Book of the Week

The Waters of Siloe is one of the first books that Thomas Merton wrote in the wake of the astounding success that was The Seven Storey Mountain. Written at the request of the Trappist order, the books traces the community’s Benedictine and Cistercian roots, its founding by the Abbe De Rance in the 1600’s, and its subsequent expansion to North America. Merton was not a trained historian, and the books skips over a lot of Trappist history, but his writing style and his enthusiasm for the subject more than compensates in that respect. Merton fans will enjoy this early book of his, along with anyone interested in monastic history and the contemplative life in general.