Quakers and the Disciplines. Vol. 5: Quakers, Politics, and Economics ed. by David R. Ross and Michael T. Snarr

Abstract

Reviewed by: Quakers and the Disciplines. Vol. 5: Quakers, Politics, and Economics ed. by David R. Ross and Michael T. Snarr Issac Barnes May Quakers and the Disciplines. Vol. 5: Quakers, Politics, and Economics. Ed. by David R. Ross and Michael T. Snarr. Philadelphia: Friends Association for Higher Education, 2018. xvi + 380 pp. Notes and index. Paperback $19.95; Kindle $9.95. One of the chief virtues of this latest addition to the Friends Association of Higher Education's "Quakers and the Disciplines" series is that its scope is extremely broad; most topics in Quaker history are in some way connected to either economics or politics. The twenty-two contributors come from a variety of fields. The book's focus is largely restricted to British and American Friends, but the sixteen articles address time periods that range from the foundation of Quakerism until the present. The breadth of the collection's content makes it less focused, though most chapters address Friends' response to social concerns arising from capitalism. Taken on their own merits, many of the contributions are fascinating additions to scholarship on Quakerism. In a section of the book labeled "Historical Engagement and Friends," Thomas D. Hamm's contribution to the volume highlights how a small collection of Hicksites in New York began to critique market economics in the 1830s, linking liberal theology and radical economic ideas. This is followed by Robin Rogers Healey's nuanced history of debates over how to end apartheid that occurred between South African Friends and the American Friends Service Committee in the late 1970s. Healey works to center South African Quaker perspectives, highlighting how these Friends accused the AFSC of imperialism and abandoning nonviolence. The work and thought of several prominent Quakers are repeatedly referred to this volume. Sociologist Elise Boulding and economist Kenneth Boulding are the focus of a chapter by Robert Scott and Russell Boulding (the Bouldings' eldest son). John Bellers, the seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century English social reformer who designed a workers' community, is the subject of a chapter by Keith Hemuth. John Woolman's attitude towards economics is the focus of two chapters, one by Mike Heller the other by Geoffrey Plank. Plank makes a compelling case that understanding Woolman requires not just focusing on his opposition towards slavery and support for boycotting goods, but also examining his ownership of land. Woolman's land meant he was wealthy compared to many of his neighbors, and he was comfortable with such systems of privilege and hierarchy. [End Page 57] There are discussions of the role of Quaker organizations in politics. Ruth Flowers provides an insider's account of the Friends Committee on National Legislation's efforts to convince the U.S. Congress to pursue antipoverty programs. One of the most fascinating details in Flowers's account is that the FCNL was hostile to federal support for these efforts for the first twenty years of its history, until the early 1960s. Lori Heninger and David Atwood provide two case studies of the work of the Quaker United Nations Office, focusing on work for small-arms control and efforts to reduce global inequality. A few of the chapters are not written from a position of detached scholarship, but try to propose a new direction for contemporary Quakerism. Activist George Lakey, for example, calls on Friends to model society on Sweden, Norway, Demark and Iceland, which provide considerable government services to their residents. For Lakey, these Nordic nations "serve as a reminder to today's Religious Society of Friends that God's Peaceable Kingdom is achievable today on this earth" (p. 55). It is a testimony to the vibrancy of Quaker studies scholarship that this edited collection can contain theological reflections, alongside history, sociology, political science and a host of other methodological approaches to scholarship. Disciplinary divides are still firmly in evidence, and one does not get the sense that this is a shared conversation, but the individual contributions ably show the ongoing work about Quakerism in their respective fields. Anyone interested in the study of Quakerism is likely to find something useful in this volume. Issac Barnes May University of Virginia Copyright © 2020 Friends Historical Association