| Author Quoted | Cuthbert Butler |
| Title Quoted | Western Mysticism: The Teaching of SS Augustine Gregory and Bernard on Contemplation and the Contemplative Life |
| Date (Year/Month/Day) | 1959/04/15 |
| Imprint | London : Constable & Co. 1922 |
| Quotation | For the Novice Master"”well, it goes without saying that Bouyer's Meaning of the Monastic Life is fundamental. One doesn't have to agree perfectly with absolutely everything he says. Dom Jean Leclercq on St. Bernard (in French) is also good, and Gilson's Mystical Theology of St. Bernard is a must. Also I would say Dom Cuthbert Butler's Western Mysticism is not bad but controversial. You should know it. I assume you are familiar with the mimeographed material that comes from the Maison Generalice and from Chimay and places like that. The notes put out by Fr. Francis Mayhieu when Novice Master at Chimay are very good. Here are authors I recommend in a general way: Guardini always fine. Bouyer, Danielou, De Lubac (some books), Josef Pieper (Thomist), Von Balthasar (controversial but generally very good). |
| Quotation Source | The School of Charity: The Letters of Thomas Merton on Religious Renewal and Spiritual Direction.; Selected and edited by Brother Patrick Hart. / New York : Farrar Straus Giroux. 1990, p. 119 |
| Letter to | Father Mark Weidner, o.c.s.o. |
| Notes | |
| Link to Merton's Copy |
(If there is a link above showing up as a number, click it to open another window with a full text version.) |