The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Schlesinger, Bruno Paul

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1961-1967, 1971

Volume: 22 item(s); 33 pg(s)

Scope and Content

This is a file in the correspondence of Thomas Merton under the heading: "Schlesinger, Bruno Paul".

Biography

Bruno P. Schlesinger was a professor at St. Mary's College in Indiana. Born in Austria, Schlesinger was a Jewish convert to Catholicism who came to Indiana in the late 1930's and earned a doctorate from Notre Dame. He began at Saint Mary's in 1945. Schlesinger helped found the Christian Culture Program, based on concepts by historian Christopher Dawson, to study unifying principles in the liberal arts through the lens of Christian humanism and the development of Western culture through Christianity's historical roots. Saint Mary's is a women's college, and Merton writes that "women are perhaps capable of salvaging something of humanity in our world today. Certainly they have a better chance of grasping and understanding and preserving a sense of Christian culture" (Merton, Thomas. Letter to Bruno Schlesinger. December, 13, 1961.) An informational booklet for the program quoted Merton's comments. (Source: The Hidden Ground of Love, p. 541.)

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Related Information and Links

See also Cold War Letters #8 and #34, and other letters from Merton to Schlesinger, published in The Hidden Ground of Love, pp. 541-546.

Other Finding Aids

If the person in correspondence with Merton has full text records in the Merton Center Digital Collections, there will be a numeric link to them below.
   

Series List

This Record Sub-Group is not divided into Series and is arranged chronologically.

Container List

SeriesDateTypeTo/FromFirst LinesPubFull TextNotes
 1961/11/10 TLSto MertonIn 1956, we at Saint Mary's College started a Program for Christian Culture as an elective major   
 1961/12/13 (#01)TLS[x]from MertonI have taken a little time to get around to your letter of November 10th about the ProgramYes [Cold War Letters #8]
 1961/12/13 (#02)transcriptfrom MertonI have taken a little time to get around to your letter of November 10th about the ProgramYes [Cold War Letters #8 - transcript from bound set]
 1962/01/15 TL[x]to MertonI have received your letter of December 13, 1961 and would like to thank you for your generous  Christian Culture Program / Merton's enclosure of Clement of Alexandria material / Schlesinger enclosing lecture by Father Tavard
 1962/02/10 (#01)TALS[x]from MertonIt was kind of you to send me the remarkably good essay by Fr Tavard. I have read it withYes [Cold War Letters #34]
 1962/02/10 (#02)transcriptfrom MertonIt was kind of you to send me the remarkably good essay by Fr Tavard. I have read it withYes [Cold War Letters #34 - transcript from bound set]
 1962/02/23 TL[x]to MertonThank you for your letter and for your kindness in sending me copies of your articles which I am  Merton's comments on Father Tavard's essay and reaction by Mr. Dawson - the end of Christendom
 1966/01/16 (#01)TL[c]from MertonThanks for the kind letter and for the excerpts from Brecht. I have his plays on hand and have readYes  
 1966/01/16 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonThanks for the kind letter and for the excerpts from Brecht. I have his plays on hand and have readYes [photocopy of letter found within files of David Cooper's draft copy for Chapter Nine of <i>Thomas Merton's Art of Denial</i> (see Sub-Section H.15)]
 1967/08/17 (#01)HLSto MertonApologies for my long silence. You were kind enough to have a copy of 'Conjectures' mailed to me;   
 1967/08/17 (#02)other CONJECTURES OF A GUILTY BYSTANDER. By Thomas Merton. [-] Garden City, Doubleday, 1966.  [book review of Merton's <i>Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander</i> by Schlesinger - Schlesinger says that the review will be published by a student newspaper called "The Shield" in September]
 1967/08/17 (#03)other CONJECTURES OF A GUILTY BYSTANDER. By Thomas Merton. [-] Garden City, Doubleday, 1966.  [alternate copy of a book review of Merton's <i>Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander</i> by Schlesinger - Schlesinger says that the review will be published by a student newspaper called "The Shield" in September]
 1967/08/29 HLSto MertonI would like to thank you for sending me your article on the past summer and for your new book   
 1967/10/16 (#01)TL[c]from MertonI meant to thank you before this, for your kind review of <u>Conjectures</u> and for your welcomeYes  
 1967/10/16 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonI meant to thank you before this, for your kind review of <u>Conjectures</u> and for your welcomeYes  
 1968/09/13 HLS[x]to MertonI enclose the list of next year's lectures. I wish you could some time come up to talk to us but  change from Christian Culture Program to Humanistic Studies / reaction to <i>Faith and Violence</i>
 1971/01/31 (#01)HLS[x]to Center from Schlesinger, BrunoThank you for your letter of recent date - I enclose Xerox copies of four letters I received from   
 1971/01/31 (#02)otherto Center from Schlesinger, BrunoHUMANISTIC STUDIES [-] LECTURES [-] 1970-71 [-] Humanistic Studies Program [-] Saint Mary's College   
 1984/04/23 (#01)HLSto William ShannonI enclose the little leaflet on our 'Christian Culture Program' to which Father Merton referred (he   
 1984/04/23 (#02)otherto William ShannonSaint Mary's College [-] Notre Dame, Indiana [-] CHRISTIAN CULTURE [-] An Interdepartmental Program  [contains a quote about the program by Merton]
 undated/no/no other BRUNO PAUL SCHLESINGER  biographical information collected by Wm. Shannon
 undated/no/no other SCHLESINGER, BRUNO PAUL, b. Neunkirchen, Austria  biographical information
        

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