For For readers following the mythic meditations he later gathered in The Behavior of Titans; a rare fine-press item.
Should I read this?
For the general reader
1 of 5specialist interest
For the researcher
2 of 5useful
Difficulty
3 of 5demanding
A short meditation on the Prometheus myth, set against the Christian gift of grace; later revised for The Behavior of Titans.
How it proceeds
Philosophic3 of 5
Scriptural1 of 5
Experiential2 of 5
Sociological2 of 5
Historical1 of 5
Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.
A short meditation on the myth of Prometheus, printed privately in 150 copies by the Margaret I. King Library Press of the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1958 (10 pages). Merton contrasts the Titan who steals fire with the Christian who receives God's gift freely. A version of the meditation appeared again in The Behavior of Titans (1961), which reviewers described as containing meditations on Prometheus and Atlas.