If there’s a keyword for this issue. It’s “Release.” As Stephen Angell points out in his report here, “release” has had an honorable heritage in the Quasker glossary, mainly referring either to the sending of a Friend (or Friends) on some mission on behalf of their home monthly or yearly meeting; or since the introduction …
Author Archives: yramesor
Quakers and “Transformation”
An Editorial Commentary You ask me, it’s a sure sign of a needed change coming: Just as I was finishing up this piece, I found a notice that The Center for Spiritual & Social Transformation, part of the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California just changed its name (on September 1, 2015) to the …
George Fox University and West Hills Friends:
Controversy and Conflict in NorthwestYearly Meeting By Stephen W. Angell [Editor’s Note: In Issue #24, we reported on a two-sided struggle that had appeared in Northwest Yearly Meeting (NWYM). On one side, there emerged a visible support group for LGBT students, staff and alumni at the Newberg. Oregon campus of NWYM’s academic offspring, George Fox …
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Part II: Northwest Yearly Meeting Elders “Release” (i.e., Expel) West Hills Friends Meeting
Background On July 24, 2015, only hours after the annual NWYM sessions had adjourned, NWYM elders communicated to West Hills Friends Meeting (WHF) that they had been expelled, or, in the elders’ term, “released,” from the yearly meeting. This action has a long pre-history that we have covered in QT #24. WHF is a 1989 …
Encounters from Beyond Quakerism, Belief in Extraterrestrials And the Boundaries of Liberal Religion
Isaac May Readers of Friends Journal, the leading periodical of liberal Quakerism, would have been surprised in early 1994 to see a small ad placed in the classifieds section in the back of the magazine. Amidst blurbs for Quaker-related Bed and Breakfasts, a promotion for the environmentalist Friends Committee for Unity with Nature, a job posting …
Thunder In Carolina, Part Two: North Carolina Yearly Meeting – FUM And “Unity” vs. Uniformity
Chuck Fager I We begin by looking back to August 30, 2014, at the annual session of NCYM-FUM. The Executive Committee has just made its report. Almost immediately intense controversy breaks out. Pastors and others from four meetings, in particular, rose to loudly insist that business, as usual, be set aside. The yearly meeting, they …
Mary Dyer Musings – A Measure of Light , A Novel by Beth Powning, and Mary’s Joy, a Play by Jeanmarie Simpson
Jeanmarie Simpson Following a 2005 performance of my play, A Single Woman, about the life of first US Congresswoman and lifelong pacifist, Jeannette Rankin, I was approached by a Quaker woman. She was moved by my work and felt compelled to tell me about Mary Dyer, whom she described as a Quaker martyr. She thought I …
“Holy Nation: The Transatlantic Quaker Ministry in an Age of Revolution”* Reviewed
Reviewed by Chuck Fager Can this be just a coincidence?ྭThe full-color cover image on Holy Nation is an Edward Hicks “Peaceable Kingdom” painting. It’s the one featuring William Penn in the background, making a peace treaty with the Indians, while to the right the lion, lamb and other animals are gathered placidly along with several children. Here’s …
Excerpt from: “Holy Nation: The Transatlantic Quaker Ministry in an Age of Revolution”*
The Society of Friends cast themselves as a “holy nation” during this period, drawing on the Jewish tradition of Zion to articulate their relationship with God and to govern their interactions with outsiders. This parallel explained their suffering and gave meaning to their persecution. Friends drew inspiration from the ancient Hebrews who remained faithful and …
“A Sustainable Life: Quaker Faith and Practice in the Renewal of Creation”* A Review
Reviewed by Chel Avery “What sustains sustainability?” Mark Helpsmeet(1) has proposed this question as an alternative title for Doug Gwyn’s deep examination of Quaker life and sustainability. How do Quaker thought and Quaker practice provide a firm foundation for individuals and communities that are trying to live in harmony with creation and with prophetic attention …
About the Contributors, #27
Stephen Angell is the Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at Earlham School of Religion, Richmond Indiana, and Associate Editor of Quaker Theology. Chel Avery, After a work life spent mostly in Quaker organizations, including Pendle Hill, the Quaker Information Center and Friends General Conference, Chel Avery is attempting to live a retired life in eastern Pennsylvania. She is …
Editor’s Introduction, #26
This issue is the longest in Quaker Theology’s sixteen-year tenure. It wasn’t intended to be that. But both weighty events and substantive material kept accumulating, and here we are. It has also been one of the most arduous issues to prepare. When the disturbances in North Carolina Yearly Meeting-FUM erupted in last summer, we knew …
Thunder In Carolina: North Carolina Yearly Meeting – FUM
Chuck Fager North Carolina Quaker Showdown As this issue went to press, North Carolina Yearly Meeting-FUM (NCYM) was on the brink of a showdown over its future, with a high probability of undergoing a major schism. What’s at stake in the struggle? Many things, but what stands out are four Ms: Mission, morality, marriage, and …
