An Australian Quaker’s Transforming Encounter With Jesus | A Whole Heart

An Australian Quaker’s Transforming Encounter With Jesus | A Whole Heart



An Australian Quaker’s Transforming Encounter With Jesus
Posted on April 5, 2019by friendmarcelle


David Johnson seems an unlikely person to write a book about the Gospel of John. He had a long career as a geology professor and co-authored a standard textbook on the geology of Australia. His book reveals that when he first felt drawn to read the gospels, he did not speak about it to others. Yet it’s clear from his writing that careful reading of the gospels, meditating on them, living with them, and learning to follow the teachings of Jesus, including the inward teachings, transformed Johnson’s life. In 2007-2008, he spent eight months reading nothing but the Gospel of John, verse by verse. In his book, Jesus, Christ and Servant of God: Meditations of the Gospel According to John, he shares what became clear to him through that time.



Johnson begins his chapter-by-chapter meditations on John’s gospel by describing the “eternal mystical vision” that we encounter in the first chapter. John 1:1 begins, “In the beginning was the Word” and continues by speaking of the Light that lights every person that comes into the world. Johnson recommends praying with these opening passages, and highlights the oneness of Word, God, Light, and Jesus: “The equivalence of Word and Light and Truth, all in Jesus, is found throughout John’s gospel. First, the Word, the breath of God, is the creator of all. Second, there is the divine Light that sustains life, and this Light is in all. Third, Jesus was the Word and Light as a physical reality while he was alive on earth. Western minds have trouble grasping the interrelationship of these three, that they are one—and more, that everything is simply a function of this divine creative energy that we can experience as the Light within or as the divinely spoken Word.” (10)

Drawing on passage after passage of words spoken by Jesus, and from his own spiritual experience as he turned to the living Christ guiding him from within, Johnson draws a map of the spiritual journey to which Jesus invites his followers. He reveals, as well, an emphasis in the words of Jesus that has been overlooked in mainstream Christianity, but which is very consistent with Quaker understanding and experience since the beginning of Quakerism in the seventeenth century.

During the secret nighttime visit of Nicodemus to Jesus, Jesus reveals that Nicodemus—and all of us—are called to a spiritual rebirth. The nature of this rebirth is beyond the capacity of our mind to fully understand, and requires a thorough change in ourselves that we all resist. This process involves a pruning of ourselves that can be painful, but is necessary if we are to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Johnson writes:

The change needed within us is more than we imagined. Here is the truth of the matter, which is shocking and hard to accept; this rebirth is nothing short of the dying of the ‘old man,’ the former self, with its reliance on one’s own strength and knowledge and qualification. … This will be difficult language for many, but the truth of it cannot be denied for it is the experience of the holiest people in history as well as the calling within us. If you are hearing this you are probably also hearing your own resistance, as I was. Consider the possibilities of complete humility and powerlessness in this matter, of letting go of that resistance, of praying for help in cutting it loose. For only in facing the inner death can we be brought to spiritual rebirth and the start of that regeneration, during which we must daily and resolutely maintain our fervent attentiveness to the Light within. (38-39)

In Johnson’s reading of the gospel of John, and in his experience, he finds the inward Light to be a reliable and always-available guide in this process of death of the old self and spiritual rebirth: “The mystery of God calls me, and the Light of Christ shows me my errors and the narrow path to follow. This Guide is not a bewildering set of regulations; it is the Light within, available to all, at all times.” (57)

Although clearly Christ-centered himself, Johnson’s writing is gently inclusive of those whose theology and religious language differs from his own, as illustrated in his words on abiding: “I understand abiding as a conscious wish and practice to be attentive to the Light within, whether each of us experiences that as the Holy Spirit, as the presence of Jesus, or as a turning to the unknowable God. The more we seek the divine presence, the more it is revealed to us. We live in it and it lives in us.” (143)

I expected this book to focus primarily on David Johnson’s personal experience living with the teachings of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John. Though his own journey clearly informs his insight into the meaning of the gospel, in the book he reflects primarily on the stories and teachings of the gospel itself. Rather than say a great deal about his own experiences, he sometimes includes passages from the experience of early Quakers to illustrate how the teachings of the gospel have been experienced by Friends, andoccasionally he quotes others, including Thomas Merton.

In his commentary on the chapters of John’s gospel, Johnson notes the frequency with which John’s Jesus emphasized a distinction between himself and God, and how heindicated that he does only what God wants to do through him. Thus, Jesus emphasizes his role as servant of God. The first example Johnson points out is in John 4:34, when Jesus tells his disciples, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” In John 5:19, Jesus says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”

Johnson suggests that Jesus is providing a model for all of us to follow, if we will. To live that way requires us to surrender our own willfulness and to become receptive to the work of the Spirit in and through us:

Can I, can we, become like Jesus, seeking and depending on God’s guidance moment by moment, following so that we say and do just what God asks of us, completely faithful, with trust and courage and simplicity and vulnerability and love, just as Jesus did? To enable the first disciples to do this, to undertake such ministry, Jesus breaths on them, saying: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Jesus used the word “receive”. He does not say, I give you the Holy Spirit. The disciples, and each one of us, have to make a conscious decision to receive the gift. (170-171)

Jesus abides in God, and we, too, are invited to abide in God, with Jesus, in the Light of Christ. Johnson emphasizes that the heart of the matter is learning to love as Christ loves, and to let the love of God flow through us to others:

We are to love one another with no excuses so that our love may become more Christ-like. We find our love is the love of God made available to us. Jesus confirms this new covenant is to love one another that we may abide in him and he in us. The love of his being, the Eternal Christ, can then flow through us. (197)
* * *

David Johnson will be leading a May 5-9 course at Pendle Hill Conference Center entitled John’s Gospel: Retreat and Refreshment. Because of grant funding supporting this offering, the course is considerably less expensive than most 5-day courses at Pendle Hill. David Johnson is a Friend of great spiritual depth and this is a very special opportunity to spend time in the company of this Quaker from Australia. Here’s the link for more information and to register: https://pendlehill.org/events/johns-gospel-refreshment-and-challenge/

Jesus, Christ and Servant of God: Meditations of the Gospel According to John, can be ordered from Inner Light Books in hardback, paperback or ebook versions, as can Johnson’s earlier book, A Quaker Prayer Life.

© 2019 Marcelle Martin
* * *

Our Life is Love: the Quaker Spiritual Journey, by Marcelle Martin, is available from Inner Light Books in hardback, paperback, and ebook. (An excerpt and a study guide are also available on that website.) Designed to be a resource for individuals and groups to explore their spiritual experiences, the book describes the journey of faithfulness that leads people to actively engage in God’s work of making this world a better place for all. To order multiple books for a study group, postage free, contact us.

For information about other upcoming courses and workshops with Marcelle, go toTeaching and Upcoming Workshops.

Find a Quaker Meeting near you: Quaker Finder

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Christian Devotional Classics: A Testament of Devotion | Emerging Scholars Blog

Christian Devotional Classics: A Testament of Devotion | Emerging Scholars Blog


Christian Devotional Classics: A Testament of Devotion
Oct 13, 2013
By Tom Grosh IV
1 comment
Posted in: Book Review/Discussion, Christ and the Academy
Tagged in: A Testament of Devotion, Christian Devotional Classics, Quaker, Thomas Raymond Kelly

Thomas Raymond Kelly and A Testament of Devotion


Thomas Raymond Kelly (1893 – 1941) author of A Testament of Devotion (1941). Source: livres-mystiques.com/partieTEXTES/Kelly/bio.html

“To read or not to read?” Ever have a book which has caught your attention a number of times over a period of years, but you have made the intentional decision not to read only to find it assigned for class? 

Thomas Raymond Kelly’s (1893 – 1941) A Testament of Devotion (1941) fits this category for me.

Kelly was a cradle to grave Quaker, i.e., Religious Society of Friends. Although born in America, he had a passion for international education, service, pacifism, and spirituality. Although he studied chemistry as an undergraduate, he pursued further education with a mystical bend in religion and philosophy through a number of avenues including self study and a Ph.D. at Hartford. Kelly’s memory loss during his oral defense for a Ph.D. in philosophy at Harvard crushed him (1937). But with the publication of Explanation and Reality in the Philosophy of Emile Meyerson (1937) . . .

No one knows exactly what happened, but a strained period in his life was over. He moved toward adequacy. A fissure in him seemed to close, cliffs caved in and filled up a chasm, and what was divided grew together within him. Science, scholarship, method remained good, but in a new setting. Now he could say with Isaac Pennington, ‘Reason is not sin, but a deviation from that from which reason came is a sin.

