While numerous studies have celebrated Thomas Merton's witness as an interfaith pioneer, poet, and peacemaker, there have been few systematic treatments of his Christology as such, and no sustained exploration to date of his relationship to the Russian Sophia tradition. This book looks to Thomas Merton as a classic theologian of the Christian tradition from East to West, and offers an interpretation of his mature Christology, with special attention to his remarkable prose poem of 1962, Hagia Sophia. Bringing Merton's mystical-prophetic Vision fully into dialogue with contemporary Christology, Russian sophiology, and Zen, as well as figures such as John Henry Newman and Abraham Joshua Heschel, the author carefully but boldly builds the case that Sophia, the same theological eros that animated Merton's religious imagination in a period of tremendous fragmentation and violence, might infuse new vitality into our own. A study of uncommon depth and scope, inspired throughout by Merton's extraordinary catholicity.
"Christopher Pramuk masterfully guides the reader into how Merton's life was transformed by his dialogue with both the Russian and Eastern mystics. Just when one thinks that enough has been written about Merton, that there is little more to be said, then here comes another gem that deserves serious attention."
Bishop Robert F. Morneau, Auxillary Bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay
"Pramuk has jumped to the head of the pack and become one of our premiere theologians…This book traces the emergence of Sophia in Merton's life and writings as a love and a presence that breaks through into the world a living symbol and name through which he encountered the living God and with which he chose, at his poetic and prophetic best, to structure theological discourse."
National Catholic Reporter
"Pramuk's Sophia stands out as an exemplar Pramuk's Sophia stands out as an exemplar of the best of what scholars of Merton can offer...The book is a reflection on the nature of theology and a call to the renewal of the practice of theology through the sophiological approach. As such, it should be of interest not only to those interested in the retrieval of Merton's ideas and in the reconstruction
