Issue #27 — Summer-Fall 2015
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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 Read More
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Editor’s Introduction, #27
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 Read More
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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, Read More
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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, Read More
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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 Read More
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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, Read More
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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, Read More
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“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 Read More
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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 Read More
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“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 Read More
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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, Read More