British Quakerism Research Articles

The Quaker Renaissance and Liberal Quakerism in Britain, 1895–1930

Abstract Many Quakers who reached maturity towards the end of the nineteenth century found that their parents’ religion had lost its connection with reality. New discoveries in science and biblical research called for new approaches to Christian faith. Evangelical beliefs dominant among nineteenth-century Quakers were now found wanting, especially those emphasising the supreme authority of the Bible and doctrines of atonement whereby the wrath of God is appeased through the blood of Christ. Liberal Quakers sought a renewed sense of reality in their faith through recovering the vision of the first Quakers with their sense of the Light of God within each person. They also borrowed from mainstream liberal theology new attitudes to God, nature and service to society. The ensuing Quaker Renaissance found its voice at the Manchester Conference of 1895, and the educational initiatives which followed gave to British Quakerism an active faith fit for the testing reality of the twentieth century.

Theology at Thresholds: Learning from a Practice ‘In Transition’

Recent developments in contemporary theology and theological ethics have directed academic attention to the interrelationships of theological claims, on the one hand, and core community-forming practices, on the other. This article considers the value for theology of attending to practice at the boundaries, the margins, or, as we prefer to express it, the threshold of a community’s institutional or liturgical life. We argue that marginal or threshold practices can offer insights into processes of theological change – and into the mediation between, and reciprocal influence of, ‘church’ and ‘world’. Our discussion focuses on an example from contemporary British Quakerism. ‘Threshing meetings’ are occasions at which an issue can be ‘threshed out’ as part of a collective process of decision-making. Drawing on a 2015 small-scale study (using a survey and focus group) of British Quaker attitudes to and experiences of threshing meetings, set in the wider context of Quaker tradition, we interpret these meetings as a space for working through – in context and over time – tensions within Quaker theology, practice and self-understandings, particularly those that emerge within, and in relation to, core practices of Quaker decision-making.

Transition as Normative: British Quakerism as Liquid Religion

This article presents a consideration of the ways in which current Quaker belief and practice exemplify the condition identified by Zygmunt Bauman as liquid modernity. After a brief overview of Bauman’s thesis, we describe recent patterns of believing within British Quakerism within its socio-cultural context. While belief has been cast as marginal by scholars of this group, with the creation of habitus centred on behavioural codes or values narratives among participants, the way of believing within British Quakerism has rather unusual significance. An ortho-credence of ‘perhapsness’ maintains an approach to believing that is forever ‘towards’, with any truth considered to be solely personal, partial or provisional. From a rationalist liberal faith position, British Quakers have become cautious about theological truth claims that appear final or complete. They accept the principle of continuing revelation, a progressivist theology in which transition becomes sociologically normative. While wider Christianity may be in transition, British Quakers see perpetual modulation (liquifaction) of belief and practice as both logical and faithful.

A History of Southland College: The Society of Friends and Black Education in Arkansas (review)