He went to to the Germantown Friends’ Meeting at Coulter Street to deliver three lectures in January 1938. He told me the lectures wrote themselves. At Germantown, people were deeply moved and said, “This is authentic.” His writing writings and spoken messages began to be marked by a note of experimental authority.” — Douglas V. Steere, “A Biographical Memoir.” In Thomas Raymond Kelly. A Testament of Devotion. Harper & Brothers, 1941, 118.

In Searching for an Adequate Life: The Devotional Theology of Thomas R. Kelly by Jerry R. Flora (Spirituality Today. Spring 1990, Vol.42 No. 1), we read another quote from Steere regarding the transformation:

out of it seemed to come a whole new life orientation. What took place no one will ever know; but old walls caved in, the fierce academic ambition receded, and a new abandoned kind of fulfillment made its appearance.

AND a dramatic description of the last day of his life:

ON the morning of January 17, 1941, a college professor in eastern Pennsylvania exclaimed to his wife, “Today will be the greatest day of my life.”(1) He had just written to the religion editor at Harper and Brothers, accepting an invitation to speak with him in New York about a small book, on devotional practice. The firm of Harper was definitely interested in the kind of fresh material this writer could produce. That evening, while drying the dinner dishes, he slumped to the floor with a massive coronary arrest and died almost instantly.

At Kelly’s passing, his friend and colleague Douglas V. Steere pulled together five of his essays and wrote a brief inspirational “biographical memoir” to accompany them in A Testament of Devotion (1941). Kelly’s academic life experience and insights go hand in hand, particularly relevant to Emerging Scholars — complementing some of what the Urban Resident shared with us in Writing a Christian Personal Statement (10/11/2013). Furthermore, reading Kelly’s material raises to me the question of how to interact with an inspirational “Christian” figure with whom one finds deep resonance, while at the same time strongly disagreeing with on several key theological points.

A timeline to provide a context for Kelly’s work

Thomas Raymond Kelly was born on June 4, 1893 on a farm near Chillicothe, OH. His parents were dedicated Quakers who reopened a long closed old meeting room to renew Quaker worship in their area. But his father died when he was four, forcing his mom to move to provide for the family (including his sister Mary). She chose Wilmington, OH, for educational purposes, i.e., to earn the money and enroll in good schools including Wilmington College.
1909 – 1912: Kelly studied Chemistry at Wilmington College (OH) but finished at Haverford College (PA), exposing him to a wider perspective. At the time, studying one’s final year at Haverford was a common way to polish off one’s Quaker “college education.”Question: If you are familiar with Wilmington and/or Haverford, I am very interested in how close to their Quaker roots these colleges continue to be in the 21st Century. Furthermore, as to whether this tradition of finishing studies at Haverford has been maintained in any manner.
1914 – 1918: World War I. America declared war on Germany in 1917.

1914 – 1916: Kelly taught at Pickering College, a Quaker preparatory school in Canada. During his time in Canada, the Quaker mission to Japan and the evangelization of the Far East became an even greater passion for Kelly than science education.

1915: Thomas Merton born in France (Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales), but his family quickly departed to live with his mother’s family in New York due to World War I.
1917 – 1918: As a pacifist (which is part of the Quaker tradition), Kelly served German Prisoners of War (POWs). This gave him not only only a strong connection with the German people, but also deepened his strong Quaker pacifism which would play an important role in his relationship to World War II.
1919: Kelly graduated Hartford Theological Seminary (CT), married Lael Macy, and received a position to teach Bible at Wilmington (1919-21) setting him up for the “Roaring 20’s.” But he appeared to be largely unaffected by this era or the Great Depression except in caring for those in need in Germany. His relationship with Germans led to his concern regarding Hitler’s rise to power. Kelly visited in 1938 to encourage Quaker friends touched by his 1924 – 1925 mission.
1924: Kelly received a Ph.D. in Philosophy at Hartford Seminary. Thomas and Lael reinvigorated the labors of Quakers in Germany (1924 – 1925).
1925: Kelly taught Philosophy at Earlham College, Richmond, IN.
1928: Daughter Lois was born.
1931 – 1932: Kelly pastored Fall River Congregational Church, attended Harvard for a second Ph.D., and taught at Wellesley College.
1932 – 1935: Kelly returned to Earlham to teach
1935: While holding a staff position at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Center for study and Contemplation in Wallingford, PA, Kelly was exposed to Zen meditation. Kelly moved to —Hawaii to teach Philosophy. He not only encountered Japanese and Chinese Professors, but also studied Buddhism.
1936: Son Richard was born in Hawaii. Kelly became sick and returned to teach Greek and Oriental Philosophy at Haverford.
1937 “Failed Oral Exam at Harvard” led to a re-examination.—

In January 1938 Germantown Friends Meeting, Kelly gives three lectures on “God can be found.”
—In April 1938, Kelly wrote to Rufus Jones, “The Reality of the presence has been very great at times recently. One knows at firsthand what the old inquiry meant, ‘Has truth been advancing among you?’”
—Spiritual experience: Shared with his mother, “He was swept away by the presence . . . melted down by the love of God.”
—Over the course of the next 3 years, he received a series of messages and went from an academic to” a seeker of the experience within.”
—January 17, 1941: Received a call to publish works and within hours of that call he died of a heart attack. 

—Douglas V. Steere gathered Kelly’s material in order for A Testament of Devotion (1941) to be published.

American involvement in World War II (1940-1945) was followed by the Cold War (1947 to 1991)
1941: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA was incorporated. For more of the ministry’s history click here.

What does A Testament of Devotion (1941) have to say to us today?

A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Raymond Kelly (1893 – 1941).

Daily Reflections for the course of the next several days from which you pick up this post. The material is drawn from drafts I posted on the Emerging Scholars Network Facebook Wall as part of a class on Christian Devotional Classics at Evangelical Seminary. 

Please email me know if you use the second section to stimulate campus discussion (e.g., brown bag lunch discussion group). I am particularly interested in suggestions on revisions for use in that context.

1. “By inner persuasions He draws us to a few definite tasks, our tasks, God’s burdened heart particularizing his burdens in us. And He gives us the royal blindness of faith, and the seeing eye of the sensitized soul, and the grace of unflinching obedience. Then we see that nothing matters and that everything matters and that this my task matters for me and for my fellow men and women for eternity. . . . Obedient as a shadow, sensitive as a shadow, selfless as a shadow . . . Holy obedience is the simplicity of the trusting child. . . . . which lies beyond complexity, naiveté which is the yonder side of sophistication. It is the beginning of spiritual maturity which comes after the awkward age of religious busyness for the Kingdom of God . . .”

 — Thomas Raymond Kelly. A Testament of Devotion. Harper & Brothers, 1941, 43ff.

For Deeper Reflection: Thank-you to my friend Nelson. As part of an excellent presentation on Kelly and A Testament of Devotion, he shared the above quote with this conversation starter well worth our consideration: 

“Kelly spent most of his life chasing the truth through academic means and went through a period of spiritual awakening / renewal and comes to the above conclusion: Simplicity and Humble obedience. How do we balance our time of study and our time of serving? Have we made it overly complicated? What if we ‘loved in humble service?’ Does scripture call us to both? . . .”

2. Thomas Raymond Kelly begins A Testament of Devotion with these words,

 “Meister Eckhart wrote, ‘As thou art in church or cell, that same frame of mind carry out into the world; into its turmoil and fitfulness.’ Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life. It is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to birth within us. It is a Light Within which illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the face of men. It is a seed stirring to life if we do not choke it. It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. Here is the slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe in earthly form and action. And he is within us all.”

For Deeper Reflection: As you have already discerned, I have great respect for Thomas Raymond Kelly’s wrestling with the relationship of faith and vocation as a Quaker. We have much to receive from his journey and his coming to an appreciation of living in the reality of ‘adequacy’ instead of trying to continually prove oneself in what I term ‘the academic chain of being.’ 

None-the-less it is hard for me to get past the first page, where I find myself in strong disagreement with his perspective on the Inner Light/Christ to be tapped inside of each human being.
Yes, we are all created in the image of God. But is there a Christ within each of us, accessible to “clothe in earthly form and action”? No, the seed of the Gospel is cast into broken/dark lives. Some receive and some even embrace the Gospel by the grace of God, but Christ is not already inside waiting to come out of a slumber. 

A subject to be unpacked further . . .

As an Emerging Scholar, how do you prayerfully consider and interact with material which you disagree with in your discipline, in particular when you have assignments ‘forcing’ you to engage the material? How do you prayerfully listen, ask good questions, enter dialogue, even sharpen your own  position/understanding?

