Thinking through Thomas Merton: Contemplation for Contemporary Times by Robert Inchausti (review)

Thinking through Thomas Merton: Contemplation for Contemporary Times is Robert Inchausti’s latest contribution to scholarship on Thomas Merton, which includes anthologies and book length treatments of Merton’s contribution to American thought. Inchausti, Professor of English at California State Polytechnic University, analyzes Merton’s life and thought across five chapters that focus, respectively, on Merton’s biography, contemplation, poetry, monasticism, and nonviolence.

This volume, while slim (172 pages, including notes and index), is not a quick read. Inchausti has packed dense philosophical and theological concepts into these five chapters, the introduction and conclusion. The author brings to bear many disciplines, including philosophy, theology, spirituality, and ideas related to social activism. The reader, then, encounters Jacques Derrida, Martin Heideggar, Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Martin Luther King, Jr., Daniel Berrigan, and Dorothy Day, among many others, in conversation on topics related to the life and thought of Thomas Merton. A close and careful reading of this text reveals an insightful interpretation of Merton’s contemporary relevance through application to topics like artificial intelligence, the internet, and robotics.

Inchausti’s attention to Merton’s bridge-building between the spiritual life and social activism is an important contribution of this book. With respect to Merton’s monastic identity, Inchausti writes, “And yet in his last speech, Merton told his mostly Catholic audience that monks must always play a counter-hegemonic role to the values of the world – reeducating individuals to see through the illusory social spectacle by embracing marginality and encouraging them to recalibrate their lives with reference to their true selves in God as opposed to their false selves as self-interested individual profit maximizers” (89). Not limited to monks or Catholics, Inchausti goes on to discuss Merton’s relevance to activists from all walks of life who are engaged in the nonviolent peace movement, the ongoing struggle for civil rights, and the pursuit of economic justice.

The book helpfully includes an appendix in which the author surveys “Some Milestones of Merton Scholarship” that have emerged since the Cistercian’s passing. This readable coda is a review of books, articles, multimedia, and even peace and justice action that directly or indirectly engages or reveals an influence of Merton’s thought across different disciplines, genres, and religious traditions.

This book is especially recommended for Merton scholars and readers adept in literary theory and postmodern philosophy who are interested in Merton’s relevance to these schools of thought.