Quaker Theology Research Articles

Identities in quaker women's writing, 1652-60 ⊃1⊃

This article will explore how Quaker writers expressed their relationship with God, and with the Quaker community. I will argue that Quakers simultaneously perceived themselves as having an “inward” connection to God, and an “outward” connection to their sect. In assessing these two aspects of Quaker writing, this article specifically looks at what can be termed self/society paradigms. The texts where self and society are most interconnected are those in which autobiographical accounts of the conversion process are given. Frequently, the woman writer will move between the “I” and “we” of discourse as she first describes an experience that is personal before enlarging her argument to show how this relates to particular aspects of Quaker theology. Hence, this article assesses the terms in which the writing of self and community appear to occur simultaneously

Articles and Publications

Articles and Publications by Christopher Densmore and Barbara Addison Major scholarly studies on seventeenth century Quakerism include Meredith Baldwin Weddle, Walking in the Way ofPeace: QuakerPacifism in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford University Press, 2001), focusing on New England Quaker response to King Phillip's War, 1675-1676; Adrian Davies, The Quakers in English Society, 1655-1725 (Oxford University Press, 2000), and Douglas Gwyn, Seekers Found: Atonement in Early QuakerExperience (Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill, 2000). Gwyn's coverage begins with Caspar Schwenckfeld and Sebastian Franck in the 1520s and 1 53Os before moving onto the Seekers, Ranters and Quakers fromthe 1640s to 1 700, andconcludes with observations onthe modern state ofQuakerism. Stefano Villani used unpublished Inquisition records in Lisbon for English Quaker Ann Gargill's travels in Portugal in the 1650s in "Una quacchera a Lisbona: i Viaggi e gli Scritti di Ann Gargill,"Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore diPisa- Classe diLettere eFilosofia, ser. IV, vol. 4: 1 (1999): 2478 1 . Mary K. Geiter, "William Penn and Jacobitism: A Smoking Gun?," Historical Research [Great Britain] 73:181 (2000): 213-18, examines Penn's role during the Glorious Revolution based on a 1691 deposition by Thomas White, now in the Huntington Library. Nuala Zahedieh, "Making Mercantilism Work: London Merchants and the Atlantic Trade in the Seventeenth Century," in the Transactions ofthe Royal Historical Society 9 (1999): 143-158, based on London port books of 1686, includes a discussion of Quakers as part of the colonial merchant class. Recent dissertations on Quakers in seventeenth century Britain include Gary M. Knarr, Watchmen ofEngland: Early Quaker Theology and Social Protest (Ph.D. thesis, Queens University [Canada], 1998), David E. Schmidt, "Till ChristJesus Be Exalted": QuakerPoliticalPamphlets During the Restoration ofthe Rump Parliament (Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1 998) and Cathy D.N. Ream,MargaretFellasEducator: a Woman Who Learned and Led (University ofKansas, 1998). Julie Sievers, "Awakening the Inner Light: Elizabeth Ashbridge and the Transformation of Quaker Community," Early American Literature 36:2 (2001): 235-262, investigates theplace ofQuakers inthe social andreligious culture of the mid-seventeenth century. Peter Kafer, "Charles Brockden Brown andthe Pleasures ofUnsanctifiedImagination, 1787-1793," William and Mary Quarterly , 3rd ser. 57:3 (July 2000): 543-68, places Brown's writings in a Quaker context and judges Brown's Wieland a "profoundly Quaker work." English Quaker John Fothergill's contributions to medicine are covered in "Dr. John Fothergill and Eighteenth Century Medicine," by G.S. Plaut,JournalofMedicalBiography [GreatBritain] 7:4 (1999): 192-96. 78Quaker History Silas B. Weeks, NewEngland QuakerMeetinghouses : PastandPresent (Richmond, Indiana: Friends United Press, 2001), is a comprehensive survey, organized by state and locality, ofmeeting houses, both those built forthepurpose andbuildingsusedby Friends, with information onbuildings no longer standing, on burial grounds and meeting history. A different approach is taken in Seth Beeson Hinshaw's The Evolution of Quaker Meeting Houses in North America, 1670-2000 (M.S. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 2001) , where the focus is on the historical development of meeting house forms from English prototypes, to a mid-eighteenth century "Quaker Ideal Plan" and then how meeting houses and churches evolved among the major branches of the Society of Friends. The presence of a delegation of Friends from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is noted in G. Peter Jemison and Anna M. Schein (eds.), Treaty of Canandaigua 1794: 200 Years of Treaty Relations Between the Iroquois Confederacy and the United States (Santa Fe, New Mexico: Clear Light Publishers, 2000). "Rowland T. Robinson, Rokeby, and the Underground Railroad in Vermont," by Jane Williamson, Vermont History, vol. 69, Supplement (Winter 2001), 7-3 1 and "Being Good: An Abolitionist Family Attempts to Live Up to Its Own Standards," by Ronald Salomon, 32-47, draw on the family letters of Thomas (1796-1879) and Rachel Gilpin Robinson (1 799-1 862), radical Hicksite Quakers ofFerrisburgh, Vermont. Abolition is also the theme of The Religious World ofAnti-Slavery Women by Ann M. Speicher (Syracuse University Press, 2000), covering Sarah and Angelina Grimké, Lucretia Mott, Abby Kelley Foster, who all were at one time Quakers, and Sallie Holley, who was not. ThyAffectionate Friend: the Letters ofElias Hicks and William Poole by Paul Buckley (M.A. Th. thesis, Earlham School of Religion, 2001), contains...