3. “T.S. Eliot . . . ‘I cannot conceive of anybody agreeing with all of her [Simone Weil’s] views, or of not disagreeing violently with some of them. But agreement and rejection are secondary: what matters is to make contact with a great soul.’ — Scott McLemee. “Review of Julia Haslett, ‘An Encounter with Simone Weil.'” Inside Higher Ed. 8/14/2013.

For Deeper Reflection: Eliot’s quote is pertinent to my reading of Kelly’s A Testament of Devotion. Even though I disagree with his perspective on ‘The Inner Light,’ he has a great soul and much to teach.

4. I am surprised by the growing influence of “Evangelical” Quakers in Spiritual Formation, in particular Richard Foster of Renovare, Mary Kate Morse of George Fox Evangelical Seminary, and Dallas Willard of USC. 

Note: Willard was active member of Quaker Meeting House in which Foster served the 1970’s. For ESN Blog posts exploring the life, work, and legacy of Dallas Willard, click here. Have you read material by any of these authors? If so, how would you compare their material with what I have shared from Kelly’s work?

——-
Note: Due the press of completing the final project and the complexity of the questions I found myself raising, I left further consideration of interacting with Kelly’s theology for a future date. Several months later I find myself still mulling over a proper response. I am looking for a time away to wrestle with several topics fall posts have raised and/or someone with whom to dialogue. If you have insights to share, please comment and/or drop me a line. 

Consider this post “opening a can of worms”*, one to which I/we will return  Stay tuned . . .
*As I shared above, “reading Kelly’s material raises to me the question of how to interact with an inspirational “Christian” figure with whom one finds deep resonance, while at the same time strongly disagreeing with on several key theological points.”

Tom Grosh IV
Tom enjoys daily conversations regarding living out the Biblical Story with his wife Theresa and their four girls, around the block, at Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church (where he teaches adult electives and co-leads a small group), among healthcare professionals as the South Central PA Area Director for the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), and in higher ed as a volunteer with the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). The Christian Medical Society / CMDA at Penn State College of Medicine is the hub of his ministry with CMDA. Note: Tom served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA for 20+ years, including 6+ years as the Associate Director of ESN. He has written for the ESN blog from its launch in August 2008. He has studied Biology (B.S.), Higher Education (M.A.), Spiritual Direction (Certificate), Spiritual Formation (M.A.R.), Ministry (D.Min., May 2019).

 To God be the glory!
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One Comment

Roger commented on March 31, 2014 Reply
I have just finished for the second time Thomas Kelly’s book whilst language is very evangelical the sentiment has a truly mystical feel ie the essence of Buddhism Quakerism

At Play in the Lions' Den: A Biography and Memoir of Daniel Berrigan eBook: Jim Forest: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

At Play in the Lions' Den: A Biography and Memoir of Daniel Berrigan eBook: 

Jim Forest

: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store




Length: 240 pages Word Wise: Enabled Enhanced Typesetting:Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled Language: English

The Root of War is Fear: Thomas Merton's Advice to Peacemakers
Jim Forest
Kindle Edition
$18.50

In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk's Memoir
Paul Quenon
4.0 out of 5 stars 1
Kindle Edition
$13.64


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Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 28478 KB
Print Length: 352 pages
Publisher: ORBIS (16 November 2017)
Sold by: Amazon Australia Services, Inc.
----------------------------


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Amazon.com: 4.9 out of 5 stars 14 reviews

moby pablo
5.0 out of 5 starsChanging them for the better! Daniel's travels in the "underground "and prison are ...
5 November 2017 - Published on Amazon.com
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Jim Forest's book is so needed as of NOW! The lion's den of trump surrounds us and Forest's book presents the saintly peacenik, Father Daniel Berrigan, S J- as an antidote. The book is copiously illustrated with photos and Forest, a protester and biographer of possible Saint Dorothy Day, knows whereof he writes. Sometimes persons question the results of such actions by Berrigan as the anti draft action of the Catonsville 9 or the Plowshares anti nuclear actions to follow? As Forest writes- one result was changing lives! Not just ending the draft but actually changing lives! Changing them for the better!
Daniel's travels in the "underground "and prison are described; his various protests provide a roadmap for activists.
And Dan was a poet and writer of at least 50 books.
One realizes with the Forest book that the Berrigans had a program along with their pointed protests- a religious program to be sure- but something sturdier and older than such movements as Occupy or even Black Lives Matter; the brothers were (and inspire us to be) FOR SOMETHING! Black Lives Matter at least has a few leaders (name one), but black spokespersons like Cornel West and William Barber continue the “prophetic” condition. Where are the women? Elizabeth Warren?

All this makes this book indispensable.

When the Milwaukee 14 (Forest was a member) burned draft files, they sang "Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead" (from the "Wizard of Oz"). A book like this can help melt the shoes off of the military-industrial generals now in charge.

Read less10 people found this helpful.

tony dalton
5.0 out of 5 starsA man wanted by the FBI, described as dangerous, Berrigan had never owned or carried a weapon.
15 June 2018 - Published on Amazon.com
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This book so impresses from the start that even before completing reading the book, I purchased a copy to be sent to a relative in Canada
I still am completing the book but can justly say that the book is hard to put down and the author has both the capacity and sensitivity to describe and take one into the heart and soul of this amazing man.
A priest who has made such a mark on the social justice and peace arena in the US, for so many years.
Daniel Berrigan and his brother Phil are larger than life, very different yet complementary siblings who changed so much of how we think of what went on in the US in the social justice world and, in particular during the Vietnam war.
I think that there is so much can be said in recommending this book, but I will attempt to sum up what it has done for me,
I now live in a sort of healthy uneasy way, healthy because I now understand so much of the depth of the trauma of a nation seen through the eyes of someone who loved, and put himself on the line for what he believed in.
Uneasy because it is no longer simple for me to look at the complex world so lacking in social justice, Berrigan has opened my eyes forever.
Forest has zoomed in on a life that is almost indescribable, each critical event in the development of Berrigan is so well revealed, you just live it.
Not least because of his rather dysfunctional family origins.
Read less3 people found this helpful.

Lyn Isbell
5.0 out of 5 starsBeautifully-written, with plentiful photographs, witty and detailed, ...
6 December 2017 - Published on Amazon.com
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Beautifully-written, with plentiful photographs, witty and detailed, this is a page-turner. I am giving copies to family and friends to sustain them in these perilous times. Impossible though it sounds, this book is both challenging and comforting. Well-done, Jim Forest. Profound gratitude.5 people found this helpful.

jimsgirl
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent presentation of the life of Daniel Berrigan SJ
10 June 2018 - Published on Amazon.com
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Excellent presentation of the life of Daniel Berrigan SJ, by Jim Forest,, a friend who walked the walk with Berrigan. Lots of wonderful photographs bring you closer to the subject: a good priest and humanitarian who put his life on the line for peace.

A Reader in Washington DC
5.0 out of 5 starsA primer for the next generation of true activists
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There is an authenticity to this that other books about Berrigan don't share. It sounds fresh, believable, and it is an essential read.

The Root of War is Fear: Thomas Merton's Advice to Peacemakers eBook: Jim Forest: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

The Root of War is Fear: Thomas Merton's Advice to Peacemakers eBook: Jim Forest: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store







Product details

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 2965 KB
Print Length: 224 pages
Publisher: ORBIS (18 August 2016)
Sold by: Amazon Australia Services, Inc.
Language: English


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Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars 9 reviews

Long Island Giraldo
5.0 out of 5 stars...one would be hard-pressed to find a better primer. Beautifully written from a first-person perspective...
10 August 2016 - Published on Amazon.com
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As a young man in the 1960s, Jim Forest twice visited Thomas Merton, Trappist monk, poet, spiritual writer and social critic, at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky --- early in 1962-- and again in the autumn of 1964.
He corresponded extensively with Merton during that tumultuous decade and theirs was largely "a friendship of letters."
Forest, a co-founder of the Catholic Peace Fellowship during the ramp-up to the Vietnam conflict, has served as the International Secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship, based in the Netherlands, since 1989.
He previously penned a popular pictorial biography of Merton, copiously illustrated with sketches, line drawings and rare photos, including shots that Forest took at Gethsemani.

