Life and Holiness
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Best for readers who...
Good fit if you want...
- you follow Thomas Merton's Trappist meditation and want short, actionable essays.
- you collect Bantam Dell editions of mid-century spiritual classics.
- When you prefer lyrical prose, the chapters move briskly from one reveal to the next.
Maybe skip if...
- you expect a systematic theology or academic treatise rather than personal reflection.
- you prefer long narratives or novelistic biographies over brief devotional pieces.
- You are specifically hunting for the newest framing rather than a backlist perspective.
Summary
Life and Holiness is a compact 160-page collection of essays and excerpts by Thomas Merton exploring prayer, silence, and moral formation from a monastic perspective, arranged for practical reflection rather than linear theology.
Edition on file: 1995 • Bantam Dell Pub Group • 160 pages • ISBN 9780385480482.
Why this book now
Merton's voice on interior life and ethical attention remains timely for readers navigating moral complexity and spiritual practice in contemporary culture.
Reader guide
Quick signals that help you decide faster.
Reading commitment
Light Short sit-downs
At about 160 pages, this Bantam Dell paperback reads as a series of short meditations—suitable for daily slow reading or several focused sittings over a weekend.
What stands out here
This 1995 Bantam Dell edition curates Merton's passages for accessibility, emphasizing pastoral clarity and practical holiness over complete scholarly apparatus.
Best way to approach it
Approach Life and Holiness as a devotional companion: read one essay slowly, reflect or journal, then return later rather than reading straight through.
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Expect a reading experience that should show its character pretty quickly once you start. That usually makes for a compact read that should get to its point quickly. It also has the feel of a backlist title rather than a brand-new release.
Book overview built from edition details and related-book context.