Living Your Values: Exploring the 'hidden' culture of a voluntary-controlled Quaker school

The Religious Society of Friends has a distinct public image, drawn from, in part, a jumble of perceptions drawn from a variety of sources (including the picture on porridge boxes). Friends themselves are sometimes reluctant to speak of a Quaker theology. It is easier to consider a sophisticated Quaker culture, which is predicated on experience and reflection, and the acting out of values rather than a complicated system of beliefs. Given this, what is a Quaker school? How does it transmit this culture to primary school children? Or is the only aspect of the school that is recognisably Quaker, the name on the school board on the gate? This article, through an analysis of the school prospectus and interviews, makes an initial exploration of the culture of a voluntary-controlled Quaker primary school and speculates on how consistent it is with values that are recognisably Quaker. It concludes by identifying a value system and code of expected behaviour that is consistent with Quaker values. The open statements made about that system and code in the school prospectus could allow it to be regarded, in Sergiovanni's terms, a virtuous school.

A Sociological Analysis of the Theology of Quakers: The Silent Revolution

This text represents a major sociological investigation into present day Quakerism in Britain. Its main focus is how belief has become individuated within the group and the consequences of this postmodern condition. It is argued that Quakers in Britain have become post-Christian, and that unity and cohesion are provided by adherence to a behavioural creed, that a liberal belief culture operates alongside a conservative and confromist culture. The relationship between these two aspects of the Quaker double-culture is explored, as is the way aspects of the behavioural creed, especially the sacralization of silence, have accommodated and promoted a paradigmatic shift in the nature of Quaker theology in the last 30 years, a silent revolution. The study examines alternative ways in which membership of a group can be constructed, how apparently contradictory sets of values can be accommodated within a single culture, how liberalism can be both promoted and constrained simultaneously and how organizational change can occur without any explicit or common agreement over the nature of change.

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...

Theology and Women's Ministry in Seventeenth-Century English Quakerism: Handmaids of the Lord (review)

