Anti-Violence and Quakerism
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Theology & Peace Witness by Chuck Fager
A Letter to the Next Director of Quaker House, Fayetteville-Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Here’s the job description in a nutshell: as the Director of Quaker House (QH), besides managing a small non-profit, the essence of the work a call to continue a protracted, hand-to-hand combat with the Spirit of War, operating behind the lines of…
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From “The Church, the Draft Board, and Me” by George Amoss, Jr.
This recounts my conflicts with the Catholic Church, whose ethics were called into question by the war in Vietnam, and the U.S. Selective Service System, which refused to honor my conscientious objection to participation in war. In telling that story, it sketches my evolution, despite encounters with predatory priests and a vindictive draft board, from…
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Editor’s Introduction by Chuck Fager
To be candid, I’m not accustomed to being consulted by Evangelical Friends. I’m not one, and over the past forty years, I’ve often found myself on opposite sides from many vocal or leading Evangelicals. Read More
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Divine Protection through Extraordinary Dangers
Goff and her family lived through the ordeal of rebellion and massacre in Ireland in 1798. This amazing memoir is priceless both for its place in the long, sad history of British colonization of Ireland, and its more uplifting place in the saga of the Quaker Peace Testimony applied in situations where its implications and…
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00. Can the American Friends Service Committee Get Its Quaker Groove Back?
Chuck Fager Read More
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PRELUDE: Two Documents From Discussion held at FGC in Richmond, Indiana, July, 1979
Chuck Fager [INTRODUCTORY NOTE: These discussions were sparked by an event that is unmentioned in these documents: the publication in The New Republic magazine of a cover story by Stephen Chapman called “Shot From Guns: the Lost Pacifism of the Quakers,” in its June 9, 1979 issue. The piece was especially critical of AFSC. I…
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01: “Truly Radical, Non-violent, Friendly Approaches”
(1): Challenges to the American Friends Service Committee H. Larry Ingle Reprinted from Quaker History, Volume 105, Number 1, Spring 2016. Published by Friends Historical Association Read More
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02: From Supporter to Friendly Critic: How AFSC Changed Me
H. Larry Ingle Friends learn from experience, actually from a dialogue with experience; at its best, the dialogue is actually a trialogue with God’s Spirit an essential third participant. That’s what happened to me as I reflect back on my encounters with the American Friends Service Committee. Read More
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03: The Cold War’s Effect AFSC, 1947-49
H. Larry Ingle Reprinted from Peace & Change, 23 (Jan. 1998) Read More
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04: Pickett vs. Chambers: A Case Study of Elite Class Power
H. Larry Ingle Reprinted from: An Early Assessment: U.S. Quakerism in the 20th Century. Papers from the Quaker History Roundtable, 2017. Read More
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05: “Speak Truth to Power:” A Thirty Years Retrospective (1985)
H. Larry Ingle When the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) published “Speak Truth to Power” in the spring of 1955, it did two important things, one advertent, one inadvertent. The authors intended to, and did, produce the most lucid pacifist tract ever penned in the United States; they probably did not intend to, but nevertheless…
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06: AFSC and Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting & Association
An Exchange About Numbers; (SAYMA), 2011-2012 From SAYMA’s minutes, 2011: [SAYMA =] Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting & Association June 9-12, 2011[Below: SAYMA’s logo & Map of Meetings] Read More
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07: A Flicker of Hope: A Friendly Letter
Written & published by Chuck Fager Issue Number SevenTenth Month 1981 Read More
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08: Another False Dawn: AFSC, 1991-1992
A Friendly Letter, Written & published by Chuck Fager, Issue #127, 12th Month 1991 As the Corporation and Board of the American Friends Service Committee gathered for its annual meeting on 11/15-17, AFSC was on the brink of important change: A new Board clerk has taken hold. A new Executive Secretary, the most pivotal Quaker…
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09: Introduction to Quaker Service at the Crossroads – 1988
Chuck Fager There’s an old Quaker joke: a young woman attends her first business meeting as an adult member, looking to make her mark, and sits next to a weighty older Friend in a grey bonnet who is knitting quietly. An agenda item comes up which requires nominations to a new committee; the young Friend…
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10: Gilbert White & AFSC: A Letter to the Editor, Friends Journal, 2006
H. Larry Ingle & Chuck Fager (Published in the April 2006 issue.) Read More
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11: Can the AFSC Get Its Quaker Groove Back?
