Abstract:
An important personality of the Catholic space of the 20th century and, at the same time, of the
ecumenical and the inter-religious, Thomas Merton (1915–1968) is one of the most important
authors of spiritual autobiographies in the Christian space. Knowing this and the fact that
from other points of view, his work has been investigated by different researchers from all
around the world, we will try to present the aspects of the political theology which can be
found in works such as: The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), The Sign of Jonas (1953), among
others, which he wrote and which contain passages of spiritual autobiographies. These works
emphasise aspects such as his attitude towards racism (a problem which he encountered in the
America of the 1960s), war or Communism (because of the fact that before he studied at
Columbia University, but also during this period, he also sympathised with the Communists).
The author will therefore try to present some practical aspects of his works, and show how
they can be used to create bridges between society and church; the answer he gives to the
challenges of his time.
CONTRIBUTION : The article presents the main aspects of political theology which can be found
in Merton’s work and shows how keywords such as war, racism or Communism have been
seen by him and the views he has of a potential attitude of the Church towards them.