62Quaker History The reader is sometimes overwhelmed with names of individuals whose significance is debatable, except to their descendants or a meeting. The recent material shows that we cannot yet discern general trends because each social concern appears crucial to the participants. NYYM now has only about 4,000 members, but there is no discussion ofwhat membership means, how many contribute, serve on committees, come to worship services. Do many attendeesplay such importanttoles that formal membership , like recording ministers, may be irrelevant? Does Universalistic Quakerism appeal mostly to Unitarian and Jewish converts? How do political activism and spiritual nurture meld? Several authors have cited elsewhere local, quarterly and yearly men's and women's meeting minutes, but such sources are rarely included in the footnotes, leaving a reader unable tojudge how much is known about local Quakerism. Weaknesses are to be expected in a pioneering book of such scope and do not detract from its overall excellence. All serious students of Quakerism should own a copy ofthis reasonably priced book which I predict they will often consult because it contains so much important information on a wide variety of historical and current topics. Swarthmore CollegeJ. William Frost Friends Historical Library Theology and Women 's Ministry in Seventeenth-Century English Quakerism : Handmaids ofthe Lord. By Catherine M. Wilcox. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 1995. xi + 277 pp. Notes, bibliography, and index. $89.95 "At the centre ofearly Quakerism lay the dramatic experience ofChrist appearing in the heart." So begins Catherine Wilcox's lucid study of early Quaker theology and the theological context for women's active role in the movement. Wilcox develops her thesis with admirable clarity ofform and content. The book is divided into two closely related parts. Part One consists ofan introduction on Quaker style and chapters on "The Work of Christ in Early Quaker Theology"; "The Early Quakers andthe Bible"; and "The Fading ofthe Early Vision." These topics are re-examined from the perspective of women in the early Quaker movement in the three corresponding chapters ofPart Two, in which a general introduction on seventeenth -century women is followed by chapters on "The Work ofChrist and Early Quaker Women"; "The Bible and Women's Ministry in Early Quakerism"; and the book's concluding chapter "The Changing Role of Book Reviews63 Women in Seventeenth-Century Quakerism." Wilcox's painstaking organization reflects the structure ofher underlying thesis, which is that eschatology (beliefin the imminent fulfillment of history with the Second Coming of Christ) was central to early Quaker belief; and that the eschatological vision justified and encouraged the active participation ofearly Quaker women. Like their Puritan and sectarian contemporaries, the early Quakers were serious readers of the Bible, and were energized by a theology that focused on the history ofCreation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. Quakers were set apart, however, by their spiritualized interpretation of biblical scripture and Christian eschatology. Steeped as they were in biblical scriptures, they believed that the revealed Word was of a higher order; and that this revelation of Truth was the key to unlocking the true meaning of scripture. Their beliefin the Second Coming was not a literal expectation that Christ would personally descend from Heaven in a cloud ofglory. Rather, early Quakers considered the Second Coming ofChrist to be fulfilled in the outpouring oflightamong themselves, which they understood to be "the eschatological presence of Christ in the heart." Wilcox argues that early Quakers drew upon their theology, with its spiritualized eschatology, to overturn scriptural and cultural taboos against female participation. Yet the impediments of history were not entirely transcended. Reinterpretations ofPaul's stricture against women speaking in church, for example, make "women" a metaphor for "the flesh," or for the unredeemed among men and women. This revisionist exegesisjustified femaleprophecy, butit also encumbered womenwithnegative associations. Wilcox is sensitive to the radical vision of the early Quakers as well as to the diversity within the movement, and its transformation in the latter half of the seventeenth century. She argues against a traditional school of historiography, which tended to view Quaker theology as monolithic and unchanging over time. Her thesis does in fact support much of modern scholarship in the field of early Quaker history. Wilcox's important...

The World of Rural Dissenters, 1520-1725 (review)

