Abbey of Gethsemani
http://www.monks.org/
[The monastery where Thomas Merton lived as a member of the Trappists offers extensive
online resources. Among them A Monk's Day and
Merton Resources may be of most immediate interest.]
Firewatch
http://140.190.128.190/merton/merton.html
[Firewatch is dedicated to distributing information on the works of Thomas Merton and on
religious contemplation in general. This group is affiliated with the Merton Research
Consortium, a loosely coupled association of groups, centers, institutes, and organizations
with an interest in the contemplative life.]
The Thomas Merton Society of Great
Britain and Ireland
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/thomasmerton/index.htm
[This site, maintained by Dr Paul M Pearson, provides information about the Society and its
activities, other groups of interest to those who study Merton, and some links to additional
Merton-related sites.]
Studies of Relevance to Merton
The Meaning of the Contemplative
Life according to Thomas Merton by Fr. James Conner, OCSO
http://140.190.128.190/merton/Conners.html
[An article published in in the electronic quarterly journal
Research on Contemplative
Life The author, who knew Merton, affirms that "everything that Merton wrote
was a development of his basic theme of 'What is Contemplation?' Whether he was explicitly
writing on prayer, monastic life, liturgy, the psalms or on civil rights, peace and war,
nuclear disarmament or ancient cultures, he was expressing the fullness of the nature of
contemplation."]
The Rediscovered Geography of an
American Mystic by Alan Altany
http://140.190.128.190/merton/altany1.html
[Interprets Merton's life-journey in terms of the image of an internal and external
geography. Concludes: "In a real sense he came to see Christian spiritual geography as a
mystical one as he became more Christocentric and able to evaluate the worth of the world of
nature and culture with a greater intrinsic incarnational theology. Mysticism had changed
his flight from the profane world into a flight from fleeing that world." Published in the
electronic quarterly journal Research on Contemplative Life.]
Thomas Merton's Monastic Reading of the Bible
http://www.acs.appstate.edu/~davisct/canon/merton.html
[Part of a series of brief statements on the theme of How Others Read the Bible by
Charles T. Davis of Appalachian State University in North Carolina, USA.]
Some Thoughts on Silence
by Kathryn Damiano
http://www.quakerinfo.com/silence.shtml
[The author observes: "Thomas Merton claims that silence is our admission that we have
broken communication with God and are now willing to listen. We can be reduced to silence
in times of doubt, uncertainty, nothingness, and awe. When we have exhausted all our human
efforts, experience the limitations of human justice, or the finitude of human relationships,
we are left with silence. Those who have experienced the sacrament of failure are more likely
to know the emptying power of silence."]
Bibliography
Thomas Merton Bibliography (Zos Imos)
http://140.190.128.190/merton/zos/bibliography.html
[A list of published writings, with Library of Congress call numbers.]