The Seven Storey Mountain
He was very young when he wrote this, as I was when I read it. He was looking for certitude. Later on, Merton gravitated toward Asian spirituality.
This was so hard for me to read, but so worth it. The questions Merton asks himself, especially at the end of the book when he has come into the church and has changed so much of his life, are incredibly challenging questions to turn on myself. I understand that this was written when he was still relatively new to monastic life and that he later regretted some of the more condescending or pietistic passages, but even those passages provide such deep insight into the soul of a young believer -
Hugely disappointing. There were two main things about this book that turned me off: First, I am irritated by the way that he seems to treat esoteric Catholic doctrines as clear and obvious, thus needing no explanation. For example, he presents Marian intercession as a universal principle that should be self-evident to any person capable of reason, despite the fact that (so far as I can tell) it has very little basis in Scripture and is not even a particularly important part of scholastic
This edition of the book intimidated me at first, because neither of the prefaces exactly warmed me to the subject matter. The second, in particular, by some unctuous "we're so much more enlightened than this since Vatican II" type, really made me wonder if I would find anything in Merton that made any sense to me.Fortunately I did. I started the book in the hotel and read probably the last four-fifths of it on the way back from Vienna to Chicago. I've never read any spiritual work that makes
I think I expected much more relatable spiritual insights than this book ended up providing. While the writing is in many places fabulous, its also extremely wordy and overwrought at times. While I appreciated his spiritual questioning and insight, the narrative didnt feel as if it went far enough at times, and what must have been taken out might have met that need. While I dont want to judge the work on what choices Merton made later in life, Im wondering if this book spoke more to previous
Worth remembering it was written when he was 33 and that he himself said, 'I hardly know the man who wrote that.' But agreed, I'm not seeing what all
Thomas Merton
Paperback | Pages: 467 pages Rating: 4.16 | 12974 Users | 1021 Reviews
Particularize Of Books The Seven Storey Mountain
Title | : | The Seven Storey Mountain |
Author | : | Thomas Merton |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | First Harvest edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 467 pages |
Published | : | October 4th 1999 by Harcourt, Inc. (first published 1948) |
Categories | : | Religion. Spirituality. Biography. Nonfiction. Autobiography. Memoir |
Ilustration Conducive To Books The Seven Storey Mountain
One of the most famous books ever written about a man’s search for faith and peace. The Seven Storey Mountain tells of the growing restlessness of a brilliant and passionate young man, who at the age of twenty-six, takes vows in one of the most demanding Catholic orders—the Trappist monks. At the Abbey of Gethsemani, "the four walls of my new freedom," Thomas Merton struggles to withdraw from the world, but only after he has fully immersed himself in it. At the abbey, he wrote this extraordinary testament, a unique spiritual autobiography that has been recognized as one of the most influential religious works of our time. Translated into more than twenty languages, it has touched millions of lives.Define Books During The Seven Storey Mountain
Original Title: | The Seven Storey Mountain |
ISBN: | 0156010860 (ISBN13: 9780156010863) |
Edition Language: | English |
Setting: | Bardstown, Kentucky(United States) |
Rating Of Books The Seven Storey Mountain
Ratings: 4.16 From 12974 Users | 1021 ReviewsCrit Of Books The Seven Storey Mountain
Reading Merton's autobiography almost tempts me to become a Catholic. As a Protestant, there are elements of Catholic theology that I could never affirm, but Merton, an excellent spokesman, gives the reader a sense of the aesthetic beauty and solemnity of the Catholic faith that us pragmatist Protestants sorely lack. We are casual and friendly with God where they are formal and filled with awe. There is probably a right balance in our response to God here, and Merton's book offered me theHe was very young when he wrote this, as I was when I read it. He was looking for certitude. Later on, Merton gravitated toward Asian spirituality.
This was so hard for me to read, but so worth it. The questions Merton asks himself, especially at the end of the book when he has come into the church and has changed so much of his life, are incredibly challenging questions to turn on myself. I understand that this was written when he was still relatively new to monastic life and that he later regretted some of the more condescending or pietistic passages, but even those passages provide such deep insight into the soul of a young believer -
Hugely disappointing. There were two main things about this book that turned me off: First, I am irritated by the way that he seems to treat esoteric Catholic doctrines as clear and obvious, thus needing no explanation. For example, he presents Marian intercession as a universal principle that should be self-evident to any person capable of reason, despite the fact that (so far as I can tell) it has very little basis in Scripture and is not even a particularly important part of scholastic
This edition of the book intimidated me at first, because neither of the prefaces exactly warmed me to the subject matter. The second, in particular, by some unctuous "we're so much more enlightened than this since Vatican II" type, really made me wonder if I would find anything in Merton that made any sense to me.Fortunately I did. I started the book in the hotel and read probably the last four-fifths of it on the way back from Vienna to Chicago. I've never read any spiritual work that makes
I think I expected much more relatable spiritual insights than this book ended up providing. While the writing is in many places fabulous, its also extremely wordy and overwrought at times. While I appreciated his spiritual questioning and insight, the narrative didnt feel as if it went far enough at times, and what must have been taken out might have met that need. While I dont want to judge the work on what choices Merton made later in life, Im wondering if this book spoke more to previous
Worth remembering it was written when he was 33 and that he himself said, 'I hardly know the man who wrote that.' But agreed, I'm not seeing what all
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