His revised life of Dorothy Day, ALL IS GRACE, recently received the Catholic Press Association's "Biography of the Year" and "Book of the Year" awards.
Cicero famously wrote: "A true friend is a second self."
Those who desire insight and awareness into the dynamics of friendship will find kindred spirits here.
Anyone interested in the interaction between spirituality and social justice; conscience formation; nuclear arms proliferation; the morality of the Vietnam War; non-violent protest; and, Merton's and Forest's relationships with key figures such as Dorothy Day and the Berrigan brothers would be hard-pressed to find a better primer.
Forest's sensitive treatment of Catholic Worker Roger LaPorte's tragic death by self-immolation as a "victim soul" in protest of the Vietnam War in November, 1965 and his detailed account of the November, 1964 weekend retreat hosted by Merton at the abbey on "The Spiritual Roots of Protest" for a dozen ecumenical peace activists, among them Forest himself, merit particular attention.
Beautifully written from a first-person perspective with excellent documentation and unique access to primary sources, Jim
Forest scored another literary bull's eye with this tribute to his "soul-friend," mentor and spiritual guide, Thomas Merton.
Added bonuses include the attractive lay-out and design and the rare photographs that grace the pages of this affordable trade paperback.
Highly recommended.
Read less9 people found this helpful.

X. Libris
5.0 out of 5 starsRoots of the Christian Peace Movement in the 1960s and its relevance to us today
23 July 2017 - Published on Amazon.com
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In 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, I made the decision to apply for conscientious objector status with the Selective Service System. In the previous year, I had become a draft-resistor, sending my draft card back to the draft board, but in mid-1969 I had a “born again” experience, becoming part of the so-called “Jesus Freaks,” and made the decision to get right with the government. In my search for information to support my conscientious objector claim from a Christian perspective, I visited the bookstore of the American Friends Service Committee in Seattle, where I found two booklets published by the Catholic Peace Fellowship.

The first was “Blessed Are the Meek: Christian Roots of Nonviolence,” by the Roman Catholic monk and author, Thomas Merton. The other was “Catholics and Conscientious Objection,” by James H. Forest. These two booklets, along with my own studies of the New Testament (most notably the “Sermon on the Mount”) became the foundation for my defense before the draft board. I was subsequently granted I-O (conscientious objector) status, but later was reclassified 4-F (a medical deferment) for health reasons.

These two booklets whetted my appetite to learn more about the peacemaker roots of the Christian faith, in spite of the fact that I gradually got absorbed into Evangelical Christianity (and therefore the more pro-military Religious Right). When I began a more serious study of Early Christian writings in the 1990s, I eventually left Evangelicalism and embraced the Eastern Orthodox Church. There I was surprised to rediscover the author of one of the above-mentioned booklets, Jim Forest, who had become a founding member of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship.

All this is to say that this book, “The Root of War is Fear: Thomas Merton’s Advice to Peacemakers,” is a return to my spiritual roots in the Christian peace movement. I finally got to see what went on in the developing relationship between Jim Forest and Thomas Merton. While this book is about Merton’s thinking and writings on peace, it is also an autobiographical account of Jim’s journey during the 1960s, when he left the Navy as a conscientious objector, got involved with Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement in New York City, and how as a writer, he began corresponding with the well-known monk, author and peace activist, Thomas Merton. Out of this grew the Catholic Peace Fellowship, of which Jim Forest was a founding co-chair (and which published the two booklets that helped shape my thinking).

When I read his booklet in 1969, I was only vaguely aware of Merton, knowing that he had written a best-selling spiritual autobiography, “The Seven Storey Mountain,” and that his name frequently popped up in peace literature. What I did not know is that he had tragically died on December 10, 1968, about the same time that I became a draft-resister.

Thanks largely to his friendship with Jim Forest, whom I had the opportunity of meeting in Amsterdam in 2011, I have become more interested in the writings of Merton, and this book does much to increase my fascination with his contribution to faith, peace and spirituality. I highlighted numerous passages in the book, but will share only a few of them as they pertain to peace and the Christian faith.

“The early Christians started with the works of mercy and it was this technique which converted the world. The corporal works are to feed the hungry; to give drink to the thirsty; to clothe the naked; to harbor the harborless; to ransom the captive; to visit the sick; to bury the dead. The spiritual works are to instruct the ignorant; to counsel the doubtful; to admonish sinners; to bear wrongs patiently; to forgive offense willingly; to comfort the afflicted; to pray for the living and the dead. Not all of these works are within the reach of all—that is understood. But that we should take part in some of them is a matter of obligation, a strict precept imposed both by the natural and Divine law.” (Dorothy Day, quoted on page 21)

In the original 1949 version of “The Root of War Is Fear,” Thomas Merton wrote: “It does not even seem to enter our minds that there might be some incongruity in praying to a God of peace, the God who told us to love one another as he loved us, who warned us that they who took the sword would perish by it, and at the same time annihilate not thousands but millions of civilians and soldiers, women and children without discrimination.” Only love, he wrote, “can exorcise the fear which is at the root of war.” (page 28)

“Christians must become active in every possible way, mobilizing all their resources for the fight against war…Peace is to be preached, nonviolence is to be explained as a practical method…Prayer and sacrifice must be used as the most effective weapons in the war against war…We may never succeed in this campaign, but whether we succeed or not, the duty is evident.” (Thomas Merton, quoted on page 31)

“A Christian is committed to the belief that Love and Mercy are the most powerful forces on earth. Hence every Christian is bound by his baptismal vocation, as far as he can, with God’s grace, to make those forces effective in his life, to the point where they dominate his actions. Naturally no one is bound to attain to the full perfection of charity. But a Christian who forgets that this is his goal, ceases by that fact to live and act as a genuine Christian. We must strive, then, to imitate Christ and His sacrifice, in so far as we are able. We must keep in mind His teaching that supreme love consists in laying down one’s life for one’s friends.

“This means that a Christian will never simply allow himself to develop a state of mind in which, forgetting his Christian ideal, he thinks in purely selfish and pragmatic terms. Our rights certainly remain, but they do not entitle us to develop a hard-boiled callous, selfish outlook, a ‘me first’ attitude. This is that rugged individualism which is so unchristian and which modern movements in Catholic spirituality have so justly deplored.” (Thomas Merton, quoted on pages 35-36)

“It is absurd and immoral to pretend that Christendom can be defended by the H[ydrogen]-bomb. As Saint Augustine would say, the weapon with which we would attempt to destroy the enemy would pass through our own hearts to reach him. We would be annihilated morally…” (Thomas Merton, quoted on page 48)

“The obliteration bombing of cities on both sides, culminating in the total destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by one plane with one bomb for each, had completely changed the nature of war. Traditional standards no longer applied because…there was no longer any distinction made between civilian and combatant… [In fact] the slaughter of civilians was explicitly intended as a means of “breaking enemy morale” and thus breaking the “will to resist.” This was pure terrorism, and the traditional doctrine of ware excluded such immoral methods…These methods were practiced by the enemy [at the war’s start, but by the time] the war ended they were bequeathed to the western nations.” (Thomas Merton, quoted on page 53)

[N]o one could any longer claim that the standards of the just war doctrine, requiring not only a just cause but just methods that shelter noncombatant lives, were being respected. (Page 53)

“Whether we like it or not, we have to admit we are already living in a post-Christian world, that is to say a world in which Christian ideals and attitudes are relegated more and more to the minority… It is frightening to realize that the façade of Christianity which still generally survives has perhaps little or nothing behind it, and that what was once called “Christian society” is more purely and simply a materialistic neo-paganism with a Christian veneer…” (Thomas Merton, quoted on page 60)

“I wish to insist above all on one fundamental truth: that all nuclear war, and indeed massive destruction of cities, populations, nations and cultures by any means whatever, is a most serious crime which is forbidden to us not only by Christian ethics but by every sane and serious moral code.” (Thomas Merton, quoted on page 62)

Thomas Merton reminded his readers that at the core of Christianity is respect for the life of another, whether friend or enemy. (page 63)

Merton explored the history of the Christian response to war in the first several centuries, when refusal to take part in war was as normal as the refusal to regard the emperor as a god, and the gradual development of a “just war” theology, a doctrine initially sketched out by Saint Augustine in the fifth century of the Christian era. (page 64)

No doubt [Thomas Merton] would remind us once again that Christ waves no flags and that Christianity belongs to no political power bloc. Once again he would affirm that “an essential part of the ‘good news’ is that nonviolent and reasonable measures are stronger than weapons. Indeed, by spiritual arms, the early Church conquered the entire Roman world.” (page 72)

For Merton the Christian humanist sees the other, including his enemy, not merely as a convenient or inconvenient object but as another self, “no less deserving of the divine mercy than I am.” (page 76)

Genuine nonviolence for Merton had to be more than a negative state of demonstrating without violence. Protest may be superficially nonviolent and yet communicate contempt for one’s adversaries and bring out the worst in them.” (page 81)

