Journals of Thomas Merton
By: Thomas Merton.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco
Published: 1995
Place of publication: San Francisco, Calif
Language: eng
Number of pages: 501
Subjects: Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968 -- Diaries.; Trappists -- United States -- Biography.
Description: The fourth volume of Thomas Merton's complete journals, one of his final literary legacies, springs from three hundred handwritten pages that capture - in candid, lively, deeply revealing passages - the growing unrest of the 1960s, which Merton witnessed within himself as plainly as in the changing culture around him.

In these decisive years, 1960-1963, Merton, now in his late forties and frequently working in a new hermitage at the Abbey of Gethsemani, finds himself struggling between his longing for a private, spiritual life and the irresistible pull of social concerns.

Precisely when he longs for more solitude, and convinces himself he should cut back on his writing, Merton begins asking complex questions about contemporary culture ("the 'world' with its funny pants, of which I do not know the name, its sandals and sunglasses"), war, and the Church's role in society.

Thus, despite his resistance, he is drawn into the world where his celebrity and growing concern for social issues fuel his writings on civil rights, nonviolence, and pacifism and lead him into conflict with those who urge him to leave moral issues to bishops and theologians.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: v. 1. Run to the mountain / edited by Patrick Hart; title: v. 2. Entering the silence / edited by Jonathan Montaldo; title: v. 3. A search for solitude / edited by Lawrence S. Cunningham; title: v. 4. Turning toward the world / edited by Victor A. Kramer; title: v. 5. Dancing in the water of life / edited by Robert E. Daggy; title: v. 6. Learning to love / edited by Christine M. Bochen; title: v. 7. The other side of the mountain / edited by Patrick Hart.