Maverick Philosopher

Thomas Merton's Hostility to Scholastic Manualism and the Forgotten Fr. Hickey

As much of a flaky liberal as Thomas Merton (1915 - 1968) is, both politically and theologically, I love the guy I meet in the pages of the seven volumes of The Journals of Thomas Merton. I am presently savoring Volume Six, 1966-1967. ...

Merton, Marilyn, and David Carradine

Today, August 5th, is the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death. What follows is a post from 13 June 2009. .................... Thomas Merton, Journal (IV, 240), writing about Marilyn Monroe around the time of her death in 1962...

New Year's Eve Varia

Twilight Zone marathon is on Plenty of nonsense is being spewed about inequality. Pitchfork Pat talks sense. Hillary had an unlucky year, and thank God for that. I enjoyed Nebraska. ObamaCare is not Obama's Care. An alternative t...

Bob Dylan on Moby Dick

Bob Dylan finally gave his Nobel Prize for Literature lecture. I'm impressed. Besides his musical he mentions his literary influences. He cites many of the books I read as assigned readings in high school, books he claims to have read as...

On the 'Inconceivability' of Death

Or is death just a natural event like any other? Merton the monk triggers a Maverick meditatio mori.

Karl Barth, Divine Revelation, and Mystical Experience

"It [divine revelation] is the opening of a door that can only be unlocked from the inside." Quoted by Thomas Merton in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Image Books, 1965, p. 10) from a Christmas sermon preached by Karl Barth in 1931. ...