Thomas Merton

Life

Thomas Merton was born on January 31, 1915, in Prades in southern France. He was an American national and studied at Columbia University in New York. He later embraced the Catholic faith and entered the Trappist order, a Catholic religious order that emphasizes silence, prayer, and labor. Within the order he was known by the religious name "Louis." On May 26, 1949, he was ordained a Catholic priest. He died on December 10, 1968, in Samut Prakan, Thailand, at the age of 53.

Work and Achievements

While living as a monk, Merton was also active as a theologian, poet, and writer. The book that made his name was his autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, published in 1948. It is a spiritual autobiography recounting the restlessness of his youth, his coming to faith, and the path that led him into the monastery. Merton is commonly classified as a Christian mystic, that is, one who earnestly seeks an inner experience of direct communion with God and records it in writing. He is regarded as a writer who explained monastic spirituality, including prayer, meditation, and silence, in language accessible to ordinary believers.

Influence on the Korean Church

Merton's works, including The Seven Storey Mountain, have been translated into Korean and are reported to have been read not only by Catholics but also by Protestants. In Korean Protestantism, Merton's name comes up mainly in discussions of contemplative prayer, a form of prayer that focuses on God in silence rather than through many words. Those who embrace this tradition present Merton as a guide to a deeper life of prayer. By contrast, some in Reformed and evangelical circles caution against importing Catholic monastic spirituality wholesale into Protestant faith. How various denominations assess contemplative prayer is addressed in the article on contemplative prayer.

Assessment

Within Catholicism, Merton is regarded as one of the leading writers who popularized monastic spirituality in the twentieth century. Protestant assessments are divided. Some regard his writings as devotional literature that transcends denominational lines and prompts reflection on prayer and the inner life. Others hold that because his theology is rooted in Catholic mysticism, parts of it are incompatible with Protestant doctrine, particularly with Protestant understandings of justification and the authority of Scripture.