Gregory K. Hillis - Man of Dialogue: Thomas Mertons Catholic Vision

A deeply learned yet highly accessible exploration of the whole of Mertons spiritual journey, and most compellingly, the living wellspring of Catholic theological, mystical, and sacramental sources that nourished Mertons life from conversion to death. Gregory Hillis brings wonderful breadth, humanity, humor, and fresh insight to every facet of the irrepressible mosaic that is Thomas Merton and, yes, his capaciously Catholic theological and apologetic literary genius. Without avoiding critical assessments of its famous subject, Man of Dialogue should put to rest every superficial dismissal of Mertons legacyand, sadly, they are legionthat downplays or denies Mertons extraordinary witness as a Catholic Christian monk and priest of Gethsemani, to the day of his death and well beyond.

Christopher Pramuk, University Chair of Ignatian Thought and Imagination, Regis University

Thomas Merton counted his Catholic faith, along with his monastic vocation and calling to be a writer, as three gifts for which he would be ever grateful. In this exceptionally informative and insightful study, Gregory Hillis illuminates Mertons Catholic vision and the ways in which it informed his identity, shaped his spirituality, inspired his prophetic witness, and made him, in the words of Pope Francis, a man of dialogue. A significant contribution to Merton studies and a must read!

Christine M. Bochen, Professor Emerita, Nazareth College, Rochester, New York

Professor Hillis engages the reader with a compelling introduction to the life and thought of the Trappist who spent his time in prayerful dialogue with God and the world around him. He demonstrates with ease through the lens of Mertons many published works and personal journals that the great man was from the early days of his conversion totally immersed in and utterly loyal to Catholic thought, tradition, prayer, liturgy and lived this authentically in his monastic vocation and in dialogue with the modern world.

Bishop Fintan Monahan, author of Peace Smiles, Rediscovering Thomas Merton

For all that has been written about the fine innerworkings of Mertons expansive mind, most have missed what Hillis demonstrates as the mainspringhis identification with the priesthood and the universalism of the Eucharist, the principle part of his everyday life.

Br. Paul Quenon, Abbey of Gethsemani, author of How to Live, and In Praise of the Useless Life

In Man of Dialogue, Dr. Gregory Hillis unpacks the gift of Thomas Merton as a true man of dialogue and finds his own faith journey in the life of his subject. While acknowledging Mertons complexities and fallible experiences, Dr. Hillis seeks to set the record straight about Thomas Mertons identity throughout his life as a thoroughly and deeply rooted Catholic. This book includes a compelling account of Merton as an active contemplative seeking to be engaged in the joys, sufferings, anguish, and grief of this world and Mertons rich insights and fascinating encounters with a wide array of individuals. Man of Dialogue provides a path that diverges from soundbites and quick solutions to the courageous and intelligent path of dialogue so desperately needed by our world.

Most Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville

Beautifully written, this book paints an engaging, instructive, even inspiring picture of a unique twentieth-century American Catholic. And the undertones of its argument reverberate beyond Merton himself. Who indeed is a Catholic? Someone who fits into the tight confines of a group narrowly defined? Or one who senses the presence of God in the truth, beauty, and goodness of other religious traditions, who finds a world of grace in the struggle for justice, who sees the image of God in everyone walking around at Fourth and Walnut? While focused with great insight on Thomas Merton, this book shines helpful light on the current tension about Catholic identity in the church.

Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ, Distinguished Professor of Theology Emerita, Fordham University

Thomas Merton was a faithful Catholic. But his interest in Eastern religions, his challenges to the status quo in the church, and even his ideas about monasticism, have made his Catholicism suspect in some quarters. Greg Hilliss beautifully written and expertly researched book restores Mertons Catholicism to where it should be in studies of his remarkable life: at the center.

James Martin, SJ, author of Learning to Pray and Jesus: A Pilgrimage

His Holiness the Dalai Lama praised Thomas Merton for introducing him to the real meaning of the word Christian. In Man of Dialogue, for the first time, Gregory Hillis comprehensively mines the breadth and depth of Mertons Catholic Christianity and shows the profound extent of Mertons embrace and commitment to his Catholic faith, his vocation as a Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani, and as a priest of the Catholic Church.

Paul M. Pearson, Director, Thomas Merton Center

Cover design by Monica Bokinskie. Photograph of Thomas Merton. Used with Permission of the Merton Legacy Trust and the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University.

2021 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, except brief quotations in reviews, without written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint Johns Abbey, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, MN 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hillis, Gregory K., 1975 author.

Title: Man of dialogue : Thomas Mertons Catholic vision / Gregory K. Hillis.

Description: Collegeville, Minnesota : Liturgical Press, [2021] | Includes index. | Summary: Illustrates how Merton was fundamentally shaped by his identity as a Roman Catholic Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021025160 (print) | LCCN 2021025161 (ebook) | ISBN 9780814684603 (paperback) | ISBN 9780814684856 (epub) | ISBN 9780814684856 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH: Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968. | CatholicsReligious identity.

Classification: LCC BX4705.M542 H555 2021 (print) | LCC BX4705. M542 (ebook) | DDC 248.4/82dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021025160

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021025161

For Kim

A century ago, at the beginning of the Great War, which Pope Benedict XV termed a pointless slaughter, another notable American was born: the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton. He remains a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for many people. In his autobiography he wrote: I came into the world. Free by nature, in the image of God, I was nevertheless the prisoner of my own violence and my own selfishness, in the image of the world into which I was born. That world was the picture of Hell, full of men like myself, loving God, and yet hating him; born to love him, living instead in fear of hopeless self-contradictory hungers. 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, Address to the United States Congress, September 24, 2015