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Letters From Meeting Demanding Disciplinary Action Against Meetings With Which They Differ – And Responses
[Note: The letters are reproduced here, and are also online at our website. Links are listed after the letters. The quality of reproduction is as good as we could make it from the available copies.] Bethesda Friends Meeting, Dunn, North Carolina Deep Creek Friends Meeting, Yadkinville NC Deep Creek Friends Meeting – Page 2 Forbush …
Links to NCYM-FUM letters online
Protesting Letters Poplar Ridge Letter: https://afriendlyletter.com/files/Poplar-Ridge-Friends-NCYMFUM.pdf Pine Hill: https://afriendlyletter.com/files/Pine-Hill-Friends-NCYM-08-3024.pdf Deep Creek: https://afriendlyletter.com/files/Deep-Creek-Friends.pdf Hopewell: https://afriendlyletter.com/fles/Hopewell-Friends-NCYM-082014.pdf Forbush: https://afriendlyletter.com/fles/Forbush-Friends-082014.pdf Plainfeld: https://afriendlyletter.com/fles/Plainfeld-Letter-ALL.pdf Bethesda: https://afriendlyletter.com/fles/Bethesda-Letter.pdf Responses Fancy Gap Withdrawal Letter: https://afriendlyletter.com/files/Fancy-Gap-Quit-Letter.pdf Spring Meeting “Stay Put” Letter: https://afriendlyletter.com/fles/Spring-Letter-Stay.pdf
Links to NCYM-FUM letters online
Protesting Letters Poplar Ridge Letter:www.afriendlyletter.com/files/Poplar-Ridge-Friends-NCYM-FUM.pdf Pine Hill:www.afriendlyletter.com/files/Pine-Hill-Friends-NCYM-08-3024.pdf Deep Creek:http://afriendlyletter.com/files/Deep-Creek-Friends.pdf Hopewell:http://afriendlyletter.com/files/Hopewell-Friends-NCYM-08-2014.pdf Forbush:http://afriendlyletter.com/files/Forbush-Friends-08-2014.pdf Plainfield:http://afriendlyletter.com/files/Plainfield-Letter-ALL.pdf Bethesda:http://afriendlyletter.com/files/Bethesda-Letter.pdf Responses: Fancy Gap Withdrawal Letter:http://afriendlyletter.com/files/Fancy-Gap-Quit-Letter.pdf Spring Meeting “We shall remain” Letter:http://afriendlyletter.com/files/Spring-Letter-Stay.pdf
Quaker Theology is not Explained by Apocalyptic Expectation and Delay
BY HUGH ROC Introduction Douglas Gwyn’s thesis (Gwyn, 1986) that Quaker theology originates in imminent apocalyptic expectation has achieved a degree of influence. In its own right, Gwyn’s work stands as an expression of passionate personal conviction. Gwyn makes an empathetic bridge across the generations to relate his own sense of portentous times in the …
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A Review, “Personality and Place, the Life & Times of Pendle Hill”
Reviewed by Chuck Fager “Sometimes I look around and think, Pendle Hill is God’s little joke on the Society of Friends.” – Janet Shepherd, former Dean NOTE: From one perspective, it’s a conflict of interest for me to review this book. After all, I’m described in it, because I was on staff at Pendle Hill …
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“From Personality & Place”* An Excerpt
Douglas Gwyn In Pendle Hill’s Upmeads library hangs a print of Edward Hicks’ The Peaceable Kingdom. Hicks (1780–1849) was a noted Quaker minister who lived in Newtown, Pennsylvania (about 45 miles northeast of Pendle Hill). He was also a painter at a time when Friends still shunned the arts. His great theme was the prophet …
“A Convergent Model of Renewal: Remixing the Quaker Tradition in a Participatory Culture”*
Reviewed by Chuck Fager There’s more than little déjà vu about A Convergent Model of Renewal. Quakerism, Wess Daniels argues, will be renewed by the coming together of Friends from the fringes of the various branches, particularly younger members and seekers. Or as he puts it: “It could be said that convergent Friends signal the emergence of a …
About the Contributors, #26
Chuck Fager is Editor of Quaker Theology. His most recent book is Selma 1965: The March That Changed The South. 50th Anniversary Edition. Douglas Gwyn is pastor of the Durham Friends Meeting in Durham, Maine. He has been a Quaker Studies teacher at both Pendle Hill and Woodbrooke in Britain. Among his books are Apocalypse of the …
Editor’s Introduction, #25
This 25th issue of Quaker Theology marks our 15th anniversary. It ranges widely: not only geographically, from Cambodia to Cuba, from England to southeastern North Carolina, but also across religious and ideological frontiers, taking in Buddhism, Christianity both Quaker (Liberal and Evangelical) and Catholic, plus two distinct varieties of communism. The topics addressed cover inter-religious dialogue; peace …
Forgiveness over Khmer Rouge: a journey or an obligation? A Beginning of Dialogue
Editor’s Introduction: Forgiveness is a frequent topic of discussion among Friends these days. For American Quakers, most of whom live in relatively comfortable circumstances, the issue is typically posed in personal terms: as a means of coping with lingering grievances, failed relationships, family trauma; in broader social contexts, it might involve experiences of group injustices …
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Response: Forgiveness and Letting-Go: An Inter-Religious and Internal Dialogue Sallie B. King
