Thomas Merton had, in his life, important experiences with women. His life and writings are impregnated by those feminine presences and influences who provoked strong reactions and emotions in his heart and mind. We will examine some aspects of his experience with the feminine, including his mother's premature death, the multiple girlfriends of his youth (whose names he would not even remember), as well as some friendships which were important in his Christian journey, such as Naomi Burton, Dorothy Day, and Catherine de Hueck. Merton's life as a monk was also configured by important feminine spiritual figures, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, Julian of Norwich, and others. We will also examine carefully the epiphany that represented Merton's love for the young nurse M., and conclude with a theological reflection about how Merton's experiences with the feminine influenced his writings and provide new insights into mystical experience and service to the Church.
Maria Clara Lucchetti Bingemer holds a degree in Social Communication from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (1975), a Master's degree in Theology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (1985) and a PhD in Systematic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University (1989). She is currently a full professor in the Department of Theology at PUCRio. For ten years she ran the Loyola Faith and Culture Center at the same University. For four years, she was an evaluator of graduate programs at the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). For six years, she was dean of the Center for Theology and Human Sciences at PUC-Rio. She has experience in the area of Theology, with an emphasis on Systematic Theology, focusing mainly on the following themes: God, otherness, woman, violence and spirituality. In the last few years, she has been researching and publishing on the thought of the French philosopher Simone Weil. Nowadays, her studies and research are primarily directed towards the thinking and writing of contemporary mystics and the interface between Theology and Literature.
Robert Ellsberg - 'It's the Direction that Matters': How Sister Wendy Beckett Changed Her Mind about Merton
Sophfronia Scott - Courageous Conversations on Death with Thomas Merton
Leslye Colvin - Merton: An Invitation to Unbind Him and Ourselves
Anne Pearson - White Man Writing on Racism: Thomas Merton and ”Letters to a White Liberal”
Ilia Delio - Merton’s Christophany and the Second Axial Monk
BONUS episode, Shannen Dee Williams - America’s Real Sister Act: Illuminating the Hidden History of Black Catholic Nuns in the African American Freedom Struggle
Cassidy Hall - Queering Thomas Merton
BONUS episode, Simone Campbell - Hunger for Hope: Contemplation and Political Action
BONUS episode, Sophia Park - Dancing with Thomas Merton in the Borderland
Mark C. Meade - The Seven Storey Mountain at Seventy-Five: Classic or Déclassé?
BONUS episode: Christopher Pramuk’s Presidential Address for Sophia Comes Forth Reaching, the 18th General Meeting of the ITMS
Jim Robinson - Spirituality Sustainability and Social Justice: Embodying “Integral Ecology” with Thomas Merton and Rosemary Radford Ruether
Patrick F. O’Connell - Beyond the Blurbs: Thomas Merton and St. Augustine
Mary Frohlich, RSCJ - Merton as Disciple and Re-interpreter of St. John of the Cross
Bob Grip - Washington Watches the Monk II
Emma McDonald - Fully Human and Fully Real: Thomas Merton on Technology and Embodiment
David Golemboski - People that God Has Brought together: Thomas Merton on the Hope of Political Community Beyond Nationalism
2022-11-08 - Partners in the General Dance of the Spirit: Thomas Merton and Ilia Delio Evolving into the Grandeur of God
2022-10-11 - Julianne Wallace - Of Messengers of Peace: A Liturgy for Our World in the Voices of Merton and Francis
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