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Subject Area: Religion-Quaker Studies
Burton, Paul2007 0-7734-5452-7 400 pages
This study shows the change in the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Scotland from the beginning of the nineteenth century, when it was in a perilous state and appeared unlikely to survive, to the end of the twentieth, by which time its membership was steadily increasing – in marked contrast to many other denominations. By analysis of primary sources, including minutes of Meetings, birth, marriage and death records, and contemporary journals, the demographics of Society membership are charted over the two centuries under consideration. While demonstrating that Scottish Quakerism was rescued from oblivion largely by the efforts of immigrants from England during the nineteenth century, the book also provides an analysis of the views and attitudes of contemporary Scottish Quakers which demonstrate the continuing appeal of an ‘active and united body.
Dandelion, P.
1996 0-7734-8807-3 456 pages
This book represents the first major sociological investigation into present-day Quakerism in Britain. Its main focus is how belief has become individuated within the group and the consequences of this postmodern condition. It is argued that Quakers in Britain have become post-Christian, and that unity and cohesion are provided by adherence to a behavioral creed, that a liberal belief culture operates alongside a conservative and conformist culture. The relationship between these two aspects of the Quaker double-culture is explored, as is the way aspects of the behavioral creed, especially the sacralisation of silence, have accommodated and promoted a paradigmatic shift in the nature of Quaker theology in the last thirty years, a silent revolution. The study examines alternative ways in which membership of a group can be constructed, at how apparently contradictory sets of values can be accommodated within a single culture, how liberalism can be both promoted and constrained simultaneously, and how organisational change can occur without any explicit or common agreement over the nature of change. This book will interest specialists in Quaker studies, those in the study of sects and denominations, and those involved in the wider sociology of religion and in organisational studies.
Mingins, Rosemary
2004 0-7734-6383-6 323 pages
This work poses the question: why did evangelism become so important to certain leading Quakers in the early nineteenth century? The work is set against the background of fear of revolution spreading to Britain, the industrial boom and population explosion in manufacturing towns, and religious revival among a cross-section of society. The problem of an extreme form of evangelism overturning the embedded traditions of Quakerism came to a head with the unfolding of the Beacon controversy. This book represents the first comprehensive study of the Beacon controversy, which may be seen as a milestone in nineteenth-century Quaker history. This book is not only a historical and sociological study of Quakers in two locations at a critical time for Society of Friends, but it also reflects on and dissects the ongoing theological questions for Quakers and other Christian believers.
Barnes, Gregory A.
2007 0-7734-5342-3 388 pages
A Quaker farm woman and young man raised in the Panama Canal zone joined forces at the University of Iowa in 1939 and set out to make the world more peaceful. Lillian and George Willoughby resettled European refugees in the late 1930s, relocated interned Japanese-Americans when World War II broke out, and served as conscientious objectors during the war. They protested nuclear weapons in the 1950s. They promoted integration of the races, preservation of open spaces, and new ways of communal living. They opposed the Vietnam War and participated in peace walks, one of which reached Moscow. Despite the normal stresses on marital and family life, they worked increasingly as a tem, developing nonviolence training workshops, based on Gandhian principles, which they took to India and other countries in Asia. In the new millennium, they have continued their ministries, and engaged in the new social issues: nonviolent peacekeeping in Central America and Sri Lanka, protection of open spaces, and opposition to the violence of the War on Drugs as well as the real war on Iraq. They participated fully in this, their authorized biography, during a time when Lillian, at 88, faced jail for her antiwar activities. This book contains 11 color photographs and 11 black and white photographs.
Davie, Martin
1997 0-7734-8611-9 316 pages
Examines the nature and development of the major changes within British Quaker thought since 1895, a period which has been neglected in scholarly literature.
Johns, David L.
2011 0-7734-1493-2 504 pages
The collected essays by Maurice Creasey present his understanding of Christ, Christianity and the Church, community and fellowship, and sacrament. These essays present the Quaker view and compare them to a broader Christian tradition.
Grundy, Martha Paxson
2006 0-7734-5568-X 376 pages
There is a deep and troublesome dilemma facing believers in a variety of minority religions and sects: how to resolve the demands of their faith and yet participate in the larger community. In Biblical language, the question is how to be in the world but not of it. The Religious Society of Friends in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Pennsylvania was one such religious group. This book explores the dilemma by means of a micro-study of one congregation (monthly meeting) and the seventeen surname families that were part of that meeting for one hundred years. The individuals in those families inevitably faced choices and made decisions between the requirements of their faith and the demands and opportunities of the dominant culture.
