In the School of Prophets

The distinctive prophetic quality of Thomas Merton’s spirituality, shaped byfigures ranging from the Hebrew prophets to Thich Nhat Hanh, emergesfrom this fresh examination of the works Merton read, responded to, andcelebrated in his own writing.In the School of Prophets examines the final decade of Merton’s life,mainly through the lens of his journals and letters, and helps to fill a gap incontemporary Merton studies. William Blake and various Latin Americanpoets; novelists Boris Pasternak, Albert Camus, and William Faulkner;existentialists Søren Kierkegaard and Gabriel Marcel; monks of theEgyptian desert; and Bernard of Clairvaux number among those whohelped shape Merton’s prophetic consciousness, leading him to reexaminewhat it means to be both a human being and a contemplative monk ofthe twentieth century