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.
Bryan N. Massingale - Merton, Malcolm X, and Catholic Engagement with Black Lives Matter
BONUS episode: Anne Pearson - Thomas Merton, Black Lives Matter, and White Passivity
Christine M. Bochen - Created for Joy: Becoming Who We Are, Together
BONUS episode: “The Wound and the Witness: Merton and King and the Exercise of the Prophetic”
Jim Finley - Turning to Thomas Merton as a Trustworthy Guide in the Gentle Art of Contemplative Living
Jonathan Montaldo - Thomas Merton’s Contemplative Exercises for Entering the School of Our Lives
Christopher Pramuk - What Does God's Gender Have to Do with It? Merton's Awakening to the Feminine Divine
Bonnie Thurston - "...almost as if I had a sister": Thomas Merton & Etta Gullick
Daniel P. Horan, OFM - Thomas Merton and Black Lives Matter: Spirituality and Racial Justice for Our Time
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