Between 1750 and 1850, the period studied here, a number of major events took place that tested Friends. These include, among others, the Revolutionary War, economic growth and depression, the evangelical revival movement, Jacksonian democracy with its accompanying political and social changes, the treatment of Native Americans, and reform movements ranging from abolition to temperance. There were also major movements within the Religious Society of Friends: a reform impulse that included antislavery, and a major division or separation in 1827. The Religious Society was both a stable and a dynamic force as it and its individual members sought to chart their course through the buffeting, challenges, and opportunities posed by the larger society and within their own group.
The in-depth analysis over time of individuals within the matrix of their family and faith community provides insight not usually gained from aggregate data. For example, family patterns are seen to have a much larger influence than most studies indicate. This is, of course, consonant with our own personal experience.
There are chapters that deal with a series of major and less obvious issues between 1750 and 1850. A reader interested in a more nuanced exploration of them would benefit from the insights of this book. Issues include the mid-seventeenth century reform movement within the Religious Society of Friends, including antislavery. There is an interesting examination of the Revolutionary War and Friends’ peace testimony as played out among the individuals who were simultaneously impacted by the reform movement. The book explores the way Friends, individually and corporately, dealt with the triumph of market capitalism.
Guiton, Gerard
2005 0-7734-6002-0 520 pages
This study examines the historical and spiritual underpinnings of contemporary Quaker approaches to conflict in Third World military settings. Early Quaker Testimony (EQT, c.1647-61) was predicated on conflict on three levels: (i) inner, in which sin was purged, (ii) among themselves, and (iii) from hostile external forces. EQT also possessed a tripartite form: (i) settling conflicts within and beyond their movement, (ii) witnessing for justice and peace, and (iii) establishing mutual support systems. Contemporary Quaker Testimony, also arising from conflict and in tripartite form, is compared to EQT to delineate convergences and divergences in theology, language use, approaches to authorities, public witness and mutual support systems. Specifically investigated is South African Quakerism under Apartheid–between the Sharpeville atrocity (1960) and all-party elections (1994) and whose odyssey makes possible an analysis and discussion of individual and corporate experiences of conflict; these reflect EQT since South African Quakers were familiar with oppression, civil war and in-movement conflict. South African Friends played an important conciliatory role with the principal disputing parties, became active in the anti-Apartheid struggles and enacted systems of mutual support. Of special interest is Hendrik W. van der Merwe who helped facilitate eventual talks leading to the release of Nelson Mandela whom he knew. Quaker mediation is described along with conflict disputes techniques within the context of mediation-conflict theory. This study will benefit individuals and organizations involved in mediation, facilitation and Third-party intervention, and community, industrial, school, church and family dispute resolution.
Jung, Jiseok
2006 0-7734-5651-1 352 pages
This book explores the extent to which Ham Sŏkhŏn’s Quaker involvement affected his approach to Korean Reunification Theology (KRT), and the degree to which elements of KRT can be located within Quaker Peace Testimony (QPT). For this, QPT, Ham’s ideas of peace, and KRT are explored in turn, and in particular Ham’s ideas of peace are considered as a bridge between QPT and KRT.
It is suggested that the twentieth-century QPT was peace-centric, tolerant, and based in pluralism clearly different from the nineteenth century anti-war testimony. It is argued that liberal Quakerism influenced the shifts of QPT. Conscientious Objection and relief are considered as concrete expressions of the twentieth century QPT.
Ham S?kh?n’s ideas of peace are analyzed in terms of three key ideas: pacifism, non-violence and the minjung. It is argued that Ham’s Christian pacifism was awakened by the QPT and it stimulated Ham’s ideas of peace. It is also suggested that Ham’s Quaker experience was parallel to his pacifist practice. The book explores the thought that Ham’s ideas of reunification are based on his ideas of peace, and that they influence KRT. Five reunification theologians’ thinking and key ideas are explored and then Ham’s influence on them is considered. It is suggested that QPT and Ham’s ideas of peace share common ground in their ideas of pacifism, non-violence and humanitarianism (of the minjung), and that KRT was influenced by Ham’s ideas of reunification particularly in regard to his ideas of peace. Consequently, connection between the QPT and KRT can be considered through Ham’s ideas of peace.
This book proves that there is a connection between parts of QPT, Ham’s ideas of peace and KRT, provides an original contribution to knowledge, and increases the academic understanding of both Ham’s life and thought, and the nature of KRT.
Thomas, Kathleen H.
2002 0-7734-7228-2 204 pages
This study presents a descriptive and analytical account of Quaker symbols, from their origins to the present day. The rejection of social norms is set in the context of 17th century Britain where it aroused the hostility of the state and people. It shows that symbols played a significant role in the formation of the sect out of an individualistic movement, and the structure of an organization which remains basically the same today and which continues to practice minimal ritual.