Sallie B. King I thank Claire Ly for giving the interview, “Forgiveness: a journey or an obligation?” in which she shares her reflections upon her experience under the Khmer Rouge regime. I also thank Chuck Fager for sending the interview to me and inviting me to respond. Coming from an entirely secure and comfortable background, …
Love and Peace in Cuba Today From the Perspective of a Quaker
By Julio Antonio Cuesta Martínez(Translated From the Spanish byStephen W. Angell) Introduction By Stephen Angell, Associate Editor I met Julio Cuesta in Gibara, Cuba, in January, 2014, during the Fourth Encounter of the Cuban Quaker Institute for Peace. I was teaching courses there on Quakers and the Bible and Peace; and Quakers and Mysticism and …
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Varieties of Interpretation of Francis Howgill’s Works: Apocalypse, Light and Convincement in Tension
Frederick Martin Francis Howgill was one of the “First Publishers of Truth,” the early Quaker traveling ministers, and a leader of the early Quaker movement in the 1650’s and 1660’s. Not as widely known today, in the beginning of the movement he was an effective preacher, a widely-loved elder, and a prolific author. He is …
“From Peace to Freedom: Quaker Rhetoric and the Birth of American Antislavery, 1657-1761″*
Reviewed by H. Larry Ingle The British literary scholar Brycchan Carey avers in the first sentence of his Introduction to From Peace to Freedom, “almost everyone knows that Quakers were at the forefront of campaigns to abolish slavery and the slave trade.” In the small world of scholarship, especially the historical realm, that assessment may be accurate …
“Following Jesus: The Heart of Faith and Practice”* A Review
Reviewed by George Amoss Jr. Paul Anderson is Professor of Biblical and Quaker Studies at George Fox University). His Following Jesus: The Heart of Faith and Practice is a collection of 36 essays, some of which had appeared in earlier forms in Evangelical Friend, a periodical that Anderson edited for a time. The book reflects the contradiction inherent in …
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“Paper Trail: Writings from the Front Line of Peace Action, Quaker House/Fort Bragg, 2001-2012″* A Review
Reviewed by John Kiriako This is an eminently readable first-person account of a daily fight for peace during what is arguably the most militarily active period of the past two generations. First, the reader should know what the book is NOT. It is not anti-military. (In fact, Fager specifies that the message is “YES to …
“Remaking Friends: How Progressive Friends Changed Quakerism & Helped Save America, 1822-1940″* A Review
Reviewed by Isaac May In his introduction to Remaking Friends, Chuck Fager informs his readers that his book “attempts to answer a question… How did the liberal branch of Quakerism become what it is in the early 21st century?” (p. 3). He takes on this rather considerable task principally by examining an important historical antecedent of modern …
“Angels of Progress: A Documentary History of the Progressive Friends: Radical Quakers in a Turbulent America”* Reviewed
Reviewed by Stephen W. Angell Angels of Progress: A Documentary History of the Progressive Friends is part of a two-volume set published by Kimo Press. While they are not formally numbered, what I regard as the first volume, Remaking Friends: How Progressive Friends Changed Quakerism & Helped Save America, reviewed elsewhere in this issue by Isaac May, …
An Excerpt from Remaking Friends: How Progressive Friends Changed Quakerism & Helped Save America, 1822-1940
By Chuck Fager FIVE: “Oh! No, It Cannot, Cannot Be – My Darling Babe Will Live . . .” As we turn to spiritualism, it is worth recalling that in one sense, there was not much new about these soon-notorious manifestations. “It would be possible,” wrote Rufus Jones in 1921, “to fill an entire book …
About the Contributors, #25
George Amoss, Jr. is active in Homewood Friends Meeting in Baltimore, where he is a member, and Little Falls Friends Meeting in Fallston, Maryland. A clinical social worker in private practice, he has served as editor of Universalist Friends, the journal of the Quaker Universalist Fellowship, and maintains the Quaker Electronic Archive Web site at: …
Editor’s Introduction, #24
Chuck Fager We are very pleased to publish, in this issue, the oldest piece of original theological writing so far (157 years) by our oldest contributor, who clocks in at the ripe age of 205. Or at least, she would be that age if she hadn’t died in 1879. The author in question is none …
The Fall of Man
Angelina Weld Grimke From the Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, 1859, pp. 45-52. Eagleswood, N.J., April 26, 1857 To the Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends: I remember that, some time ago, one of your number wrote to ask me for something which he heard I had written on the subject of woman. …
Blessed Unrest: The Radical Act of Gathering
Scott Holmes I am a Quaker lawyer finding myself in the middle of the legal defense of Quakers arrested for failing to disperse from an unlawful assembly at the North Carolina General Assembly during the “Moral Monday” protests this summer. I have been inspired, moved, and challenged by Moral Monday protesters. I am …
