A Course in Christian Mysticism

If you have ever wondered what it would have been like to be a monk in formation at Gethsemani Abbey during Thomas Merton's tenure, this book will give you a pretty good idea of what his instruction would have consisted. It also gives the reader a sense of Merton's own practices and dispositions in his exercise of monastic spirituality. The book consists of thirteen conferences Merton presented to monks in training. Most of the conferences are short, reflecting the Trappist tradition of intellectual simplicity, and cover a wide range of monastic authorities. The Alexandrian tradition, Cappadocian Fathers, Dionysian theology, and Saint Augustine are presented in an orderly fashion. Somewhat lesser known mystics (but equally important) include Evagrius and Maximus the Confessor. Of course, Merton discusses his own Benardian tradition and his long interest in Carmelite mysticism. These conferences are probably the longest in the book and may require more than one sitting to read.Merton's presentations are erudite and insightful. He clearly had a good grasp of Christianity as a lived experience and knew what to emphasize in mystical theology to benefit the young charges under his care. The reader will also get a sense of Merton's own spiritual life in reading the material, as I doubt he would have passed on untried and untested wisdom. His literary training is clear in his heavy reliance on scripture and God as Word. The biblical text is an essential foundation for the mystical life. Merton does not shy away from traditional "Bridal Mysticism" and discusses at considerable length Saint Bernard's commentaries on the Song of Songs. Many of the conferences support the apophatic tradition and the rigors of ascetical life, seeking the purification of the soul, but Merton carefully avoids gnostic dualism, providing considerable direction on the notion of "theoria physike," which asserts the inherent goodness of the material world. While his monastic spirituality is essentially interior, Merton is never so abstract to exclude activity in the phenomenal world. The senses and their analogs as spiritual senses receive more discussion than I expected. It is clear Merton had some experience with liminal empiricism, a borderland in the soul that includes the senses and passions, requiring the transformation of base activities to more sublime and pnuematic engagements. Merton places a strong emphasis on the inner workings of the Holy Spirit and a communion of wills (man and God's) that requires abandoning ego for a Christ-like identity.Probably, the one thing that impressed me the most about Merton's conferences was his sense of balance. Merton never goes half-cocked into extremes. To borrow a term from Chinese philosophy, it is a perspective of "the mean," a sensible "pivot," permitting a broad embrace of nature and reality. Psychology and metaphysics exist in harmony, seeking a transformation of affectivity and moral character. Merton's understanding of mysticism is almost obsessively anti-Quietist. Passive, certainly, but never a dead weight. Though entirely contemplative in its dynamic, it is never divorced from activity or permits the "really-real" to founder in dissociation.This book is highly recommended.

I have been reading and thinking in pieces for almost 30 years in this direction. I needed this book now on my journey, it is an oasis.

Here Merton shows his intellectual prowess as both a researcher and teacher. These lectures cover the history of the Christian mystical tradition from its nascent beginnings, and highlight the major theological pillars that emerged from it over time.Academic in time and sometimes dry, it is nonetheless a treasure trove of knowledge and insight from one of the best Christian minds of the 20th Century. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Great book. Love T Merton.

As has been the case with all of Merton's books, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I felt as though I was taking a real-live course on Christian Mysticism.

A beautiful summation of the mystics of the Church by a great mystic himself

aaa

This is solid stuff in so short a read! Keatings at his best as always!