“Though not a total pacifist in theory myself, I certainly believe that every Christian should try to practice nonviolence rather than violence and that some should bind themselves to follow only the way of peace as an example to the others.” (Thomas Merton, quoted on page 85)

The problem for contemporary Christians…. is to end the identification of Christianity with those forms of political society that dominate Europe and the West, just as was done by the early Christian monks in the fourth century in distancing themselves from a church that had become the object of imperial favor, membership in which meant career advancement…(page 96)

[Jean Danielou] spoke to us [the founding members of the Catholic Peace Fellowship] about theologians of the first centuries of the Christian era, such saints as Gregory of Nyssa and his brother Basil the Great, who, using the modern term could be described as pacifists. (page 107)

Our [the Catholic Peace Fellowship’s] main goals were to organize Catholic opposition to the Vietnam War and launch a campaign to make known the fact that conscientious objection to the war was an option not only for members of specifically pacifist “peace churches” but for Catholics as well. (page 109)

…Merton had remarked that he did not think the emerging war in Vietnam met any of the requirements to be regarded as just. “Because a few people in America want power and wealth, a lot of Vietnamese…and Americans have been and will be sacrificed.” (page 110)

Peacemaking begins with seeing, seeing what is really going on around us, seeing ourselves in relation to the world we are part of, seeing our lives in the light of the kingdom of God, seeing those who suffer, and seeing the image of God not only in friends but in enemies. (page 116)

In raising the “by what right” question, Merton forced us to consider that protest, if it is to have any hope of constructive impact on others, has to be undertaken not only with great care but with a genuine sympathy and compassion for those who don’t understand or who object to one’s protest, who feel threatened and angered by it, who even regard the protester as a traitor. After all, what protest at its best aims at is not just to make a dissenting noise but to help others think freshly about or social order and the direction we are going. The protestor needs to remember that no one is converted by anger, self-righteousness, contempt, or hatred…Protest can backfire, harden people in their opposition, bring out the worst in the other… If it is to be transformative, protest needs to be animated by love, not love in the sentimental sense but in the sober biblical sense of the word. Hence, Christ’s insistence on love of enemies. “Until we love our enemies,” Merton said, “we’re not yet Christians.” (page 117)

Ideally, protest aims at change that benefits everyone. (page 117)

One of the issues Merton raised was how untroubled most Christians were by the militarization of American life and the blurring together of national and religious identity. Summoned to war, few say no or even imagine saying no. Merton saw this as a problem not only in America but wherever nationalism is the primary shaper of one’s identity. (page 119)

“There is no way to peace, peace is the way.” (A.J. Muste, quoted on page 120)
Read more4 people found this helpful.

Ronald T. Clemmons
5.0 out of 5 starsAuthor Traces Merton's Peacemaking Views
2 October 2016 - Published on Amazon.com
Verified Purchase
The centennial commemoration of Thomas Merton’s birth last year produced a plethora of books about the Cistercian monk whose influence on Christian spirituality is still being felt. Jim Forest’s book may be the most insightful of all these tomes.

Using letters and the personal interactions he experienced with Merton, the author meticulously traces the development of Merton’s anti-war stance, along with the problems he had to overcome within his religious Order to publish his opinions. Moreover, the reader gets an inside view of the birth of the Catholic Peace Fellowship since book’s author is one of founders, and Merton’s philosophy was instrumental in the organization’s foundation.

Although the book centers on the Vietnam War, the content is still as fresh as it was fifty years ago. Christians are still killing others despite the teaching of the Gospels. What is the church’s position on war and how should it help men and women who refuse to serve on grounds of religious conflict? This book will make you rethink your position on war; you may not alter your opinion, but it will force you to reexamined your conscience. Few books make such an impact on the reader.6 people found this helpful.

J. A. Donaghy
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat advice in a time of fear
12 September 2016 - Published on Amazon.com
Verified Purchase
In a time of fear, it is very helpful to read Jim Forest's recent book on Thomas Merton, centered on Merton's works on peacemaking. Not only do we find important excerpts from Merton's books and articles, as well as letters to Forest, Forest has helped us to read Merton in context of merton's life and times.

Forest's analysis opens up dimensions of Merton that are very important for those seek peace in times of fear and violence and helps me to re-evaluate and deepen my efforts to be a Christian peacemaker.5 people found this helpful.

Tom L.
5.0 out of 5 starsSimple. Honest. Amazing.
6 December 2018 - Published on Amazon.com
Verified Purchase
Amazing

Pursuing the Spiritual Roots of Protest: Merton, Berrigan, Yoder, and Muste at the Gethsemani Abbey Peacemakers Retreat eBook: Gordon Oyer, Jim Forest: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Pursuing the Spiritual Roots of Protest: Merton, Berrigan, Yoder, and Muste at the Gethsemani Abbey Peacemakers Retreat eBook: 

Gordon Oyer, Jim Forest

: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store





Product details
In the fall of 1964, Trappist monk Thomas Merton prepared to host an unprecedented gathering of peace activists. "About all we have is a great need for roots," he observed, "but to know this is already something." His remark anticipated their agenda--a search for spiritual roots to nurture sound motives for "protest."

This event's originality lay in the varied religious commitments present. Convened in an era of well-kept faith boundaries, members of Catholic (lay and clergy), mainline Protestant, historic peace church, and Unitarian traditions participated. Ages also varied, ranging from twenty-three to seventy-nine. Several among the fourteen who gathered are well known today among faith-based peace advocates: the Berrigan brothers, Jim Forest, Tom Cornell, John Howard Yoder, A. J. Muste, and Merton himself. 

During their three days together, insights and wisdom from these traditions would intersect and nourish each other. By the time they parted, their effort had set down solid roots and modeled interreligious collaboration for peace work that would blossom in coming decades. 

Here for the first time, the details of those vital discussions have been reconstructed and made accessible to again inspire and challenge followers of Christ to confront the powers and injustices of today.

"If Thomas Merton held a retreat in the '60s on the spiritual roots of protest--attended by Daniel Berrigan, John Howard Yoder, A. J. Muste, and ten more great Christian peacemakers--would you want to be there? Gordon Oyer's exhaustively researched, inspiring story of just such a legendary retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani feels like faith on trial at the edge of the end of the world. Read it and see."
--Jim Douglass, author, JFK and the Unspeakable

"A meticulously researched account of a historical event whose ramifications are as apposite today as when they were first discussed, perhaps more so. The prophetic voices and the witness of the retreat participants are brought to life in Oyer's engaging narrative, echoing from the Gethsemani woods down through the ages, still struggling to be heard against the techno-babble, the inertia felt by so many, and the ever more sophisticated war machine of our world today."
--Paul M. Pearson, Director, Thomas Merton Center

"Three powerful faith traditions . . . converged for the first time at that legendary1964 retreat hosted by Merton. . . . Any of us who seek today to bear public witness to the gospel, justice, and political imagination are truly 'children' of that conversation a half century ago. . . . We are walking in their footsteps. Oyer has gifted us with a magnificent chronicle of the contemporary spiritual roots of protest." 
--Ched Myers, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries

Gordon Oyer is an administrator with the University of Illinois system and has an MA in history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the past editor of Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly, has served on different regional Mennonite historical committees, and is the author of various articles on Mennonite history.

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Product description

Review

If Thomas Merton held a retreat in the '60s on the spiritual roots of protest--attended by Daniel Berrigan, John Howard Yoder, A. J. Muste, and ten more great Christian peacemakers--would you want to be there? Gordon Oyer's exhaustively researched, inspiring story of just such a legendary retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani feels like faith on trial at the edge of the end of the world. Read it and see. --Jim Douglass, author, JFK and the Unspeakable

A meticulously researched account of a historical event whose ramifications are as apposite today as when they were first discussed, perhaps more so. The prophetic voices and the witness of the retreat participants are brought to life in Oyer's engaging narrative, echoing from the Gethsemani woods down through the ages, still struggling to be heard against the techno-babble, the inertia felt by so many, and the ever more sophisticated war machine of our world today. --Paul M. Pearson, Director, Thomas Merton Center

Three powerful faith traditions . . . converged for the first time at that legendary 1964 retreat hosted by Merton. . . . Any of us who seek today to bear public witness to the gospel, justice, and political imagination are truly 'children' of that conversation a half century ago. . . . We are walking in their footsteps. Oyer has gifted us with a magnificent chronicle of the contemporary spiritual roots of protest --Ched Myers, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries

Product Description

In the fall of 1964, Trappist monk Thomas Merton prepared to host an unprecedented gathering of peace activists. "About all we have is a great need for roots," he observed, "but to know this is already something." His remark anticipated their agenda--a search for spiritual roots to nurture sound motives for "protest."

