The Nonviolent Alternative

From the Trappist monk and author of The Seven Storey Mountain, reflections on the way to moral and social change in a violent world.


The writings in this work were precipitated by a variety of events during the last decades of Thomas Merton's life—the civil rights and peace movements of the 1960s among them. His timeless moral integrity and tireless concern for nonviolent solutions to war are eloquently expressed. A revised edition of the previously published Thomas Merton on Peace, The Nonviolent Alternative addresses such topics as Christianity and defense in the nuclear age; the Danish nonviolent resistance to Hitler; civil disobedience; wartime atrocities; passivity and abuse of authority; and more. It is a meaningful and thought-provoking read for anyone concerned with maintaining faith and making ethical, effective decisions in a world filled with conflict and injustice.


Praise for the first edition


"These articles represent a radically spiritual breakthrough beyond the 'self-enclosed . . . beautiful, narcissistic tautology of war' to a certainty of a peace without limit and time." —Kirkus Reviews