Reviewed by: A History of Southland College: The Society of Friends and Black Education in Arkansas Gregory P. Hinshaw A History of Southland College: The Society of Friends and Black Education in Arkansas. By Thomas C. Kennedy. Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, 2009. xii, 350 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. $39.95. Thomas Kennedy, best known among those interested in Quaker history for his landmark work, British Quakerism, 1860–1920, recently published A History of Southland College: The Society of Friends and Black Education in Arkansas. This work is the first academic history to tell the story of Southland College, a Quaker school for African-Americans, near Helena, Arkansas, which functioned from 1864 until 1925 and was operated for most of its history by Indiana Yearly Meeting. While there were other Quaker schools for African-Americans, none was exactly like Southland. The original vision of Southland was to proselytize freedmen with the hope of creating a black Quaker community in the South. At one time, an integrated Quaker monthly meeting, with three local congregations, functioned in conjunction with Southland. As in his earlier works, Kennedy's scholarship is solid. His presentation is clear, and he does an admirable job of placing Southland College and its leaders in the larger Quaker context. Throughout the work, Kennedy juxtaposes the white Quaker world of Wayne County, Indiana, with the African-American world of Phillips County, Arkansas, in order to present the challenges that were faced in attempting to establish a black Quaker community so far from other Friends. The white leaders of Southland play the largest role in Kennedy's book. Calvin and Alida Clark, Indiana Quakers who were the most responsible for the founding of the institution, dominate the early part of the book, as they undoubtedly dominated Southland's formative years. The role of Harry Wolford, also a white Quaker, who dominated the end of Southland, is also explored in detail, and Kennedy's characterization of him as an enigma is outstanding. There is evidence that Kennedy is aware of the emerging scholarship on the racial views of nineteenth and twentieth century Gurneyite Orthodox Friends. While there are data to show that discriminatory (or at least patronizing) views on race dominated the actions of some Indiana Friends, Kennedy makes clear that most of the early white leaders of Southland were perfectly egalitarian in their racial ideals. Kennedy effectively demonstrates the nuance in Quaker racial views and shows how they changed over time, even at Southland. He does a fine job of demonstrating the inconsistency and equivocation that met the pleas of Southland's leaders to Indiana Friends. It seems that, depending upon the period and the local Indiana community, Southland was viewed as everything from a favored experiment to a step-child in a long list of missionary and philanthropic endeavors. Further exploration of the parallels and inconsistencies on race among Gurneyite Friends would, however, be in order. Since Kennedy was fortunate to have access to the official records of Southland, including voluminous correspondence relating to the institution, he is able [End Page 65] to include a number of primary sources, including some from African-American parents. There are times, however, that the reader is left wondering what the African-American constituency of the school thought of various developments; however, such material to show this likely does not exist in large volume. In short, too much of the focus is on white leaders rather than upon the community that was being served. There are a few occasional incorrect details and internal inconsistencies, most of which would be noticeable only to the most careful student of Indiana Quaker history, and none of which detract in any way from the larger story. Kennedy's work fills a long-existing historical gap in the historiography of Orthodox Friends and race. It is constructed on solid scholarship and told in an interesting and compelling prose. Those who wish to know more about this area of Quaker history will not be disappointed in reading it. Gregory P. Hinshaw Winchester, Indiana Copyright © 2011 Friends Historical Association

Quagans: Fusing Quakerism with Contemporary Paganism

Quaker Pagans are a relatively new phenomenon. Since no detailed description of the spirituality of Quaker Pagans has yet been done, to make a modest beginning this paper situates Quaker Pagans within the contexts of British Quakerism and contemporary paganism. It extends Pink Dandelion’s concept of a ‘behavioural creed’ (1996) by arguing that Quaker Pagans have a ‘practical belief’ system and a performative theology, and outlines how Quaker Pagans hold together their dual religious identity. Building upon Peter Collins’ (2008) work on Quaker narratives, the paper looks particularly at the way in which Quaker Pagans utilise story and metaphor. Finally, it draws parallels between the emphasis on experiential seeking in both Quaker and Pagan ritual.

Research note: implicit conservatism in liberal religion: British Quakers as an ‘uncertain sect’

This research note takes Steve Bruce's analysis of secularisation within liberal religious groups and applies it to British Quakerism, noted for its permissiveness towards theology. It contends that Bruce has failed to allow for a conservative ‘behavioural creed’ operating to maintain conformity and elements of certainty within liberal groups. It also argues that the emphasis on a shared concept of ‘towards’ or ‘perhaps’ theology within the group, while appearing liberal, makes demands on its members which are more conformist and sectarian than may have at first appeared and which may help safeguard the future of the group. It is not that Bruce's analysis of liberal groups is necessarily wrong, but that ‘liberal’ groups may be less liberal than they first appear.

