History
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Wiliam Rotch of Nantucket A Quaker Hero
Rotch was a leading Friend in the Quaker community of Nantucket Island, and his story of faithfulness during the American and French Revolutions is a truly memorable story.
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Friends General Conference, Founding Gathering
Two Addresses from the Founding of the major liberal Quaker association of the modern era. These stirring speeches show the dynamic spirit that launched this movement.
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Joel & Hannah Bean — Reluctant Rebels
Historical currents combined with their character to make of the Beans perhaps the key figures, indeed the founders, of the modern liberal Quaker ethos. “Beanite Quakerism” is the term coined by Geoffrey Kaiser, a penetrating amateur Quaker historian, to describe the modern liberal branch of the Society, and once their role is clear, the accuracy…
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“AAA Authenticity of Historic Progressive Quakerism”
A concise explanation of why this Friend considers the liberal strand of Quaker history and thought a legitimate heir of early Quaker experience and thought.
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FGC’s “Uniform Discipline” Rediscovered
This article explores the discovery and significance of the Friends General Conference’s (FGC) 1926 “Uniform Discipline,” a comprehensive set of guidelines that shaped Hicksite Quaker practice but was later forgotten. It highlights key innovations of the Uniform Discipline such as an emphasis on individual spiritual guidance, congregational polity, the abolition of recorded ministers, and a…
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The Trouble With “Ministers”
A critical examination of the current efforts to re-establish the system of “recorded ministers” among liberal unprogrammed Quaker groups.
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The Separation Generation
By Chuck Fager; with material edited and adapted from previous issues of Quaker Theology. I – Background It’s not easy – in fact, impossible – to pick a starting date for what I call the “Separation Generation” in American Quakerism. My personal preference is July 1977, when the first major interbranch conference in decades, gathered in…
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Everyday/Extraordinary Resistance: Two True Stories from the Vietnam Years
Leafleting a Meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marion Anderson By 1970, I had been organizing against the war full-time for five years. First, in Washington where I was an organizer of the televised National Teach-In which was watched by about ten million Americans and then in Michigan as chairman of Michi-gan Clergy and…
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Whittaker Chambers, Alger Hiss, and Quaker Leadership: A Problem for Friends
This post explores the complex relationship between Whittaker Chambers, a mid-20th-century Quaker and anti-Communist witness, and the broader Quaker community, including prominent leader Clarence Pickett. Despite Chambers’s profound religious conviction and his significant role in exposing Alger Hiss as a Soviet spy, many Quakers distanced themselves from him, highlighting tensions within Quaker politics and theology…
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A Review, “Personality and Place, the Life & Times of Pendle Hill”
Reviewed by Chuck Fager Read More
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“The Early Quakers and the Kingdom of God: Peace, Testimony and Revolution”*
This review critically assesses Gerard Guiton’s book on early Quaker theology, particularly his emphasis on the “Kingdom of God” motif and the Peace Testimony of early Friends. While acknowledging Guiton’s extensive research, the reviewer criticizes his anachronistic approach, lack of engagement with historical actions, and dismissal of evolving Quaker stances on war and pacifism.
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Beyond Liberalism: Rufus Jones and Thomas Kelly in the History of Liberal Religion
Guy Aiken Read More
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Response to Thomas Hamm: Holiness 2.5 Cheers
Carole Dale Spencer First of all, I want to dismiss any notions that my book was in any way an attack on Hamm’s Transformation of American Quakerism. While we disagree on a few issues, his work was an important catalyst for the beginning of my exploration of holiness and Quakers almost twenty years ago. I…
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Thomas Hamm Response to “Holiness, The Soul of Quakerism”*
Thomas Hamm reviews Carole Dale Spencer’s book “Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism,” agreeing that holiness is central to understanding pre-1900 Quakerism but differing on interpretations about the 19th-century holiness revival among Friends. He critiques Spencer’s focus and omission of key figures in the revival, and examines Hannah Whitall Smith’s complex role and theological differences within…
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The Core Quaker Theology: Is There Such a Thing?
Chuck FagerAdapted from a presentation atAmawalk Meeting, New York, 8th Mo 14, 2004 When I hear or read of questions about such things as “normative Quakerism,” or “authentic Quakerism” or “traditional Quakerism,” it usually means one of two things: either a person or group feels very much confused and at sea, and is honestly looking…
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Quaker History & Theology: Three Interviews
This post features three in-depth interviews exploring Quaker history and theology. Thomas Hamm discusses contemporary American Quaker diversity and challenges such as membership decline and authority issues. Thomas Kennedy examines the theological struggles within British Quakerism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including evangelical influence and the peace testimony. Erin Bell focuses on…
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A Great Deep: The Peace Testimony and Historical Realism
By Chuck Fager Walking in the Way of Peace: Quaker Pacifism in the Seventeenth Century. Meredith Baldwin Weddle. Oxford University Pres, 2001 Read More
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Shaggy Locks & Birkenstocks
a paper delivered at a Swarthmore College Symposium on the Legacy of George Fox, October 2002
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“Catechism and Confession of Faith,”* by Robert Barclay, A Review
Reviewed by Thomas D. Paxson, Jr. Many who come to the Religious Society of Friends are not introduced in any systematic way to the scriptural passages which most spoke to the experience of early Friends, which strengthened them in their faith and helped them keep to the Light. Nor is this surprising, since few texts…
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Growing Up Plain, Conservative Quakerism
This review of Wilmer Cooper’s memoir Growing Up Plain explores his upbringing in the strict and declining Wilburite Conservative Quaker tradition, marked by cultural restrictions and intellectual isolation. The author contrasts this insular experience with the broader and more vibrant Amish communities, highlighting Cooper’s eventual breakaway and pursuit of higher education and a more open…
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Editor’s Introduction #3 — Notes on Contributors
This post introduces an issue focused on learning Quaker theology from recent history, highlighting contributions from both Quaker and Unitarian-Universalist perspectives. It features reflections on spiritual renewal, key historical figures like Rufus Jones and Caroline Stephen, and examines the origins and development of modern liberal Quakerism.
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The Case Against the Richmond Declaration
The article argues against the Richmond Declaration of Faith, highlighting its origins with an unrepresentative group of Quakers and its failure to reflect the diversity of Quaker beliefs both historically and today. It details how the Declaration was divisive, flawed in its theological content, often used as a creedal weapon, and has caused ongoing conflict…
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Inventory of the William Rotch Papers
William Rotch, prominent shipowner and resolute Quaker friend, was born October 4, 1734 on Nantucket into a family already involved in whale fisheries. When the American Revolution erupted, Rotch maintained the pacificist stance of his Quaker religion, which in turn reflected the official policy of neutrality adopted by Nantucket.