Jim Forest - The Root of War is Fear: Thomas Mertons Advice to Peacemakers

The Root of War Is Fear

Merton's witness for peace is more urgent than ever in a world becoming rapidly more insane and feverishly impatient. His analysis of the cost of war not only to lives but to minds and imaginations, to the integrity of whole societies, is still unsurpassed. In this vivid and compelling book, Jim Forestwho has already contributed so much to our understanding of Mertonweaves together a comprehensive reading of Merton's own thinking with personal testimony and reflection. A book of enormous richness and serious challenge.

Rowan Williams

A master peacemaker's masterpiece, here is one of the best tributes honoring Merton as a contemplative peacemaker, written by someone who is himself a faithful living text on nonviolence. Here is a call to action, an invitation for us to live and love our humankind beyond despair.

Jonathan Montaldo, editor,
We Are Already One: Thomas Merton's Message of Hope

When Dorothy Day handed her young co-worker Jim Forest a letter from Thomas Merton and asked him to answer it, a transforming journey began. The monk and the activist bonded in a profound correspondence and friendship. Its latest fruit is Jim's beautiful exploration of his friend Tom's passion for peacemaking and the abolition of war before it abolishes us. Forest goes to the heart of Merton's understanding of our fearful predicament. May we have the courage to go with them into the light.

Jim Douglass, author,
JFK and the Unspeakable

This wise and hopeful book calls each of us to undertake the apostolic work of patiently pursuing, praying, and sacrificing for peace by directing us to live in communion with the Truththe perfect love who is our peace, Jesus Christ.

Shawn T. Storer, director,
Catholic Peace Fellowship

Writing from the vantage point of a lifetime dedicated to working for peace, Jim Forest explores the heart of Merton's thought and writing on issues of war, peace, and nonviolence. Forest's reflections on Merton's advice to peacemakers pierce to the core of Merton's thinking and are as timely now in the twenty-first century as they were in Merton's lifetime.

Paul M. Pearson, director,
Thomas Merton Center

Jim Forest has written a stunning work focused on Thomas Merton as a pastor to peacemakers. Written in an inviting style, carefully researched, and rich in insight, thanks to Forest's friendship with Merton, this book introduces a new generation to Merton's legacy as one of American Catholicism's most dynamic advocates of nonviolence in the nuclear era. The Root of War Is Fear is destined to become a classic study of Merton's contribution to American Catholic social and religious thought.

Anne Klejment,
University of St. Thomas

Jim Forest's lucid account of Merton's advice to social activists half a century ago illuminates how relevant the monk's ideas are to our time. Forest's own long engagement in the struggle for justice and peace, as well as his close friendship with Merton, makes him the ideal chronicler of this important aspect of Merton's thought.

Bonnie Thurston, former president,
The International Thomas Merton Society

The Root of War Is Fear

THOMAS MERTON'S ADVICE TO PEACEMAKERS

by

Jim Forest

Founded in 1970, Orbis Books endeavors to publish works that enlighten the mind, nourish the spirit, and challenge the conscience. The publishing arm of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, Orbis seeks to explore the global dimensions of the Christian faith and mission, to invite dialogue with diverse cultures and religious traditions, and to serve the cause of reconciliation and peace. The books published reflect the views of their authors and do not represent the official position of the Maryknoll Society. To learn more about Maryknoll and Orbis Books, please visit our website at www.maryknollsociety.org.

Copyright 2016 by Jim Forest

Published by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York 10545-0302.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Study Guide: To assist groups reading this book, the Catholic Peace Fellowship has prepared a study guide: http://catholicpeacefellowship.org/wp/wordpress/study-guide-for-the-root-of-war/

Queries regarding rights and permissions should be addressed to: Orbis Books, P.O. Box 302, Maryknoll, New York 10545-0302.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Forest, Jim (James H.), author.

Title: The root of war is fear : Thomas Merton's advice to peacemakers / Jim Forest.

Description: Maryknoll : Orbis Books, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016002601 (print) | LCCN 2016015107 (ebook) | ISBN 9781626981973 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781608336579 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968. | Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968Correspondence. | PeaceReligious aspectsChristianity. | NonviolenceReligious aspectsChristianity. | Forest, Jim (James H.)Correspondence.

Classification: LCC BX4705.M542 F667 2016 (print) | LCC BX4705.M542 (ebook) |

DDC 271/.12502dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016002601

For
Robert Ellsberg and Tom Cornell
and
Harry and Lyn Isbell

There is one winner, only one winner, in war.
The winner is war itself.
Not truth, not justice, not liberty, not morality.
These are the vanquished.

Thomas Merton

From Target Equals City, an essay I received from Merton on February 6, 1962. It came with the note, I consider this important[but] publication was not permitted by censors of the Order. TM The text, published only after Merton's death, is among those collected in Passion for Peace (PFP), 27-36.

Contents

A Note to Readers

The Cistercian monk Thomas Merton remains a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for many people. Merton was above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the Church. He was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions.

Pope Francis

JUST AS I WAS FINISHING this book, Pope Francis, speaking before both Houses of Congress in Washington, DC, on September 24, 2015, described Thomas Merton as one of four Americans he especially admired. The other three were Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dorothy Day. Probably only the names of Lincoln and King were familiar to most of the pope's audience. In the hours and days that followed many newspaper articles and web postings sought to answer the question: Who was Dorothy Day? Who was Thomas Merton?

Hoping their curiosity lingers, I'd like to think some members of Congress and other puzzled people might become readers of this book.

Anyone who searches the name Thomas Merton will quickly discover that he was a famous convert, a man of the world who amazed his friends by entering a more-or-less medieval Trappist monastery in rural Kentucky, who wrote an autobiography that became a surprise bestseller, and helped acquaint a modern audience with the living monastic tradition as well as the practice of contemplative prayer. They will learn that through his many books he became one of the most widely read and influential spiritual writers of his time. They might also learn that in his later years he branched out beyond traditional spiritual themes to address the burning social issues of the dayparticularly the threat of nuclear war, racial injustice, and the war in Vietnam. Many people, including members of his own religious order, were surprised or shocked by this turn, which put him far outside the mainstream of Catholic opinion at the time. During the last decade of his life his advocacy of peace, disarmament, and nonviolence made him controversial to the point of his being silenced on the topic of war by the head of his monastic order.