Christianity Guides
We know your lives have been profoundly changed by the impact of the ongoing global health crisis. We know you are concerned for yourselves, for your loved ones, for your communities. We know so many people are suffering right now, and are afraid. And we want to help. We want you to know that though we may be physically isolated, we are all connected, and we’re in this together. Below you will find lots of great ideas for weathering this storm:...
Continue Reading >> Thomas Merton's Influence on the Beats by Robert Inchausti, author of Hard to Be a Saint in the City Thomas Merton, “Honorary Beatnik” It’s hard to say exactly when Thomas Merton became an “Honorary Beatnik.” One could chase the association all the way back to the mid-thirties when, as an undergraduate at Columbia, he first became friends with the hipster Seymour Freedgood, the bohemian poet Robert Lax, and the painter Ad Reinhardt. But it wasn’t until much later that Beat “icons” Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, and Gary Snyder all...
Continue Reading >> A Quality of Being By Dave O’Neal We talk with Roger Lipsey about his book Make Peace Before the Sun Goes Down: The Long Encounter of Thomas Merton and His Abbot, James Fox 2018 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the most famous Trappist monk of modern times—or perhaps of all time—Thomas Merton. From his life of extreme silence and seclusion he became a pioneer in the religious dialogue between East and West, a force in the intellectual...
Continue Reading >> Christianity’s Best-Kept Secret: On Cynthia Bourgeault and The Cloud of Unknowing
“God can be held fast by love, but by thought never.” The questions that arise upon encounter with this and other such confounding lines from the Christian mystical classic The Cloud of Unknowing (What is meant by “God,” anyway? What is love? What can be “known” beyond thought?) are what keep many potential readers from approaching the great fourteenth-century work. But the Cloud was in fact not intended for spiritual professionals or academics. It is a series of intimate instructions...The Unitive Way and the Future of Christianity: A Discussion with Cynthia Bourgeault
Last time Cynthia was in our office, she and her editor, Dave O'Neal, had an interesting conversation about centering prayer, the future of Christianity, her book The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, and much more. Please enjoy these videos from her visit.