Thomas Merton

This volume is a stimulating series of spiritual reflections which will prove helpful for all struggling to find the meaning of human existence and to live the richest, fullest and noblest life. --Chicago Tribune

No Man is an Island

Featuring a new introduction, a republication of a spiritual classic introduces western readers to the mystical dimensions of the human soul, inviting readers to develop and nurture a contemplative and vital sense of spirituality. Reprint.

New Seeds of Contemplation

Chuang Tzuu considered, along with Lao Tzu, one of the great figures of early Taoist thoughtu used parables and anecdotes, allegory and paradox, to illustrate that real happiness and freedom are found only in understanding the Tao or Way of nature, and dwelling in its unity. The respected Trappist monk Thomas Merton spent several years reading and reflecting upon four different translations of the Chinese classic that bears Chuang Tzu's name. The result is this collection of poetic renderings of the great sage's work that conveys its spirit in a way no other translation has and that was Merton's personal favorite among his more than fifty books. Both prose and verse are included here, as well as a short section from Merton discussing the most salient themes of Chuang Tzu's teachings.

The Way of Chuang Tzu

In the fourth century, the wildernesses of Egypt and Palestine were inhabited by a strange breed of spiritual nonconformists: the first Christian hermits. Thomas Merton's affection for these "Desert Fathers" shines in this much-loved treasury of their acts and words of wisdom. His free translation from the Latin source Verba Senorium illuminates their radical lives with insight and humor and sets them in close relation to Zen recluses, Hindu renunciants, and all those who have ever fled conventional life in search of higher wisdom.

Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century

The Wisdom of the Desert

Merton, one of the rare Western thinkers able to feel at home in the philosophies of the East, made the wisdom of Asia available to Westerners.

Zen and the Birds of Appetite

Thomas Merton’s classic study of monastic prayer and contemplation brings a tradition of spirituality alive for the present day. But, as A M Allchin points out in his Introduction to this new edition, Contemplative Prayer also shows us the present day in a new perspective, because we see it in the light of a long and living tradition.

Contemplative Prayer

The spiritual and psychological insights of these essays were nurtured in a monastic milieu, but their issues are universally human. Thomas Merton lays a foundation for personal growth and transformation through fidelity to our own truth and inner being. His main focus is our desire and need to attain a fully human and personal identity. This classic is a newly restored and corrected edition and the inaugural volume of Gethsemani Studies in Psychological and Religious Anthropology, a series of books that explores, through the twin perspectives of psychology and religion, the dynamics and depths of being fully human. When I speak of the contemplative life I do not mean the institutional, cloistered life, . . . I am talking about a special dimension of inner discipline and experience, a certain integrity and fullness of personal development . . . . Discovering the contemplative life is a new self-discovery. One might say it is the flowering of a deeper identity on an entirely different plane . . . --Thomas Merton, from the book

Contemplation in a World of Action

Meditations express the author's thoughts on the contemplative life and man's solitude before God and dialogue with God in silence

Thoughts In Solitude

C. S. Lewis

Annie Dillard

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A collection of spiritual readings by various authors for the Advent and Christmas season.

Readings for Advent and Christmas

Watch for the Light

In this brief and readily accessible work, Merton offers his thoughts on what it means to be holy in the face of the anxieties of the modern world.

Life and Holiness

Merton defines Christian mysticism, especially as expressed by the Spanish Carmelite St. John of the Cross, and he offers the contemplative experience as an answer to the irreligion and barbarism of our times. “For those...curious about mysticism...this is an excellent book” (Catholic World).

The Ascent to Truth

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

The world-renowned religious writer explores the meaning of the Psalms in a facsimile edition of the original, attractively designed, large-format volume first published in 1953, featuring a wealth of photographs of a famous medieval crucifix. Reissue.

Bread in the Wilderness

"This is quintessential Merton." The Catholic Review."

The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton

Mystics and Zen Masters

In this series of notes, opinions, and reflections kept since 1956, Thomas Merton examines some of the most urgent moral issues of the modern era.

Poet, Trappist monk, religious philosopher, translator, social critic: the late Thomas Merton was all these things. This classic selection from his great body of poetry affords a comprehensive view of his varied and progressively innovative work. Selected by Mark Van Doren and James Laughlin, this slim volume is now available again as a wonderful showcase of Thomas Merton's splendid poetry.

Selected Poems

From the Publisher: A new view of the innovative poetry by the late, great Trappist monk and religious philosopher.

New Selected Poems of Thomas Merton

In the Dark Before Dawn

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was one of the most influential spiritual writers of modern times. A Trappist monk, peace and civil rights activist, and widely-praised literary figure, Merton was renowned for his pioneering work in contemplative spirituality, his quest to understand Eastern thought and integrate it with Western spirituality, and his firm belief in Christian activism. His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, is the defining spiritual memoir of its time, selling over one million copies and translating into over fifteen languages. Merton was also one of the most prolific and provocative letter writers of the twentieth century. His letters (those written both by him and to him), archived at the Thomas Merton Studies Center at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, number more than ten thousand. For Merton, letters were not just a vehicle for exchanging information, but his primary means for initiating, maintaining, and deepening relationships. Letter-writing was a personal act of self-revelation and communication. His letters offer a unique lens through which we relive the spiritual and social upheavals of the twentieth century, while offering wisdom that is still relevant for our world today.

Thomas Merton

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