Theology Through Story

Theology Through Story

Outside Reading: Thomas Merton/The Seven Storey Mountain

September 20, 2016

The 20th century mystic, Thomas Merton, became a prophetic voice for restoring contemplative practice in the modern church. Merton’s autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, follows the course of his spiritual journey, from unbelief to his “four walls of freedom,” as a Trappist monk. In Merton’s story we find a theology of sin and grace that emerges through a coherent plot. Story shows itself to be a highly effective mode of theological disclosure that includes the all the complexities of lived experience so often missed in a strictly philosophical approach. Through presenting a theology of sin and grace in Merton’s story, my aim is to show how narrative provides a more engaging, comprehensive way of dealing with theology.

By taking the form of story, theology does not become less itself but more itself. Likewise, by including theology, story does not drift away from story but comes closer to story. Theology, when understood as themes in a story, takes on a new life that can speak to the imagination as well as the intellect. Story, when it includes theology, becomes more substantial and able to speak to the soul as well as the emotions. In Merton’s story, we find the theological themes of sin and grace as the guiding structure that proves meaning and coherence to the narrative.

It is one thing to simply state that Merton holds sin to be the deliberate rejection of disinterested love; that sin is an arbitrary, autonomous attitude that places self at the center. It is quite another thing to paint the image of a little five year old boy who stands off in the distance, hands by his side, with fraternal longing in his eyes. His very nature tells him he should join in the fun of building a hut with his older brother; yet the hurling stones and insults keep him at bay, confused and heartbroken by a cruelty that defies all understanding. Of all he does not understand, he knows a great injustice has been committed; he feels the full weight of wrongdoing; some terrible break in relationship has occurred that seems to go far beyond “me and my older bother.” The particular experience leads us to a universal pattern of sin.