Christian Denominations and Sects Commons^™

Buckley's "Twenty-First Century Penn: Writings On The Faith And Practice Of The People Called Quakers By William Penn" - Book Review, Jani Kurki

Quaker Studies

No abstract provided.

Glines's "Undaunted Zeal: The Letters Of Margaret Fell" - Book Review, Sally Bruyneel

Quaker Studies

No abstract provided.

Keeping The Light Shining? The End Of British Quakerism Revisited, Paul F. Burton

Quaker Studies

This paper follows on from two earlier articles in Quaker Studies on the predicted end-point for the Religious Society of Friends in Britain and presents analyses of the membership data for individual General Meetings (GMs) within Britain Yearly Meeting which suggest that the picture is not as straightforward as initially presented in the earlier articles. Based on an analysis of membership numbers since 1899, some GMs are predicted to increase over the next 30 years, although most will apparently decline. The data are also analysed on a regional basis and three models of the changing membership are presented.

John Brewin's Tracts: The Written Word, Evangelicalism, And The Quaker Way In Mid Nineteenth Century England, Edwina Newman

Quaker Studies

This study explores seven volumes of tracts collected between 1827 and 1850 by John Brewin, a Cirencester Quaker. This period was a critical one for the Religious Society of Friends, notably in its relationship with Evangelicalism. The collection allows us to test something of the nature and extent of change at grassroots level, by providing an insight into the range of issues that were of interest to provincial English Quakers, the means by which ideas were disseminated, and how they might have been received by readers. The conclusion is that, while Evangelical influence was clearly growing, Quakers remained deeply attached …

Quakers In Thirsk Monthly Meeting 1650-75, John Woods

Quaker Studies

Primary Quaker source evidence of three clusters of Quakers, within Thirsk Monthly Meeting during the period 1650-75, is examined. There were groups in Kilburn, Wildon Grange, near Crayke, and Sutton-on-the-Forest. There is material that describes their sufferings for breaking the law by holding a meeting for worship. From this material some indication is found of their backgrounds, their famili es, and their contact with each other. Church and other records show that these Friends had a place in their local as well as in their Quaker communiti es. There was also contact with Friends travelling in the ministry. Friends such …

Women In The Quaker Community: The Richardson Family Of Newcastle, C.1815-60, Jonathan Mood

Quaker Studies

The town of Newcastle in the early nineteenth century offered many diverse forms of entertainment and socialising for middle class men and women. Although the religious beliefs of Quakers excluded them from sharing in many of these activities, their faith offered them unique opportunities to participate in, lead, and challenge middle class lifestyle. Through examining the domestic, religious, and charitable conduct of the women of the Richardson family it can be seen how their understanding of society was mediated through religious beliefs that allowed them to challenge the role of the typical middle class woman.

'The Inferior Parts Of The Body': The Development And Role Of Women's Meetings In The Early Quaker Movement, Gareth Shaw

Quaker Studies

This article is a study of the development and role of early Quaker women's Meetings during the second half of the seventeenth century. It is based upon the contemporary records of the Owstwick women's Monthly Meeting, held in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Rather than focussing upon the individual travelling Quaker female ministers or their writings, as the historiography has tended to, it examines the everyday organisation and responsibilities that were held by early Quaker women. It argues that although the women's Meetings were regarded as inferior to those of the men, they evolved alongside each other and operated in …

Reading A Quaker's Book: Elizabeth Ashbridge's Testimony Of Quaker Literary Theory, Michele L. Tarter

Quaker Studies

Elizabeth Ash bridge offers one of the most striking transatlantic spiritual autobiographies of the eighteenth century. While historians and scholars alike have given careful attention to this now-canonical text, no one to date has yet positioned this narrative in the context of the transatlantic Friends' unique literary traditions. Turning to the first generation of Friends, who also cal led themselves 'The Publishers of Truth' , this essay explores the Quakers' mystical relationship to language, prophecy and writing, and their subsequent creation of a New Word. I trace how the Friends created their own literary theory, locating the written word as …

Family Memory, Religion And Radicalism: The Priestman, Bright And Clark Kinship Circle Of Women Friends And Quaker History, Sandra Stanley Holton

Quaker Studies

In the nineteenth century, women Friends frequently preserved private family papers - spiritual memoranda, letters, diaries, photograph albums, household accounts, visitors books and so on. One such collection holds the personal papers of women in, among others, the Bragg, Priestman, Bright, and Clark families, who lived during this period mainly in the regions of Newcastle, Manchester and Bristol. Such material allows an exploration of the domestic culture shared among these families and, in particul ar, the legacy of family memory preser ved among this collection. A significant part of that legacy, it is argued, was the various representations of womanliness …

Choose Life! Early Quaker Women And Violence In Modernity, Grace M. Jantzen

Quaker Studies

The peace testimony of the early Quakers was developed in a context where war, killing and death were a major preoccupation. In this article I show how Margaret Fell and other early Quaker women encouraged a choice of life rather than a preoccupation with death. While both women and men Friends developed the peace testimony, in the case of the men, the language of war (albeit the 'Lamb's War') was retained, while many women (though not all) looked for language that was more nurturing and less violent. I suggest that it is the radical choice of life, not just the …

Book Notices From Volume 8, Issue 1, Pink Dandelion, Pam Lunn

Quaker Studies

Jone Salomonsen, Enchanted Feminism: ritual, gender and divinity among the Reclaiming witches of San Francisco;

Susan V. Hartshorne, Chair of Compiling Committee. 100 years in New Earswick: A centenary history in pictures;

Howard Brinton, with historical update and notes by Margaret Hope Bacon. Friends for 350 years.