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“Let the holy seed of life reign” Perfection, Pelagianism, and the early Friends
John Connell Introduction “For this was the error of Pelagius, which we indeed reject and abhor, and which the Fathers deservedly withstood, that man by his natural strength, without the help of God’s grace, could attain to that state so as not to sin.” – Robert Barclay One of the theological distinctions that set the …
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Separation Accomplished: New Beginnings for a New Association of Friends and a “Reconfigured” Indiana Yearly Meeting
By Stephen W. Angell The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. – Acts 15:39-41 (NRSV). Has a …
A Letter re: Kenya Quakers & Homosexuality
by David Zarembka Dear Quaker Theology, I read with interest the various comments on the homosexuality issue in Kenya in the last issue of Quaker Theology [Issue #23]. I have some additional comments that might help clarify the situation. I was at the FWCC [Friends World Committee for Consultation] World Conference in Nakuru [in 2012] …
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“The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies”*
Reviewed by Chuck Fager Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies Too Expensive Advice to Meetings: Don’t buy this book. The full retail price is $175, and Amazon only knocks it down to $128.48; even its paper-free Kindle edition is $99.99. That’s just too much for one book. In these times, it’s likely more than many Meetings …
Northwest Yearly Meeting and “Shattering” Conflict: Chapter One
Chuck Fager with Jade Souza With the schism in Indiana Yearly Meeting over one meeting’s open welcome to LGBT persons now complete, one could have thought this journal would have a break from coverage of such events. But it was not to be. In July 2013, another American Friends church, this time in an evangelical …
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About the Contributors, #24
Stephen Angell is the Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at Earlham School of Religion, Richmond Indiana, and Associate Editor of Quaker Theology. John Connell currently resides in Camby, Indiana. He is a birthright Friend and a member of White Lick Monthly Meeting-Mooresville Friends Church in neighboring Mooresville Indiana, which is part of Western Yearly Meeting. …
Editor’s Introduction #23
I As this issue took shape, much of the world was keeping vigil while Nelson Mandela, the liberator of South Africa, seemed to be finishing the course of his dramatic, 94-year life pilgrimage. As a statesman, Mandela’s greatest achievement was the ending of apartheid, a seismic change achieved with a minimum of violence. …
Excerpts from “The Dance Between Hope and Fear,” by John Calvi
An Introduction and Review For some years now, a small chorus of people has nagged John Calvi to write a book. Finally, over the past year, he has heeded these calls. As will be explained further in the following excerpts, Calvi is a Quaker healer. And though he might quail at the term, I would …
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“Quakers & Homosexuality Press Statement,” from Friends Church Kenya
Friends Church Kenya-vs-Homosexuals-Text-and-Responses-Quaker-Theology-Number-23In This Section: “Quakers & Homosexuality Press Statement,” from Friends Church Kenya Background & Context: Homosexuality, Law, Religion & Violence In Africa Today, by The Editors Responses to the FCK Statement:Pablo StanfieldCindy PerryRich LiversidgeDoug BennettMary HeathmanGeoffrey Kaiser Epistle to the 2012 World Conference of Friends, held in Kenya, from Friends for Lesbian, Gay, …
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Progressive Friends: The Top Ten Reasons Why They’re The Most Interesting Quakers We Never Heard Of
Chuck Fager (Adapted from a presentation at the Conference of Quaker Historians & Archivists, Sixth Month 2012) I want to say a few things about the 19th century Progressive Friends as a movement. Ten things, to be exact. Few Quakers today are familiar with this yeasty group. And that’s a shame, because without question, …
The Battle for Battle Creek: Sectarian Competition in the Yankee West
Brian C. Wilson Battle Creek, Michigan, is famous as the 19th-century headquarters of Seventh-Day Adventism and its prophet, Ellen White, as well as for the Adventist-inspired Battle Creek Sanitarium, superintended for years by the dynamic John Harvey Kellogg. Battle Creek also became nationally known for hosting a variety of alternative religions other than Seventh-Day Adventism. …
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“Quaker Brotherhood: Interracial Activism and the American Friends Service Committee, 1917-1950″*
Reviewed by H. Larry Ingle Friends often are at their best when they have visible opponents who are deeply entrenched, respectable, and powerful but support some odious practice – think slaveholders. But the reality is that partially through dramatic Quaker pre-Civil War and wartime pressure, President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery 150 years ago this year. …