Book Reviews63 Women in Seventeenth-Century Quakerism." Wilcox's painstaking organization reflects the structure ofher underlying thesis, which is that eschatology (beliefin the imminent fulfillment of history with the Second Coming of Christ) was central to early Quaker belief; and that the eschatological vision justified and encouraged the active participation ofearly Quaker women. Like their Puritan and sectarian contemporaries, the early Quakers were serious readers of the Bible, and were energized by a theology that focused on the history ofCreation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. Quakers were set apart, however, by their spiritualized interpretation of biblical scripture and Christian eschatology. Steeped as they were in biblical scriptures, they believed that the revealed Word was of a higher order; and that this revelation of Truth was the key to unlocking the true meaning of scripture. Their beliefin the Second Coming was not a literal expectation that Christ would personally descend from Heaven in a cloud ofglory. Rather, early Quakers considered the Second Coming ofChrist to be fulfilled in the outpouring oflightamong themselves, which they understood to be "the eschatological presence of Christ in the heart." Wilcox argues that early Quakers drew upon their theology, with its spiritualized eschatology, to overturn scriptural and cultural taboos against female participation. Yet the impediments of history were not entirely transcended. Reinterpretations ofPaul's stricture against women speaking in church, for example, make "women" a metaphor for "the flesh," or for the unredeemed among men and women. This revisionist exegesisjustified femaleprophecy, butit also encumbered womenwithnegative associations. Wilcox is sensitive to the radical vision of the early Quakers as well as to the diversity within the movement, and its transformation in the latter half of the seventeenth century. She argues against a traditional school of historiography, which tended to view Quaker theology as monolithic and unchanging over time. Her thesis does in fact support much of modern scholarship in the field of early Quaker history. Wilcox's important contribution to the field of Quaker scholarship is her rediscovery of theology at the heart of the movement. Harvard UniversityBarbara Ritter Dailey Baker Library The World ofRural Dissenters, 1520-1725. Ed. by Margaret Spufford. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. xx + 459 pp. Illustrations, maps, tables, appendixes, notes, and indexes. 64Quaker History This important collection of essays focuses on communities in the Chilterns in south Buckinghamshire and the borderland of southeast Cambridgeshire. It is a welcome addition to the fields oflocal and religious history in which Margaret Spufford has already made significant contributions . Although conclusions are not always supported by sufficient evidence (e.g., that John Raven, d. 1599, was a puritan, p.24), these studies by the editor, Eric Carlson, Michael Frearson, Christopher Marsh, Derek Plumb, Peter Spufford, Tessa Watt, and others provide highly useful quantification and analysis enlivened by well-selected anecdotal materials. Readers of Quaker History will be most interested in Bill Stevenson's essays on the social integration of post-Restoration dissenters and their social and economic status, and inNesta Evans' "The Descent ofDissenters in the Chiltern Hundreds." Stevenson argues that post-Restoration Quakers were more integrated with and accepted by external communities than often thought. His evidence supports similar observations by Craig Horle (The Quaker and the English Legal System 1660-1688, 1988) and Richard Greaves (Albion 24 [1992]: 237-59). Stevenson also proposes useful correctives to the earlier work ofRichard T. Vann (Past andPresent 43 [1969]: 71-91) by arguing that the social-economic status of early Quakers was lower than Vann thought, and that their status improved, rather than declined. However, in contrasting his own results with Vann's and in concluding that dissenters came from all classes "except for the nobility and the vagrant poor" (p.357), the author might have (1) acknowledged that Vann also concluded, "Quakerism at the beginning drew adherents from all classes of society except the very highest and the very lowest." (The Social Development of English Quakerism 1655-1755, 1969, p.73), and (2) taken into account Vann's more recent demographic study of Friends (1992, with David Eversley). In addition, Stevenson and the editor confusingly juxtapose Open Baptists and General Baptists, failing to note the distinction between them and that the former constituted only a tiny minority...

George Keith: post-Restoration Quaker theology and the experience of defeat

Judging from repetitious appearances of her marital arms in the painted line-endings, the Psalter-Hours John Rylands Library Latin MS 117 probably belonged to Jeanne of Flanders (c.1272–1333), daughter of Count Robert III of Flanders and in 1288 second wife to Enguerrand IV of Coucy. Yet the line-endings also contain some 1,800 diminutive painted escutcheons, many of which refer to other members of the local nobility active during the 1280s. This study, based on an exhaustive survey of the total heraldic and codicological evidence, suggests that the majority of the extant Psalter predated the Hours and that the two parts were combined after the 1288 marriage. The ‘completed’ manuscript bears witness to major events that unfolded in and around the Coucy barony over the course of the decade. It suggests a complex relationship between Jeanne of Flanders and a lesser member of the local nobility, a certain Marien of Moÿ, who may have served as her attendant.