This event's originality lay in the varied religious commitments present. Convened in an era of well-kept faith boundaries, members of Catholic (lay and clergy), mainline Protestant, historic peace church, and Unitarian traditions participated. Ages also varied, ranging from twenty-three to seventy-nine. Several among the fourteen who gathered are well known today among faith-based peace advocates: the Berrigan brothers, Jim Forest, Tom Cornell, John Howard Yoder, A. J. Muste, and Merton himself. During their three days together, insights and wisdom from these traditions would intersect and nourish each other. By the time they parted, their effort had set down solid roots and modeled interreligious collaboration for peace work that would blossom in coming decades.

Here for the first time, the details of those vital discussions have been reconstructed and made accessible to again inspire and challenge followers of Christ to confront the powers and injustices of today.

"If Thomas Merton held a retreat in the '60s on the spiritual roots of protest--attended by Daniel Berrigan, John Howard Yoder, A. J. Muste, and ten more great Christian peacemakers--would you want to be there? Gordon Oyer's exhaustively researched, inspiring story of just such a legendary retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani feels like faith on trial at the edge of the end of the world. Read it and see."
--Jim Douglass, author, JFK and the Unspeakable

"A meticulously researched account of a historical event whose ramifications are as apposite today as when they were first discussed, perhaps more so. The prophetic voices and the witness of the retreat participants are brought to life in Oyer's engaging narrative, echoing from the Gethsemani woods down through the ages, still struggling to be heard against the techno-babble, the inertia felt by so many, and the ever more sophisticated war machine of our world today."
--Paul M. Pearson, Director, Thomas Merton Center

"Three powerful faith traditions . . . converged for the first time at that legendary1964 retreat hosted by Merton. . . . Any of us who seek today to bear public witness to the gospel, justice, and political imagination are truly 'children' of that conversation a half century ago. . . . We are walking in their footsteps. Oyer has gifted us with a magnificent chronicle of the contemporary spiritual roots of protest."
--Ched Myers, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries

Gordon Oyer is an administrator with the University of Illinois system and has an MA in history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the past editor of Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly, has served on different regional Mennonite historical committees, and is the author of various articles on Mennonite history.

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Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 11708 KB
Print Length: 298 pages
Publisher: Cascade Book - An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers (31 March 2014)

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Most helpful customer reviews on Amazon.com
Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars 5 reviews

Rita M. Yeasted
5.0 out of 5 starsInspirational. Every person who cares about social justice and ...
28 September 2017 - Published on Amazon.com
Verified Purchase
Inspirational. Every person who cares about social justice and burnout should purchase it.

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Michael S. Seely
5.0 out of 5 starsUnique and outstanding review of an essential peace movement meeting ...
27 October 2015 - Published on Amazon.com
Verified Purchase
Unique and outstanding review of an essential peace movement meeting in 1964. Well written lending insight into Thomas Merton's thinking at this time in history and that of the other participants.

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Jim Forest
5.0 out of 5 starsa remarkable achievement
12 August 2015 - Published on Amazon.com

I’m re-reading Gordon Oyer's study of the “spiritual roots of protest” retreat that Merton hosted in 1964 and find myself more impressed than ever by the author's achievement in making sense of the various papers and notes made by participants (I was fortunate to be one of them), weaving them together so skillfully, tracking down obscure material that Merton and others referred to, and putting it all in context. Thanks are due for the immense amount of time, care and craftsmanship that went into the project.4 people found this helpful.

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A Spiritual Seeker
5.0 out of 5 starsGordon Oyer's in-depth retelling of this retreat at Gethsemani in ...
9 July 2014 - Published on Amazon.com

Gordon Oyer's in-depth retelling of this retreat at Gethsemani in the fall of 1964 is everything one could ask for. The book is well-
researched and captivatingly told. I deeply appreciated learning more about this momentous moment and the lives it changed.4 people found this helpful.

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토마스 머튼 - 물소리 오강남의 토마스 머튼 이야기 : 네이버 카페

토마스 머튼 - 물소리 오강남의 토마스 머튼 이야기 : 네이버 카페




토마스 머튼 - 물소리 오강남의 토마스 머튼 이야기 | 자유게시판


2019.01.01. 05:00




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토머스 머튼Thomas Merton(1915~1968년)

-선불교와 장자에 심취했던 가톨릭 영성 지도자

“종교는 ‘설명’이 아니라 ‘체험’이다”

20세기 미국의 사상가 중에 가장 사랑받고 존경받는 사람은 누구일까? 많은 사람이 거리낌 없으면서도 호방한 시인이자 깊은 영성의 종교인이었으며, 반전 평화 운동과 사회정의 구현에 적극적이었던 사회 활동가 토머스 머튼을 꼽을 것이다. 그가 33세에 쓴 자전적인 책『칠층산The Seven Storey Mountain』은 1948년 출판 당시 베스트셀러였음은 물론 현재까지도 여러 판본으로 세계 전역에서 꾸준한 인기를 끌고 있다. 특히 미국에서 가톨릭 수도원 지원을 열망하는 젊은이들이 가장 열독하는 책으로 《내셔널 리뷰》지가 선정한 20세기 최고 비소설류 100권에 선정되기도 했다. 물론 한국어로도 번역되어 나왔다. 필자도 그가 쓴 70여 권의 책 중 The Way of Chuang Tzu(장자의 길)와 Zen and the Birds of Appetite를 교과서로 사용하였고, 그 동안 󰡔불교, 이웃종교로 읽다󰡕 같이 필자가 쓴 여러 책이나 글에서 동양 사상을 사랑하고 동서 사상의 조화를 강조했던 이 가톨릭 수도사 토머스 머튼을 수없이 인용하고 언급했다.




토머스 머튼은 1915년 1월 31일 프랑스 프라드Prades에서 태어났다. 아버지는 뉴질랜드 출신으로 유럽과 미국에서 활동하던 화가였으며 어머니는 미국인으로 명상을 중시하는 개신교 일파인 퀘이커 신도였다. 머튼은 프랑스에서 태어났지만 제1차 세계대전의 전화를 피해 미국의 뉴욕주 롱아일랜드에 있던 외가로 이주했다가 1917년 뉴욕 근교 플러싱에 정착했다. 그 후 동생 존 폴이 출생했으나 머튼이 여섯 살 되던 해인 1921년 10월 어머니가 위암으로 사망하는 슬픔을 맛보았다. 또 화가인 아버지가 프랑스, 이탈리아, 영국, 알제리 등지에서 예술 활동에 전념하면서 머튼은 동생과 함께 어린 시절을 외가에서 보내야 했다.




청소년기를 프랑스와 영국의 기숙사 학교에서 보낸 머튼은 18세가 되던 해인 1932년 캠브리지 대학에 합격하면서 성년으로서의 자유를 만끽하려고 유럽 전역을 주유(周遊)하기 시작했다. 그러다가 가톨릭의 산실인 이탈리아 로마의 어느 성당에서 본 예수의 모자이크 그림에 깊은 감명을 받게 되었다. 그 후 그는 여러 성당을 찾아 참배하며 틈틈이 라틴어로 된 신약성경을 통독하기 시작했다.




그러던 어느 날 밤, 머튼은 죽은 아버지가 자신과 함께 있는 듯한 묘한 신비감을 체험했다. 그 일로 오랫동안 자기를 따라다니던 공허감의 실체와 직면하게 되었다. 그는 생전 처음으로 신에게 마음으로부터 우러나오는 깊은 기도를 드리며 어두움에서 자신을 구해줄 것을 간절히 간구했다. 그리고 로마에 있는 트라피스트 수도원을 방문해 트라피스트 수도사가 되었으면 하는 바람을 강력히 간직하게 됐다.




그 후 이탈리아에서 배를 타고 미국으로 건너가 외조부모와 함께 여름을 보냈다. 로마에서의 신비스러운 경험이 계속되면서 그는 라틴어 성경을 읽고 가톨릭 성당, 성공회 성당, 퀘이커 모임에도 열의를 가지고 참석했다. 그러나 어느 곳에서도 마음에 꼭 맞는 교회를 찾지 못했다. 조직과 규율로 움직이는 박제화된 종교에 대한 실망감 때문이었다.




