The ‘Bible’ of Thomas Merton: A Biblical Reading of American Identity in Selected Writings of Thomas Merton, and Specifically Opening the Bible (1970)
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Opening the Bible (1970) is Thomas Merton’s major critical account of the Bible and biblical theology. Writing the book made him anxious; and the first version of the book for Time-Life Books in 1966 was never published. Yet he also knew he had to complete the book. For Merton, the Bible’s message is urgent. In times of great crisis, everything human culture holds sacred must come under scrutiny and judgement. Everything must be measured according to the Bible’s mandate to love God in neighbour. Yet there is a central paradox in Merton’s discussion, and it is this which makes what he says all the more compelling. On the one hand, Merton commends a book which he claims offers no explanations. It asks us to look to the future; and it asks us not to put faith in ourselves but in a truth which is not seen. On the other hand, the Bible is God’s word and it is authoritative. Its authority, however, is revealed in human history. The Bible’s over-arching historical narrative is one which asks those who hear its message to transform lives and human relationships. Using a range of critics and writers, including Barth, Bultmann and Faulkner, Merton contends that the ‘word of God’ is recognised in actual experience and in its power to fundamentally change how people see each other and the created world.
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Aguilar Mario I Thomas Merton: Contemplation and Political Action 2011 London SPCK
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Apel William ‘Nineveh to Calvary: Thomas Merton and a Spiritual Geography of the Bible’ Merton Annual 2000 Oct. Vol. 13
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Baudrillard Jean Foss Patton et al. Simulations 1983 New York Semiotext(e)
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Baudrillard Jean Foster Hal ‘The Ecstasy of Communication’ Postmodern Culture 1985 London, Pluto 126 134
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Buren Paul van The Secular Meaning of the Gospel: Based on an Analysis of Its Language 1966 London SCM
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Goldthorpe Rhiannon Sartre: Literature and Theory 1986 Cambridge Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Studies in French)
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Griffith Robert Major Problems in American History Since 1945 1992 Lexington, MA DC Heath
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Hardt Michael & Negri Antonio Empire 2001 Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press
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Inchausti Robert Thomas Merton’s American Prophecy 1998 Albany, NY SUNY 89 99 44-5; 56ff;
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Labrie Ross Thomas Merton and the Inclusive Imagination 2000 Austin Texas Christian UP 48 55
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Lipsey Roger Angelic Mistakes: The Art of Thomas Merton 2008 Boston, MA New Seeds
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Mott Michael The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton 1984 London Sheldon Press
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O’Connell Patrick ‘Wisdom and Prophecy: The two poles of Thomas Merton’s mature spirituality American Benedictine Review 60 3
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Pramuk Christopher Sophia: The Hidden Christ of Thomas Merton 2009 Collegeville, MN Liturgical Press
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Purvis Tony Sim Stuart ‘Postmodernism and Television’ The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism 2011 London Routledge 156 158
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Rosemount Penelope Dreams and Everyday Life: A Sixties Notebook 2008 Chicago Charles H. Kerr
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Tillich Paul The Courage to Be 2002 [1952] Yale University Press
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Virilio Paul Degener Michael Desert Screen: War at the Speed of Light 2002 (1991) London Continuum
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Williams Rowan A Silent Action: Engagements with Thomas Merton 2013 London SPCK 53 69
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10
Michael Mott, The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton (London: Sheldon Press, 1984); 213–35; 273–279; 337–39.
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12
Patrick O’Connell, ‘Wisdom and Prophecy: The two poles of Thomas Merton’s mature spirituality’, in American Benedictine Review, 60:3; 292ff.
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20
Jean Baudrillard, Simulations (tr. Foss, Patton, et al: New York: Semiotext(e), 1983); ‘The Ecstasy of Communication’, in Hal Foster, ed., Postmodern Culture (London, Pluto: 1985; pp. 126–34).
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25
Ibid., 77.
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32
Ibid., 84.
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The ‘Bible’ of Thomas Merton: A Biblical Reading of American Identity in Selected Writings of Thomas Merton, and Specifically Opening the Bible (1970)
In: Horizons in Biblical TheologySearch for other papers by Anthony Purvis in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Opening the Bible (1970) is Thomas Merton’s major critical account of the Bible and biblical theology. Writing the book made him anxious; and the first version of the book for Time-Life Books in 1966 was never published. Yet he also knew he had to complete the book. For Merton, the Bible’s message is urgent. In times of great crisis, everything human culture holds sacred must come under scrutiny and judgement. Everything must be measured according to the Bible’s mandate to love God in neighbour. Yet there is a central paradox in Merton’s discussion, and it is this which makes what he says all the more compelling. On the one hand, Merton commends a book which he claims offers no explanations. It asks us to look to the future; and it asks us not to put faith in ourselves but in a truth which is not seen. On the other hand, the Bible is God’s word and it is authoritative. Its authority, however, is revealed in human history. The Bible’s over-arching historical narrative is one which asks those who hear its message to transform lives and human relationships. Using a range of critics and writers, including Barth, Bultmann and Faulkner, Merton contends that the ‘word of God’ is recognised in actual experience and in its power to fundamentally change how people see each other and the created world.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 552 | 50 | 8 |
| Full Text Views | 256 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 55 | 14 | 2 |