The Ascent to Truth

by Thomas Merton

  • Year 1951
  • Type Treatise
  • Genre spiritual theology
  • Tradition Catholic
  • Original language English

For For readers who want a systematic account of contemplation through John of the Cross; demanding, and not the warmest way into Merton.

Should I read this?

For the general reader
2 of 5 worth a look
For the researcher
4 of 5 important
Difficulty
4 of 5 hard

His most systematic book: a study of contemplation through John of the Cross, set against Thomist theology. Dense, scholastic in places.

How it proceeds
  • Philosophic 4 of 5
  • Scriptural 2 of 5
  • Experiential 3 of 5
  • Sociological 0 of 5
  • Historical 2 of 5

Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.

Published by Harcourt, Brace in New York in 1951 (342 pages, with a bibliography), The Ascent to Truth is Merton's interpretation of the teaching of Saint John of the Cross on contemplation, read with the scholastic theology of Thomas Aquinas. It is the most academic of his early books, an attempt to set out the intellectual groundwork of the contemplative life that he had described more personally in Seeds of Contemplation (1949). It remains the fullest record of his debt to John of the Cross.

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Catalog IDW.CB2J8G.R

Edition details and descriptions on this page were compiled with the aid of AI research tools. Readers are encouraged to verify specifics (publisher, translator, edition year) against the originating source before purchase or citation.

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