Description

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Merton and Hinduism is the first book to thoroughly and definitively trace the lasting influence of Yoga and Hindu traditions on the life and writings of renowned author Thomas Merton, Catholic Priest and Trappist Monk, and pioneer of inter-religious dialogue. Informative and original essays by leading scholars highlight specific points of contact between Merton and various aspects of the Hindu and Yoga traditions, such as Merton and Gandhi, Merton and the Bhagavad Gita, and Merton’s dialogue and friendship with key Indian intellectuals such as A.K. Coomaraswamy, among many others. Approximately half of the book collects Merton’s own writings on Hinduism and Yoga, and many essays are published here for the first time. These essays portray Merton as teacher and novice master, cultural commentator, and contemplative practitioner interested in the mutually enriching dialogue among Catholic Christianity, Hinduism, and Yoga traditions.

About the Author

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David M. Odorisio, PhD, serves as Director of The Retreat at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, and is Associate Core Faculty in Pacifica’s Mythological Studies graduate degree program. He received his PhD in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and teaches in the areas of methodology, psychology and religion, and comparative mysticism. He has published in numerous journals in the fields of Jungian and transpersonal psychology, as well as The Merton Seasonal, and is co-editor of the volume Depth Psychology and Mysticism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

William Buchanan, PhD, was librarian at Vivekananda Monastery in Ganges, Michigan. He was formerly Professor of General Humanities at Olivet College and taught part time at Grand Valley State College. He was a member of The International Thomas Merton Society.

Thomas Cattoi, LMFT, PhD, is Associate Professor of Christology and Cultures at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. His interests include early Christian theology and spirituality and Buddhist-Christian dialogue, with particular attention to Tibetan Buddhism.

Christopher Key Chapple, PhD, is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and founding Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. A specialist in the religions of India, he has published more than twenty books, including the recent Living Landscapes: Meditations on the Elements in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Yogas (SUNY Press).

Francis X. Clooney, SJ, PhD, is the Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity School. He earned his doctorate in South Asian languages and civilizations from the University of Chicago. Clooney is a leading figure globally in the developing field of comparative theology and the author of numerous articles and books. He is a Roman Catholic priest and has been a member of the Society of Jesus for over 50 years.

Richard V. Croghan, PhD,  was an educator and administrator at the University of New Mexico. For nearly twenty years he taught courses on Thomas Merton at the Division of Continuing Education. For the past thirty years he lectured and gave retreats on Merton for various New Mexico groups, churches, and spiritual centers.

Paul R. Dekar, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Evangelism and Mission, Memphis Theological Seminary. He teaches, writes, and volunteers with various organizations including Dundas [Ontario] Community Services and the Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. He is the author of Thomas Merton, Twentieth Century Wisdom for Twenty-First Century Living, and Thomas Merton: God's Messenger on the Road Towards a New World.

Roger Lipsey, PhD, is a biographer, art historian, editor, and translator. He is the author of An Art of Our Own: The Spiritual in Twentieth-Century Art; Angelic Mistakes: The Art of Thomas Merton; Hammarskjöld: A Life (hailed as the definitive Dag Hammarskjöld​ biography); and most recently, Gurdjieff Reconsidered: The Life, the Teachings, the Legacy.

Thomas Matus, PhD, has been a monk at New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California, since 1962. He is the author of Yoga and the Jesus Prayer and co-author of Belonging to the Universe with Fritjof Capra and Br. David Steindl-Rast.

Rachel Fell McDermott, PhD, is professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College. Her books include Singing to the Goddess: Poems to Kali and Uma from Bengal; Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West; and Revelry, Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal: The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals.

Vasudha Narayanan, PhD, is Distinguished Professor, Department of Religion, at the University of Florida, and a past President of the American Academy of Religion (2001-2002). She was educated at the Universities of Madras and Bombay in India, and at Harvard University.

Patrick F. O'Connell, PhD, is a founding member of the International Thomas Merton Society. He is coauthor of The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, and has edited over a dozen volumes of Thomas Merton’s writings, including Thomas Merton: Selected Essays, as well as the series of Merton’s monastic conferences through Cistercian Publications.

Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO, has been a monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani for 62 years. Fr. Louis (Thomas Merton) was his Novice Master for over two years. Br. Paul has published seven books of poetry, most recently Amounting to Nothing (Paraclete Press), and with Fons Vitae, Bells of the Hours and Monkswear. His memoir In Praise of the Useless Life won a Catholic Press award for memoirs. Br. Paul’s poetry and photography will appear as See the Moment: Feel the Moment (ACTA Publications).

Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa) is a biographer, scholar, and author in the fields of philosophy, Indic religion, and comparative spirituality. He is the founding editor of the Journal of Vaishnava Studies and associate editor of Back to Godhead magazine. His thirty-plus books include Essential Hinduism (Rowman & Littlefield) and Sri Chaitanya's Life and Teachings: The Golden Avatara of Divine Love (Lexington Books).

M. Thomas Thangaraj, PhD, has published various articles in Tamil, English and U.S. periodicals and has written Christian hymns in Tamil for use in churches in India. His current research focuses on Indian Christian theological responses to religious pluralism and on constructing a systematic theology from a global perspective. He retired from Emory University in 2008.

David Gordon White, PhD, is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Associate Research Fellow at the Centre d’Études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud in Paris, France. He is the author and editor of several books on yoga and tantra, including Kiss of the Yogini: “Tantric Sex” in its South Asian Contexts (2003); Sinister Yogis (2009), and The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: A Biography (2014).