Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O. (March 7, 1923 – October 25, 2018) was an American

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

priest known as one of the principal developers of centering prayer, a contemplative method that emerged from St. Joseph's Abbey in

Spencer, Massachusetts Spencer is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,992 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated pl ...

Life

Keating was born in New York City in March 1923 and attended

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy (often called Deerfield or DA) is an Independent school, independent College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schoo ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

. In 1984 Keating, along with Gustave Reininger and Edward Bednar, co-founded Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., an international and ecumenical spiritual network that teaches the practice of Centering Prayer and ''

Lectio Divina In Western Christianity, ''Lectio Divina'' (Latin for "Divine Reading") is a traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's word. In the v ...

'', a method of prayer drawn from the Christian contemplative tradition. Contemplative Outreach provides a support system for those on the contemplative path through a wide variety of resources, workshops, and retreats. Keating died at St. Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, Massachusetts on 25 October 2018, aged 95 years old.

Centering prayer

Keating was one of three principal developers of centering prayer, a contemporary method of contemplative prayer that emerged from St. Joseph's Abbey in 1975. William Meninger and Basil Pennington, also

monks, were the method's other principal developers. When the concept was first proposed by Keating, Meninger started teaching a method based on the 14th-century spiritual classic '' The Cloud of Unknowing''. Meninger referred to this as the "Prayer of the Cloud" and taught it to priests at the retreat house. Pennington gave the first retreat to a lay audience in Connecticut where the participants suggested the term "centering prayer". Since

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915December 10, 1968), religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, Christian mysticism, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. He was a monk in the Trapp ...

had been known to use the term prior to this, it has been suggested the phrase may have originated from him.

Panentheist views

In his 1993 article, ''Clarifications Regarding Centering Prayer'', Keating suggests that Jesus describes a

panentheistic Panentheism (; "all in God", from the Greek , and ) is the belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time. The term was coined by the German philosopher Karl Krause in 1828 (after reviewin ...

rather than

pantheistic Pantheism can refer to a number of Philosophy, philosophical and Religion, religious beliefs, such as the belief that the universe is God, or panentheism, the belief in a non-corporeal divine intelligence or God out of which the universe arise ...

view of God:

Bibliography

Books

*''Crisis of Faith'' (1979) *''Finding Grace at the Center'' (1979) *''Heart of the World'' (1981) *''And the Word Was Made Flesh'' (1982) *''Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel'' (1986) *''The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience'' (1987) *''Heart of the World: Spiritual Catechism'' (1988) *''Mystery of Christ'' (1988) *''Awakenings'' (1990) *''Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality: A Pathway to Growth and Healing,'' by Philip St Romain, illus. Intro. by Thomas Keating (1991) *''Reawakenings'' (1991) *''Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation'' (1992) *''Intimacy with God'' (1994) *''Loving Search for God: Contemplative Prayer and "The Cloud of Unknowing"'', with William A. Meninger (1994) *''Crisis of Faith, Crisis of Love'' (1995) *''Active Meditations for Contemplative Prayer'' (1997) *''The Kingdom of God is Like...'' (1997) *''Centering Prayer in Daily Life and Ministry'', co-edited with Gustave Reininger (1998) *''The Diversity of Centering Prayer'' (1998) *''The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation'' (Wit Lectures) (1999) *''Journey to the Center: A Lenten Passage'' (1999) *''The Better Part: Stages of Contemplative Living'' (2000) *''Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit'' (2000) *''St. Therese of Lisieux: A Transformation in Christ'' (2000) *''Divine Indwelling: Centering Prayer and Its Development,'' with George F. Cairns, Thomas R. Ward, Sarah A. Butler, Fitzpatrick-Hopler (2001) *''Sundays at the Magic Monastery: Homilies from the Trappists of St. Benedict's Monastery'' with William Meninger, Joseph Boyle, and Theophane Boyd (2002) *''Transformation of Suffering: Reflections on September 11 and the Wedding Feast at Cana in Galilee'' (2002) *''The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O. : Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings'' (2003) *''Foundations for Centering Prayer and the Christian Contemplative Life: Open Mind, Open Heart, Invitation to Love, Mystery of Christ'' (2003) *''Manifesting God'' (2005) *''Active Prayer: On Retreat with Father Thomas Keating'' (2005) *''Centering Prayer: On Retreat with Father Thomas Keating'' (2005) *''Lectio Divina: On Retreat with Father Thomas Keating'' (2005) *''Welcoming Prayer: On Retreat with Father Thomas Keating'' (2005) *''Divine Therapy and Addiction: Centering Prayer and the Twelve Steps'' (2009) * ''Reflections on the Unknowable'' (2014)

Audio and video

*''Contemplative Prayer'' (Audio, 1995) *''The Contemplative Journey'' (Audio, 1997) *''The Contemplative Journey,'' Vol. 2 (Audio, 1997) *''Searching for God in America'' (Video, 1997) *''The Contemplative Journey'' (Audio CD) (2005) *''Contemplative Prayer: Traditional Christian Meditations for Opening to Divine Union'' (Audio CD) (2005)

References

External links

Contemplative Outreach websiteFather Thomas Keating Collection at Pitts Theology Library

ONE: The Movie
Participation in ONE: The Movie *
St. Benedict's Monastery
by ReadTheSpirit.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Keating, Thomas 1923 births 2018 deaths Writers from New York City Clergy from New York City Deerfield Academy alumni Trappists American Christian monks American Roman Catholic writers 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests 21st-century American Roman Catholic priests American spiritual writers Centering prayer Yale University alumni Fordham University alumni