Natural Spirituality, Thomas Merton, and Christian Renewal PDF Download

Author: Kenneth Bragan
Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency
ISBN: 1681816989
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 76

View

Book Description
Kenneth Bragan has previously written a psychological study of the life of Thomas Merton as well as a book stressing the importance of Merton’s spirituality. In this new book, he uses neuroscience to place Merton’s spirituality in the context of natural spirituality and uses this as a way of opening a door to Christian renewal. He writes, “Neuroscience may be offering a new and revitalizing understanding of the basis of Christian faith, particularly belief in the healing power of the risen Christ. He starts the book by examining the division currently occurring between “belief-based” faith and faith that is predominantly “experience-based,” as exemplified by two recently published books. He then gives portraits of two of the great Christians of the last century – Bonhoeffer and Merton – who demonstrate how different ways of experiencing God can be equally effective. Finally, he attempts to define a New Direction.

Author: Thomas Merton
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1590300491
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 321

View

Book Description
A collection of thirty-nine short essays in which Thomas Merton examines what true contemplation is and how it can impact one's spirituality.

Author: John Eudes Bamberger
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 0879070641
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 173

View

Book Description
Like Bernard of Clairvaux, whose last act was to leave his cloister to mediate 'successfully 'between two nobles and prevent bloodshed, Thomas Merton found in the monastic life of prayer a source of strength, empathy, and understanding. To understand Merton, one must first know him as a Prophet of Monastic renewal. John Eudes Bamberger entered Gethsemani Abbey in 1950, having earned an MD from the University of Cincinnati the previous year and done his internship at Georgetown University Hospital. A student of Thomas Merton from 1952-1955, he worked with Merton, after his ordination in 1956, in screening applicants to the abbey. He served as abbot of the Abbey of the Genesee, in New York state, from 1971 until 2001. Since returning from a term as superior in the Philippines, he lives in a hermitage at Genesee.

Author: Kenneth Bragan
Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency
ISBN: 1950015084
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 42

View

Book Description
Kenneth Bragan believes Christianity is approaching a time of change, one that is under pressure from changing world views. The religion is changing from a largely belief-based faith to one that is more experience-based. “I present Thomas Merton as an exemplar of the latter and Laurence Freeman as an advocate of meditative Christianity, which increases in importance as it receives support from developments in neuroscience. These new directions may well bring much needed renewal,” he states. The retired psychiatrist wrote New Directions Towards Christian Renewal because he feels that Christianity is no longer doing what it has the potential to do. “This latter mode, that of natural spirituality (standing in contradistinction to supernatural spirituality), is the very future of a Christianity that engages with exegesis and matters of faith without the myopia of literalism, instead allowing for the allegorical and poetic dimensions of scripture to rush forward unfettered by the limitations of historical inexactitudes taken as dogma. Kenneth Bragan brilliantly and persuasively sets forth this new paradigm with rigorous scholarship, biblical analysis, and the passion of the faithful. New Directions Towards Christian Renewal is a remarkable and inspiring work, a piece that is both radically insightful and undoubtedly trailblazing.” – Charles Asher, reviewer

Author: Thomas Merton
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1447483510
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 76

View

Book Description
This early work by Anglo-American Catholic writer Thomas Merton is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. It contains a wealth of information on spiritual direction and how to learn the art of meditation. This fascinating work is thoroughly recommended for anyone with an interest in spiritual life. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Author: Kenneth Bragan
Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency
ISBN: 1681815893
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 70

View

Book Description
The current renewed interest in mystical experience, which stems in part from the neuroscience claim that there is a spiritual doorway in the brain, provides the grounds for placing the spiritual legacy of Thomas Merton in the context of natural spirituality, where it fits comfortably. His journals demonstrate clearly the important part that mystical experience (what he called God-experience) played in the amazing spiritual growth and personal transformation he underwent during his time as a Trappist monk. It is suggested here that as the door to the supernatural world closes, the door to natural spirituality is opening, and Thomas Merton’s legacy could provide great support for such change. If so, his importance as a mystic, teacher, and prophet could go on rising.

Author: Richard Foster
Publisher: Monarch Books
ISBN: 0857216538
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208

View

Book Description
Nathan Foster has lived with the spiritual disciplines all his life, but has had to find his own unique path. As he sought - sometimes rebelliously - to develop habits that would enable him to live more like Jesus, he encountered problems both personal and universal. Gradually he discovered creative new ways to practice disciplines such as fasting, meditation and simplicity, to live as Jesus lived. With a foreword from Nathan's father Richard, who provides a fresh introduction to each of the disciplines, The Making of an Ordinary Saint invites us to be formed into the likeness of Christ's character.

Author: Bonnie Bowman Thurston
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 0814688071
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 192

View

Book Description
"A survey of Thomas Merton's thought on fundamental aspects of monastic formation and spirituality, which also addresses some of the temptations and popular misunderstandings surrounding monastic life"--

Author: Thomas Merton
Publisher: Image
ISBN: 0307589536
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 130

View

Book Description
In this classic text, Thomas Merton offers valuable guidance for prayer. He brings together a wealth of meditative and mystical influences–from John of the Cross to Eastern desert monasticism–to create a spiritual path for today. Most important, he shows how the peace contacted through meditation should not be sought in order to evade the problems of contemporary life, but can instead be directed back out into the world to affect positive change. Contemplative Prayer is one of the most well-known works of spirituality of the last one hundred years, and it is a must-read for all seeking to live a life of purpose in today’s world. In a moving and profound introduction, Thich Nhat Hanh offers his personal recollections of Merton and compares the contemplative traditions of East and West.

Author: Thomas Merton
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN: 0268162379
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 213

View

Book Description
The spiritual and psychological insights of these essays were nurtured in a monastic milieu, but their issues are universally human. Thomas Merton lays a foundation for personal growth and transformation through fidelity to "our own truth and inner being." His main focus is our desire and need to attain "a fully human and personal identity." This classic is a newly restored and corrected edition and the inaugural volume of Gethsemani Studies in Psychological and Religious Anthropology, a series of books that explores, through the twin perspectives of psychology and religion, the dynamics and depths of being fully human. "When I speak of the contemplative life I do not mean the institutional, cloistered life, . . . I am talking about a special dimension of inner discipline and experience, a certain integrity and fullness of personal development . . . . Discovering the contemplative life is a new self-discovery. One might say it is the flowering of a deeper identity on an entirely different plane . . ." --Thomas Merton, from the book