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Contributors-Quaker Religious Thought, No. 135, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Review Of Mock, M. S. Worthy: Finding Yourself In A World Expecting Someone Else, (Herald Press, 2018)., Jessica Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

The Christian message should be a simple one. God loves us. We accept that love and then are able in return to love God and the world. God loves, we accept and then love in return. “What does the Lord require of us but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.” So why does it have to be so complex? In Melanie Springer Mock’s book, Worthy, she dives in to many different ways Christian culture, literature, family and church expectations, and even sometimes our own messages about God, get in the way of the …

Review Of Marty Grundy, A Call To Friends: Faithful Living In Desperate Times (San Francisco: Inner Light Books, 2020), Lorraine Watson

Quaker Religious Thought

This short but timely book was written at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020 and continues today in 2022. It, along with the myriad of other ills facing our world, constitutes the desperate times during which Marty Grundy calls us to faithful living. She hearkens back to the early Quakers of the 1600s and their apparent knowledge of the “Truth that we are loved unconditionally and are called to live lives of integrity and love,” the antidote to “the horrible things we humans inflict on ourselves, on each other, on pretty much all living things, and …

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 …

Frontmatter, Quaker Religious Thought, No. 138, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

Welcome to the Spring 2022 issue of Quaker Religious Thought! Included in this issue are original theological and historical reflections on Quaker practice. The first three articles were given at the January 2022 Quaker Theological Discussion Group panel, “Quaker Approaches to Understanding the Holy Spirit: Pneumatologies in Global Perspective.” Grace Ji-Sun Kim’s article presents an important study of the Korean term han as it applies to the contemporary climate discussion in her article, “Climate Change and the Personal Presence of God.” She contends that an adequate view of the Holy Spirit can help address damaging relationships toward …

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 …

Eugenicists, Quakers, And Rufus Jones, 1893-1938, David Harrington Watt

Quaker Religious Thought

During his lifetime, Rufus Jones’s skills as a writer, speaker, and organizer won him a great many admirers. In the first half of the twentieth century, Jones was one of the most-admired Quakers in the world. Jones was also, as scholars such as Leigh Schmidt and Matthew Hedstrom have shown, one of the more influential liberal Protestants in the United States. In the early decades of the twentieth century, a great many American liberal Protestants avidly embraced what they thought of as the “science” of eugenics. Thus far, however, Jones’s attitudes toward eugenics have not attracted a great deal of …

Oregon Yearly Meeting And The Peace Testimony, Part Ii: Relationship With The American Friends Service Committee, 1938-1954, Cherice Bock

Quaker Religious Thought

Reflecting its twin heritage in the nineteenth century holiness movement and Quakerism, Oregon Yearly Meeting (OYM) grappled with its identity as it weathered the tumultuous years surrounding World War II (WWII). In Part I of this article, I presented findings from interviews and archival research regarding OYM men’s draft choices in these decades, as well as the emphasis placed on the Quaker peace testimony by the yearly meeting. I concluded that OYM held a strong and relatively integrated understanding of themselves as both Quakers and evangelicals throughout this time period, consistently displaying evangelism, social action, and conscientious objection to war …

Contributors-Quaker Religious Thought, No. 136, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 …

Quaker Youth Ministry And Theopraxis In A Multicultural Context, Nim Njuguna

Quaker Religious Thought

"Theology is exciting. It is about God’s word, God’s world and God’s people. It is vitally important for the church to nurture young Christians into thinking, speaking and writing about God and the world, and it is even more important that the Church listen to their voices. Theology Slam encourages us to do just that: listen to God, listen to the world, and listen to the voices emerging within the Church, so we can join into God’s work in the world today.” —Archbishop Justin Welby – Archbishop of Canterbury 1 As Quakers, we believe there is that of God in …

The Global Quaker Witness On The Holy Spirit And Peacemaking, Stephen W. Angell

Quaker Religious Thought

“That Spirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil, and again to move unto it; and we do certainly know, and so testify to the world; that the spirit of Christ which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward Weapons neither for the Kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdom of this world.”

This 1661 statement endorsed by Quaker founder George Fox, and eleven other leading Quakers, ultimately presents a challenge, not just to members …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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."

