ESSAYS, ARTICLES & LECTURES
2022 Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Ernesto Cardenal and Thomas Merton
Poets, Priests, Mystics, Revolutionaries
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, October 27, 2022
Inspired by the lifelong correspondence between Ernesto Cardenal and Thomas Merton,
Carol Becker reads from her new essay about their complex lives and dreams for a future society.
In 2015 Carol Becker visited an exhibition at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library called Seasons of Celebration: Thomas Merton at 100. There she learned of the lifelong correspondence between Ernesto Cardenal and Thomas Merton. Both graduated from Columbia University and spent their lives committed to the Church, but nonetheless struggled with its structures as well. They both worked for radical change and the transformation of society. Cardenal, whom she knew personally, participated in the Nicaraguan revolution that toppled the Somoza dictatorship. Merton was an anti-Vietnam War and Civil Rights advocate. This lecture is a result of Becker's fascination with how they lived their lives as writers, artists, monks, and activists.
Left to right: Dean of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Katrina Armstrong, MD; Dean of Columbia University School of the Arts, Carol Becker; Executive Director of Columbia Narrative Medicine, Rita Charon, MD, PhD
