Quaker Theology

1. Slavery & Abolition

Examines Quaker involvement in slavery and the struggle for abolition, tracing the development of antislavery witness and the conflicts it provoked within and beyond the Quaker community. Explores the roles of conscience, faith, dissent, and reform in confronting slavery and pursuing racial equality.

  • “From Peace to Freedom: Quaker Rhetoric and the Birth of American Antislavery, 1657-1761″*

    This article reviews Brycchan Carey’s work on the early Quaker opposition to slavery in America, highlighting the significance of George Fox’s 1657 epistle as a foundational anti-slavery statement. It explores the complexity of Quaker abolitionism, including prominent figures like Anthony Benezet and John Woolman, and considers the ongoing challenges in public recognition of Quaker contributions…

  • The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist

    This article reviews Marcus Rediker’s biography of Benjamin Lay, an early Quaker abolitionist known for his radical and confrontational anti-slavery activism. It explores Lay’s challenges to slaveholding Quakers, his prophetic actions, and the complexities of his theological and intellectual influences within the Quaker tradition. The review highlights Lay’s significance in Quaker history and the ongoing…

  • Excerpts from: ALL SLAVE-KEEPERS That keep the Innocent in Bondage, APOSTATES

    This article features excerpts from Benjamin Lay’s early Quaker abolitionist writings condemning slavekeeping among Quakers in 18th-century America. Lay passionately denounces the hypocrisy of slaveholding ministers and members of the Quaker community, pleading for a complete separation from the practice of keeping slaves as incompatible with Christian truth and Quaker principles. The text provides historical…

  • “Remaking Friends: How Progressive Friends Changed Quakerism & Helped Save America, 1822-1940″* A Review

    This review of Chuck Fager’s *Remaking Friends* examines the historical role of the Progressive Friends, a radical nineteenth-century Quaker group influential in shaping modern liberal Quakerism. The book highlights their activism in abolition, women’s rights, and liberal theology, while also noting tensions with mainstream Hicksite Quakers and connections to Unitarian and broader reform movements. Despite…

  • Lucretia Mott — A Sermon

    In this 1858 sermon, Lucretia Mott presents the divine light within every person as the foundation of religion, emphasizing justice, love, and moral action over creeds, ceremonies, and clerical authority. Advocates freedom of conscience, rational interpretation of Scripture, and women’s spiritual independence, while condemning biblical justifications for slavery and war. Calls for abolition, racial equality,…

  • Lucretia Mott & The Perils of Dissent – Excerpts from James & Lucretia Mott, Life & Letters.

    This post recounts the challenges faced by Lucretia Mott and her husband James within the Quaker community due to their abolitionist and reformist stances, highlighting their experiences of exclusion, intolerance, and opposition at Quaker meetings in Ohio and Indiana. It emphasizes Mott’s unwavering commitment to justice and moral principle despite social ostracism and personal suffering.

  • 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 This post reviews Tracy Chevalier’s *The Last Runaway* and Linda Spalding’s *The Purchase*, exploring how both novels challenge prevailing myths about Quaker abolitionism by portraying complex Quaker characters grappling with slavery, silence, and spirituality. It examines the…