Specialist historians have long known the usefulness of this 1869 book, now more easily available for anyone interested in the history of London, its buildings, and its religious and social world, in an enhanced edition. William Beck was a Quaker architect, and Frederick Ball grew up in the rambling old Devonshire House building, centre of British Quakerism at the time. Their survey of London Quaker history was part of a mid-19th century awakening of Friends to the significance of their own past. This facsimile reprint contains a new introduction, by Simon Dixon PhD, author of the thesis "Quaker Communities in London 1667-c1714," and Quaker writer and editor Peter Daniels. Where possible, illustrations have been inserted of the buildings described in the book, and there is a comprehensive new index.

This is the first full biography of James Rendel Harris (1852-1941), Bible and patristic scholar, manuscript collector, Quaker theologian, devotional writer, traveller, folklorist, and relief worker. Drawing on published and unpublished sources gathered in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, many of which were previously unknown, Alessandro Falcetta tells the story of Harris's life and works set against the background of the cultural and political life of contemporary Britain. Falcetta traces the development of Harris's career from Cambridge to Birmingham, the story of his seven journeys to the Middle East, and of his many campaigns, from religious freedom to conscientious objection. The book focuses upon Harris's innovative contributions in the field of textual and literary criticism, his acquisitions of hundreds of manuscripts from the Middle East, his discoveries of early Christian works - in particular the Odes of Solomon - his Quaker beliefs and his studies in the cult of twins. His enormous output and extensive correspondence reveal an indefatigable genius in close contact with the most famous scholars of his time, from Hort to Harnack, Nestle, the 'Sisters of Sinai', and Frazer.

This unique addition to Civil War literature examines the extensive influence Quaker belief and practice had on Lincoln's decisions relative to slavery, including his choice to emancipate the slaves. An important contribution to Lincoln scholarship, this thought-provoking work argues that Abraham Lincoln and the Religious Society of Friends faced a similar dilemma: how to achieve emancipation without extending the bloodshed and hardship of war. Organized chronologically so readers can see changes in Lincoln's thinking over time, the book explores the congruence of the 16th president's relationship with Quaker belief and his political and religious thought on three specific issues: emancipation, conscientious objection, and the relief and education of freedmen. Distinguishing between the reality of Lincoln's relationship with the Quakers and the mythology that has emerged over time, the book differs significantly from previous works in at least two ways. It shows how Lincoln skillfully navigated a relationship with one of the most vocal and politically active religious groups of the 19th century, and it documents the practical ways in which a shared belief in the "Doctrine of Necessity" affected the president's decisions. In addition to gaining new insights about Lincoln, readers will also come away from this book with a better understanding of Quaker positions on abolition and pacifism and a new appreciation for the Quaker contributions to the Union cause. Explains the critical role Quakers exercised in Lincoln's prosecution of the Civil War Reveals how Quakers employed their historic commitments to abolitionism and pacifism to convince Lincoln of the necessity of emancipation, freedmen's relief and education, and conscientious objection Highlights Lincoln's interactions and correspondence with individual British and American Quakers and Quaker groups Provides readers with important context necessary to understand one of the nation's most respected humanitarian groups Includes nearly two dozen period photographs that provide a fascinating glimpse into long-ago history Examines the Quakers' 150-year crusade against slavery, their efforts to improve the conditions of free blacks, and the religious beliefs that informed those activities

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The early Quakers denounced the clergy and social élite but what of Friends' relationships with others? By examining Quaker attitudes to neighbourliness, the family, the rites of passage, business, and other links, this lively and original study demonstrates that Quakers were not the marginal and isolated people often portrayed by contemporaries and historians, and explores their wider and significant impact upon early modern society.

In 1828, Elias Hicks was the best-known Quaker in the United States. He was a deep and original religious thinker, a commanding and compelling preacher, and though eighty years old, still a faithful traveling minister. Whenever God said, "Go " he went. If he is remembered at all today, it is for his role in the most traumatic events in the history of the Religious Society of Friends - a series of separations that split American Quakers into two hostile camps - one of which came to be called Hicksite. Over the years, his memory has been lost to stories told by his friends and his opponents. Much of what people believe about him is false. The truth is, Elias Hicks was a minister, a mystic, a farmer, an environmentalist, an abolitionist, a father and a husband. This book aims to reveal the real Elias Hicks and his understanding of what it means to be a Quaker. Elias Hicks has much to say to Friends today. Paul Buckley is a Quaker historian and theologian, well-known among Friends of all stripes for his workshops, short courses, and retreats. He has written books on William Penn and Elias Hicks, and the Lord's Prayer; and co-edited The Quaker Bible Reader.

