Merton may have doffed the rebel's cap when he first entered the monastery, but not for long. Editor Paul Wilkes reports that Joan Baez, the American folksinger and social activist, visited Merton in 1967. In this sense rebel can be used to describe people who ask questions about established ways of doing things. They may see, for instance, that certain accepted ways of doing things have lost their original meaning and need to be rethought. They refuse to be stuck in past practices that have lost the power to meet the needs of a very different present.
Rebels can change the course of history, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill.
Rebels are often prophets. But, of course, there are true prophets and false prophets. It is only time that eventually distinguishes the one from the other. Most especially in his refusal in any aspect of his life to be bound by a past that was static and lifeless. This does not mean that he lacked a strong sense of tradition.