1933년 10월에 시작된 영국 캠브리지 대학에서의 생활은 그리 즐겁지만은 않았던 것 같다. 자서전에서 그때의 삶을 부정적으로 그리고 있기 때문이다. 그의 절친했던 친구들에 따르면 머튼은 떠돌이처럼 다니면서 공부보다는 술집에서 시간을 더 보내고 성性적으로도 자유분방했다고 한다. 정확하게 무슨 이유인지는 모르지만 머튼은 미국으로 돌아가지 않을 수 없는 형편이 되어, 다음 해 5월 기말시험을 끝내고 캠브리지를 떠났다.




1935년 1월, 머튼은 미국 뉴욕에 있는 컬럼비아 대학으로 옮겼다. 컬럼비아에 다니면서 본격적으로 종교와 문학에 관심을 가지게 되었는데 교내 신문 기자로 일하면서 남긴 그때의 글과 그림을 보면 그가 얼마나 걸림 없는 자유정신의 소유자였는지 짐작할 수 있다. 그는 당시 활발했던 반전 평화 운동에도 열성적으로 참여했다.




그는 에띠엔느 질송Étienne Gilson의 『중세철학의 정신』이라는 책을 읽고 가톨릭 사상의 정수를 맛보게 됐고 특히 올더스 헉슬리의 『목적과 수단』이라는 책을 통해 종교의 심층인 신비주의적 차원에 큰 관심을 가지게 되었다.




머튼은 1938년 1월 컬럼비아 대학에서 영문학 학사 학위를 끝내고 다시 대학원에 진학했다. 그해 6월, 그는 그의 삶에 가장 큰 전환점을 제시한 인물을 만나게 되는데, 바로 힌두교 승려인 마하남브라타 브라흐만차리와의 만남이었다. 이 특이한 힌두 승려는 그를 방문한 서양 학생들에게 각자 자기들의 정신적 뿌리를 찾아 들어갈 것을 권유하고, 머튼에게는 특별히 아우구스티누스의 『고백록』과 토머스 아 켐피스의 『그리스도를 본받아』를 읽어보라고 권했다. 힌두교 승려가 가톨릭 책을 추천하는 것이 너무 신기했던 머튼은 그 책들을 열심히 통독하기 시작했다. 그러면서 대학원 논문 주제가 된 윌리엄 블레이크에 대해서도 열심히 연구했다.




그는 제라드 홉킨스가 어떻게 가톨릭으로 개종하여 신부가 되었는가에 대한 책을 읽고 불현듯 자신도 가톨릭 신도가 되겠다는 강렬한 열망에 휩싸였다. 그는 당장 근처 성당으로 가서 신부를 만나 가톨릭 신자가 되겠다는 결심을 밝혔고 이내 교리문답 공부를 거쳐 영세를 받았다. 그는 영문학 석사 학위를 받고, 박사 학위 과정을 계속할 생각이었으나 이를 과감하게 포기하고 인생의 행로를 수정해 성직자의 길을 가기로 결심했다.




어느 수도원으로 들어갈까 고민하던 그는 로마에서 구입한 라틴어 성경을 들고 아무 데나 펴서 손가락 짚이는 곳을 읽어보았다. 두 번째의 시도에서 신약 『누가복음』의 “잠잠하라” 하는 구절이 우연히 눈에 들어왔다. 그는 이것이 하늘이 주는 계시라 생각하고, 묵언정진을 강조하는 시토Cistercians 수도회에 들어가기로 결심했다. 오랜 우여곡절을 겪은 후에 1941년 12월 10일 마침내 켄터키주 루이빌 부근 겟세마네 봉쇄 수도원에 도착했다. 그는 자기의 진정성을 보여주기 위해 추운 날씨에도 불구하고 3일간 손님방에서 머물며 창문을 모두 열어놓기도 했다. 수도원에 들어간 이후로는 겨울옷 한 벌, 여름옷 한 벌만 입고 살았고, 병이 나도 약을 쓰는 것이 신의 뜻을 어기는 것이 아닌가 하는 의문을 가질 정도로 수행에만 전념했다. 차례대로 수도자의 단계를 거쳐 1947년 평생 수도원을 떠나지 않겠다는 ‘종신서원solemn vows’을 했으며 1949년에는 신부 안수도 받았다.




수도원의 엄격한 규율 속에 살았지만, 머튼의 재능을 인정한 수도원장의 특별 배려로 머튼은 저술 활동을 계속할 수 있었다. 종교 서적을 번역하고 성인들의 전기를 쓰는 일, 그리고 자기의 삶을 되돌아보는 자서전 쓰는 일에 정성을 쏟았다. 1965년부터는 수도원 내에 암자에 칩거하면서 오로지 저술활동에만 전념했다. 머튼에 대한 전기(傳記) The Man in the Sycamore Tree를 쓴 그의 친구 에드워드 라이스에 의하면 머튼의 마지막 몇 년은 “날이 새고 날이 질 때까지 머튼은 평화와 동양에 대해서만 생각하고 쓰고 설교했다”고 한다. 그의 저서 중 특히 동양 사상과 관계되는 책은 앞에서 필자가 교과서로 사용했다는 책들 외에 󰡔신비주의와 선의 대가들󰡕, 󰡔아시아 여행기󰡕, 󰡔비폭력과 간디󰡕 같은 책들이 있다.




저자로서의 위상과 영향력으로 인해 머튼은 1968년 태국에서 열리는 가톨릭과 비가톨릭 수도 생활에 관한 학회에 참석하고, 가는 김에 아시아 몇 나라를 방문해도 좋다는 허락을 받았다. 󰡔칠층산󰡕의 판매로 엄청난 수익금을 올렸지만 한 푼도 만져보질 못한 머튼은 아시아 여행을 위해 스스로 경비를 마련해야만 했다. 결국 그는 출판사에 여행기를 써서 넘기겠다는 조건으로, 말하자면 입도선매(立稻先賣)식으로 여행비를 마련해서 인도 담살라에 있던 달라이 라마를 비롯하여 티베트 스님들을 만났다. 실로 의기투합이었다. 스님들은 머튼을 보고 생불임에 틀림이 없다고 했다. 그는 스리랑카 폴론나루와에 있는 붓다 석상들에 깊은 감명을 받기도 했다.



1968년 12월 10일, 54세 생일을 40일 정도 남겨둔 머튼은 수도원에 들어온 지 꼭 27년 되는 날 태국 방콕의 숙소 목욕탕에서 허술한 전기 선풍기 줄에 걸려 감전 사고로 죽었다. 일설에는 반전 평화 운동을 하던 그의 행적을 눈엣가시처럼 여기던 반대 세력에 의해 암살되었을 가능성도 배제하지 못한다고 한다. 아이러니하게도 그토록 평화를 위해 애쓰던 머튼의 시신은 미 공군 B-52 폭격기에 실려 미국으로 운송된 후 겟세마네 수도원에 안장되었다.




머튼은 컬럼비아 대학에서 올더스 헉슬리의 책을 읽고, 힌두 승려 바라흐만차리를 만난 이후 이웃종교들에 대한 생각이 확 달라졌다. 그는 여러 종교들 중에서 특히 선불교와 노장사상을 좋아했다. 그가 선불교나 노장사상에 심취한 것은 이들 사상이 그리스도교처럼 신비주의적 차원을 잃어버린 채 ‘설명explanation’에만 의존하지 않고 ‘체험experience’을 강조하기 때문이라고 했다. 그리스도교 초기 ‘사막의 교부들’과 선사들이 체험을 중시 여긴다는 공통점을 발견하고 이 문제를 중심으로 스즈키 다이세쓰와 서신 교환을 하기도 했다. 『장자』를 너무 좋아해 번역서들을 읽으며 5년간 명상한 끝에 장자의 중심 사상을 뽑아 시적 표현으로 재구성하여 『장자의 길』이라는 책을 냈는데, 이 책에서 그는 장자를 두고 ‘나와 동류의 인물’이라고 했다.




머튼은 예수가 탄생했을 때 동방박사들이 선물을 가져다주어 그리스도교 발생에 도움을 주었다는 이야기처럼 20년이 지난 오늘 그리스도교가 새롭게 활기를 되찾으려면 다시 동방으로부터 선물이 와야 하는데, 그것이 선불교와 노장사상 같은 동양의 정신적 유산이라고 역설했다. 그리스도교뿐 아니라 “인간과 그 문명 자체를 위협하는 비극을 촉진시키는” 일을 늦추기 위해서라도 동양의 정신적 유산을 심각하게 받아들여야 할 것이라고 경고했다. 그 스스로도 틱낫한 스님 등 세계종교 지도자들과도 교류하면서 그들로부터 배우려 했다. 물론 머튼이 여기서 말하는 동양의 정신적 유산이란 역사적 불교나 역사적 도교를 의미하는 것이 아니라 그런 역사적 종교를 배출하게 된 인류 보편의 영적 바탕, “명상의 침묵과 신비적 체험 속에서 만나는 ‘신 너머의 신’에 대한 체험” 같은 종교의 심층을 의미한다는 사실에 주목할 필요가 있다.




