I found this story that leads into my post @ Brian Sullivan's blog, Deny the Cat. Kudos Brian!"I was in a Catholic bookstore the other day when I overheard a conversation between a customer and a sales associate. In discussing a various authors of devotional booklets, the bookseller compared one to Thomas Merton. "Oh, no. I don't like him as much," the customer said, "he can be harsh. It might be alright for someone living as a monk, but regular Catholics have lesser standards to live by."
Hearing this I had to wonder what the customer would make of some of Jesus' statements in the Gospels! "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Mt 10:34) or "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" (Lk 12:49). There are many other such words of Jesus. Aren't they a bit harsh?
And what, I wonder, are these lesser standards? A little sin is OK? A smidge of adultery? A bit of lying? A pinch of stealing?"
Maybe Thomas Merton is best known in the secular world as author of, The Seven Storey Mountain.
(You can buy it through Amazon - used - for as little as $9.00 with shipping) Here is a wonderful video about Merton and the evolution of the book.
Thomas Merton was born in 1915 and died in 1968. He was a monk, an author, a poet, essayist, translator, cartoonist, photographer, social and political activist & mystic.
2 comments:
I suspect books that evolve are generally the best, with real creativity behind them. Today though, if the author has no "marketing platform" no one ever hears of the book - and if the author does, quality isn't much of a consideration.
Yes, marketing does drive many things, doesn't it?
It even spins the news.
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