Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Contributors - Quaker Religious Thought, No. 138, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Lucretia Mott: Active Imagination And James 1:21, Mark Bredin

Quaker Religious Thought

Wayne Rollins comments: “The technique of active imagination has a long-standing relevance for the scriptural interpreter.”1 Christopher Bryant observes that such an approach to the Bible “helps us to focus our attention on God’s presence within, in the soul’s centre… The way to read Scripture is not only to ponder the meaning of words and to recreate in imagination the scenes described but to listen to the Word, to God himself speaking in the heart.”2 Quaker abolitionist and suffragist Lucretia Mott’s (1793-1880) emphasis on self-reflection, meditation, her capacity to recall texts, and her ability to embrace empathy, combined to produce …

Religious Leadership And Critical Junctures In The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine: 104 War Days Of Metropolitan Hilarion, Alar Kilp, Jerry G. Pankhurst

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) was dismissed from his office on the 104th day (June 7, 2022) of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Was Hilarion dismissed because of his ‘silence’ on the Russian invasion? We study the 104 ‘war days’ of Metropolitan Hilarion from four dimensions: leadership as position; leadership as process; leadership as result; and leadership as person. Our findings are multivocal: the Russian invasion of Ukraine did become a leadership challenge for Hilarion the way that previous military interventions (in Ukraine and Syria) and …

Reasons For The Rupture Of The Ukrainian Orthodox Church With The Moscow Patriarchate Against The Backdrop Of The War In Ukraine 2022, Valentyna Kuryliak, Bogdan Synchak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The object of the study is provided by the conflict of interests of the Ukrainian society and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-(MP) against the backdrop of the 2022 full-scale Russian war against Ukraine. The article considers the impact of new legislative initiatives aimed at minimizing the destructive Russian influence, including on the religious area. The main content and contradictions of certain points of the Decree of the Council of the UOC (MP) dated May 27, 2022, as a result of which the religious denomination declared independence from the Moscow Patriarchate, are analyzed. The main reasons for …

Best Practices In Protestant Aid For Ukrainian Refugees: 2022, Mark R. Elliott

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, dramatically accelerated Moscow’s military campaign against its southwestern neighbor which had begun in 2014. This unprovoked invasion managed to generate an equally dramatic displacement of Ukrainian civilians, some 13.5 million and counting.

"Paradoxically, the humanitarian response has been both phenomenal and inadequate. It has been phenomenal in its prodigious marshalling of resources and in its determination to alleviate enormous human suffering, calling forth impulses of generosity on a massive scale on the part of the UN, the EU, numerous individual European and North American governments, businesses, foundations, relief and development …

Nato And The Swedish Churches: Dealing With Defence Policy In The Midst Of A European Crisis, Erik Sidenvall

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "Just like the rest of the population, Swedish Christians remain fundamentally divided in their opinions about the best way to arrange Sweden’s relationship to NATO. But the responses on the part of the churches also seem to hark back to bygone ages. National defense and foreign policy remain, in a country for centuries fundamentally shaped by Lutheran doctrine concerning the division between faith and politics, a matter for the political realm. A tense and potentially threatening geopolitical situation tends to reinforce long cherished views."

Climate Change And The Personal Presence Of God, Grace Ji-Sun Kim

Quaker Religious Thought

Climate change is one of the most important social justice issues of our time that affects the survival of humanity and planet earth. Climate change alters our planet and creates havoc in many parts of the world as weather patterns change, causing changes in our environment and countless other ripple effects. Storms are getting more devastating, as structures are destroyed and more lives are being lost. The increase in carbon emissions is destroying our atmosphere, and the consequences are enormous for the future of our planet. During this climate crisis, how are we to divert the disruption and stop climate …

Review Of Drew Lawson, Movings Of Divine Love: The Love Of God In The Letters Of John Woolman (San Francisco: Inner Light Books, 2020), Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

John Woolman (1720–1772) is well-known to many Quakers. The tailor, schoolteacher, farmer, and Quaker minister worked to free humans from enslavement at the hands of his fellow Quakers. He criticized and rejected the machinations of the British imperial economy and he refused to pay war taxes. He also wrote a journal that has been received as a classic of spiritual autobiography. While less read than his journal, Woolman also wrote essays, many of which were published during his lifetime. Woolman also wrote many letters. Unfortunately, these letters are not readily available for general consumption. They are mostly in manuscript form …

Frontmatter, Quaker Religious Thought, No. 139, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

Welcome to the fall issue of Quaker Religious Thought! The papers from this issue were presented at the January 2022 Quaker Theological Discussion Group sessions. The theme of the sessions was, “Decolonizing the Quaker Peace Testimony.” The articles printed here challenge all Friends to reflect on the use of the Quaker peace testimony, and especially the ways it has been used to enable oppression. This is a difficult and important conversation to have, because for many Friends the Quaker peace testimony has only ever been conceived of as an act of obedience to God and an unqualified …

Unsettling: On Palestinian Quaker Theology, Sa’Ed Atshan

Quaker Religious Thought

In this essay, I will reflect on the remarks I shared in January 2022 on the “Decolonizing the Quaker Peace Testimony” panel of the Quaker Theological Discussion Group and in July 2022 on the “Invoking Unsettling” plenary of the Friends General Conference.

