| Author Quoted | Jean Danielou |
| Title Quoted | Platonisme et theologie mystique. Essay sur la doctrine spirituelle de Saint Gregoire de Nysse |
| Date (Year/Month/Day) | 1961/11/21 |
| Imprint | [S.l.] : Bibliothèque de l'ecole de Chartres. 1944 |
| Quotation | [I] am trying as best I can to answer your questions about the introductions to Parts I and II of Benet... Now for your two introductions. I think they are unfortunately not really adequate. They do not read very well, because of all the mystifying complexity of the degrees one upon the other. And further I think you ought to go a lot deeper into the various questions raised, in relation to the whole history of spirituality. I think the present treatment is a little superficial, at least as far as situating Benet in the historical context is concerned. This needs badly to be done, and of course it is not going to be very easy "¦ But all this should be considerably developed. I don't mean that you have to lengthen it, but really bring in the meaning of the questions you raise. For instance, the reference to Gregory of Nyssa and epectasis: it would do no harm to use the Greek word, and bring in briefly the material condensed in the DS article on epectasis and the chapter on this in Danielou's Platonisme et Theologie Mystique. The reference to Bonaventure could be filled out with more rich allusions to the spirituality of St. Bonaventure and his relation to Benet situating B. in the Franciscan"” Dionysian tradition of Hugh of Balma and those people. |
| Quotation Source | The Hidden Ground of Love: The Letters of Thomas Merton on Religious Experience and Social Concerns.; Selected and edited by William H. Shannon. / New York : Farrar Straus Giroux. 1985, p. 347-48 |
| Letter to | Etta Gullick |
| Notes | |
| Link to Merton's Copy |
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