By Chuck Fager Adapted from Quaker Theology, Issue #18, 2010-2011 Read More
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Joseph Southall & The Ghosts of the Slain:
A Quaker Artist Takes on World War One Editor’s Note: Joseph Southall (1861-1944) was a successful British artist, who was at the peak of his renown and productivity when World War One began. A lifelong Quaker pacifist and socialist, he set aside much of his conventional work to make drawings of protest against the…
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“Many Friends Do Not Know ‘Where They Are’”: Some Divisions in London Yearly Meeting During the First World War”
Reprinted from Quaker Theology #11, 2005Thomas C. Kennedyauthor of British Quakerism 1860-1920 Late in 2001 in the terrible aftermath of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, Scott Simon, newsman and commentator for National Public Radio who claims membership in the Society of Friends, presented solemn public testimony in which he declared that because of the…
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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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Jim Corbett, Sanctuary Prophet of Post-Desert Quakerism
Chuck Fager Friend Jim Corbett, of Pima Meeting in Tucson, died on his Arizona ranch August 2, 2001 after a short illness. He was 67. With his passing a quiet giant of Quaker resistance departed. Read More
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Remembering Tom Fox Introduction to: Tom Fox Was My Friend. Yours, Too.
Chuck Fager Christian Peacemakers Kidnapped in Baghdad John Stephens called me with the news: Tom Fox and three other members of the Christian peacemaker Teams’ group (CPT) in Baghdad had been kidnaped. It was just after Thanksgiving, late November, 2005. Read More
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Passages by Tom Fox & James Loney
1. From James Loney Easter 2006 For 118 days we lay in a tomb – Norman Kember, Harmeet Sooden and me. Tom Fox too, for 104 days, until he was murdered in the early morning hours of March 9. Read More
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The Quaker Peace Testimony as Questing Beast
The 1995 Roundtable was sponsored by the Pendle Hill Issues Program, for which I was then the coordinator. I asked Chel to prepare an overview of the Quaker Peace Testimony, because I was looking, quite frankly, for “new talent” and new thinking in the field.
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Study War Some More (If You Want to Work for Peace)
Chuck Fager Introduction Why a study on Quaker peace strategy? From some current perspectives, laboring over the stra-tegy and history of Quaker peace work is a curiosity, if not a waste of time. Larger and more influential groups are at work on peace issues, especially in Washington DC; isn’t our main role is to support…
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“No Country for Jewish Liberals,” “The Half Life of a Free Radical”* Two Reviews
Reviewed by Chuck Fager These two autobiographical memoirs should be much more different. They ended up in a stack of books by my recliner, and I was soon struck by a kind of spiritual resonance and counterpoint between them, across seemingly vast gaps of culture and personality. Neither is by or about a Quaker. But…
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Review Essay: Resistance Theology in Niebuhr, Barth, Rauschenbush & Dorrien; Irony & Living a Theological Saga
Reviewed by Chuck Fager Adapted from Quaker Theology #11 – Spring-Summer 2005 Read More
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Excerpt from: “Holy Nation: The Transatlantic Quaker Ministry in an Age of Revolution”*
This post explores the Quakers’ self-identification as a “holy nation,” emphasizing their theological rejection of nationalistic allegiance and worldly authority during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It highlights their active resistance to nation-building efforts, their educational initiatives to prepare future generations for spiritual warfare, and their influential, yet often quiet, role in philanthropic and reform…
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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,…
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“Paper Trail: Writings from the Front Line of Peace Action, Quaker House/Fort Bragg, 2001-2012″* A Review
This review highlights Chuck Fager’s book “Paper Trail,” a detailed and personal account of peace activism at Quaker House during some of the most militarily intense years. The book covers topics like opposition to torture, the human cost of the Iraq War, and the complexities of peace work, emphasizing a message of support for troops…
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“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…
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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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Postscript: Allen Jay on the Spirit of Separation
This post highlights Allen Jay’s role as a peacemaker among various Quaker divisions in the nineteenth century, emphasizing his view that separation and judgment among Friends impede the spirit of the Gospel and Christian love. Jay advocated for unity, recognizing the value in differing perspectives within Quakerism and warning against the bitterness caused by schisms.…
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“Climate Wars” & “The Green Zone”* Reviewed
Reviewed by Chuck Fager Read More
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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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“Hostage In Iraq” & “118 Days: Christian Peacemaker Teams Held Hostage in Iraq”* Reviewed
Reviewed by Chuck Fager This is a bad news-good news review. Bad news first: In US army jargon, the “Tooth-to-Tail-Ratio” describes the fact that for every armed soldier on the Baghdad streets or in Afghan mountains, there is a “tail” of eight to ten others, stretching back to the states, and typically including civilians. Read…