The problem of identifying a Quaker theology

The problem of identifying a Quaker theology

Psychiatric Aspects of Environmental Stress

There is a long tradition in psychiatry of regarding external stress as etiologically related to morbiditya view embodied in the principle of moral treatment, which was influential for many years, beginning in the latter part of the 18th century. Insanity was then seen as needing to be managed in the environment of special institutions in which withdrawal from social responsibilities, a benevolent but firm regime, and undemanding diversions and occupations would promote a healing process. In today's terms, this can clearly be seen as a form of protection from environmental stress, though it was a model originally constructed in England on the basis of Quaker theology [1]. Contemporary psychiatry regards the etiology of mental disorder as almost always multifactorial, and within the scheme, whatever contribution is not genetic must, in a general sense, be environmental. For scientific purposes, however, this view would generally be too broad to be useful. A psychiatry of the environment should therefore be concerned with those aspects of people's physical and social surroundings for which there are some empirical grounds for anticipating that they are likely to influence mental health. So far, this has remained a very neglected area, lacking both scientific data and properly defined concepts; but a start, at least, has been made to organize it as a discipline [2]. The neglect is not confined to psychiatry: the physical environment has been little explored by sociologists, and architects, planners,

John Woolman: The Theology of a Public Order

JOHN WOOLMAN: THE THEOLOGY OF A PUBLIC ORDER By Thomas E. Terrell, Jr. Historians who have studied the development of Quakerism in America would have no problem singling out men and women who have distinguished themselves in secular and religious contexts . But probably no single figure in that procession of Friends is as central to the American Quaker experience or has had as much impact upon his society as John Woolman. In his acute sense of the inwardness of the Quaker religious experience, in his outward lifestyle, and in his concern for mankind in general, Woolman emerges as the quintessential American Quaker of the eighteenth century. In fact, through his journal and essays, many have come to see him as the embodiment of eighteenth century Quaker thought, and in this sense his writings have become classic texts. After Woolman, the gradual splintering of Quakerism into various branches and the declining position of Quakerism in the American religious schema have, in many ways, impeded the emergence of another figure of Woolman's stature. Ironically, this honor goes to one whose outward life was relatively uneventful, which is one reason he has been called the "quietist radical in history."1 That Woolman was a quiet leader among 18th century Friends in the American colonies is not a point to dispute. It is noteworthy to point out, however, that despite his quiet, low-key manner, his influence was nevertheless felt. But whether he was a "radical" in any sense of the word is ambiguous . Generally, he offered no social theories that were distinct departures from any previous body of thought, nor did he offer anything new to Quaker theology. Instead of calling him a radical thinker, however, one would be more accurate to say that he prefigured some of the philosophical and theological currents that would later emerge in the 18th and 19th centuries. But in terms of religious and social thought, what Woolman *Thomas E. Terrell, Jr., is Assistant to the Dean, the Divinity School, University of Chicago. 1. Frederick B. Tolles, introduction to The Journal of John Woolman, The John Greenleaf Whittier Edition (Secaucus, N.J.: The Citadel Press, 1961), p. vii. 16 John Woolman : The Theology of a Public Order17 did accomplish was a reforging and a recasting of the already existing components of Quaker theology so that they held special relevance to his society, and in this respect one can discuss a body of thought and a social vision that was peculiarly John Woolman's. The strict application of these religious standards to the public order would have seriously uprooted many of his society's previously accepted customs and norms, and in this sense he could be considered radical. Additionally, Woolman's theology provided the foundation for his unique interpretation of the social, or public, order in such a way that separating his social from his religious views is usually not possible. This study first outlines the major aspects of Woolman's theology, and then proceeds to illustrate how Woolman's vision of the social order was a natural outgrowth of this theology. John Woolman, born in 1720, grew up along the Rancocas River in the conservative and intensely Quaker community of Northhampton, in Burlington County, New Jersey.2 His religious development was almost entirely the product of local Quaker and family influences mixed with intensive reading in the Bible and other religious works.3 His parents took care that Bible readings and study from other religious books were weekly family occurrences in the Woolman household, as was regular attendance at meeting for worship. Woolman's father was a strict disciplinarian who at all times demanded proper behavior from his children, an earnest piety and outward expression of faith that as a young boy Woolman often found difficult to maintain. By the time he was sixteen years old he began to "love wanton company" and gradually found himself straying from the rudiments and lifestyle ingrained in him as a younger child. The next four to five years were crucial to Woolman's spiritual growth as he continually struggled to balance the affairs of his outward life with what he inwardly felt to 2.See Edwin H. Cady, John Woolman...

