Thomas Merton—an eternal seeker, dislocated immigrant, and sojourner—left his mark on an Asian woman who was seeking a spiritual adventure. In many borderlands, the virgin points, Merton's hidden yet honest struggle inspire a deep connection with the immigrant woman in exile. Through a personal narrative of sojourning, an emphasis begins to manifest that her religious life began in Korea and found home in the US, contrasting Merton's journey of finding a home in Asia. Dancing with Thomas Merton led the woman to see her true self, beyond the East and West. Transformation occurs at the borderland, a space of encounter, struggle, writing, and contemplation.
Jung Eun Sophia Park, SNJM, is associate professor at Holy Names University in California. She loves to give retreats, spiritual directions, and workshops in U.S. and other countries. Her academic interests are global justice and spirituality, shamanism, postcolonial feminism, and mysticism. Sophia has authored many books, including A Hermeneutic on Dislocation as Experience: Creating a Hybrid Identity, Constructing a Borderland Community, Conversations at the Well: Emerging Religious Life in the 21st Century Global World, Border-Crossing Spirituality: Transformation in the Borderland, and An Asian Woman's Religious Journey with Thomas Merton: Journey to the East/Journey to the West. She also wrote books in Korean, including Thoughtful Chats: How the Story Changed Women, Time Jor Sorrow, Beauty of the Broken, Seasons that I loved, Joy of Life, and For the Broken Humanities. She also writes articles on ordinary spirituality at the Korean Catholic News and offers women's spirituality lessons through YouTube.
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, Maria Clara Lucchetti Bingemer - Women in Merton’s Life: Notes on His Experience with the Feminine
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
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Devoted To Prayer
Cast The Word
Let Me Be Frank | Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Podcast | Diocese of Bridgeport, CT
The Bible Recap
BardsFM