이렇게 동양의 종교 심층에 깔린 정신적 유산을 귀히 여기고 거기서 배워야 할 것이 많다고 강조한 토머스 머튼의 글을 읽을 때마다, 지금은 많이 달라지긴 했지만, 지금껏 우리 자신의 전통 깊은 곳에서 찾을 수 있는 정신적 유산을 등한시하던 우리 자신이 한없이 부끄러워진다. 등잔 밑은 본래 어두운 법이라는 말로 위로를 삼아야 할까?



















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하하
2019.01.01. 06:21



"종교는 설명이 아니라 체험이다." 간단하지만울림이 큰 진술이군요.. 제가 보기에는 종교는 설명으로 시작해서 체험으로 심화완성되지 않나 싶읍니다. 먼저 각자에게 와닿는 좋은 지도를 얻고, 그리고 그 지도에 따라 끝까지 걸어보는 것.. 그러나 많은 사람들이 지도를 얻고 영토에 도달했다고 믿거나 만족하는 것이 이 지구상의 대부분의 사람들의 종교적 현실이기 때문에 토마스 머튼의 위 말씀은 큰 울림을 준다고 생각합니다. 감사합니다~




soft103a작성자
2019.01.01. 06:43



맞는 말씀입니다. 물론 처음에는 올바른 안내가 있어야겠지요. 그러나 누구 말대로 식당에 가서 메뉴만 보고 메뉴만 씹으면서 음식은 먹지 않는 것과 같다고 볼 수 있을 것입니다. 영어로는 explanation vs. experience 라고 대조가 잘 되는 말입니다.




soft103a작성자
2019.01.01. 06:46



한 가지 덧붙이고 싶은 것은,머튼이 아우구스티누스가 플라톤을 통해, 토마스 아퀴나스가 아리스토텔레스를 통해 기독교를 설명했다면 기독교를 장자를 통해 설명하는 것이 훨 좋을 것이라는 말도 했습니다.

Why should anyone care about Thomas Merton today? | National Catholic Reporter

Why should anyone care about Thomas Merton today? | National Catholic Reporter

Why should anyone care about Thomas Merton today?

Dec 10, 2018

by Daniel P. Horan

 

Opinion

People

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Trappist Fr. Thomas Merton is pictured with Dalai Lama in 1968, whom Merton met during his Asia trip. (CNS/Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University)

Why should anyone care about Thomas Merton today?

Merton, the famous Trappist monk and best-selling author, has now been dead for almost as long as he had lived. When he died unexpectedly on Dec. 10, 1968, at the age of 53 while in Asia on a speaking tour about the renewal of monastic life, he left behind dozens of books, thousands of journal entries, and tens of thousands of letters from correspondence with people from around the world. He also left behind a legacy, which included a model for modern Christian living that encouraged everyone — religious and lay alike — to pursue a life of prayer, holiness and social justice.

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But as we consider the rapid pace of change in our contemporary context, the ever-increasing role technology plays in all aspects of our lives, and the differences too numerous to count between the life and times of a mid-20th-century monk and our own experience, it would seem at first glance that Merton's ideas, writings, vision and example belong set aside, like pieces in a museum.

They might be treated as valuable in their own right, inspiring perhaps from a distance, but not particularly relevant for us in the 21st century. Merton should be considered just another dead white male author like Dickens or Chaucer or Erasmus, to be put on a library shelf and perhaps forgotten. He can be remembered as a once important historical figure, but one not taken seriously today.

And yet I believe, upon closer examination, that Merton provides us with at least three compelling reasons for continuing to learn about him and read his work as much today as when he was living more than half a century ago.

Related: 50 years after Merton's death, maybe 'we're finally getting him'

First, there is the obvious area of continued relevance. Merton was one of the first Roman Catholic religious leaders before the Second Vatican Council to emphasize the importance of prayer and contemplation for all people and not just the religious "professionals" (i.e., nuns and priests). He articulated in his popular spiritual writing, such as Seeds of Contemplation, what Vatican II would more than a decade later describe as the "universal call to holiness." All women and men, by virtue of their baptism, have received a vocation and to discover what that is requires prayer and discernment. Each of us also has what Merton called our "true self," who we are in our fullness as known only to God. This means that to discover our truest identity requires seeking and discovering God in prayer. These insights are as timeless as the human quest for authenticity.

Second, there is the less-obvious area of the urgent timeliness of his later writings. Most readers of Merton's work are familiar with his overtly spiritual writings, but far fewer are familiar with his social criticism and writings on justice. In books with titles like Seeds of Destruction and Faith and Violence, Merton's prophetic reflections on structural racism in the United States and the relationship between fear and violence speak as challenging a message today as they did five decades ago.

Take for example his 1965 essay titled: "The Time of the End is the Time of No Room." Here Merton describes the scene of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem that eerily resonates with what is happening at the southern border of the United States today.

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for Him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because He cannot be at home in it, because He is out of place in it, and yet He must be in it, His place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world.

This essay, which makes for a powerful Advent and Christmas reflection, challenges Christians to link the too-often-domesticated Gospel with the signs of our time. When we look around our world, nation and local communities today, it is disturbing to recognize the systemic injustices that steadfastly persist all these decades later. It is clear that few listened to Merton then, but perhaps, just maybe, some might listen now.

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Trappist Fr. Thomas Merton, pictured in an undated photo (CNS/Merton Legacy Trust and the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University)

Third, there is what I believe is the most significant reason why people should care about Merton today: his unabashed humanity. Like his friend and contemporary, Dorothy Day, Merton is one of the few Christian exemplars we have who are not encumbered by hagiography and selective memory. A truly modern person, Merton's story is one with many turns, surprises, challenges and moments of grace. He had a life before the monastery and he had a life in the monastery: both periods lasted about 27 years. Both halves of his life reveal a complex man whose sanctity and sinfulness, pride and humility, ambition and regret are on wide display, thanks to his prolific writing practices and his willingness not to sugarcoat his joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties.

Even though most young adults today probably have not heard of Merton, his way of serving the church and world as a monk, priest and writer has tremendous potential to speak to the hunger for a more authentic, honest and transparent church, as repeatedly expressed by representative young adults in the pre-synodal meeting document in March of this year. Demographers and sociologists tell us that Millennials and members of the emergent "Generation Z" are incredulous when it comes to words without action, arguments from authority alone, and prioritization of bella figura over honestly admitting mistakes, errors and wrongdoing. They want leaders and mentors who can ask for forgiveness when needed and offer forgiveness when asked.

Young people — and not-so-young people alike — want "real" Christian models, women and men who inspire us not by their perfection in life and faith, but by their committed struggle in life to keep the faith. Day's experience of ongoing conversion and struggles for peace and justice on behalf of the poor, and Mother Teresa's long trial of experiencing God's absence while nevertheless persisting in caring for society's "untouchables" — these are Christians that speak to women and men today. It is their humanity on display that makes them both holy and relevant.

Merton is another such model.

We should care about Thomas Merton today because in many ways he reveals something to us about who we are: modern women and men, religious and laity, striving to connect the faith of Christianity with the particularity of our lives.

His wrestling with religious censors who sought to mitigate or silence his publishing about violence, racism and the Christian responsibility to put faith into action speaks to experiences of those whose consciences call for more than banal Christian platitudes, and take the risk to work for justice in the church and world.

His ongoing struggle with ego and ambition while also sincerely desiring a more simple, prayerful and eremitical life speaks to the conflicted motivations we all face in decision-making.

His falling in love with a nurse at the age of 50, the genuine affection they had for one another, and the turmoil recorded in his journals and poetry about his discernment — and his ultimate decision to remain a monk — speak to the universal human condition of love and loss, which monks and nuns and laity all experience, if in different ways and at different times.

We should care about Thomas Merton today because in many ways he reveals something to us about who we are: modern women and men, religious and laity, striving to connect the faith of Christianity with the particularity of our lives. Fifty years after his death, Merton not only intercedes for us from within that great cloud of witnesses that has gone before, but he has left us the story of his life and the text of his many writings to guide us on our own journey.

[Franciscan Fr. Daniel P. Horan is a Franciscan friar of Holy Name Province, assistant professor of systematic theology and spirituality at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and the author of 12 books, including The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton: A New Look at the Spiritual Inspiration of His Life, Thought, and Writing.]