Book Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

A Book of Hours
Thomas Merton, Kathleen Deignan
Sorin Books 03/07 Hardcover $18.95
ISBN: 1933495057

Kathleen Deignan is an educator, theologian, and composer. She is the editor of When the Trees Say Nothing, a collection of Thomas Merton's writings on nature. In this volume, she has gathered from his wide-ranging works his glosses on the texts of divine revelation speaking in nature, scripture, history, culture, and his own heart. It is modeled on The Book of Hours, a devotional resource popular in the Middle Ages as a means of nurturing the spiritual life of lay Christians.

Deignan calls this prayer book "a catechesis of the Christian life, a manual of mysticism, a psalter, a set of teachings for engaged contemplatives, a guide for the formation of conscience, a collection of koans and mantras and breath prayers, a gospel." Here you will find material from Merton for seven days of the week and four prayer stations (dawn, day, dusk, and dark). This book also contains illustrations by American artist John Giuliani and a forward by Jim Finley.

Books and Audios Recently Reviewed

Reviews and database copyright © 1970 – 2009
by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat