Bread in the Wilderness
by Thomas Merton
On This Page
Description
An exposition of the doctrines of St John of the Cross, the 16th century Spanish mystic, this volume provides interpretations of and insights into the Psalms, for those who view the Psalms as spiritual and those who regard them primarily as literature.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
If you love the psalms this book will bring you to even greater depths of prayer and appreciation of the psalter.Thomas Merton explains how we enter into contemplation through praying the psalms
Who better then Thomas Merton, a poet and a monk, to share his feelings on the most significant and influential collection of religious poems ever written? In this book Merton teaches us that the Psalms not only sum up the teachings of the Old Testament, but they can serve as actual nourishment for those whose vocation is the life of prayer. This book offers inspiration on the Psalms and shows us how they can lead us become closer to God.
I highly recommend this book to all. And especially to those who seek to come closer to God daily in their contemplative life. Thomas Merton was Father Louis of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance and lived daily with the Psalms.
I highly recommend this book to all. And especially to those who seek to come closer to God daily in their contemplative life. Thomas Merton was Father Louis of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance and lived daily with the Psalms.
From Amazon...
he Psalms, which Thomas Merton called "one of the most valid forms of prayer for men of all time," are the most significant and influential collection of religious poems ever written, summing up the theology of the Old Testament and serving as daily nourishment for the devout. Bread in the Wilderness sets forth Merton's belief that "the Psalms acquire, for those who know how to enter into them, a surprising depth, a marvelous and inexhaustible actuality. They are bread, miraculously provided by Christ, to feed those who have followed Him into the wilderness." Merton's goal in this moving book is to help the reader enter into the Psalms: "The secret is placed in the hands of each Christian. It only needs to be discovered show more and fulfilled in our own lives." show less
he Psalms, which Thomas Merton called "one of the most valid forms of prayer for men of all time," are the most significant and influential collection of religious poems ever written, summing up the theology of the Old Testament and serving as daily nourishment for the devout. Bread in the Wilderness sets forth Merton's belief that "the Psalms acquire, for those who know how to enter into them, a surprising depth, a marvelous and inexhaustible actuality. They are bread, miraculously provided by Christ, to feed those who have followed Him into the wilderness." Merton's goal in this moving book is to help the reader enter into the Psalms: "The secret is placed in the hands of each Christian. It only needs to be discovered show more and fulfilled in our own lives." show less
EG-5
Oct 17, 2020Catalan
NR-8
Dec 19, 2020Catalan
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
397+ Works 38,239 Members
Born in France, Thomas Merton was the son of an American artist and poet and her New Zealander husband, a painter. Merton lost both parents before he had finished high school, and his younger brother was killed in World War II. Something of the ephemeral character of human endeavor marked all his works, deepening the pathos of his writings and show more drawing him close to Eastern, especially Buddhist, forms of monasticism. After an initial education in the United States, France, and England, he completed his undergraduate degree at Columbia University. His parents, nominally friends, had given him little religious guidance, and in 1938, he converted to Roman Catholicism. The following year he received an M.A. from Columbia University and in 1941, he entered Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, where he remained until a short time before his death. His working life was spent as a Trappist monk. At Gethsemani, he wrote his famous autobiography, "The Seven Storey Mountain" (1948); there he labored and prayed through the days and years of a constant regimen that began with daily prayer at 2:00 a.m. As his contemplative life developed, he still maintained contact with the outside world, his many books and articles increasing steadily as the years went by. Reading them, it is hard to think of him as only a "guilty bystander," to use the title of one of his many collections of essays. He was vehement in his opposition to the Vietnam War, to the nuclear arms race, to racial oppression. Having received permission to leave his monastery, he went on a journey to confer with mystics of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. He was accidentally electrocuted in a hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 10, 1968. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1953
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 482
- Popularity
- 63,145
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.92)
- Languages
- English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 11
