Though not a systematic theologian, Thomas Merton spent a lifetime writing in an immensely appealing way about the monastic tradition and mystical theology. One of the fundamental questions he examined was that of the self; for Merton the recovery of the true self is the "liberation of the image of God" in us. This study explores that process in the context of a few of Merton's works, showing his own development from "pious hostility" to the world to a more humbling acceptance of humanity. The first full-length appraisal of Merton as theologian, this is well written but contains a few too many abstract phrasessomething Merton in his best work eschewed.