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 …

Theologia: Quaker Youth Ministry And Theopraxis In A Multicultural Context, Joel Mayward, Roger Nam, Leah Payne, Steve Sherwood, Hannah Souter, Trisha Welstad

Quaker Religious Thought

"I am convinced by my own life and by wide observation of children that mystical experience is much more common than is usually supposed. Children are not so absorbed as we are with things and with problems. They are not so completely organized for dealing with the outside world as we older persons are. They do not live by cut-and-dried theories. They have more room for surprise and wonder. They are more sensitive to intimations, flashes, openings. The invisible impinges on their souls and they feel its reality as something quite natural.” —Rufus M. Jones,

“Finding the Trail of Life”1 …

Review Of Dandelion, P. The Cultivation Of Conformity: Towards A General Theory Of Internal Secularisation, (Routledge, 2019)., Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

"Ben" Pink Dandelion's book, The Cultivation of Conformity: Towards a General Theory of Internal Secularisation, is a serious examination of religious expression using British Quakerism as a test case. Even for one like me-who is not trained in the methods of the social–scientific study of religion, which the book employs–The Cultivation of Conformity is immensely useful to understand the changing dynamics of Quakerism, and Quakerism’s relationship to culture. Dandelion is a British Quaker and the foremost sociologist of Quakerism. His book builds on decades of research, presents a clear-eyed analysis of Quakerism and advances the study of religion in …

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 …

Quaker Pastoral Theology And Its Embodiment In The Community, Oscar Lugusa Malande

Quaker Religious Thought

The reflection brought forth in this writing is part of the Quaker Theological Discussion Group in answering the question, what is Quaker pastoral theology, and how is it embodied in the community? It is majorly divided in two parts. There is exploration of the meaning of Quaker pastoral theology and embodiment of Quaker pastoral ministry.

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, …

A Methodological Proposal For Programmed Quaker Practical Theology, Derek Brown

Quaker Religious Thought

I propose that a practical theology research paradigm, utilizing both inductive empirical and deductive theological modalities, can facilitate confessional practical theological and ecclesiological research with the increased partnership and cooperation of congregations in programmed Friends meetings. And there is a need for such efforts. Jen Buck has provided case studies of unbalanced hybridity between Evangelical Friends theology/ ecclesiology and other theo-denominational paradigms.1 Her image of “colonization,” used to describe the subordination of one doctrinal/cultural position by another, accurately describes the outcome of the uneven and contentious dialectic that is observed between the “evangelical” and the “Friends” identities within local and …

What Is A Quaker Pastoral Theology, And How Is It Enfleshed/Embodied In Community?, Phil Baisley

Quaker Religious Thought

By definition, pastoral theology sets theology in context. It’s theology with hands and feet attached. In this article I will first address Friends’ theology and then the hands and feet part.

Review Of Quakers And Mysticism: Comparative And Syncretic Approaches To Spirituality, Edited By John R. Kershner (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), Stuart Masters

Quaker Religious Thought

Despite the considerable diversity of belief and practice within global Quakerism, one characteristic that links all these diverse expressions is an emphasis on the experience of a direct inward relationship with God in spirit, albeit interpreted in very different ways. Such an experiential focus on divine intimacy inevitably raises a question about the relationship between Quaker spirituality and mysticism. This has been a controversial issue, in part because, in his influential work undertaken during the early twentieth century, Rufus Jones defined Quaker mysticism in a way that characterized both the Quietist and Evangelical forms of Quakerism as unfortunate deviations from …

Review Of C. Wess Daniels, Resisting Empire: The Book Of Revelation (Barclay Press, 2019), Mark Condo

Quaker Religious Thought

If you’re a student, teacher, or leader in your faith community and take the discipline of biblical studies and hermeneutics seriously, Wess Daniels’ commentary, Resisting Empire: The Book of Revelation, is a must-read. Knowing how to responsibly answer earnest questions about apocalyptic New Testament literature can be a daunting task, particularly when it comes to the Revelation of John of Patmos. Questions such as, “What is the book of Revelation actually about?” or, “What relevance does Revelation have for today?” need to be handled in an informed manner and not merely dismissed. However, knowing where to begin can itself be …