Thomas Merton on the Mystical Life and Martin Buber

Written by Thomas Merton

Narrated by Thomas Merton

Study a premier Jewish writer of the 20th century with one of the century’s most important Catholic authors.
This digitally remastered recording is part of Thomas Merton’s spoken word legacy, and it presents his voice at its most spiritually edifying. Originally recorded in February of 1968 at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, Thomas Merton on The Mystical Life and Martin Buber unpacks Buber's resonant Hasidic tales one at a time in a discussion-heavy class setting.

Inviting his audience to compare Buber with St. Bernard, Merton sets the stage to draw compelling connections between different faith traditions. This talk was delivered to
Merton’s fellow monks in the last year of his life, when the mystic was at the peak of his intellectual and spiritual powers.

Learn25—through our exclusive partnership with the Merton Legacy Trust and the Thomas Merton Center—is proud to offer a wide selection of archival recordings of Thomas Merton: a Trappist monk, great 20th-century mystic, and beloved author of the 1948 autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain. This talk is one in a series of carefully curated and remastered archival recordings of Thomas Merton—available exclusively from Learn25.
©2020 Learn25 (P)2020 Learn25 Inc.

This set is part of the Learn25 collection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Learn25
• Release date: Apr 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781632515865

Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) is one of the foremost spiritual thinkers of the twentieth century. Though he lived a mostly solitary existence as a Trappist monk, he had a dynamic impact on world affairs through his writing. An outspoken proponent of the antiwar and civil rights movements, he was both hailed as a prophet and castigated for his social criticism. He was also unique among religious leaders in his embrace of Eastern mysticism, positing it as complementary to the Western sacred tradition. Merton is the author of over forty books of poetry, essays, and religious writing, including Mystics and Zen Masters, and The Seven Story Mountain, for which he is best known. His work continues to be widely read to this day.