“The Early Quakers and the Kingdom of God: Peace, Testimony and Revolution”*
Reviewed by H. Larry Ingle This hefty work serves to introduce Australian Friend Gerard Guiton to the Quaker scholarly world concerned with the origins of the Religious Society of Friends. It is heralded with sparkling back cover endorsements by three distinguished Friends of a programmed orientation, recorded ministers all, Douglas Gwyn, Englishman John Punshon, and …
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About the Contributors
Doug Bennett is a convinced Friend, a member of Richmond, Indiana First Friends Meeting, part of the New Association of Friends taking shape in the Midwest. He now lives in Maine where he worships among Friends at Brunswick Friends Meeting. From 1997 to 2011 he was president and professor of politics at Earlham College. His …
Introduction to Issue #22
This issue is the largest we have ever published. It wasn’t planned that way: good stuff just kept coming in. And it covers a wide range of topics and concerns, from Quaker peace work in Kenya, to the theological character of a recent award-winning novel about a Quaker who becomes a slaveowner. There is also …
Indiana Yearly Meeting Update & Documents
In This Section: Update: The “Reconfiguration” of Indiana Yearly Meeting Enters an Intense Organizational Phase, By Stephen W. Angell Documents: Camping Out at the Borderland: Reflections on Life in a Liminal Time (Ruth 1: 1-14) By Stephanie Crumley-Effinger From the Indiana Yearly Meeting Communicator, January 30, 2013 Remarks for Representative Council, 9-29-2012 by Thomas Hamm …
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Studying Music and Violence
Heidi Hart The souls of all my dears have flown to the stars. Thank God there’s no one left for me to lose – so I am free to cry. This air was made for the echoing of songs. –Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet, 1944 Random cannonfire punctures the sound-space in Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory. Wagner’s Ring …
“An Excerpt from Howard and Anna Brinton: Re-inventors of Quakerism In the Twentieth Century, An Interpretive Biography”*
By Anthony Manousos Growing Up in “Brinton Country” To tell the story of the Brintons or of the Beans and the Coxes, Anna’s family, is to tell the story of Quakerism as it developed in America. Anna and Howard both took pride in the fact that they could trace their ancestry to the early days …
Questions for Howard: Being a Kind of Review of the New Biography of Howard & Anna Brinton
By Chuck Fager “The time has come–indeed, it is long overdue–for a critical assessment of Howard’s major works: Friends for Three Hundred Years (1952) and Guide to Quaker Practice (1943), which continue to be best sellers among liberal Friends.” –Anthony Manousos in Howard and Anna Brinton: …
The Still Small Voice in the Wilderness: The Treatment of Silence in Two Abolitionist Quaker Narratives—Tracy Chevalier’s The Last Runaway and Linda Spalding’s The Purchase
Reviewed by Selena Middleton The past year has seen the beginning of what could be a renaissance of Quakerism in the mainstream collective consciousness, from Martin McDonagh’s film Seven Psychopaths in which Christopher Walken plays a serene, yet foul-mouthed Quaker, to two books in which readers are presented with alternatives to the already familiar historical …
“A Peace of Africa, Reflections on Life In The Great Lakes Region”
Reviewed by Chuck Fager In the US, the career track for “development work” is pretty well laid out: it starts with a degree from a “quality” college. Season that with a bit of “on the ground” foreign experience (the Peace Corps will do). From there, snag a slot at a NGO (nongovernmental organization), hang on …
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“350 Years of the Society of Friends in North America: 1661-2011″*
Reviewed by Chuck Fager Want to see all US Quaker history in a single page? With attitude? Here it is. Well, one very large page: thirty by forty inches. It’s actually a chart, meant to hang on your wall, not nestle among the pamphlets on a bookshelf. Friend Kaiser sells these charts for $13 postpaid; …
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About the Contributors
Stephen Angell is the Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at Earlham School of Religion, Richmond Indiana, and Associate Editor of Quaker Theology. Stephanie Crumley-Effinger is a member of the faculty of Earlham School of Religion. Since 2000 she has taught one of ESR’s core ministry formation courses, Discernment of Calling and Gifts for Ministry, and …
Introduction to Issue #21
This is a packed issue, full of high-content, substantive thought and reporting. First, there are two updates by Associate Editor Stephen Angell on the continuing conflict in Indiana Yearly Meeting. They continue our detailed coverage of this significant episode, a record not available elsewhere. Yet a preoccupation with current foibles can easily become a kind …
The Proposed Split of Indiana Yearly Meeting: What Its Monthly Meetings Say