From Disunionism to the Brink of War, 1850-1860. The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison, Volume IV (review)

BOOK REVIEWS From Disunionism to the Brink of War, 1850-1860. The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison, Volume IV. Edited by Louis Ruchames. (Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1975. Pp. xxv, 737. Index. $35.00.) The fourth volume of the collected papers of William Lloyd Garrison covers a decade (1850-1860) during which the Boston agitator against slavery underwent a gradual but visible change of spirit. The creative period of his reform labors reached a climax in the 1840's. At that time the Garrisonians adopted the slogan "No Union with Slaveholders," repudiated the more moderate church and political factions, and championed other causes with vigor if not much tangible success. To be sure, the old themes reappear in these pages every once in a while. Yet, in view of the atmosphere of political violence and turmoil during the 1850's, Garrison's letters seem tame indeed. In this collection we meet Garrison the Boston gentleman rather than the radical prophet of former days. Growing older may have had something to do with the altered mood. Garrison was approaching late middle age. He no longer enjoyed combat with former allies as once he had. The death of cherished friends like Francis Jackson reminded him of mortality. But more than a sense of aging influenced the abolitionist. The favorable reaction of audiences to his once-shocking doctrines had an impact, too. On a lecture tour in 1856, he delightedly reported that he had "torn down the star-spangled banner, and repudiated the Constitution as a blood-stained instrument, and put down the Union beneath my feet, and criminated almost every religious and political party in the land"—for which performance "I was frequently applauded" (p. 381). Disunionism was no longer the terror of Yankeedom that it had been earlier. In fact, Garrison himself was surprised at the growing acceptability of his views in polite society. In 1858, for instance, at Montpelier, Vermont, he marveled, "We had lawyers, ministers, editors, and judges present," all of whom warmly approved his address (p. 551). Garrison had become a celebrity, a status with its own peculiar chemistry. With listeners who came to gape or cheer and not to hoot, Garrison was bound to make concessions formerly unthinkable . Illustrative of the situation was his dispute in 1859 with Abby Kelley Foster, the veteran radical. She had solicited funds from 80 Republicans to advance both the partisan and abolition causes, but then denounced the donors' alleged antislavery backsliding. Garrison publicly criticized the strategy as tasteless and deceptive. After all, Garrison himself, though still nominally hostile toward political abolitionism, was not the outsider he had once proudly claimed to be. In fact, he had discovered that Republicans attended his rallies; he was on good terms with politicians like Senator Charles Sumner. By 1855 or so, allegiance to disunionism in the intellectual and moral circles to which Garrison belonged was perceived to be no more outrageous and subversive of good order than adherence to Quaker theology or spiritualism. Both persuasions suited the Garrisonian temperament. The reformer, for instance, recommended a medium who was adept at "writing, rapping, tipping, healing, and personating" (p. 421). With such concerns the winsome master of reform enjoyed a special rapport with intellectual ladies of a particular kind. He thrilled them with denunciations of American sin and charmed them with genuine interest in their high-minded views. Among the group of admirers were a librarian of Salem, a philanthropic spinster of Gloucester, and a wealthy matron of Newark, New Jersey, buggy-making capital of America. These and likeminded women may have had severe ideas about practically everything, but they could scarcely be called raging anti-institutional extremists. Tea cakes and radical philosophies were genial companions in the Victorian drawing-rooms of Boston and vicinity. Louis Ruchames, who completed this compilation before his untimely death, was not sufficiently aware of Garrison's transformation , for the headnotes and chapter titles continue to stress familiar national events scarcely mentioned in the private correspondence . The inclusion of public documents when addressed to another individual or group reaches near absurdity in the reprinting of a tractarian letter to Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian hero; it takes...