Stoneburner, Carol
1989 0-88946-528-2 496 pages
Bailey, Richard
1992 0-7734-9829-X 368 pages
This study is a departure point for new discussion about Fox's meaning of the inner light. It argues that Fox's inner light was the celestial Christ who inhabited and divinized the believer. Fox argued for a celestial inhabitation of the believer that was almost corporeal. This helps explain Fox's thaumaturgical powers, the exalted language used among early Quakers and, especially toward Fox, the blasphemy trials and the Nayler incident. These belong at the very center of early Quakerism, and are the logical result of the core elements of Fox's teaching. His notion of celestial flesh was one of the greatest challenges to Christian orthodoxy to appear in Christian history and it may be compared to Jesus' own challenge to Orthodox Judaism or the appearance of the high heresies of the second and third centuries after Jesus. Early Quakerism, as a result, was the most charismatic sect to appear since the days of the early Church, or at least since the era of Montanism.
Edgell, Derek
1993 0-7734-9197-X 752 pages
This book looks at the Quaker-inspired movement of the OWC and its founders, the Westlakes, who were uneasy about the military overtones of the Boy Scouts and who favoured an alternative form of training, one that borrowed from Ernest Thompson Seton and his Woodcraft Indians. The study examines the Westlakes; the concept of "recapitulation" in education; woodcraft chivalry in practice; internal conflicts; adult sections; the various schools; the war years and beyond. In two volumes.
Edgell, Derek
1992 0-7734-9197-X 752 pages
This book looks at the Quaker-inspired movement of the OWC and its founders, the Westlakes, who were uneasy about the military overtones of the Boy Scouts and who favoured an alternative form of training, one that borrowed from Ernest Thompson Seton and his Woodcraft Indians. The study examines the Westlakes; the concept of "recapitulation" in education; woodcraft chivalry in practice; internal conflicts; adult sections; the various schools; the war years and beyond. In two volumes.
Scully, Jackie Leach
2002 0-7734-7064-6 296 pages
Smith, Robert H.
1992 0-7734-9565-7 336 pages
Based on extensive research in both original documents and secondary sources, this history begins with the origins of the family in late Medieval, Tudor, and Georgian England, then follows the lives of the American immigrant Passmores for the next five generations. Covers the Passmores who followed the frontier seeking homesteads as well as those who remained close to the original settlement in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland and Delaware. Of particular interest are the ways in which individuals related to their Quaker backgrounds, some standing within it, some rejecting or adapting it to the changing cultural context in America.
Heavilin, Barbara A.
2003 0-7734-6790-4 304 pages
Mendlesohn, Farah
2002 0-7734-7276-2 264 pages
Trevett, Christine
2000 0-7734-7518-4 272 pages
This study covers the formative and troubled years of earliest Quakerism in England and Wales, with some reference to emigration to America. Women were active to a remarkable degree in the sects of this time. This study concentrates on their contribution, including chapters on women’s modes of prophecying, preaching and witnessing, and patterns of change in the religious group, especially as these impinged on the freedoms of women.
Collins, Peter
2010 0-7734-1414-2 276 pages
This book traces the theoretical origins of social movements in the United States and Great Britain to a single Quaker meeting house.
Stevens, Sylvia
2012 0-7734-2909-3 440 pages
Some of the eighteenth-century Quakers in northeast Norfolk were well-known among Quakers nationally in their time. Others were known regionally, and locally, leaving few printed records of their experiences. This book argues that it is important to restore at least some of these men and women to their places in history. In order to provide a wider base from which to make reassessments about the nature of eighteenth-century Quakerism, and its religious influences, one must learn about the lesser known members. The book uses a local study to investigate the ways in which, within their local and national circumstances, these men and women negotiated the balance between sustaining and witnessing on their beliefs. The study spans a period of English Quaker history that is still under-researched, and examines a wide range of sources, some previously unavailable.
Tonsing, Betty K.
2002 0-7734-7104-9 356 pages
This is an account of the Quakers and their activities in South Africa up through the 20th century. After an overview of early Quaker history in South Africa, it examines their responses to segregation, apartheid, the defiance and resistance campaigns, and their position on sanctions and reconciliation.
Reynolds, Glen D.
2006 0-7734-5901-4 292 pages
The combined effect of observations made by John Owen (Puritan Vice-chancellor of Oxford University) in tracts published in 1655 and 1679 was that Quaker theology renewed aspects of Gnosticism, a theology interpreted by patristic commentators as Christian heresy. This monograph argues that George Fox’s theological message (and in particular, his interpretation of the concept of revelatory Light) incorporated a remarkably similar soteriology and realised eschatology to that found in Valentinian Christian Gnosticism.
Barbour, Hugh
1991 0-88946-687-4 672 pages
Shows in detail how Penn moved from an early Quaker prophetic or radical conception of the divine Light as challenge to every person, into a conception of moral truth as already known in part by everyone. A more complete study than had previously been possible of Penn's relation to the Socinian Unitarians, to the Cambridge Platonists and English humanists, and to some intense debates between Quakers and Anglicans and Baptists in which Penn took a vigorous part.