From two professors of religion, a comprehensive history of the Society of Friends in the U.S. . . . The authors are careful to explain what Quakers believed at every stage of their development and how they organized their lives around the religious and social movements they fostered or fought against. The second part of this engaging book is a biographical dictionary of Quaker leaders. Reference Books Bulletin This volume interweaves theology, social history, and biography in the first comprehensive history of Quakers in America to be published in more than forty years. Barbour and Frost treat all branches of American Quakers, tracing the history of the denomination from 1650 to the present and demonstrating how changes in the movement can be related to the traditions of the Society of Friends and developments in the wider cultural context. The text presents the lives and ideas of prominent Quaker men and women: George Fox, William Penn, John Woolman, Elias Hicks, Joseph John Gurtney, Rufus Jones, Henry Cadbury, and many others. The authors show that today although a Quaker can be fundamentalist, an evangelical, a moderate, or a liberal, the twentieth century has been marked by attempts to reunify and affirm a common tradition among all branches of the denomination. After initial chapters dealing with the genesis of Quakerism under George Fox in Puritan England, the authors turn to an examination of the Society of Friends in colonial America. They reveal the Friends' creative response to persecution after 1660, the intellectual achievements of William Penn and Robert Barclay, and the creation of early colonies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Later chapters address the influence of Quaker pacifism and opposition to slavery, the establishment of Quaker communities in midwestern and western states, and the theological divisions within the Society of Friends that characterized the movement in the nineteenth century.

Wisdom and Humor from the Front Porch

Master storyteller Philip Gulley shares tender and hilarious real-life moments that capture the important truths of everyday life.

When Philip Gulley began writing newsletter essays for the twelve members of his Quaker meeting in Indiana, he had no idea one of them would find its way to radio commentator Paul Harvey Jr. and be read on the air to 24 million people. Fourteen books later, with more than a million books in print, Gulley still entertains as well as inspires from his small-town front porch.

A Quaker prayer life arises from a life of continuing daily attentiveness. The first generation of Quakers followed a covenant with God, based on assidious obedience to the promptings of the Inward Light. This process did not require the established churches, priests or liturgies. Quaker prayer then became a practice of patient waiting in silence. Prayer is a conscious choice to seek God, in whatever form that Divine Presence speaks to each of us, moment to moment. The difficulties we experience in inward prayer are preparation for our outward lives. Each time we return to the centre in prayer we are modelling how to live our lives; each time we dismiss the internal intrusions we are strengthening that of God within us and denying the role of the Self; every time we turn to prayer and to God we are seeking an increase in the measure of Light in our lives. David Johnson is a Member of Queensland Regional Meeting of the Australia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. David is a geologist with both industry and academic experience, and wrote The Geology of Australia, specifically for the general public. He has a long commitment to nonviolence and opposing war and the arms trade, and has worked with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. David delivered the 2005 Backhouse Lecture to Australia Yearly Meeting on Peace is a Struggle. He was part of the work to establish the Silver Wattle Quaker Centre in Australia in 2010, and is Co-Director of the Centre for 2013-14.

This book examines the nearly 400-year tradition of Quaker engagements with mystical ideas and sources. It provides a fresh assessment of the way tradition and social context can shape a religious community while interplaying with historical and theological antecedents within the tradition. Quaker concepts such as "Meeting," the "Light," and embodied spirituality, have led Friends to develop an interior spirituality that intersects with extra-Quaker sources, such as those found in Jakob Boehme, Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl, the Continental Quietists, Kabbalah, Buddhist thought, and Luyia indigenous religion. Through time and across cultures, these and other conversations have shaped Quaker self-understanding and, so, expanded previous models of how religious ideas take root within a tradition. The thinkers engaged in this globally-focused, interdisciplinary volume include George Fox, James Nayler, Robert Barclay, Elizabeth Ashbridge, John Woolman, Hannah Whitall Smith, Rufus Jones, Inazo Nitobe, Howard Thurman, and Gideon W. H. Mweresa, among others.

In this book Grace Jantzen constructs a Quaker spirituality of beauty as a theological-philosophical response to a world preoccupied with death and violence. Having mapped the foundations of western cultural violence in the Greco-Roman period and the Judea-Christian tradition in Foundations of Violence and Violence to Eternity, she now offers her alternative vision. This vision is an original and creative feminist reading of the Quaker tradition, considering George Fox and the writings of Quaker women, exploring the themes of inner light and beauty as alternatives to violence and the obstacles to building such an alternative world. After showing how seventeenth-century Quakers offered a different option for modernity, she maps the philosophical and ethical implications of engaging with the world through beauty and its transforming power. Written for everyone interested in contemporary spirtuality, it explains how Quaker ideas can provide a way to transform our violent world into one that celebrates life rather than death, peace rather than violence. This work is the second of two posthumous publications to complete Grace M. Jantzen's Death and the Displacement of Beauty collection, which began with Foundations of Violence (Routledge, 2004).

For 175 years, the prevailing image of Elias Hicks has been a false one. His opponents in the Religious Society of Friends have successfully misrepresented him as denying Christ and the scriptures. In his last year of life, Hicks reluctantly penned a reply to these charges, recounting in his journal how God had ordered his life. But the published Journal was edited into a bland portrayal of one of the most dynamic figures in Quaker history. Paul Buckley has meticulously compiled a new edition of The Journal of Elias Hicks from the original manuscripts - most in Hicks' own handwriting - that restores more than 100 pages of missing material.