Early Friends and the Renewal of British Quakerism, 1890-1920

Early Friends and the Renewal of British Quakerism, 1890-1920

Review: British Quakerism 1860-1920. The Transformation of a Religious Community

British Quakerism 1860–1920. The Transformation of a Religious Community Thomas C. Kennedy xv + 447 Oxford University Press 2001 £60.00 0 19 827035 6

British Quakerism 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community, by Thomas C Kennedy

<i>British Quakerism 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community</i>, by Thomas C Kennedy

&lt;sc&gt;Thomas C. Kennedy&lt;/sc&gt;. &lt;italic&gt;British Quakerism 1860–1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community&lt;/italic&gt;. New York: Oxford University Press. 2001. Pp. xv, 477. $90.00

Thomas C. Kennedy. British Quakerism 1860–1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community. New York: Oxford University Press. 2001. Pp. xv, 477. $90.00 Kennedy Thomas C.. British Quakerism 1860–1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community. New York: Oxford University Press. 2001. Pp. xv, 477. $90.00. Kenneth D. Brown Kenneth D. Brown Queen's University Belfast Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 108, Issue 1, February 2003, Pages 259–260, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/108.1.259 Published: 01 February 2003

Reviews of Books:British Quakerism 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community Thomas C. Kennedy

Reviews of Books:British Quakerism 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community Thomas C. Kennedy

British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community (review)

British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community (review)

Thomas C. Kennedy. British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community. New York: Oxford University Press. 2001. Pp. xv, 477. $90.00. ISBN 0-19-827035-6.

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British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community

British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community

British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community (review)

British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community (review)

Matilda sturge: ‘renaissance woman’ 1

This article notes the virtual exclusion of women from accounts of the ‘Renaissance’ within late nineteenth-century British Quakerism. A focus upon a hitherto neglected figure, Matilda Sturge (1829-1903), author and Quaker minister, reveals her long-standing involvement in the aspects of Quakerism crucial to the Quaker Renaissance and as an active participant in the debates which preceded it. But Matilda Sturge also was active in the Home Mission movement, a project of Evangelical Friends, which has generally been represented as antithetical to the liberals of the Quaker Renaissance. Foregrounding women's experience introduces new perspectives on late nineteenth-century British Quakerism.

Contemporary British Quakerism: The relevance of structure and reference to the supernatural for its validity

Contemporary British Quakerism illustrates that the absence of the systématisation of its claims accounts for the reasons why Quakers’ reference to the supernatural is effective in protecting the validity of their beliefs. Examples taken from investigations of other beliefs substantiate the suggestion that examination of the structure of a given religious faith is crucial to our understanding of the processes of its validation. This analysis suggests refinements to existing explanations of processes by which religious beliefs protect their validity.

