Items

• Sophfronia Scott - Uncovering a Hidden Wholeness: The Essence of Unity and Thomas Merton’s Hope for the Human Race, presented for the 16th Annual Thomas Merton Black History Month Lecture, taped live February 22, 2022 at Bellarmine University.
  NOTE: The transcription of the audio recording was computer generated. Some mistakes were corrected but compare any quoted text to the audio recording to ensure accuracy.
• Sophfronia Scott - The Radio of Nature: Merton's Tuning Into God Outdoors. Presented for the Tuesdays with Merton Series, September 14, 2021.
  On June 27, 1949, Merton was allowed, for the first time, to venture outside the Abbey of Gethsemani’s gated enclosure to walk in the woods alone. His writing and his spirituality changed forever as a result. In Thomas Merton's Gethsemani: Landscapes of Paradise, author Monica Weis notes, "Once beyond the monastery walls, Merton's heart soared." Why? Perhaps, after being doused in words for years, suddenly he could share an expansive, silent space with God and just listen. This session will explore what Merton found beneath the branches, on the hills, and in all of nature: a sense of transcendence. Sophfronia Scott is a novelist, essayist, and leading contemplative thinker whose work has appeared in numerous publications. Her latest book, The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton, received a Louie award in 2021. Sophfronia’s other books include Love's Long Line, and This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World, co-written with her son Tain. She holds degrees from Harvard and Vermont College of Fine Arts. Sophfronia lives in Sandy Hook, Connecticut and is the founding director of Alma College’s MFA in Creative Writing, a graduate program based in Alma, Michigan.