EIU Humanities Center

Greg Hillis:

Thomas Merton Day @ EIU

NOTE: Please register here to secure your meal for the 12pm talk!

Pope Francis recently acknowledged the profound influence of Thomas Merton on his own thinking—“particularly The Seven Storey Mountain,” Merton’s confessional autobiography widely considered to be one of the most influential religious works of the twentieth century.

Who was this “radical monk from Kentucky,” Thomas Merton?

On October 16, Greg Hillis of Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky will help EIU commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Merton’s death.

“Thomas Merton Day at EIU” will feature two opportunities for our community to learn about this influential thinker, social-justice champion, and committed pacifist.

On Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 12 noon, Hillis will offer a keynote lecture in the Great Hall of Pemberton on the life, works, and meditations of the theologian and social activist Thomas Merton.  “Thomas Merton, Non-violence, and Dialogue: Remembering the Life and Teachings of a Radical Monk from Kentucky” will honour the 50^th anniversary of the death of this famous “beatnik monk.”

Lunch will be provided courtesy of EIU’s Newman Center.

Later that day at 4pm in the Lecture Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center, Hillis will draw connections between Merton’s work of the late 1960s and the world we now inhabit. “The Contemplative Life in the Age of Fragmentation: What Monasticism has to Offer" describes a world we may find hard to imagine, as we flit from task to task and screen to screen. But couldn't a little monasticism do us all some good in 2018?

Co-sponsored by EIU’s Newman Catholic Center, the Provost’s Office, CLAS, and the Center for the Humanities.