William Penn and Early Quakerism (review)

BOOK REVIEWS127 of diplomats and helped build the peace movement in the land of the "Samurai." Next Elizabeth Comstock, the young English widow who came to America in search of work to support her small daughter. She found openings for her gifts, "the pioneer spirit of George Fox, the social witness of Elizabeth Fry and the evangelical concern of Joseph John Gurney." Though she traveled widely, Michigan was her home. Susie Erazer, an American Indian Quaker blazed a trail of understanding of the Indians' problems through her singing and her loving spirit. From the Northwest Errol Elliott has chosen William Hobson who dev veloped a community in Willamette Valley with Quakerism as its guiding principle. Last, Walter Malone of Ohio is portrayed with his deep concern for spreading the Christian message at home and abroad. Some of his group started Friends' work in East Africa where there is now a yearly meeting with 30,000 members—the largest in the world. These are not biographies. They are profiles. Heredity, training and individual strengths are outlined with a clear hand as these Friends follow the spirit of Christ as it was revealed to each. These sketches help us to understand the different emphases which various Quaker groups hold dear. They also show a common dependence on the light within and courage and determination to follow that light. They show the importance of obedience and the wonderful way diat God uses those who seek to know and do His will. PhiladelphiaEsther B. Rhoads William Penn and Early Quakerism. By Melvin B. Endy, Jr., Princeton, Princeton University Press. 1973. viii and 410 pages: $17.50. Here at long last is a study of William Penn which focuses on his thought and which places him squarely within the context of early Quakerism. Most recent studies of Penn have given primary attention to his activities as a politician and colonizer, and the roots of his thought in Quaker religious experience have been comparatively neglected. This thorough and independent study by a competent young scholar goes far toward filling this gap. Professor Endy's book is also a valuable contribution to the understanding of early Quakerism. For almost a generation the early Quakers have been seen so exclusively in the context of left-wing Puritanism that other strains in their ancestry have been overlooked or minimized. We have been given a sharply defined image of the Quakers of the Interregnum as a compact body of English separatists and sectarians, holding a theology fairly close to Calvinism and setting out to proclaim the imminent Day of Visitation and fight the Lamb's War. Doubtless this is one aspect of early Quakerism, but, as Endy shows in meticulous detail, it provides an over-simplified picture. There were other influences and tendencies present from the beginning, derived from continental mysticism and spiritualism, from die Anabaptists, and to a lesser degree from such "rationalistic" sources at Platonism, Arminianism and even Socinianism. Endy does not deny that Quaker thought moved in somewhat different 128QUAKER HISTORY directions after the Restoration as a new generation of better-educated leaders came to the fore. But he insists that the tendencies which developed in this period had their beginnings among the earliest Friends. It may not be easy to find traces of "rationalism" in George Fox but Endy shows that they were present in forms which led inevitably to further development in the next generation. He also emphasizes the important transitional role played by such figures as Penington and Fisher, particularly the latter. Fisher's Rusticus ad Académicos is not very readable and therefore remains largely unread, but Endy extracts many quotations which show deep insight. If Penington provides thè background for Keith and Barclay, Fisher provides essential elements for understanding William Penn. Fisher's background as a General Baptist explains his Arminian tendencies and these provide systematic grounding for Fox's instinctive rejection of Calvinistic doctrines such as election and irresistible grace. In the midst of various and sometimes conflicting tendencies, Penn is one of those who strove to bring a degree of order and consistency into Quaker theology, while keeping it firmly rooted in experience. He is admittedly less systematic than Barclay...

