Christian Denominations and Sects Commons^™

The Conflict Is Inherent: A Quaker Theology Of Vocational Ministry, Robin Mohr

Quaker Religious Thought

“I’m wrestling with the nagging feeling that God is calling me to this ministry of hospitality and encouragement: this work of bringing Friends together, convening learning communities, facilitating conversations and supporting Friends on their spiritual journeys, which brings me such joy and fulfillment and peace. Aren’t I really supposed to be doing this all the time? Am I disobeying God’s leading by spending so much of my time earning a secular living? Or is the desire to devote myself to a full-time, ‘hireling’ ministry a distraction? A temptation?”¹

This tension is familiar to many Quakers who are seeking to …

Review Of Michael Birkil, Quakers Reading Mystics (Brill, 2018), Mark Bredin

Quaker Religious Thought

Birkel’s book, at one level, is a searching historical enquiry establishing the possible direct influence of John Cassian on Robert Barclay, Jeanne Guyon on Sarah Lynes Grubb, Johannes Tauler on Caroline Stephen, Jacob Boehme on Rufus Jones, and Buddhist mysticism on Teresina Rowell Havens. He emphasizes his study to be “strongly shaped by…the principles of historical study” (8). His conclusion is, indeed, rooted in the language of historical probabilities, such as “based on incontestably solid ground” (100) or “are more tentative” (100).

Contributors - Quaker Religious Thought, No. 140, Jeffrey Dudiak

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Frontmatter (Volume 45, Issue 5), Jeffrey Dudiak

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Unwritten Rule That We Do Not Talk About Power: Claiming Religious Creativity, Vibrancy, And Right Relationship In Quaker Community By Living In That Life And Power, Windy Cooler

Quaker Religious Thought

Why do Quakers avoid addressing and healing shame? The underlying fear is that if we are not seen as “good,” we will lose our sense of belonging in a community that places immense pressure on its members to uphold certain standards—or so it is widely believed. The perception that one is powerless to fully embrace one’s identity due to the fear of rejection is rarely articulated directly; instead, it manifests as dysfunctional behavior within the system, a topic I’ll delve into further later on. I would also like to posit that goodness is often conflated with innocence, the idea that …

Welcoming The Stranger: The Spiritual Authority Of Quaker Women, Rhonda Pfaltzgraff-Carlson

Quaker Religious Thought

Many Quaker meetings in the United States struggle with attracting and retaining newcomers. While it is true that demographics matter (i.e., Friends are largely older, affluent, cis-gender, and white), a less recognized spiritual factor also affects the growth of our meetings—spiritual authority. While spiritual authority is distributed along the gender continuum, this paper focuses on the spiritual authority of women.1 This focus is particularly important given the preponderance of women in unprogrammed meetings. Friends who are women limit their spiritual development, as well as that of their meetings, when they and the Friends around them do not exercise their spiritual …

Contributors, Jeffrey Dudiak

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Fooling The West: Top-Secret Work Of The Kgb Manipulating Protestants Of The Ussr Regarding Religions Outside The Ussr, 1954-1957, Oleksandr Korotaiev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article presents the issue of the use of the Protestant clergy by the Soviet special services in matters of intelligence and counterintelligence work abroad and among the Baptist World Alliance delegations that visited the USSR in the 1950s. The article contains the names of KGB agents and their secret pseudonyms and describes for the first time the specific areas of their intelligence work, which they conducted under religious cover in the interests of the KGB, the Soviet regime abroad, and in the USSR. The article also publishes excerpts from a top-secret KGB document (“Measures to strengthen the intelligence and …

Christian Denominations On The Territory Of Ukraine In The First Half Of The 20th Century (1900-1939), Fedir Prodanyuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the state of Christian denominations in the territory of Ukraine in the first half of the 20th century. It has been established that the Christian religion occupied an important place in the life of Ukrainian society. However, the period of prosperity and oppression simultaneously fell in the first 40 years of the 20th century. The confessional policy of the Soviet Union, which came to replace the tsarist authorities, gave a limited privileged position for some Christian churches while creating harsh conditions for other denominations. As a rule, these were Protestant movements, but the Orthodox Church also experienced …

