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THOMAS MERTON AND LEO SZILARD: THE PARALLEL PATHS OF A MONK AND A NUCLEAR PHYSICIST
Author(s) -
Thompson Phillip M.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
zygon®
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-9744
pISSN - 0591-2385
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2004.00632.x
Subject(s) - intersection (aeronautics) , physicist , distancing , philosophy , sociology , law , theoretical physics , physics , covid-19 , political science , medicine , geography , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , cartography
Thomas Merton and Leo Szilard, two of the seminal religious and scientific figures of the twentieth century, briefly connected on the issue of the danger of atomic weaponry. This meeting resulted from paths that guided them to an “orbiting” or distancing from human society through a phase of intellectual (Szilard) or spiritual (Merton) abstraction followed by a return to the concerns of human society. These parallel trajectories and their eventual intersection reflect both the similarities and differences in their respective backgrounds. The briefness of their contacts and the unfulfilled possibilities from such contacts also suggest the importance of a continuing dialogue between major figures in religion and science.