Articles and Publications

Articles and Publications by Mary Ellen Chijioke and Claire B. Shetter A new manuscript directly related to George Fox will always excite scholars ofQuaker history. In "A New Letter to George Fox" (Journal of the Friends 'HistoricalSociety 57.3 (1996): 221-227), Geoffrey A. Nuttall presents his evidence for identifying Fox as the recipient ofa 1653 letter in the Friends House Library fromMorgan Llwyd, described in Fox'sJournal as "the priest at Rexam in Wales." Other studies of seventeenth-century Quakerism deal with America. James E. Maule describes a major victory for religious liberty in his study of his ancestor, Better That 100 Witches Should Live: The 1696 Acquittal of Thomas Maule of Salem, Massachusetts (Villanova, PA: Jembook Publishing, 1995). About half of the large volume is a reprint of Maule's works. In "The Records of the First 'American' Denomination: The Keithians of Pennsylvania, 1694-1700" (Pennsylvania Magazine ofHistory and Biography 120.1/2 (1996): 89-105), Jon Butler produces letters from Keith and Budd to their Pennsylvania supporters in 1694 and the records of the Keithian Baptist congregation in Chester County, 16921700 . Janet Moore Lindman provides a fascinating view of the Keithian controversy from the Baptist perspective, examining its impact on Delaware Valley Baptists in her dissertation, "A World of Baptists: Gender, Race, and Religious Community in Pennsylvania and Virginia, 16891825 " (Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1994). In "Confessions of an American Ranter" (Pennsylvania History 62.2 (1995): 238-248), Brendan McConville uses John Pearce's self-identification as a "Ranter" in his letters dated 1687, 1706, and 1708 as evidence in support ofthe existence of a distinct sect by that name in the seventeenth century. Pendle Hill has published all nine presentations from the very successful autumn, 1994 Monday evening lecture series,John Woolman 's Spirituality and Our Contemporary Witness, edited by Shirley Dodson (Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 1995). Contributors include Anne Dalke and Susan Dean, John Lampen, Sterling Olmsted, Mary Rose O'Reilley, Tom Head, Elizabeth Watson, Philip Boroughs, Michael A. Heller, and Daniel A. Seeger. The centennial ofthe 1895 Manchester Conference continues to stimulate re-evaluations of the past century of British Quakerism. In a special issue of Friends' Quarterly (30.2; 1996), The Manchester 1895-1995 Conference, two articles deal directly with the earlier gathering: an essay by David Blamires on "The Context and Character ofthe 1895 Manchester Conference" (pp. 50-58), and Susan V. Hartshorne's article on "The 1895 Conference as Viewed by My Grandparents," Dorothy Crowley and Articles and Publications71 Edward Vipont Brown (pp. 58-65). Thomas C. Kennedy explores the impact ofthe conference in his article, "What Hath Manchester Wrought? Change in the Religious Society of Friends, 1895-1920" (Journal ofthe Friends' Historical Society 57.3 (1996): 277-305). He argues that the Manchester Conference confirmed an ongoing theological shift to modern liberalism and laid the basis for a more progressive social policy, leading directly to the full equality ofwomen in the Society ofFriends and public support ofconscientious objectors who defied the law during World War I. In his review of"Quaker Theology Since 1 895" (Friends ' Quarterly 30.3 (1996): 131-143), Martin Davie argues that the theology of liberal Quakerism that emerged from Manchester was still clearly centered in Jesus Christ but lost the tradition ofChristian doctrine; the radicalism characterizing British Quakerism since the 1960s could reject the definition of Quakerism as Christian because there was no strong Christian doctrine to resist. "Religion and Ethics in the Thought of Richard Ullmann" (19041963 ), by T. Vail Palmer, Jr. (QuakerReligious Thought 28.1 (cumulative no. 87): 11-31) stands as an interesting case study of a mid-twentiethcentury convinced Friend who drew on both seventeenth-century Quakerism and twentieth-century existentialism. Ben Pink Dandelion presents another perspective on contemporary Quakerism in the published version ofhis dissertation,^ SociologicalAnalysis ofthe Theology ofQuakers: The Silent Revolution (Studies in Religion and Society, 34), Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996. (See Quaker History 83.1 (1994):62) In terms ofvolume, Women's Studies continues to dominate the scholarly output related to Quaker history, with a wide span of specific topics. Bernadette Diane Andrea's doctoral dissertation for Cornell University (1996), "Properly Speaking: Publishing Women...

‘Friends have no cause to be ashamed of being by others thought non-evangelical’: Unity and Diversity of Belief among early Nineteenth-Century British Quakers

One of the most remarkable features in the history of British Quakerism is its ability rapidly to change its theological orientation — changing in succession from an outward looking mass movement, to an inward-looking sect, to an evangelical ecumenically-minded denomination, to a theologically liberal association of like-minded individuals. This paper considers the third of these transitions, the move from sectarianism to evangelicalism. This period of transition provides a useful case study of how the beliefs of a pan-denominational movement (in this case evangelicalism) interact with the existing beliefs of a sect (in this case the corpus of traditional Quaker beliefs known as Quietism). In this case study, particular attention will be focused on Joseph John Gurney (1788-1847), the individual most closely associated with the rise of evangelicalism within British Quakerism.

