Volume Ten, Number One
Fall-Winter 2010-2011
Editor: Chuck Fager
Associate Editor: Stephen W. Angell & Ann K. Riggs
ISSN 1526-7482

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 …

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 …

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 …