By Stephen W. Angell Editor’s Introduction September 11th. Is there a more ominous date on the contemporary American calendar? Now, 9-11 has become a landmark date for Indiana Yearly Meeting (IYM), in a manner eerily reminiscent of its traumatic meaning for society at large. On September 11, 2012, IYM Meetings were notified that the long …
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Quaker Theology #33 — Winter 2019 Moment of Truth: Wilmington Yearly Meeting Divides over a Familiar Set of Issues By Stephen W. Angell Wilmington Yearly Meeting (WYM), assembled at the Friends Meeting in Maryville, Tennessee, on the last weekend of July, released five meetings (four monthly meetings and one preparatory meeting) which requested to sever …
William Bartram: The Moral Philosophy of a Quaker Botanist
Sarah Werner William Bartram (1739-1823) was one of the first scientists to explore the southern colonies of the United States in the 18th century. He is best known for his widely popular account of his journey, Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the …
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A Letter from William Bartram, 1792
William Bartram to Benjamin Smith Barton Responding to a missing letter from Barton, inquiring about medicines and remedies among Indian groups in the Carolinas down to Florida that Bartram had visited during his botanical explorations. With the letter Barton sent a book on Indian lore. Spelling is as in the original. Kingsessring [Pennsylvania]December 29, 1792My …
Beyond Liberalism: Rufus Jones and Thomas Kelly in the History of Liberal Religion
Guy Aiken It was Monday, December 19, 1938, a little over a month since the Day of Broken Glass, and three American Quakers were holding impromptu worship in Berlin. They were in the headquarters of the Gestapo, and two Gestapo officers had just left the room to discuss with their superior the Quakers’ proposal to …
“American Religion, Contemporary Trends”*
Reviewed by Chuck Fager Most Quaker groups I know of worry about growing. Whether they call it “outreach” or evangelism, whether they preach about it endlessly or only whisper furtively in the hallways, the desire, the need for more members and attenders hangs over Friends like an ever-present specter. This concern (obsession?) is as prevalent …
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“Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet”*
Reviewed by Chuck Fager In early August 2012, a large Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, California was hit by an explosion and fire, disrupting production of as much as 240,000 barrels a day. About two weeks later, at the huge Amuay refinery in Venezuela, an explosion and fire killed more than forty people and shut …
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About the Contributors
Guy Aiken is a PhD student in Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, specializing in American Religions. Though he is not affiliated with a Monthly Meeting, he helped coordinate the summer 2010 Young Adult Leadership Development (YALD) program at Pendle Hill. In fall 2010 the Canadian Quaker History Journal published his article on Thomas …
From the Editor, #20
This is a compact, but packed issue: it opens with a new dispatch by Associate Editor Stephen Angell on the ongoing saga of approaching division in Indiana Yearly Meeting. This is our third update on the situation, and there has been plenty of action and discussion since our previous effort. And while there is plenty …
Editor’s Introduction: Divorce in Indiana – Quaker Style
Divorce is not as traumatic an experience as it once was. In fact, today most spouses resolve to part peaceably. No-fault laws and mediators can smooth the way to property and custody agreements. The results are still wrenching, but civilized, and much better for the children. Not only couples, but countries have managed this: in …
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The Impending Split in Indiana Yearly Meeting
By Stephen W. Angell As we reported in Issues #18 (Fall-Winter 2010-2011) and #19 (Spring-Summer 2011), Indiana Yearly Meeting, after anguished discussion in an all-day Representative Council Meeting on October 1, 2011, agreed on a year-long process of “Deliberative/Collaborative Reconfiguration.” The roots of this momentous decision lay in a minute, approved in June of 2008, …
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Appendix
February 3, 2012 Dear Friends of Indiana Yearly Meeting, As the Reconfiguration Task Force of Indiana Yearly Meeting, we are writing to invite your input to the early part of the reconfiguration process. As you may recall, at the called meeting of the Representative Council on October 1, 2011, Friends approved “Model 5 — Deliberative/Collaborative …
The Full text of Barclay’s Observations, translated from the Latin by Michael Birkel
Some Christian Observations on the Theological Disputation of Nikolaus Arnold, who proclaims himself a Doctor and Professor of Most Sacred Theology, Concerning Quakerism, and a Brief Refutation of It, by Robert Barclay Preface To everyone in all of Belgium and in particular to the doctors, professors, and students of the Academy of Franeker, Robert Barclay …
Christianity and War, and Other Essays Against the Warfare State.
