"Cassian and the Fathers" is the initial volume in the series of
Novitiate Conferences of Thomas Merton, the classes he presented to
young men beginning their monastic life at the Abbey of Gethsemani
in Kentucky. They contain Merton's insights on important Patristic
and monastic figures preceding the time of St. Benedict, above al
John Cassian, the most significant bridge between the early desert
fathers and the development of monastic life in the West, and they
reveal the continuing relevance of their teachings for contemporary
monastics and other Christians.
Much of the value and interest of "Cassian and the Fathers, " as
of the novitiate conferences in general, lies in the light it casts
on Merton himself as teacher, novice master and monk. These notes
provide a privileged standpoint for observing Merton functioning as
an integral and important member of his monastic community. The
'public' Merton has long been visible in his works written for
publication, and has more recently been complemented by the
'interpersonal' Merton disclosed in his correspondence and the
'intimate' Merton revealed in his complete journals.
While the novitiate conferences may not equal in significance
these other sources, they do allow access to yet another stratum of
Merton's wide-ranging and immensely productive engagement with his
world from the distinctive standpoint he had chosen within a
tradition dating back more than sixteen centuries. While these
lectures need to be used critically and carefully in evaluating
Merton's own perspectives and commitments, nevertheless they do
need to be used.
The dialectical relationship between Merton's private and more
public statements, including those made to his novice classes,
makes possible a more complex and thus a richer picture of his
monastic identity and so of his personal identity. In learning
about"Cassian and the Fathers" from Merton, one learns as well
about Merton as monk, as heir to the great monastic teachers, and
as teacher of a new generation of monks, an easily overlooked and
undervalued, yet integral, even central component of his vocation
for more than half his monastic life. Thus the publication of the
novitiate conferences will fill a significant lacuna in Merton
studies and contribute to a balanced, holistic comprehension and
appreciation of Thomas Merton's life and work.
This edition includes an extensive introduction situating these
conferences and Merton's years as novice master in the context of
his broader life as monk and writer, an extensively annotated
edition of the text of the conferences based on Merton's own
typescript, and helpful appendices indicating changes Merton made
to his text, correlating the written text with taped versions of
the actual classes, and providing suggestions for further reading
both in Merton's other works and in more recent studies of the
figures he discusses here.
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