A Dangerous Theology, Emily Provance

Quaker Religious Thought

Ministry is inherently risky. The existence of a call to ministry implies potential failure: failure to respond, failure to discern, failure to fulfill. Ministry also carries with it potential societal and personal consequences, ranging from outright persecution to subtler judgment for counter-cultural words and actions to loss or rearrangement of personal relationships. Perhaps for this reason, within the Quaker context, we can’t address a theology of ministry while only addressing the minister. Quakerism is not a faith of the individual but of the community. In theological and theoretical circles, Friends say that the community, not the individual, has the responsibility …

One Quaker's Life In The Ministry, Lloyd L. Wilson

Quaker Religious Thought

I am an apprentice to the Quaker faith tradition. I am a recorded minister, speaking under the authority of a minute issued by Friendship Friends Monthly Meeting, and with the specific release of my anchor committee in that meeting. Wil Cooper said that we Quakers tell so many stories about ourselves because, without creeds or dogma, stories are how we remember who we are as a people of faith. I am not able to articulate an adequate Quaker theology of vocational ministry; I can tell you some stories from a lifetime of wrestling over an adequate response to God’s call …

Developing A Quaker Theology Of Place: Community Flourishing In An Era Of Climate Change, Cherice Bock

Quaker Religious Thought

Expressions of Quakerism in the past have not generally been particularly connected to the places in which they are located. Members of the Religious Society of Friends have emphasized the ability to connect with the sacred wherever one is, not only in a building set aside for worship or a holy site. The traditional Friends’ worship practice only requires meeting with others in silence to listen to the leading of the Spirit; this can be done anywhere and does not assume the geographical location is of particular importance. While the Friends witness that the presence of God is not limited …

A Quaker Theology Of The City: Placing Quaker Testimony, Ecotheology, And “Place” In Conversation, Christy Randazzo

Quaker Religious Thought

Quaker theological and ethical frameworks are underappreciated resources for exploring the space, and (notably) the meaning, of the city, particularly in the ways that Quaker testimony—the holistic expression of the Quaker community’s core theological beliefs and ethical convictions in both individual actions and in an embodied communal “way of life”1—both undergirds Quaker work in environmental justice, and can inform conversations occurring at the intersection of urban planning, sustainability, and movements for social justice. When examined through the lens of historic Quaker approaches to the built environment, certain themes emerge, which—when placed in dialogue with contemporary concerns—frame an outline for a …

A Narrative Account Of Finding A Place Among Quakers As A Maragoli, Ngesa S. Chagala

Quaker Religious Thought

My great grandmother Dorika Bweyenda Mwana wa Gwimbula lived a long and greatly impactful life not only to my family and community, but also to Quaker ministry among the Maragoli and elsewhere. The current Lyavugulu Friends Church sits on land she donated. She played a leading role in spreading the Quaker faith throughout western Kenya by accompanying the Friends pastors to teach women and men about Christ. She provided material and mobilized women and the villagers to provide labor for building the churches including Lyavugulu. She met all the Quaker missionaries who came to Kaimosi beginning 1902 and she was …

Cultivating A Sacred Quaker Space Of Belonging Online And Onsite, Dwight Sterling Dunston

Quaker Religious Thought

During the spring of 2022, I had the opportunity to live, worship, and teach at Pendle Hill during the revamping of the renowned Spring Term. It was during this time of living on campus and attending the daily worship that was broadcasted for any to join around the world (and many did!) that I began to understand how the cultivation of a spiritual space of belonging, whether onsite or online, could take place. I believe there are three qualities that help to make this possible:

1) Attentiveness to a sense of belonging held by oneself and others within the physical …

Review Of Mark Russ, Quaker Shaped Christianity: How The Jesus Story And The Quaker Way Fit Together (Winchester, Uk, And Washington, Dc: Christian Alternative/Quaker Quicks, 2022), Mike Huber

Quaker Religious Thought

Mark Russ longs for a spiritual community where he can be fully present. He could not find that kind of connection in a Christian church. As a gay man, he writes, “I couldn’t praise God in a community where I wasn’t fully embraced” (30). While Mark eventually found a spiritual home with Quakers in Britain, these Friends often seem uncomfortable with his devotion to Jesus; among British Friends, that part of him does not feel entirely welcome.