Laurence M. Vance.Vance Publications, Pensacola, Florida. 418 pages. Reviewed by Chuck Fager In the spring of 2011, a young soldier came to see me, at the Quaker peace project where I work. He wanted to talk about filing a Conscientious Objector (CO) claim. Once a very enthusiastic recruit, he had been in the elite Special …
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An Excerpt from “Christianity and War:” Are You a Christian Warmonger?
Originally posted April 7, 2005 by Laurence M. Vance Reprinted by permission It is appalling that many defenders of the war in Iraq are Christians; it is even worse when they appeal to Scripture to excuse or justify a senseless war that has now resulted in the deaths of over 1,500 Americans and the wounding …
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An Interview With Laurence Vance Author of Christianity and War
QT. Please tell us something about your own background: where you were born, brought up, etc. And where you were educated; your brief bio speaks of degrees in history and theology – where did you study, and what fields did you concentrate in? LV. I am a semi-native Floridian. I was brought up on the …
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About the Contributors
Stephen Angell, is the Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at Earlham School of Religion, Richmond Indiana. Michael Birkel is Proessor of Religion at Earlham College. Chuck Fager is Director of Quaker House in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The Retention of Young People by the Quakers and the Amish
Damon D. Hickey Note: An earlier version of this paper was delivered to the North Carolina Friends Historical Society in Greensboro on November 10, 2007. It is still very much a work in progress. It lays out several questions about the retention of young people by the Quakers (Friends) and the Amish, presents the methodological …
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Editor’s Introduction, #19
Does it mean that Quaker Theology has “arrived” when it becomes part of the opening prayer at Indiana Yearly Meeting? Well, that’s what happened, according to more than one credible witness: our cover “teaser” reference in Issue #18 to “Indiana Trainwrecks” was mentioned in an appeal there for divine guidance and protection. We earnestly hope …
Lopping Off a Limb?
Indiana Yearly Meeting’s Troubled Relationship With West Richmond Monthly Meeting By Stephen W. Angell “There is a common misperception that West Richmond is a limb that is being lopped off. That is not the spirit of the recommendation of the Indiana Yearly Meeting task force. We’re trying to help out the meetings that don’t fit.” …
“The Evolutionary Potential of Quakerism” Revisited From Kenneth Boulding to John Bellers
Keith Helmuth Based on presentations made for the Quaker Studies Programme, Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends 2009 Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. – Vaclav Havel Part One Quaker Memes and the Human …
Collected Essays of Maurice Creasey, A Review
Reviewed by Chuck Fager The Swarthmore Lecture is the prestige gig for Britain Yearly Meeting. It’s been given every year for more than a century, since 1908. Every year, that is, except 1948, when it was abruptly cancelled. It seems a Swiss Friend named Edmond Privat had been tapped, and it was learned that he …
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The Darkness of Mother Teresa, Two Reviews*
by George Amoss Jr. “Eternity,” wrote William Blake, “is in love with the productions of time.” A Roman Catholic – especially one who was formed in the pre-conciliar Church of the early twentieth century, as was Mother Teresa – would surely agree with that, but she would not stop there. The Catholic sees time sub …
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About The Contributors
George Amoss Jr. a member of Homewood Meeting in Baltimore, attends Little Falls Friends Meeting in Fallston, Maryland. A social worker and psychotherapist, he has served as editor of Universalist Friends, the journal of the Quaker Universalist Fellowship, and he established the Quaker Electronic Archive Web site at http://www.quakerarchive.org. Stephen W. Angell is Leatherock Professor …
Editor’s Introduction, #18
Okay, readers, here’s a pop quiz: What is UP with Indiana pastoral Friends? Can AFSC get its mojo back? And not least, is it possible for Quakerism to take root in France, or is the Society so incorrigibly Anglo that it only thrives in territory over which the Union Jack flies, or once flew? (Answers …
Two Current Conflicts in Midwestern Friends Meetings
Stephen W. Angell Part I: Freight Train Bearing Down? West Richmond Friends Meeting and Indiana Yearly Meeting West Richmond Friends Meeting in Richmond, Indiana, might seem to be an odd ground zero for the newest intra-Quaker conflict, but that is where the Meeting has found itself in the past two years, after approving a “welcoming …
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Postscript: Allen Jay on the Spirit of Separation
Joshua Brown, pastor of West Richmond Meeting, is also the editor of a new edition of the Autobiography of Allen Jay (1831-1910). Jay, an Indiana Friend, was a successful revivalist during the late nineteenth century, as the Gurneyite branch of Quakerism moved toward the pastoral system. Jay’s success as a revivalist came despite his cleft …
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My Theology of Peacemaking
By David Zarembka Revenge or Reconciliation? Do you believe that reconciliation is possible between enemies? Is revenge and retaliation a basic human trait that makes true reconciliation remarkably unlikely? Western literature considers the discussion of “revenge” as a serious issue. Homer and the Greek classics are filled with stories of revenge. When driving from Washington, …
The Quest for an Authentic French Quakerism: A Conversation with Jeanne-Henriette Louis
Chuck Fager [Note: This conversation was conducted at the Friends International Center in Paris, in Twelfth Month (December) 2010.] Chuck Fager[CF]: Jeanne-Henriette [JH], I’m interested in your academic career, but I want to know a little bit about you. You say you are from Bordeaux, where did you grow up? Why did you become …
Can The AFSC Get Its Quaker Groove Back?
