Patrick W. COLLINS. A Focus on Truth: Thomas Merton’s Uncensored Mind. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2021. pp. xvi + 197. $19.95 pb. ISBN: 9780814688496. Reviewed by R. Zachary KARANOVICH, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.

Patrick W. Collins offers the reader a glimpse into Thomas Merton’s epistolary identity in A Focus on Truth: Thomas Merton’s Uncensored Mind. As he explains in the introduction, Merton often chose to censor himself—an initial redaction followed shortly by his order’s own censorship. However, the letters, Collins argues, are where we can see Merton unfiltered.

While the publication of Merton’s letters is not new, what Collins does is boil down the large volume of previously-published letters to a rich reduction, dishing up a sampling of the many flavors of Merton’s thought. Collins offers ten chapters covering different topics, including spirituality, church authority, being a hermit, monastic renewal, and the church. In each chapter, Collins provides an overview of Merton’s development of thought within each of these topics over the course of many years as revealed by his letters.

For those new to Merton, or who know him only through The Seven Storey Mountain, some surprises are in store. But even for those familiar with him and his writings, Merton continues to inspire and challenge in these collected excerpts. I offer some examples here. Reflecting on the public announcement made in his autobiography about becoming a saint, Merton writes, “I find I am doing a pretty bum job of it” (16). In a letter to John Howard Griffin on a post-Vatican II mass he participated in, Merton describes it as “[r]eally groovy” (59). Merton identifies himself to his aunt, Agnes Merton, as “a pretty liberal bloke myself, if not radical” (90).  In a letter to John Harris, he describes his own Christian identity in light of his dabbling in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue: “You see that my concept of Christianity is far from being an old-maidish theology of hiding in a corner of the house and standing on chairs for fear of heretical mice” (135). In a pair of letters to Pope Paul VI, Merton seeks to persuade him that monasticism requires a renewal toward “the world” and that a “monastic apostolate” that weds contemplation and action anew is called for because of the benefit monasticism could offer the world—Merton thought of monks as “those who not only save the world in the theological sense but save it literally, protecting it against the destructiveness of the rampaging city of greed, war, etc.” (159-60, 168).  He offers an assessment of U.S. bishops at the start of the Second Vatican Council: “About the American Bishops: I have not much information. Most of them would simply not understand the problem, I am afraid” (185). And he reflects on some profound doubts in a letter to Rosemary Radford Reuther, writing, “I do wonder at times if the Church is real at all. I believe it, you know. But I wonder if I am nuts to do so. Am I part of a great big hoax” (193)? In these letters, we are offered a glimpse into Merton’s faith, his politics (ecclesial and secular), and his humanity.

The reader might notice that, on a few occasions, some of the material is quoted in more than one chapter (e.g., an excerpt from Merton’s letter to Abraham Joshua Heschel quoted on both 84 and 184). But part of this text’s value is that the chapters are essentially independent. While in concert they offer a fuller view of the monk’s thought, one could begin their journey into Merton’s letters by thumbing through just a single chapter, which would offer a very useful map and signposts. It is important to note also that even in some of those single chapters, a slower, closer reading is required—for me, “On Interreligious Dialogue” mandated that I pace myself because of the number of subtopics covered in the chapter.

If anything is lacking, it is that the book ends abruptly. While he offers a fine introduction—supplemented by some helpful framing comments in Jonathan Montaldo’s foreward—I would have liked to hear Collins’s perspective on Merton’s development of thought in a conclusion. But Collins is quiet so that Merton’s voice is heard. Though having so meticulously combed through Merton’s letters and synthesized his central ideas, surely insights and observations arose. Of course, this is less a criticism than it is my own selfishness.

This book is accessibly written, though it likely reads more easily with some baseline familiarity with Merton and his context. And it is a necessary addition to the library of any Merton scholar—amateur and professional alike.