Date of Award
5-2015
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Religion
Advisor(s)
Marcia Robinson
Keywords
Merton, Prometheus, Sophia
Subject Categories
Religion
Abstract
Abstract
The Trappist monk Thomas Merton is best remembered for his spiritual autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain and many other books on prayer and contemplation. His later writings, however, reveal a deep concern about the relationship between God and human freedom. Merton was particularly worried that obedience to God, traditionally understood as a central virtue, not constitute a form of authoritarianism that stripped humanity of the capacity for authenticity. Hence, he used the figure of Prometheus, long a symbol of rebellion against God, to challenge authoritarian theism and iconoclastic anti-theistic humanism. In the process, he deconstructed his own God-image away from a heteronomous authority towards something akin to the non-sovereign and “weak” theology of the contemporary religious turn in Continental philosophy.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Cousins, Patrick, "Prometheus and Promethean Theology in the Thought of Thomas Merton" (2015). Theses - ALL. 93.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/93
