Witness to Freedom: The Letters of Thomas Merton in Times of CrisisThese letters deal with periods of serious crisis in Merton's life and vocation, about which many rumors and half-truths were circulated during his lifetime. They give readers, for the first time in his own words, the true details and the behind-the-scenes facts. Things came to a head in 1959 when Merton petitioned the Vatican, asking for an indult of exclaustration, or release, not from the Trappist Order, but for "a more solitary primitive existence in a monastic life" outside the United States. Abbot James Fox made a trip to Rome and the indult was not granted. Later Merton, who despised Communism and advocated Gandhian non-violence, was forbidden to publish anything against war and nuclear aggression - as if it was inappropriate for a monk to oppose war. |
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Witness to Freedom: The Letters of Thomas Merton in Times of Crisis Thomas Merton Limited preview - 1995 |
Witness to Freedom: The Letters of Thomas Merton in Times of Crisis Thomas Merton No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
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