Merton’s ‘Wisdom of the Desert’: Monastic Wisdom for the Rest of Us

with Bonnie Thurston
Saturday, April 25th 2:00-4:00 P.M.
Location:​ ​Corpus Christi Church, 529 West 121st St. (just off Broadway), Manhattan  Click here for directions
Cost: Free to Corpus Christi Chapter members & Students; Others $20

Does monastic life have anything to say to us ‘in the world’? Have monastics fled the world with which the rest of us must cope daily? We will consider Merton’s responses to these questions and some of his suggestions about monastic wisdom and practice for ‘the rest of us.’

A native of West Virginia, Bonnie Thurston wrote her doctoral dissertation on Thomas Merton and is interested in his poetry, his inter-religious thought, and monastic teaching. She was a founding member of the International Thomas Merton Society, served as its third president, and received a Louie award for service to the Society. She has written over 50 articles on Merton and given retreats and lectured on Merton widely in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Europe. She edited Thomas Merton and Buddhism (Fons Vitae Press, 2007), Hidden in the Same Mystery: Thomas Merton & Loretto (Fons Vitae, 2010), and Thomas Merton on Eastern Meditation (New Directions,  2012).  Her work on Merton has been translated into Dutch, German, Italian, and Spanish. Her new book, Shaped by the End You Live For: Thomas Merton’s Monastic Spirituality will be available from Liturgical Press in Spring, 2020.