Unsettling has many different meanings and layers, whether it is thinking about unsettling settler colonialism or in unsettling some of our assumptions that we may not be comfortable grappling with. Settler colonialism has unfolded all over the world and unfortunately it continues in the present, not just in the United States.

For me, the context of Palestine/Israel hits …

Decolonizing The Quaker Peace Testimony In The Global South, Cristina J. Montiel

Quaker Religious Thought

I was born in the Philippines, and except for several international academic and research fellowships, I have been living in MetroManila for my whole life. I am a peace and political psychologist in the Psychology Department of Ateneo de Manila University, a Jesuit-owned academic institution. I identify my religious orientation more as a Jesuit Quaker rather than a Catholic Quaker. In the first half of my adult life, I was in a political movement against the Marcos dictatorship. I founded and led Lingap Bilanggo (Care for Prisoners), a national movement for the freedom of all political detainees. Many of my …

Radical Hospitality And Peace, Trayce Peterson

Quaker Religious Thought

The roots of the Quaker peace testimony lie in a genuine and liberatory understanding that all people have that of God within them. However, for the testimony to live up to the promise of liberation for all, we must question who has space to speak, under which terms, and more importantly, who will listen. After all, there is no peace without justice, and justice cannot be achieved without acknowledgment, accountability, and reconciliation.

I’d like to offer a few thoughts on each and on the ways that we as Friends might move forward to create radical hospitality in our meetings and …

Decolonizing Quaker Moves To Innocence: What Would It Take To Decolonize The “Quaker Peace Testimony”?, Tom Kunesh

Quaker Religious Thought

To start talking about “decolonizing the quaker peace testimony,” we must first presume a previously colonized or colonial something, and then to presume quakerism acknowledges it participates in colonization and that that participation is problematic. But quakerism in general—apart from one article, one ad hoc working group, and several yearly meetings’ “repudiation” of roman catholic doctrines of discovery—has not directly addressed its robust participation in the anglo-american colonial past in the United States and elsewhere (genocide, land theft, racial cleansing, broken treaties, concentration of indigenous people into reservations, and re-education through “indian” boarding schools, a.k.a. assimilation camps), the present reality …

Review Of Stuart Masters, The Rule Of Christ: Themes In The Theology Of James Nayler (Brill, 2021)., Mark Bredin

Quaker Religious Thought

Who did James Nayler think Jesus was? What did Jesus achieve in his life? How did Jesus inspire Nayler? How did Nayler understand himself? If you are interested in Jesus, and curious about James Nayler, a shadowy Quaker great from the past, then this book is for you. Stuart Masters skilfully harnesses Nayler’s religious, political and economic contexts to allow for greater comprehension of Nayler’s writings. This book invigorates under- standing of an early expression of Quakerism. More importantly, Masters’ Nayler defies the elite depiction of Jesus “sweet” and “meek.” Masters allows for Nayler’s radical and uncompromising Jesus to emerge …

Contributors - Quaker Religious Thought, No. 139, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Frontmatter, Quaker Religious Thought, No. 136, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

In the last issue of Quaker Religious Thought (QRT) I reflected that the type of Quaker theological reflection and praxis explored in QRT was important if Friends are to confront the strife, inequity, and injustice we can witness all around us. Now, six months later, we are experiencing the deadliest days of the pandemic, political tensions have boiled over to the point of an attempted coup by Christian Identity groups and an attempt to thwart such hallmarks of democracy as the peaceful transfer of power. What do Quakers have to offer in a world like this? One …

Caring For Each Other, Ashley M. Wilcox

Quaker Religious Thought

Pastors wear a lot of hats. Pastors’ roles include preacher, worship leader, provider of pastoral care, counselor, teacher, and administrator. And those are just the official expectations. As Barbara Brown Taylor says, a pastor also ends up being a “social worker, chauffeur, cook, financial advisor, community organizer, babysitter, philanthropist, marriage counselor, cheerleader, [and] friend.”1 In a church with a large staff, these roles may be divided among several people, but then the lead pastor also has to manage several employees. In a church with a solo pastor, the pastor either has to do all of these tasks or rely on …

Revolutionary Faithfulness: Quaker Pastoral Practice And Theology In An Age Of Empire, C. Wess Daniels

Quaker Religious Thought

I am glad there is space for what I expect will be a rigorous and critical examination of Quaker pastoral theology within the pages of Quaker Religious Thought. This is needed as much now as ever. For a practice that goes back to at least the late 1860s (Barbour and Frost, 1994: 211), it is unclear why so little has been written about it in 160 years.1 This is not just a lost opportunity; it is a grave deficit for programmed Friends. It could be argued that many of the challenges Gurneyite Quakerism faces today—in terms of tradition drift, division, …

Review Of David Lewis, A World From The Lost: Remarks On James Nayler's Love To The Lost And A Hand Held Forth To The Helpless To Lead Out Of The Dark (Inner Light Books, 2019), Carole Dale Spencer

Quaker Religious Thought

James Nayler has been an enduring enigma to historians. He’s been considered a madman and a saint. A variety of perspectives and interpretations, often conflicting, from political, sociological, psychological, theological, and literary standpoints have been offered; but one undeniable fact about Nayler that historians can agree on is that he was a charismatic figure. His charisma rivaled George Fox in the earliest period of the Quaker movement. But he was largely lost in the dustbins of Quaker history until the twentieth century, when four modern biographies were written as well as numerous scholarly articles in Quaker journals. And he continues …