Chuck Fager I: The Background of a Concern What we’ve dubbed “The Great Quaker Turnover” has been rolling through Quakerism over the past year. Practically all the “alphabet soup” Friends groups have been changing their top executives: FUM, QUNO, FCNL, FGC, FWCC, Friends Journal. Several top posts in Britain Yearly Meeting have turned over as …
“A History of Southland College: The Society of Friends and Black Education in Arkansas,”* A Review
Reviewed by Stephen Angell Thomas C. Kennedy is probably the most significant historian of Quakerism writing today that most American Quakers have never heard of. He has recently retired from the history faculty of the University of Arkansas. Most of his research has involved British pacifists. His British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious …
“To Change the World, The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World”* A Review
Reviewed by Chuck Fager Quakers don’t like to remember Prohibition, and the Temperance movement which birthed it. From liberals to evangelicals, I can’t recall a serious discussion – and but one incident of reminiscing – about it in four decades among Friends. Yet for several generations, outlawing the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages was …
Excerpt from “To Change The World”*
Imagine, in this regard, a genuine “third great awakening” occurring in America, where half of the population is converted to a deep Christian faith. Unless this awakening extended to envelop the cultural gatekeepers, it would have little effect on the character of the symbols that are produced and prevail in public and private culture. And, …
About The Contributors
Stephen W. Angell, is Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at Earlham School of Religion. Chuck Fager, Editor of Quaker Theology, is Director of Quaker House in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Jeanne-Henriette Louis is a retired professor of American Studies, and Clerk of France yearly Meeting. She lives in Paris. David Zarembka is a member of Bethesda …
Howard Brinton and the World Council of Churches: The Theological Impact of Ecumenism on Friends
by Anthony Manousos The ecumenical movement that culminated in the founding of the World Council of Churches in 1948 was a wake up call to Howard Brinton and other Friends, obliging them to take more seriously the theological issues of their day. Up to this point, most of Brinton’s writings about theology focused on Quaker …
About The Contributors, #18
Stephen W. Angell, is Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at Earlham School of Religion. Chuck Fager, Editor of Quaker Theology, is Director of Quaker House in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Jeanne-Henriette Louis is a retired professor of American Studies, and Clerk of France yearly Meeting. She lives in Paris. David Zarembka is a member of Bethesda …
Enacting Truth: The Dynamics of Quaker Practice
Douglas Gwyn Editor’s Note: Could a return to the traditional discipline of preparing collective answers to specific queries cure the present ills of the Religious Society of Friends? Douglas Gwyn explores that question here. He sets it within a framework of four ways of seeking and enacting Truth and their interaction in Quaker practice: for …
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An Argument for Comprehensive Religious Education of FGC Young Friends
Joyce Ketterer I am a life-long Quaker and a product of ten years of formal Quaker education as well as nine years of Young Friends experience in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. In high school, I was not only an avid attendee of Young Friends but also a strong Quaker leader, the co-founder, and co-clerk of an …
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“To Be Broken and Tender: A Quaker Theology for Today”* A Review
Reviewed by Stephen W. Angell Margery Post Abbott has been a very productive and useful writer in the area of Quaker spirituality over recent years. I have particularly enjoyed the book that she co-edited with Peggy Senger Parsons, Walk Worthy of Your Calling: Quakers and the Traveling Ministry (Friends United Press, 2004), which presents first-hand …
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Selected Excerpts from, To Be Broken and Tender: A Quaker Theology for Today
“Waiting and Attending” One day in prayer I saw a mound of clay being worked by two hands, one the hand of a child, the other the hand of an adult. Then I saw the infinite faces of Jesus. Some faces were familiar— one, the face in the children’s book of my youth, another the …
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