Make Peace before the Sun Goes Down: The Long Encounter of Thomas Merton and His Abbot, James Fox

“A milestone in Merton scholarship: a minor masterpiece of moral restraint and historical reconstruction, and by my lights, a moving portrait of Thomas Merton's heroic, lifelong struggle with pettiness and bureaucratic restraint. Lipsey gives us a side of Merton seldom seen—Merton the employee and company man—and surprisingly this reveals aspects of the writer's character not visible from any other perspective.”

“Roger Lipsey's premise that Thomas Merton and Dom James Fox were each other's unsolved koan is deftly illustrated in this, the most complete and illuminating study of Merton's middle monastic years. His engaging writing combines the intrigue of a John le Carré novel with a poetic closing as beautiful as any requiescant in pace ever sung.”

“An enthralling book. It describes in detail the dysfunctional relationship between Thomas Merton and Abbot James Fox over a period of some twenty years. Both men were powerful, each in his own way, competitive, and deeply flawed. Though neither would admit it, they were probably too much alike to cohabit without friction. Because they were men publicly dedicated to a spiritual life, much of the arm wrestling was hidden under a facade of piety and politeness. Merton's attitude is well known from his private journals; the position of Abbot Fox had to be sought in the archives and in the memories of those who knew both. Roger Lipsey's narrative makes it possible for readers to arrive at a more nuanced perception of the tangled webs these two men wove around themselves and to interpret the relationship in a more balanced way. This study is essential reading for any future Merton biographer.”