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“Something Breaks Through a Little”: The Marriage of Zen and Sophia in the Life of Thomas Merton

Christopher Pramuk¹

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Cited by 3 publications

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Apocalypticism in a Catholic Key: Lessons from Thomas Merton

Pramuk¹

2009

Horizons

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In the wake of Karl Rahner, a range of theologians have made a compelling case that theology cannot afford to dismiss popular fascination with “the End-times,” nor downplay the apocalyptic tenor of the New Testament itself. Nevertheless in Catholic theology apocalypticism remains something of an oddity, a message in search of a credible form. This essay explores the apocalyptic tenor of Thomas Merton's mature period (1957–68) in order to propose some crucial distinctions between apocalyptic in an authentically “Catholic,” “analogical,” or “ironic” mode, and other, more dialectical forms of apocalyptic that have long dominated American religious and popular consciousness. Bringing Merton into dialogue with Russian sophiology, William Lynch, Johannes Baptist Metz, and others, the author highlights Merton's contribution to the difficult question of form: that is, how apocalypticism might be communicated in a way that seizes on the historical urgency of the gospel but also refuses to cede to a mythological, dialectical, or dangerously idolatrous imagination.

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Apocalypticism in a Catholic Key: Lessons from Thomas Merton

Pramuk¹

2009

Horizons

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Contemplation and the Suffering Earth: Thomas Merton, Pope Francis, and the Next Generation

Pramuk

2018

Open Theology

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During his address to the US Congress in 2015, Pope Francis lifted up the Trappist monk and famed spiritual writer Thomas Merton as one of four “great” Americans who “offer us a way of seeing and interpreting reality” that is life-giving and brings hope. Drawing from Merton and gesturing to Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, the author explores the epistemological roots of the environmental crisis, arguing that while intellectual conversion to the crisis is crucial, Merton’s witness suggests a deeper kind of transformation is required. Reading Merton schools the imagination in the way of wisdom, or sapientia, a contemplative disposition that senses its kinship with Earth through the eyes of the heart, illuminating what Pope Francis has called “an integral ecology.” The author considers the impact of two major influences on Merton’s thought: the Russian Wisdom school of theology, or sophiology, and French theologian Jacques Ellul, whose 1964 book “The Technological Society” raises prescient questions about the role of technology in education and spiritual formation. Arguing that our present crisis is both technological and spiritual, epistemological and metaphysical, the author foregrounds Merton’s contributions to a sapiential theology and theopoetics while asking how the sciences and humanities might work together more intentionally toward the transformation of the personal and collective human heart.

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Identity, transcendence and the true self: Insights from psychology and contemplative spirituality

Haynes

2016

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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This article investigates the intersection of psychology and spirituality as seen through the works of Thomas Merton, Carl Jung, Fritz Kunkel and Viktor Frankl. The themes of spirituality contextualised in human identity, psychological and spiritual transcendence, and the true self versus false self metaphor are traced through the works of all four thinkers. Epistemological flexibility and holistic thinking and being are suggested as methods for transforming interdisciplinary practitioners, such as pastoral counsellors, spiritual directors and spiritually oriented psychotherapists, in order that they can offer care in a less bifurcated and more integrated way. Practical applications, including a vignette and specific recommendations for broadening and deepening personal and professional integrative practice, are offered.

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“Something Breaks Through a Little”: The Marriage of Zen and Sophia in the Life of Thomas Merton

Cited by 3 publications

References 8 publications

Apocalypticism in a Catholic Key: Lessons from Thomas Merton

Apocalypticism in a Catholic Key: Lessons from Thomas Merton

Contemplation and the Suffering Earth: Thomas Merton, Pope Francis, and the Next Generation

Identity, transcendence and the true self: Insights from psychology and contemplative spirituality

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