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In memoriamPortrait of Thomas KeatingPhotograph by Christopher, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Teacher profile

Thomas Keating

Christian mysticism · Centering Prayer · Trappist

American Trappist priest and abbot (1923–2018), one of the principal developers of Centering Prayer, the contemplative method that came out of St Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts and spread through the network he helped found.

Christian mysticismUnited States
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About the teacher

Thomas Keating

American Trappist priest and abbot (1923–2018), one of the principal developers of Centering Prayer, the contemplative method that came out of St Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts and spread through the network he helped found.

Talks & videos

Watch.

Short introductions and longer conversations, to hear this teacher in their own words.

23 min
Meditation

Centering Prayer at Folsom Prison

A twenty-minute sit led by Keating, recorded with the men at Folsom Prison.

44 min
Talk

The House of God, the Womb of God

A talk on the two images he kept returning to when describing what silence is for.

78 min
Interview

In Conversation with Cynthia Bourgeault

Cynthia Bourgeault, his own student, questions him for over an hour on prayer and on what he thinks he got wrong.

89 min
Talk

The Evolution of the Contemplative Christian Journey

An hour and a half on how the contemplative tradition changed hands between the desert and the present.

Path

The wider context.

✚
Prayer & contemplation

Christian mysticism

Silence, prayer and direct experience within the mystical traditions of Christianity.

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