Passion for Peace; Reflections on War and Nonviolence

Various compilations of American monk and martyr for peace Father Merton have gathered his ever more clear and strong prophetic writings for pacifism as a principle of Christian action and orthopraxis, no matter what compromise might have been made with the imperial powers and dominations in this material world which adulterating compromises drove past and present ages of monks into the isolated anchorite mountains and deserts and caves, horrified by any surrendering of the Faith of the Prince of Peace to institutional violence. Thus we receive most gratefully this gathering of Father Merton's clear essays for Peace as principle of Christian Faith edited by Merton biographer the Reverend Father William Shannon, author as well of Silent Lamp: The Thomas Merton Story. As Roy Olsen writes in his Booklist essay describing this excellent collection on Christian Peace, "Shannon notes how much soul searching and courage it took for Merton to speak out against the cold war and its perversions, as he saw them, of society, the economy, language, and religion, at a time when his own Catholic Church was, if not silent about war, liable to cheer on armed American aggression. These particular writings of Merton's are, besides being stirring reminders of the Christian duty to prosecute peace, documents of importance to American history as much as or more than to Christian history." Indeed in that dark day as now to speak of peace was to be exiled and insulted as un-American and even against all evidence anti-Christian, and thus we understand the courage it took for Father Merton to speak out thus prophetically ever more and more clearly and uncompromisingly, compelled by our faith in its fullness and by our Eucharist, causing no doubt his death. Remember the recent Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis: el Sacramento de la Caridad: una Exhortacion Apostolica Postsinodal recalls how our participation in the Eucharist compels us to work for compassionate peace. In his lengthy introduction, Father Shannon indicates that many of the articles and essays republished here originally appeared in Seeds of Destruction and in The Nonviolent Alternative. Father Shannon indicates the correct criticism that those works tended to decontextualize the writings, and thus lent themselves to drawing Father Merton's words far out of context, by which some eager ideologues could even force the grotesquely and absurdly erroneous point that Father Merton supported war and killing under certain circumstances. He did not. Fortunately his biographer, Father Shannon here supplies the context and the fullness of Father Merton's pacifist and faithful thought and spirit. Father Shannon concludes: "I hope that understanding these articles in their context will show readers a neglected side of Thomas Merton: his passion for peace and the ardor with which he pleaded for it, in a world that yearned for it so desperately (p. 7)." Now we do not even yawn for it, nor appear to care fo

Never mind fighting terrorism and the Taliban. America's conflicting values put it at war with itself and make it seek scapegoats abroad. Merton speaks to us across two generations to show how the hatred and evil in us spread across oceans to infect those who become our enemies. But Merton does not bash America or Americans. He provides a vital antidote to the disinformation that passes as news reports in our media, which are just as clueless as we are in understanding the whys and wherefores of our current crisis. So do yourself a favor. Turn off the TV and the radio, set aside the newspapers and magazines, and read this book. You'll swear as I do that Merton could have written it yesterday. Substitute "terrorism" for "cold war" and "communism" while you're reading, and you'll see what I mean. There's still time for enlightenment and wisdom to triumph over ignorance and vanity if enough of us can learn to tell the difference.

A great book that lists many essays of Merton during the 60's, including some that orignally appeared in the Catholic Worker Newspaper. Many on non-violence, others on important figures of that time. I especially enjoyed the piece on Malcolm X.