The Dry Bones of Quaker Theology

After having surveyed the barrenness of the valley in which were scattered skeletal remains, the prophet in the book of Ezekiel was asked, “O mortal man, can these bones live?” And his reply was not an optimistic “they will live” but rather “O Lord God, thou knowest.” When the historian begins to discuss the common theological assumptions and issues which perplexed the seventeenth century, he does not know whether they can be put into a meaningful context and is uncertain that these “bones” can be made to live. The recent historian who made a large American audience aware of seventeenth-century thought was the late Perry Miller who summarized the New England strands of thought in an essay entitled “The Marrow of Puritan Divinity.” Miller argued that theology was a part of the essence, the very marrow, of Puritanism to which a copious amount of thought was devoted. The seriousness of the Puritan concern was witnessed by the succession of able theologians from William Ames and Richard Baxter in the seventeenth century, to Solomon Stoddard, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Chauncy in the eighteenth century.

Just Among Friends—in 1806

20 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION JUST AMONG FRIENDS — IN 1806 By Robert J. Leach WILLIAM WISTAR COMFORT, the retired president of Haverford College, has published a much-talked-about book dealing with the Society of Friends. It gives a comprehensive picture of the faith and practice of Quakers today. Just Among Friends, as the study is entitled, is a sociological descendant of other such attempts. Perhaps the classic work in this tradition was written in 1806 by Thomas Clarkson. His famous three-volume work, A Portraiture of Quakerism, serves as the source of the data for my paper. Clarkson, unlike Comfort, was not a Friend. His association with Friends came about as a result of his determined efforts to destroy the abominable slave trade of his day. The Society of Friends was his strongest ally in this struggle. Clarkson came to appreciate the genius of these plain people, and felt a desire to communicate his understanding to his fellow Englishmen. Quakerism had been in existence, by that time, a hundred and fifty years. But the Society of Friends had parted continuously from the psychological climate of its original habitat. No doubt the great mass of Englishmen either ignored the peculiar appearance and mores of the decreasing minority group, or were mildly aggravated by its seeming hypocrisies . That Friends were not held in the high esteem and popularity accorded them in 1944, is obvious from the many explanatory deviations on the part of Clarkson to win first a sympathetic ear, before he dare present certain characteristic Quaker viewpoints. The Society of Friends of 1806 had not yet emerged from the "hedges" of isolation with which it had cut itself off from the main stream of Christian faith and understanding . It was no longer a virile agent in the universal recrudescence of the spirit of Christ. Yet within the narrow confines of its membership there had been preserved a purity of religious expression which lasted even through a shattering century of division and petty internal violence. The virtue of the cloistered century previous to 1806 still bears its fruit in the prestige which the Society of Friends enjoys today. Vol. 33, Spring 1944 JUST AMONG FRIENDS — IN 180621 MY PLAN is to pour the material dug out of 1100 pages of the Portraiture of Quakerism into the mold of the table of contents of Just Among Friends, but not to compare the two books. This arrangement will, I hope, be of more interest to those who are acquainted with Comfort's book. Before entering upon the consideration of Quaker faith and practice, one more observation should be made. Clarkson regarded the educational system of Friends as their chief bulwark of strength. Today Comfort and most Quaker commentators look to the faith of the Quakers, especially in its manifestation of the meeting for worship, as this bulwark. Why such a divergence of opinion? Perhaps Clarkson did not appreciate the genius of the meetingcentered life. Perhaps the Napoleonic age was such that he could comprehend no stronger factor than rational training. Or could it be that Friends' education has lost a primary position which it once had? At any rate this change of emphasis is a challenging point at which to dive into the Portraiture. Though Clarkson is insistent that the basis of Quaker faith is first-hand experience, he is extremely careful to examine all scripture texts which appear to uphold any Quaker position, and to re-interpret any texts which appear to contradict any particular Quaker stand. This timidity may have been manifested in deference to the mental outlook of his reading public, but there was also evident a tendency among Friends to rely upon proof texts. Although Clarkson relegates theology to a secondary and even at times worthless position, he manages to construct an elaborate fabric of Quaker theology, or plan for salvation. In the center of this Quaker theology stood the belief in the seed, or portion of God's spirit planted in the heart of every man. This seed flowered into that state of perfection known as the inward Christ, through heeding the righteous admonitions of the Holy Spirit, sometimes called the light within. To turn from this...