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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Problem Of Quaker Identity, Peter J. Collins
The Problem Of Quaker Identity, Peter J. Collins
Quaker Studies
The paper constitutes a summary of my attempts, during the past 15 years, to understand contemporary Quakers and Quakerism. The issue on which I focus is the difficulty in representing Quaker identity given the heterogeneity of Quaker belief. During the last decade I have found three approaches useful in analysing this problem. In the first place, I found that Quaker identity is revealed through their talk in and around Meeting. Although each individual friend has a unique biographical trajectory, this talk tends to be both storied and thematic. Furthermore, such narrative discourse is coloured by one particularly pervasive character of …
Broken-Hearted Mothers: Gender And Community In Joan Whitrow Et Al., The Work Of God In A Dying Maid (1677), Naomi Baker
Broken-Hearted Mothers: Gender And Community In Joan Whitrow Et Al., The Work Of God In A Dying Maid (1677), Naomi Baker
Quaker Studies
This article discusses an early modern autobiographical text in which several female Quaker authors narrate the circumstances surrounding the death of Susanna Whitrow. The Work of God in a Dying Maid (1677) represents the Quaker community as a largely autonomous group of mothers and daughters, set against negative and disruptive male influences. In its adoption of clear gender boundaries, the text reflects the new emphasis on gender binaries within Quakerism in the 1670s. As well as exemplifying the ambiguous position of women within the movement at this later stage, Whitrow et al. renegotiate wider contemporary representations of women, especially mothers, …
Questions Of Identity Among 'Buddhist Quakers', Klaus Huber
Questions Of Identity Among 'Buddhist Quakers', Klaus Huber
Quaker Studies
This paper is focused on a survey of Quakers who regard Buddhism as the major source of their spirituality, with the aim of establishing how it is possible to be a 'Buddhist Quaker'. It will be argued that there are two distinct groups of survey respondents: 'Quaker Buddhists' and 'semi-Buddhist Quakers' who differ in their self-identification. Tendencies and influences within both groups will be discussed along with their respective choice of spiritual resources, their meditation practices and their belief patterns. It will be observed that Quaker Buddhists have established stronger roots in Buddhism, whereas semi-Buddhist Quakers remain closer to British …