Overview

Scholarly and popular interest in Dorothy Day has grown steadily during the past decade. Widely acclaimed as a pioneer of American social Catholicism, as well as for co-founding the Catholic Worker and the movement by the same name, Day's religious vision and lifework have played a dramatic role in modern American Catholic history, profoundly influencing consciences. In this perceptive new study, Brigid O'Shea Merriman, O.S.F., examines the development of Day's spirituality, astutely relating it to twentieth-century intellectual and cultural history. After her conversion to Catholicism in 1927, Dorothy Day met the French peasant-philosopher Peter Maurin in 1932 and together they founded the Catholic Worker newspaper and movement. In this work Day discovered a vocation that would combine her journalistic skills with her long-standing desire for sweeping social change and love of the poor. Merriman demonstrates that Day's leadership of this radical Catholic movement served as the locus for the development and fruition of her spirituality. A work of intellectual or spiritual history rather than biography, Searching for Christ explores Day's spiritual roots in literature, especially the Scriptures, along with her sensibility and her aesthetic vision, all of which have received too little attention up to now. The impact of Christian personalism, monasticism, and the retreat movement on Day's spirituality are also examined, including new material on Day's association with Thomas Merton and a critical analysis of the Lacouture retreat movement. Friendship remained a necessary component of Day's spirituality, and Merriman's final chapter discusses Day's devotion to and enduring friendship withthe saints, as well as her warm relationships with a number of her contemporaries.

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9780268017507

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Reviews

""Influenced by many sources and people, including the Bible, the Rule of St. Benedict, Jacques Maritain, and Thomas Merton, Day lived a life of work and prayer in service of the poor. Merriman uses archival sources, correspondence, and interviews to study the effect of these influences on Day's spirituality and her response to the social, economic, and spiritual turmoil in the mid-20th century United States. A dynamic supplement to her life, this scholarly but accessible study does justice to Day and the Catholic Worker movement."" —Library Journal ""...well-written, extensively researched, and illuminating..."" —Commonweal ""Brigid Merriman's concentration on Dorothy Day's spirituality gives a much deeper insight into her spiritual roots than have previous writers."" —Pastoral Life ""Merriman places Dorothy Day in the larger perspective of Catholic thought and history and has done a fine job of sifting through an enormous amount of information."" —Catholic New Times

Influenced by many sources and people, including the Bible, the Rule of St. Benedict, Jacques Maritain, and Thomas Merton, Day lived a life of work and prayer in service of the poor. Merriman uses archival sources, correspondence, and interviews to study the effect of these influences on Day's spirituality and her response to the social, economic, and spiritual turmoil in the mid-20th century United States. A dynamic supplement to her life, this scholarly but accessible study does justice to Day and the Catholic Worker movement. -Library Journal ...well-written, extensively researched, and illuminating... -Commonweal Brigid Merriman's concentration on Dorothy Day's spirituality gives a much deeper insight into her spiritual roots than have previous writers. -Pastoral Life Merriman places Dorothy Day in the larger perspective of Catholic thought and history and has done a fine job of sifting through an enormous amount of information. -Catholic New Times

"""Influenced by many sources and people, including the Bible, the Rule of St. Benedict, Jacques Maritain, and Thomas Merton, Day lived a life of work and prayer in service of the poor. Merriman uses archival sources, correspondence, and interviews to study the effect of these influences on Day's spirituality and her response to the social, economic, and spiritual turmoil in the mid-20th century United States. A dynamic supplement to her life, this scholarly but accessible study does justice to Day and the Catholic Worker movement."" —Library Journal ""...well-written, extensively researched, and illuminating..."" —Commonweal ""Brigid Merriman's concentration on Dorothy Day's spirituality gives a much deeper insight into her spiritual roots than have previous writers."" —Pastoral Life ""Merriman places Dorothy Day in the larger perspective of Catholic thought and history and has done a fine job of sifting through an enormous amount of information."" —Catholic New Times"

""Merriman places Dorothy Day in the larger perspective of Catholic thought and history and has done a fine job of sifting through an enormous amount of information."" —Catholic New Times ""Brigid Merriman's concentration on Dorothy Day's spirituality gives a much deeper insight into her spiritual roots than have previous writers."" —Pastoral Life ""...well-written, extensively researched, and illuminating..."" —Commonweal ""Influenced by many sources and people, including the Bible, the Rule of St. Benedict, Jacques Maritain, and Thomas Merton, Day lived a life of work and prayer in service of the poor. Merriman uses archival sources, correspondence, and interviews to study the effect of these influences on Day's spirituality and her response to the social, economic, and spiritual turmoil in the mid-20th century United States. A dynamic supplement to her life, this scholarly but accessible study does justice to Day and the Catholic Worker movement."" —Library Journal

Author Information

Brigid O'Shea Merriman, O.S.F., teaches in the Theology Department at Mount Angel Seminary, St. Benedict, Oregon.

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