Bradney And Cownie's "Living Without Law. An Ethnography Of Quaker Decision-Making, Dispute Avoidance And Dispute Resolution" - Book Review, Peter J. Collins

Quaker Studies

No abstract provided.

Gerd Schirrmacher's "Hertha Kraus - Zwischen Den Welten. Biographie Einer Sozialwissenschaftlerin Und Quäkerin" - Book Review, Claus Bernet

Quaker Studies

No abstract provided.

Beverly Wilson Palmer's "Selected Letters Of Lucretia Coffin Mott" - Book Review, Rachel West

Quaker Studies

No abstract provided.

Anne Rutherford's "Quaker Women Passing: Deathbed As Pulpit In The Memoirs Of Susanna Lightfoot" And "Martha C. Thomas" - Book Review, Elaine Hobby

Quaker Studies

No abstract provided.

Lindman And Tarter's "A Centre Of Wonders: The Body In Early America" - Book Review, Elaine Hobby

Quaker Studies

No abstract provided.

Robert Barclay's "A Catechism And Confession Of Faith: A New Edition Edited In Modern English" - Book Review, Hugh Pyper

Quaker Studies

No abstract provided.

Schism As Collective Disaffiliation: A Quaker Typology, Pink Dandelion

Quaker Studies

This research note builds on a study of British Quakers who have resigned their Membership in the last five years (Dandelion 2002). Quakers leave either because they are 'de-convinced' or because, in a group which places emphasis on continuing revelation, they are grieving the loss of what has passed before. A third type resigns because they feel the group is too slow to support new revelation. In these latter two cases, the disaffiliated feel left by the group. This typology is placed across the concept of the 'double-culture' to give six types of ex-Quaker. It is suggested that this extended …

Deviating From The Path Of Safety: The Rise And Fall Of A Nineteenth Century Quaker Meeting, Elizabeth O'Donnell

Quaker Studies

This article examines the re-establishment, expansion, and subsequent decline of a Quaker community in Benfieldside, north-west county Durham, between 1839 and 1886. It shows that the presence of a leading family and economic opportunities were both key factors in drawing Friends to the area. The failure of the largest north-east joint stock bank in 1857 was largely caused by its over-lending to the Derwent Ironworks. Prominent members of the Benfieldside Quaker community had interests in both concerns and were thus enmeshed in the financial scandal which ensued. An examination of the Newcastle Monthly Meeting reports, which investigated the affair, reveals …

Light Within Or Beacon Without? An Evaluation Of The Impact Of Evangelicalism On Quakers 1820-1840, Rosemary Mingins

Quaker Studies

This paper examines why the evangelical revival became such an important issue for the Society of Friends in the early nineteenth century. The focus is on the conflict that evangelicalism aroused between 1835 and 1840 with the Beacon controversy and the resultant challenge to the concept of the inward light. The shifting attitudes of Quakers are situated in their contemporary world, in which fundamental changes were occurring in almost every sphere. The position is taken that the wider context of economic growth and political reform provoking social action contributed to evangelicalism making inroads into Quaker belief. The close-up image compares …

'Gaining A Voice': An Interpretation Of Quaker Women's Writing 1740-1850, Sheila Wright

Quaker Studies

The aim of this paper is to suggest way s in which Quaker women Ministers, in a period of considerable doctrinal and secular change, used their journal writings as a tool to maintain their position within the Society of Friends. Expanding on previous work on Quaker women's spiritual autobiography, it suggests that these writings were not only written for spiritual purposes but also had a temporal dimension, providing women with an authorized 'voice' through which to express their concerns. The paper explores how in these writings Quaker women represented themselves, their work and their struggles when confronted with a male …

'Vain Unsettled Fashions': The Early Durham Friends And Popular Culture C. 1660-1725, Erin Bell

Quaker Studies

Participation in popular, or worldly, culture was a moot point for the early Friends. Although they were not encouraged to do so many still took part in aspects of male or female culture, but experienced tension between Quaker and 'carnal' ideals of behaviour. Female Friends were expected to limit their clothing according to the edicts of their Yearly Meeting, although female culture treated clothing as a medium of exchange and' gifting clothing was central to female social life. This proved difficult for women such as Sarah Kirkby (d.1692) of Auckland, a fabric seller, who traded with non-Quakers and could not …

