While writing a biography of his friend, Thomas Merton, M. Basil Pennington went on retreat to Merton's hermitage in Kentucky, the place where he yearned for more silence and solitude than was possible in the monastery. Merton was a contradiction of opposites; he loved silence but yet he was the most talkative, gregarious, and published of monks.

Pennington provides us with a glimpse of what it would be like to spend a retreat with his friend, Tom, in his hermitage, reading his writings on the spiritual life, praying the hours, caring for the birds on the front porch. The result is a thorough introduction to the profound depth of Merton's unique experience of God. Engaging the World with Merton is a book for each of us to have a retreat with Pennington's friend and mentor as our companion, as we seek the kingdom of God within.

(Originally published by Element Books under the title, A Retreat with Thomas Merton. Pennington has written a new foreword for this new Paraclete Press edition.)

· Includes more than twenty black and white photographs of Merton's hermitage, inside and out, taken by the author.