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“Study War Some More (If You Want to Work for Peace),”* A Review
Reviewed by Doug Gwyn Read More
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Narrative Theology: from Psychological Warfare to Peace; My journey to/into Quakerism and nonviolence
Jeanne-Henriette Louis My Ph.D. dissertation on the concepts of psychological warfare in the United States during the Second World War originated in the need to investigate the period corresponding to the first years of my life (I was born in 1938) but also to an extremely painful part of world history. I was teaching North…
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“The Dark Side” and “Never Surrender”* Reviewed
Reviewed by Chuck Fager Since I live and work next door to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I looked forward to these two books. From very different angles, they shine sharp spotlights on Fort Bragg and its important role in our current war. Beyond that, they illuminate much of our common landscape in the United States…
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Four Publications on Torture
A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror. Alfred McCoy. Holt, 320 pages. Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights. Trevor Paglen and A. C. Thompson. Melville House Publishing 208 pages. $23.00 Read More
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The Sermon on the Mount in the Life and Death of Tom Fox
Pearl Hoover [Editor’s Note: This essay is adapted from a presentation at a memorial session for Tom Fox at Baltimore yearly meeting, in Harrisonburg, Virginia, August 4, 2006.] Read More
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“Wrestling With Our Faith Tradition”* A Review
This review critically examines Lloyd Lee Wilson’s collection of essays promoting what he calls the “classic Quaker tradition.” The review highlights Wilson’s blend of traditional Conservative Quakerism with selective modern theological influences, and questions his narrow, individualistic approach to peace testimony and communal Quaker polity. It further challenges Wilson’s dismissive attitude toward liberal Quakerism and…
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“Many Friends do not know ‘where they are’: Some Divisions in London Yearly Meeting During the First World War”
Thomas Kennedyauthor of British Quakerism 1860-1920 Late in 2001 in the terrible aftermath of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, Scott Simon, newsman and commentator for National Public Radio who claims membership in the Society of Friends, presented solemn public testimony in which he declared that because of the deaths of so…
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Peace Theology and Foundations for Ecumenical Dialogue
Lauree Hersch Meyer Editor’s Introduction: In 1999, the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches invited WCC member churches and others who share their concerns to participate in a decade of work to overcome violence in our world. Giving shape and direction to the commitment of the eighth Assembly of the WCC (1998) to…
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Quakers and The Lamb’s War: A Hermeneutic for Confronting Evil, Non-Violent Resistance
By Gene Hillman Read More
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Abolishing War? An Appeal to Christian Leaders and Theologians
By Stanley Hauerwas and Enda McDonagh As Christians called to serve the Church in differing Christian traditions we appeal to our Christian sisters and brothers to join a campaign to abolish war as a legitimate means of resolving political conflict between states and within them. Although our appeal is addressed to the Christian community, we…
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Editor’s Introduction, # 7
By Chuck Fager This issue of Quaker Theology is one of the most exciting that it has been my privilege to work on. In it the work of serious religious thought is tackled from several strikingly different but revealing directions. Read More
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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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Quaker Peace Witness After 9/11 – A Resource List
By Chuck Fager Quaker Thoughts on September 11 Terrorism The shocks of 9/11, the September 11 attacks, on and their aftermath have abruptly put the Peace Testimony at or near the top of the priority lists of many Friends and meetings. As this soul-searching continues, here is an admittedly haphazard and highly personal list of…
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“Refiner’s Fire: A Religious Engagement with Violence”* a Review
Reviewed by Jeffrey Gros An African American Womanist Perspective on Violence The African American “Womanist” perspective, developed in this volume, is an important explication from within a culture that has been the recipient of violence. It provides both a critique of society’s violent culture and of those whose advocacy of nonviolence emerges from a dominant…
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The Bible & Peacemaking — A Response
By Chuck Fager Are there other ways of looking at the Bible and what it may have to teach us about Peacemaking? In particular, are there other ways to take the Bible seriously, on this topic? Read More
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What Can The Bible Teach Us About Peacemaking?
(Originally presented at the Quaker Peace Roundtable 2001) By Ron Mock I. Introduction I have been asked to bring to the 2001 Quaker Peace Roundtable a reflection on what the Bible teaches about peacemaking. I accepted the task with some reservations. Read More
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A Report on the North American Launch of the World Council of Churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence
By Ann K. Riggs. Read More
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Caroline Emelia Stephen (1834-1909) and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941): A Quaker Influence on Modern English Literature
By Alison M. Lewis, Ph.D. Read More