As someone standing in-between communities, the author hopes to open a couple of doors. First, he wants to make the story of Jesus …

An Understanding Of Quaker Decision-Making Process: A Synopsis Of Its History And Theological Implications, Oscar Lugusa Malande

Quaker Religious Thought

Owning and embracing the Quaker decision-making process as a spiritual practice sustains the Quaker Christian identity as well as the intention of God to transform life for good. Quaker decision-making is critical in running the business meeting, at times referred to as the meeting of Church governance.1 In a further explanation, the Christian Faith and Practice in the Friends Church, Friends United Meeting in East Africa, notes, “In all meetings for church governance Friends hold the meeting in a spirit of prayer and worship. Friends give unhurried consideration to all proposals and opinions. All members have equal rights and privileges …

Book Review: Cherice Bock And Christy Randazzo, Quakers, Ecology, And The Light, Tim Gee

Quaker Religious Thought

A review of Quakers, Ecology, and the Light by Cherice Bock and Christy Randazzo (Brill Academic Publishing, May 2023)

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-9004535916

Book Review: Orthodoxy In Two Manifestations: The Conflict In Ukraine As Expression Of A Fault Line In World Orthodoxy, By Bremer, Brüning, And Kizenko, Paul Crego, Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A review of Thomas Bremer, Alfons Brüning, and Nadieszda Kizenko (eds). Orthodoxy in Two Manifestations: The Conflict in Ukraine as Expression of a Fault Line in World Orthodoxy. Peter Lang, 2022.

ISBN: 9783631886991

The Security Dimensions Of Religious Life In Ukraine: A Focus On Orthodoxy In The Cross-Border Chernivtsi Region, Oleksandr Brodetskyi, Iryna Horokholinska

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the modern tendencies in the religious space of Ukraine with a focus on the processes that are taking place in Orthodoxy in the context of transformations in the self-identification of the faithful. Changes in the jurisdictional affiliation of the Orthodox communities in Ukraine are taken into account. The dynamics of these processes are analyzed against the background of the full-scale war that Russia has unleashed and is waging against Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the situation in Chernivtsi border region, in particular, from the point of view of the Ukrainian-Romanian geopolitical and church relationships. A number …

Wesley's "Singing The Faith: Soundings Of Lyrical Theology In The Methodist Tradition" (Book Review), Elizabeth A. Nolan

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Holmes' "What Is Anglicanism?" (Book Review), Rachel Maxson

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Shaw's "Pioneers Of Modern Spirituality: The Neglected Anglican Innovators Of A 'Spiritual But Not Religious' Age" (Book Review), Gary Averill

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Snyder's "Faith And Toleration: A Reformation Debate Revised" (Book Review), Steve Emerson

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Manis And Martins' "Eeavesdropping On The Most Segregated Hour: A City's Clergy Reflect On Racial Reconciliation" (Book Review), Jaclyn Lee Parrott

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Benson's "Alexander Campbell And Joseph Smith: 19th Century Restorationists" (Book Review), John Jaeger

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Gorman's "Among The Early Evangelicals: The Transatlantic Origins Of The Stone-Campbell Movement" (Book Review), Scott Lloyd

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Nicolet And Kartzows' "The Complexity Of Conversion: Intersectional Perspectives On Religious Change In Antquity And Beyond" (Book Review), Karen Keesing

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Matthews's "Ministerial Orders And Sacramental Authority In The United Methodist Church And Its Antecedents" (Book Review), Daniel F. Flores

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Frontmatter, Quaker Religious Thought, No. 135, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

There are moments of change and turbulence and anxiety and outrage that punctuate our lives, whether anticipated or not. There are also times when we, as a human community, are confronted on a corporate level with shared experiences of anxiety and ambiguity, anger and angst. As I think back on what has transpired since I wrote the editorial for the Spring issue of QRT in February, I am struck by how quickly our lives can change and how suddenly we as a society may be called to adapt to new realities, like wearing a face mask, and …