“The theology of love must seek to deal realistically with the evil and injustice in the world, and not merely to compromise with them.” –Thomas Merton
Gordon Oyer for years has had a casual interest in Thomas Merton, the 20th-century Trappist monk known for his popular philosophical writings and penchant for living in hermitage.
Wanting to know more, he wrote a book about Merton.
Oyer is a U. of I. accounting alumnus and has served as a senior financial analyst in the Office of Business and Financial Servicessince 1985.
His book, “Pursuing the Spiritual Roots of Protest,” published last year by Cascade Books, focuses specifically on the 1964 “peacemaker retreat” at a Kentucky monastery hosted by Merton for a group of like-minded but denominationally divergent religious leaders interested in affecting cultural change.
The participants’ discussions challenged one another’s long-held assumptions as well as the modern-day church and its mission.
And they helped lay the foundation for a faith-centered anti-war protest movement that would soon come to prominence with the country’s ongoing involvement in the Vietnam War.
Oyer’s painstaking review of more than a thousand pages of documents, including participants’ accounts of that meeting, addresses the issues of the day – and shows their relevance in today’s conversation of the church’s role in advocating for the downtrodden.
“A lot of the questions they were asking then are still relevant today,” Oyer said. “I think it speaks to the power of crossing boundaries, especially religious boundaries. The most important lesson to me is the need to just start talking together.”
The group, a then-rare coupling of Protestants and Catholics (they even flouted denominational rules by sharing the Eucharist together), explored the Scriptures-based call to nonviolence, the significance of privilege, technology’s dehumanizing capability and a host of other social challenges that exist still today.
They shared from experience how the modern-day church was a barrier to such advocacy, and could even be the source of conflict.
“There was generally agreement that we need to find ways to connect with those (less-fortunate) people,” he said.
Many of the meeting’s participants went on to become influential voices in the religious peace movement and later the anti-war movement, including Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Jim Forest and Tom Cornell.
Oyer said the more he delved into the accounts of the participants, the more interesting details he was able to knead out.
One of those details was the fact that civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and adviser Bayard Rustin had accepted an invitation to the summit, but had to cancel after being called to Norway to accept the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.
“It would have been a huge development had King or one of his representatives attended,” he said. “If they had attended, somebody would have written this book long ago. It certainly would have changed the dynamic.”
He said he was particularly struck by Merton’s reliance on the works of Louis Massignon, the French Catholic scholar of Islam.
“Massignon protested against the French-Algerian War in the 1950s and ’60s,” Oyer said, “and some of Merton’s comments on nonviolent protest were informed by his writings on Islam.”
Originally an “orphaned Bohemian” from France, Merton became a Catholic monk and lived at the monastery for 27 years. His poetry and writings, 70 books in all, were well-known, including the bestselling “The Seven Storey Mountain” in 1948, which depicted how he had become a Christian and a Catholic.
Oyer said his interest in history started with his father, a farmer who researched and reported on local and Mennonite history near the town of Bellflower, Illinois.
Oyer started dabbling in historical research on his own and earned a master’s degree in history from the U. of I. in 1992. That led to an even more-detailed dive into Merton and the discovery of the 1964 meeting.
Oyer, a self-admitted numbers-cruncher who had never written a book, said the work was at times tedious and even maddening – especially for the parts that required translating Merton’s notes handwritten in French.
“A lot of it, the information was nothing more than cryptic notes,” he said. “I got pretty discouraged a few times.”
After months of research, including visits to the U. of I. Library and trips to Louisville, Kentucky, to review papers held by the Thomas Merton Center archives, he realized he had gathered enough new information to write a paper.
The Thomas Merton Society’s director disagreed, saying he thought there might be a book here instead.
“It started out as curiosity, really,” he said. “It started to evolve and then it just captivated me. Writing the book really challenged the balance of my life.”
Oyer said he could not have written the book without having the university as a resource. In addition to the library and the history department, Oyer said he feels fortunate his unit has been so supportive. At one point, to pursue his studies and research, he asked for and was granted part-time status.
The book’s editing process, outside of technical edits from his publisher, included the review and suggestions of friends and colleagues.
Oyer said he is not concerned with the book becoming a commercial success, though he hopes its ideas are inspiring. Outside of the satisfaction of completing it, he was pleased to find this June that his book had been selected by the Thomas Merton Society to receive its biannual award for a work that “has brought provocative insight and fresh ideas to Merton studies.”
Oyer said the questions the group formulated over technological influence, especially on communication, are worth revisiting in today’s world.
“There are so many more communications options, but it’s harder than ever today to make an impact,” he said. “I think our level of technological immersion today makes what they did even more relevant for us to imitate – take time to step off the grid for a bit and reflect with others on how to better understand and engage the social realities around us.”
He said he continues to conduct research and is not sure if he has another book in him – but he doesn’t discount the possibility.
“I have no idea if there is another book, but I’m going to keep writing.”