The Last of the Fathers is written by Thomas Merton. Thomas Merton is arguably one of the most influential Catholic writers of the twentieth century. Thomas Merton wrote an autobiography called The Seven Storey Mountain. Thomas Merton’s autobiography has sold over seven million copies. With all of those copies sold it has also been translated more than fifteen times. Thomas Merton was born in Prades, France on January 31, 1915. Thomas Merton was the son of Owen Merton, an artist from New Zealand, and of Ruth Jenkins, an artist from the United States of America. When Thomas Merton was only a year old he and his family moved to the United States where they lived in Douglaston, Long Island. After five years of living in the United States, in …show more content…
Bernard. Thomas Merton was asked to write the book. Thomas Merton based a lot of his life off of the things St. Bernard did. Thomas Merton did quite a bit of studying on St. Bernard and it is evident in the The Last of the Fathers. The Last of the Fathers is close to serving a biography of St. Bernard. The book talks about certain years in St. Bernard’s life. There are three main years that Thomas Merton focuses on. The years are: 1115, 1124 and 1145.These three years are Thomas Merton’s attempt to provide an outline of St. Bernard’s travels in the service of God, to describe his monastic reforms, his new foundations, and his interventions in the affairs of kings, bishops and such. In 1115 St Bernard is young and takes over as abbot at the age of twenty-five. St. Bernard practically saved the life of a new monastery at the time, Clairvoux. In 1124 St. Bernard nears the end of a providential reform that will prepare him for his works later in life. This is where we get his “religion”. Based on Thomas Merton’s dedication to learning about St. Bernard I believe that Thomas Merton also has a pretty strong belief in the same thing. St. Bernard says that he has to learn that man is not an angel, that monks still have bodies, and that man is supposed to be divinized by grace and not destroyed by it. St. Bernard talks about how one Saint who is pure and spiritual does not feel temptation is different than …show more content…
Thomas Merton had a view of God that is, in my opinion, quite unique. Thomas Merton is first associated with contemplative mysticism. Contemplative mysticism is something that is a little hard to understand. Contemplative mysticism emphasizes the need for a change in consciousness, a new way of seeing God, others, self, and the world, which leads to a deeper knowledge of God. Because of his association with contemplative mysticism Thomas Merton believed in pantheism. Pantheism is the belief that the Universe, or nature as the totality of everything, is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent
The Torment of Saint Anthony The Torment of Saint Anthony (c. 1487-88), an oil and tempera on a panel, is believed to be the first painting by Michelangelo inspired by an engraving by Martin Schongauer (c. 1470-75) when Michelangelo was 12 or 13 years old (Vogel. 2009). The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Second It is one of the four surviving panel paintings by Michelangelo, who, according to one biographer, had spoken with disdain of oil painting in later life. It was purchased by an American art dealer at a Sotheby’s auction in July 2008 for $2MM. It was brought to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it was cleaned of grime, overpainting and discoloration.
Logos plays a relatively minute role in this paper due to logos being about rational or logical appeal and because this essay is about Thomas’s religious beliefs and the belief in God is not based rational or logical facts, it is based on faith and faith does not fall under logos. Also logos is hard to have in this case because everyone has different religious beliefs causing a religious statement to be true fact for some and ghastly lie to other. This makes religion views seen as that of opinion which ...
We live in a fallen world filled with evil desires, temptations, and idols. Many believed that if one desires to be as holy and as close to God as possible then they must distance themselves from sin. This involves putting aside worldly desires and possessions since anything of this fallen world is sinful. This calling brought many people to live simplistic lives alone. However, around fourth century a man named Pachomius founded a place where people with this similar interest could live together, known as a monastery (Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert). This way of living became very appealing not only for spiritual pursuits but also for the pursuit of knowledge. Outside of monasteries the literacy rate was extremely low. For the most part only monks knew how to read and write. For these reasons monasteries began to be established all over Europe. However, with so many of them styles and rules became very different. There were many different kinds of rule that separated monasteries fro...
Francis of Assisi is one of the most influential personalities in the entire world. In the book ‘Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life,’ Cunningham recounts the life of this humble monk who lived in the medieval times, and shaped the Christian life, which spread in Western culture throughout the rest of history. I believe Cunningham accurately accounts for the life of Francis of Assisi, and in doing so; he provides a trajectory of the Christian faith from its early and historical proponents through its fusion with western culture, and its subsequent spread throughout the world.
From Thomas’ youth to his untimely death, he was God’s tool. Thomas hoped to keep the Church of England pure from outside influences, and today we strive to keep ourselves pure from the taints of sin. Thomas’ sainthood is an example for each person alive today to cease the day, and be the best version of yourself by presenting God’s love wherever you go. Thomas’ example and sacrifice are one of the thousandths that have and are going to lay down their lives for the Catholic faith. Their sacrifice is an official call for those of the to-day and sacrifice and find themselves within God and his people.
In his youth, St. Boniface encountered many priests or clerics who traveled from town to town. Through these spiritual conversations, it became evident to St. Boniface that he wanted to pursue a life with God. Eventually, after continuos begging and his fathers fatal sickness, he was sent to the care of the Monastery of Examchester. (Appleton) It is here, that St. Boniface expressed to the Abbot at the time, that he wanted to live a monastic life. The father of the monastery, after council, granted him his wish. Here is where the saint began to prove his love for God, and could begin his journey of the Christian life. After exceeding all expectations and surpassing the knowledge of his teachers, he moved to a neighboring monastery, called Nursling, whereby he studied under the influence of Abbot Winbert.(St. Boniface Church) Here he gained vast knowledge of scriptures and the spiritual exposition of the Bible. Here, he gained such a reputation that men and women from far and wide traveled to study scriptures under his guidance. At the age of 30 he was humbly ordained a priest and yet another branch of his life was fulfilled.
