<div>From the Trappist monk and author of The Seven Storey Mountain, reflections on the way to moral and social change in a violent world. The writings in this work were precipitated by a variety of events during the last decades of Thomas Merton’s life—the civil rights and peace movements of the 1960s among them. His timeless moral integrity and tireless concern for nonviolent solutions to war are eloquently expressed. A revised edition of the previously published Thomas Merton on Peace, The Nonviolent Alternative addresses such topics as Christianity and defense in the nuclear age; the Danish nonviolent resistance to Hitler; civil disobedience; wartime atrocities; passivity and abuse of authority; and more. It is a meaningful and thought-provoking read for anyone concerned with maintaining faith and making ethical, effective decisions in a world filled with conflict and injustice. Praise for the first edition “These articles represent a radically spiritual breakthrough beyond the ‘self-enclosed . . . beautiful, narcissistic tautology of war’ to a certainty of a peace without limit and time.” —Kirkus Reviews</div>

The Nonviolent Alternative

<div>From 1948 until his death in 1968, Thomas corresponded with writers around the world, sharing with them his concerns about war, violence and repression, racism and injustice, and all forms of human aggression.</div>

The Courage for Truth

<div>Witness to Freedom is the fifth and final volume in the extraordinary correspondence of "one of the most original and challenging minds of the mid-twentieth century" (John Tracy Ellis, The New York Times Book Review). Dramatic and revealing, these letters deal with periods of serious crisis in Thomas Merton's life and vocation, giving readers, in his own words, the details and behind-the-scene facts of his personal struggles as well as his lifelong commitment to peace. This remarkable collection includes the unpublished "Cold War Letters" (as well as a complete list of the series), with Merton's original preface, which confirms their continuing relevance in the cause of peace. There are letters to ecologist Rachel Carson; artist and type designer Victor Hammer; Merton's friend and agent Naomi Burton Stone; his teacher Mark Van Doren; the Canadian philosopher Leslie Dewart; the French Arabic scholar Louis Massignon; and other famous as well as unknown correspondents. There is a courageous open letter to the American hierarchy on the issue of war. Witness to Freedom shows Merton as a living witness against war, perhaps one of the greatest of our century.</div>

Witness to Freedom

<div>The second volume of Thomas Merton's letters is devoted to his correspondence with friends -- relatives and family friends, longtime friends, special friends, young people he regarded as new friends, and circular letters addressed to groups of friends. They range from 1931, ten years before he became a monk, to 1968, the year in which he died at a monastic conference in Thailand.</div>

The Road to Joy

<div>This work, originally inspired by the liturgical renewal brought on by Vatican II, contains Thomas Merton's meditations on the seasons of the liturgical year. He examines the words, songs, ceremonies, signs, and movements that are designed to open our hearts and minds.</div>

Seasons of Celebration

<div>From the author of The Seven Storey Mountain, this book looks at an order of Catholic monks dating back to eleventh-century France. &ldquo;The word &lsquo;Trappist&rsquo; has become synonymous with &lsquo;ascetic&rsquo; and definitely indicates a monk who leads a very hard life. But . . . Penance and asceticism are not ends in themselves. If monks never succeeded in being more than pious athletes, they do not fulfill their purpose in the Church. If you want to understand why the monks lead the life they do, you will have to ask, first of all, What is their aim?&rdquo; In his bestselling memoir, The Seven Storey Mountain, Catholic poet, theologian, and mystic Thomas Merton chronicled his journey to becoming a Cistercian monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky. In The Waters of Siloe, he provides an enlightening account of the Cistercian Order, better known as the Trappists. With clarity and wisdom, Merton explores the history of the Cistercian Order from its founding in 1098, its development and waning, and the seventeenth-century reforms by the Abb&eacute; de Ranc&eacute;, which began the second flowering that continues today. Throughout, Merton illuminates the purposes of monasticism and its surprising resurgence in America and elsewhere. &ldquo;Only Thomas Merton could have written single-handed this history of Trappist monks, for it is a work of diverse gifts and skill, an ardent collaboration of scholar and story-teller, priest and poet.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times</div>