Tradition Versus Innovation: The Hat, Wilkinson-Story And Keithian Controversies, Clare J. L. Martin

Quaker Studies

The post-Restoration period saw the development of the Society of Friends from an ill-defined religious group to a well-ordered denomination. This process of institutionalisation was marked by struggle between Friends' traditional emphasis upon the freedom of the light within to guide the individual and the need to impose some order upon the Society. The process saw perceived innovations develop into accepted traditions and is most clearly demonstrated by the Quaker controversies of this period. The 'Hat Controversy' of the 1660s shows early resistance to the innovation of some Friends exerting their authority over the consciences of others. Although this controversy …

Review Article - Recent Publications In Quaker Studies, Farah Mendlesohn

Quaker Studies

Quaker studies is a disparate and varied field. Like many a new area of research it suffers from a lack of contact between researchers and the inability of all but a select few to make a career in the field. As a consequence, excellent work may go unnoticed and unreported because the individual author is not part of any national association or academic network or because the absence of scholarly interest in the field means that many texts are published by small presses and come to light only in the rarefied atmosphere of Friends House book shop. The mission of …

Voltaire's Convincement, Raymond Ayoub

Quaker Studies

The aim of this essay is to trace the evolution of Voltaire's perspective toward Quakers and Quakerism during the course of his life. The record begins when in 1726 he was forced into exile and chose to go to England. In the course of his three-year stay there, he wrote letters to his friend-letters which were published in 1733 in English under the title 'Letters Concerning the English Nation' and in French with the title 'Lettres Philosophiques'. Four of the 25 letters are devoted to Quakerism. We endeavour to depict, through his writing, Voltaire's changing attitude toward Quakerism from one …

Bayard Rustin: An Annotated Bibliography Of Materials Relating To Rustin As A Quaker And Peace Activist, Buzz Haughton

Quaker Studies

Although Bayard Rustin was one of the most important leaders of the American civil rights movement from the advent of its modern period in the 1950s until well into the 1980s, his name was seldom mentioned; he received comparatively little press or media attention, and others' names were usually much more readily associated with the movement than his was. His was a behind-the-scenes role that, for all its importance, never garnered Rustin the public acclaim he deserved. Rustin's homosexuality and early communist affiliation probably meant that the importance of his contribution to the civil rights and peace movements would never …

Aesthetics In Science, As Practised By Quakers In The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries, Geoffrey Cantor

Quaker Studies

Drawing on examples from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it will be argued that the sciences - but particularly observational sciences such as astronomy, botany and meteorology - were highly acceptable to Quakers. Moreover, the study of nature was vested with an aesthetic that emphasised God as the Creator of nature and of order and beauty in the natural world. While many wealthy Quakers participated in these sciences, botany also provided employment for Quakers from less affiuent backgrounds. Hence a number Quakers made careers as botanical lecturers, writers, publishers and illustrators. The role of the botanical illustrator is explored to …

Martin Luther Stands In History As A Leader Of The Protestant Reformation, Nickie Kranz

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Martin Luther, often called the father of Protestantism, fundamentally changed the Christian world through his force of will and new ideas. He tried passionately to reform the Catholic Church. His desire was to return Christianity to its roots, putting more focus on the reading of scripture and less focus on Catholic dominance. His personal theology inclined him to write works including The Sermon on Good Works and the 95 Theses. Once these works were distributed, the Roman Emperor placed him under an imperial ban. Martin Luther escaped and hid in a castle to avoid imprisonment and/or death. During his hiding, …

Political Agendas In The Letters Of Hildegard Of Bingen, Anna Sweeney

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Hildegard of Bingen is mentioned only briefly in historical accounts of musicology, religious philosophy, and biographical studies of various monarchs from the twelfth century; however, she played a crucial role in maintaining the Catholic Church's influence as a political institution. In her correspondences, Bingen used enormous amounts of prophetic language to refer to many current events that were happening throughout Western Europe. In her letters to churchmen, bishops, popes and kings, she counseled against rampant heresies and political behavior contradicting the will of the Church. The sickly tenth daughter of a German aristocratic family, Hildegard was born 44 years after …

Re-Emerging Pietism: The Emerging Church As Postmodern Pietism, Tysen Dauer

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Germany in the seventeenth century was ripe for religious reform: the Thirty Years War had created doubts about the correctness of contemporary religious institutions, theologians of most denominations were engaged in abstract, scholastic theological controversy, and inter-denominational conflict was increasingly off-putting. It was into this climate which Pietism emerged as an alternative way of doing religion. Its central tenants were: (1) a more extensive use of Scripture, (2) a reinvigorated spiritual priesthood, (3) an emphasis on orthopraxy, (4) irenic conduct in religious controversies, (5) the establishment of seminaries as centers of personal spiritual cultivation, and (6) sermons emphasizing faith and …