In Dr. Osman’s lecture and in Life and Miracles of St. Benedict, monasteries were portrayed as places for people to escape the harsh times and live together worshipping God. In The Dark Ages, the narrator discusses how many nuns and monks would try to escape because they were forced to go there, some even going as far as scaling the walls of their convent or monastery. These holy places offered many people the escape and religious freedom that they craved, but not everyone loved the strict life that monks and nuns lived. (The Dark Ages, “Marriage of Monks and
As we have looked into the causes of monasticism, the development of monasticism and the history behind some of its practices. We can start to understand whom these hooded little men really are and what they stood for. We can see that this movement was truly needed. Monasticism aided in the rapid development of a hierarchical, centralized organization in the church because the monks were bound to obedience to superiors who in turn owed their allegiance to the pope. We do admire the fine contributions the monks made to medieval life. This was not only a movement in the history of Christianity, but it is still practiced today. One author defined monasticism as such: "Monasticism did not begin by being passed one to another but arose like spontaneous eruptions, or like a spring gushing forth in different places from a source underground."
Late in the fifth century the son of a well-off family in Italy left for isolation on his mission to truly seek god. This man was St. Benedict, who is credited with the first establishment of the concept of withdrawing from all temptation for Christian beliefs in the west. St. Benedict left his home and went to the top of a mountain, where he established a monastic community. In this community the individuals who resided there, constantly reiterated their faith. They sacrificed whatever they may have had to prove their true commitment to God. This became an early ideal of Christianity, that one must suffer loss and sacrifice to prove their loyalty to the faith. It was believed in this time period that if one is content with only what they truly need one is freer to think about other people and to think about God . These individuals were called Regular Clergies (monks) and were considered heroes of the faith.
Throughout life we question whether God is immanent or transcendent. Immanent theology believes that God is in everything on earth. Immanence is similar to being omnipresence in that God is present in everything at the same time. As human beings we believe that God is always around but still look up to God as being the superior one. Transcendent theology believes that God is above the earth and that God is separate from and independent of nature and humanity. God is not attached or involved in his creation. As humans living on earth we do not know who God is because God lives outside space and time. There are various arguments and examples to support immanent and transcendent theology through theologians that makes you contemplate if God is immanent or transcendent. Thomas Berry and Rudolf Bultmann are two specific examples of immanent and transcendent theologians.
He believed God is triune: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This triune God is described as the Trinity. The whole trinity was present at creation. Each person of the trinity had a specific function (e.g. The Spirit hovered over the waters). He argued that the Spirit of God compels us upward yet our soul is determined to drag us back down to earth. Our soul continually pulls upon us to return our affections to this world. This is the struggle we are faced with every day. When we desire to do any good, it is only because we are being drawn to do it through the love given to us by the Holy
Jacopo del Sellaio’s Virgin, Child, and St. John is a characteristically iconographic tempera panel painting of Madonna, the Christ Child, and the infant St. John from the early renaissance, dating to the early 1480s. Sellaio was a Florentine painter under the apprenticeship of Sandro Botticelli, which reflects through his style and symbolism in the painting. In this work, he depicts a classically devotional scene filled with biblical symbolism. Sellaio’s Virgin, Child, and St. John expresses Mary’s loving role as Christ’s mother, the protective power and warmth of her maternal bond, and the significance of the birth of Christ.
Letters to My Son are letters written by Lord Chesterfield to his son whereby he praises and criticizes him. Chesterfield uses a number of literary devices in his letter such as metaphors, imageries, anastrophe, tonal shift and many others. In addition, Chesterfield uses rhetorical devices such as logos and name calling so that his son can heed to his advices. Chesterfield uses different tones, and language devices to make pass his intended information to his son. He changes his tone, and uses different language styles to be able to convince his son to follow the values, and advices in the letter written to him. In the end, through his language skills and tonal values, he is able to convey his message to his son which is meant to elevate him above all, and become an independent person. Chesterfield is suggestive and condescending in his language, and tone in the letter but his views are very clearly articulated.
... an animal”; for us the animal we understood as the subject of man whereas man is understood as the essence that man can move from understanding the predication of self-quality. Self-evidence is considered both self-evident in itself and self-evident to all. The other question is if God’s existence and self- evidence comes into main play. To Thomas “God exists” is indisputably to self-evident in itself, however Thomas believes “exists” is the subject which “God” is a greater length and strength. The essence of God is the particular proposition is not self-evident to us, for we have no epistemic basis for understanding the subject in relation to the predicate. Thomas explains that because of the aforementioned reality, God’s existence must be demonstrated by things “that are known to us”, things that are the subject of empirical observation and rational deduction.
Descartes views God in a similar way to St. Anselm. Descartes sees God as the perfectbeing while St. Anselm describes God as “that than which nothing greater can be thought.” In Descartes “the Argument from Perfection” he reasons that if existence is one of the perfections and God has all the perfections, then God must exist. Along with these arguments others in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic communities have similar views.