John Woolman's Path to the Peaceful Kingdom: A Quaker In the British Empire. By Geoffrey Plank. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012. viii + 296 pp. $39.95 cloth.

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)John Woolman's Path to the Peaceful Kingdom: A Quaker In the British Empire . By Geoffrey Plank . Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press , 2012. viii + 296 pp. $39.95 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesSince his death in 1772, the life and work of John Woolman (1720-1772) has been interpreted and defined by subsequent writers in the context of abolitionists, social reformers, peace activists, mystics, and great spiritual thinkers; his on-going influence is part of the lasting power of a carefully crafted life story by both friends and admirers. Yet during his lifetime, Woolman's actions and message often confused and bewildered many of his contemporaries, in spite of his apparent sensitivities to the attitudes of his listeners. His life was his message and he carefully (and prayerfully) ordered it both to reflect his values and to provide object lessons. From refusing to wear dyed clothes, which he saw as a symbol of exploitation, luxury, and waste, through to avoiding sugar, manner of speech, and careful oversight of his diet, Woolman sought to make practical statements about implicit evils. Unfortunately much of his life proved incomprehensible to distant observers who did not have access to the inner thoughts that motivated him. Only with the posthumous publication (and editing on both sides of the Atlantic) of his journal were the two brought together. Even then, many American Friends initially admired his piety rather than his stance against slave holding, though both were clearly noted in his journal.As with many reformers and visionaries, Woolman was as much a product of his age as a transformer of it. As Geoffrey Plank asserts in his introduction we cannot understand Woolman's career without examining the community he was born into and the religious society that shaped (9). Working within the administrative structures of the Society of Friends, Woolman along with other reformers coordinated pastoral responses to the wider needs and perceived evils of both North American and Colonial society. Previous works on Woolman have sought to identify the uniqueness of his contribution, but Plank in a well referenced and clearly written narrative has placed him back in the context of his contemporaries, giving the reader a perceptive insight into the historical figure. He is able to do this by a careful revisiting of primary sources ranging from the journal, the extensive correspondence of Woolman and his acquaintances, and the records of local Friends Meetings. Through this mass of material (meticulously referenced) the reader is carefully guided into a very intimate encounter with Woolman the man and introduced afresh to the sheer humanity and visionary character of this inspirational, if singular, Quaker.The volume works extremely well, because instead of marshalling the sources into a standard biography they are arranged thematically, introducing the reader in a loose chronological framework to the significant influences and the contemporary issues that animated Woolman. Each theme takes up a chapter and they include, Woolman's analysis of the course of history, his understanding of discernment, his lifelong fidelity to Quaker discipline, and chapters on his views on work, slavery, and warfare. …