The Waters of Siloe

<div>The author of The Seven Storey Mountain explores the mysticism of Saint John of the Cross. The only thing that can save the world from complete moral collapse is a spiritual revolution. . . . The desire for unworldliness, detachment, and union with God is the most fundamental expression of this revolutionary spirit. In Ascent to Truth, author and Trappist Monk Thomas Merton makes an impassioned case for the importance of contemplation. Drawing on a range of thinkers&mdash;from Carl Jung to Pope Pius XII&mdash;Merton defines the nature of contemplative experience and shows how the Christian mysticism of sixteenth-century Spanish Carmelite Saint John of the Cross offers essential answers to our disquieting and troubling times. &ldquo;For any who have the desire to look into meditation and contemplation . . . this is the book for which they have waited.&rdquo; &mdash;New York Herald Tribune Book Review &ldquo;For those who may be curious about mysticism, and for those who may be called to a life of contemplation, this is an excellent book.&rdquo; &mdash;Catholic World</div>

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The Ascent to Truth

<div>This diary of a monastic life is &ldquo;a continuation of The Seven Storey Mountain . . . Astonishing&rdquo; (Commonweal). Chronicling six years of Thomas Merton&rsquo;s life in a Trappist monastery, The Sign of Jonas takes us through his day-to-day experiences at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, where he lived in silence and prayer for much of his life. Concluding with the account of Merton&rsquo;s ordination as a priest, this diary documents his growing acceptance of his vocation&mdash;and the greater meaning he found within his private world of contemplation. &ldquo;This book is made unmistakably real and almost, at times, unbearably poignant by the fact that the exuberance of youth so often wells up through it with rapture, impatience, and even bluster.&rdquo; &mdash;TheNew York Times &ldquo;A stirring book&mdash;the most readable and on the whole, most illuminating of the author&rsquo;s writings.&rdquo; &mdash;Catholic World</div>

The Sign of Jonas

<div>The classic collection of essays for those seeking spiritual wisdom from the religious scholar, Trappist monk, and author of The Seven Storey Mountain. A recapitulation of his earlier work Seeds of Contemplation, this collection of sixteen essays plumbs aspects of human spirituality. Merton addresses those in search of enduring values, fulfillment, and salvation in prose that is, as always, inspiring and compassionate. &ldquo;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&rdquo; (Chicago Tribune). Praise for Thomas Merton &ldquo;He is perhaps the proper patron saint of our information-saturated age, of we who live and move and have our being in social media, and then, desperate for peace and rest, withdraw into privacy and silence, only to return. As we always will.&rdquo;&mdash;The New Yorker &ldquo;Merton wrote of ageless spiritual life and religious devotion with the knowledge of a modern.&rdquo;&mdash;The New York Times &ldquo;It is undoubtedly one of the most significant accounts of conversion from the modern temper to God that our time has seen.&rdquo;&mdash;America Magazine on The Seven Storey Mountain</div>

No Man Is an Island

<div>A contextual portrait of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, along with Pope Pius XII’s encyclical letter on the Doctor of the Church. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a dominant figure in the history of the Catholic Church and the last of the Church Fathers, died in his monastery in Burgundy on August 20, 1153. In commemoration of the eighth centenary of his death, Pope Pius XII issued one of his most significant encyclical letters—Doctor Mellifluus—which Thomas Merton presents here, together with an introduction to the life and teachings of the great mystic. The essence of Saint Bernard’s doctrine, Father Merton writes, is nothing else but the spiritual peace distilled in monasticism, and it is one of the purest and most authentic sources of Catholic tradition. Pius’s encyclical letter draws on that doctrine to bring the highest spiritual perfection within reach of all Christians. Praise for The Last of the Fathers “A study that will have to be on the shelves of all libraries and in the personal collections of all who are interested in spirituality . . . . Merton has provided an exquisite spiritual and intellectual setting for the jewel of the Encyclical [by Pope Pius XII].” —Catholic World</div>

Thomas Merton
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Books By Thomas Merton (10 Books)

The Nonviolent Alternative

The Courage for Truth

Witness to Freedom

The Road to Joy

Seasons of Celebration

The Waters of Siloe

The Ascent to Truth

The Sign of Jonas

No Man Is an Island

The Last of the Fathers

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