John Wilhelm Rowntree, 1868-1905, and the Beginnings of Modern Quakerism (review)

156Quaker History Several times Worrall emphasizes the tenet "that of God in each man and woman" as the basic Quaker belief. He describes as "psychic oversensitivity" the harsh judgment meted out to all other sects by George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement. Worrall's tendency to superimpose 20th century post-modem Quaker liberal thought over early Friends' theological positions is irritating, although it assumes a very small portion of the text. His assertion that Friends reveredthe Bible while convinced it was notthe Word ofGod is misleading (p. 52). A quick study of early Quaker thought clearly defines Friends as radical yet orthodox Christians, with the humanity, divinity, and resurrection ofJesus and the authority of scripture centerpieces of the faith. For instance, Robert Barclay's Quaker Faith (1673), equipped with enthusiastic endorsements from both George Fox and William Penn, was subtitled "A Catechism and Confession ofFaith," and is permeated with New Testament references to prove each Christological position . Worrall spent 30 years collecting data for this history. Events leading up to the dissolvement of Virginia Yearly Meeting and the difficult years preceding and following the Civil Warare meticulously detailed. The latter chapters chronicle the entry ofthe remaining Virginia Quakers into the 20th century. Creative responses to the never-ending problems ofracism, social and economic injustices and crosscultural conflicts reflect the stalwart spiritual commitment Friends maintain despite reduced numbers. End notes, a large bibliography and index complete the text. High Point, N.C.Linda B. Selleck John Wilhelm Rowntree, 1868-1905, and the Beginnings ofModern Quakerism. By Stephen Allott. York, Eng.: Sessions, 1994. xiv + 138 pp. Illustrations, appendixes, and index. Paper, £7.90. An author undertaking a serious study ofthe life and thought ofJohn Wilhelm Rowntree faces a daunting prospect with regard to sources. For while there are important and revealing letters in John Wilhelm's correspondence with Rufus Jones, most family and private papers have been lost. Stephen Allott attempts to compensate for this limitation by quoting extensively from John Wilhelm's essays and letters. This approach has advantages, but the sometimes stilted and awkward language of these texts tends to convey a somewhat dour, stiff and pious picture ofa man who by all accounts was brimming with good humor and devilish pranks. Allott's sense of frustration over the dilemma of capturing this human side of JWR's personality may be revealed in a final paragraph when he cites Constance Rowntree's disapproval of the tendency to turn her late husband into St. John Wilhelm; he was, she knew, "more complex, more human and more fun than that." Still, it is an occupational hazard for biographers to see their subjects as larger in death than in life. Allott rightly gives JWR enormous credit for helping to bring about fundamental changes in London Yearly Meeting, but he may be stretching the point when he speaks of"the new freedom which John Wilhelm had won" for British Friends leading to "the form ofQuakerism which we know today___" (xiv) Indeed, in discussing the process by which JWR moved from a youthful trial of doubt and near-despair to a position of spiritual leadership, Allott takes note of Book Reviews157 many others who assisted in the process oftransforming British Quakerism. Leapfrogging over the rise ofthe "modernist" movement, Allott pauses long enough to give Edward Worsdell and 77ie Gospel of Divine Help something like their unaccustomed due, which, because of Worsdell's physical and intellectual proximity to JWR, is as it should be. One way in which John Wilhelm and Edward Worsdell were close was in their collaboration in founding Acomb Adult School. JWR's involvement in Adult School led him to conclude that teachers needed more specialized training,just as his experiences in meeting for worship had convinced him the ministry needed to be thoroughly revitalized so as to put Quakerism's spiritual leadership in touch with modem thought and modem methods for conveying that thought. Therein lay the seed ofhis plans for developing both the Summer Schools and Woodbrooke, although Allott's foreshortened discussion ofthe founding ofWoodbrooke fails to make clear the connection between those two enterprises. JWR believed change was essential to the survival and success of Quakerism, buthe also...