"As a Cistercian, Merton's life was shaped by the scriptural basis of the monastic offices. Patrick O'Connell's honest, critical introduction and exacting editing of Merton's notes for talks to his novices on Genesis and Exodus provide fresh insight into the monk's pre-Vatican II thought and fill in a missing piece of the puzzle of his theological development. Merton readers and admirers owe O'Connell a debt of gratitude for his impressive editing of the massive body of Merton's heretofore unpublished notes for monastic conferences." --Bonnie Thurston, author of Shaped by the End You Live For: Thomas Merton's Monastic Spirituality "Patrick O'Connell continues his remarkable project of publishing Thomas Merton's work as a teacher in this edition of his notes for courses given to Gethsemani Abbey novice monks on the books of Genesis and Exodus. Meticulously edited and annotated, these notes reveal a discerning teacher who provides not just exegetical commentary but connections to liturgy, preaching, and theology, and the ongoing formation of his student monks. Impressive work that gives a fascinating vision of Merton on the Scriptures." --Michael Plekon, author of Saints As They Really Are: Voices of Holiness in Our Time "In this book we see Thomas Merton doing exegesis of Scripture in his novitiate classes. While he lay no claim to being an expert in Scripture, this book shows him as being certainly very competent.

Yet he does exegesis in a way that is thoroughly in accord with monastic lectio divina . He develops it by making full use of early monastic writers as well as fathers of the church to show how the texts serve as profound means of prayer, in a way that is of benefit not only to monastics, but to anyone desiring to approach these early scriptural texts as truly leading to God and to prayer. Patrick O'Connell's introduction situates these classes in relation to other books of Merton written both before and after the date of these conferences. It serves to give a more comprehensive picture of Merton's writings. We can be very grateful to the editor for his work." --James Conner, OCSO, Abbey of Gethsemani "This book is priceless for two major reasons: it offers a window into Merton's contemplative biblical spirituality that he shared with the Trappist novices; and these insights are buttressed by the meticulous editing of O'Connell--his rich interpretive introduction, extensive explanatory notes, and cross references to Merton's journals, letters, and poetry." --Monica Weis, SSJ, author of The Environmental Vision of Thomas Merton.