In the summer of 1813, as war with Britain intensified, President James Madison secretly dispatched an envoy to the Regency government of Spain with the urgent goal of thwarting a feared British bid to use Spanish Florida as a base from which to attack the United States, and with the further hope of acquiring that territory for America. The man Madison sent to pursue those challenging tasks was Anthony Morris, a friend of Dolley Madison's from their youth in Philadelphia and a devout Quaker lawyer who had never before journeyed abroad. Morris, a widower, had willingly accepted the president's call, despite the separation it would impose from his four teenage children. The Morris mission did not proceed as intended, as developments in Spain conspired to alter its scope and prolong its duration. Long after the war had ended, Morris was compelled to persevere at his post as the only American link to an unfriendly Spanish monarchy. As he dutifully carried on, ill-founded accusations by two other frustrated American diplomats slurred his reputation. Meanwhile, he thirsted to rejoin his maturing children, whose lives were taking paths that would have been unlikely had he never left them. Throughout this ordeal, a steadfastly philosophical Anthony Morris strove to counter his distress by thoughtful exploration of a national culture and a religious faith so very different from his own. The full story of this distinctive but little-remembered diplomatic endeavor has not previously been recounted. The telling of it here reveals much about the vexation and confusion endemic to American diplomacy in the age of sail, when events often moved faster than the mails. Interwoven with that historical account is the poignant revelation of the spiritual and cultural growth that Anthony Morris reaped from his odyssey, as displayed in a stream of intimate, charming letters to the daughters he had left at home. Published in the ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Series

What was distinctive about the founding principles and practices of Quakerism? In George Fox and Early Quaker Culture, Hilary Hinds explores how the Light Within became the organizing principle of this seventeenth-century movement, inaugurating an influential dissolution of the boundary between the human and the divine. Taking an original perspective on this most enduring of radical religious groups, Hinds combines literary and historical approaches to produce a fresh study of Quaker cultural practice. Close readings of Fox's Journal are put in dialogue with the voices of other early Friends and their critics to argue that the Light Within set the terms for the unique Quaker mode of embodying spirituality and inhabiting the world. In this important study of the cultural consequences of a bedrock belief, Hinds shows how the Quaker spiritual self was premised on a profound continuity between sinful subjects and godly omnipotence. This study will be of interest not only to scholars and students of seventeenth-century literature and history, but also to those concerned with the Quaker movement, spirituality and the changing meanings of religious practice in the early modern period. -- .

This study explores the absorption of Western religious ideas into African religious traditions, the emergence of independent African churches and religious movements, and their connection with political protest. The Friends African Mission, an offshoot of the evangelical revival in Britain and America in the late 19th century, took root among the Luyia people of Western Kenya. Quaker doctrines found a particular resonance with indigenous religion and spirituality but also divided African Quakers. The author considers the work carried out in education, agriculture, industrial training and health care by the Society of Friends, and charts the development of an independent church (finally established in 1963). She traces the developing relationship between African Quakers and the emerging African nationalist movements, and the colonial administration.

In Living with Conflict: A Challenge to a Peace Church, Susan Robson explores the discomforts and denials that can arise when an organization committed to doing good suspects that it is not living up to its declared aims. This case study of Quakers in the United Kingdom closely examines the challenge of living constructively despite ever-present internal conflicts. Drawing on ideas from contemporary organizational theory, Robson s study points the way forward for Quakers and other value-based groups. Living with Conflict compares the evolution of the Quaker peace testimony to the experience of other peaceful churches, in both their relationships to the wider world and how they handle congregational conflict. It analyzes conflicts in small church congregations, looking at triggers and responses, past and present, describing the consequences of challenging community narratives and creating counter-narratives. Students of peace and conflict studies, organizational studies, and the sociology of religion will find this study thought-provoking. Living with Conflict is also for anyone who has ever joined an organization they thought was welcoming and safe, working together for the common good, only to see it unravel into a flurry of acrimonious e-mails, slammed doors, tears, legal proceedings, even tragedy.

The modern reputation of Friends in the United States and Europe is grounded in the relief work they have conducted in the presence and aftermath of war. Friends (also known as Quakers) have coordinated the feeding and evacuation of children from war zones around the world. They have helped displaced persons without regard to politics. They have engaged in the relief of suffering in places as far-flung as Ireland, France, Germany, Ethiopia, Egypt, China, and India. Their work was acknowledged with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the Friends Service Council of Great Britain. More often, however, Quakers live, worship, and work quietly, without seeking public attention for themselves. Now, the Friends are a truly worldwide body and are recognized by their Christ-centered message of integrity and simplicity, as well as their nonviolent stance and affirmation of the belief that all people women as well as men may be called to the ministry. The expanded second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers) relates the history of the Friends through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 700 cross-referenced dictionary entries on concepts, significant figures, places, activities, and periods. This book is an excellent access point for scholars and students, who will find the overviews and sources for further research provided by this book to be enormously helpful."

Intensely persecuted during the English Interregnum, early Quakers left a detailed record of the suffering they endured for their faith. Margaret Fell, Letters, and the Making of Quakerism is the first book to connect the suffering experience with the communication network that drew the faithful together to create a new religious community. This study explores the ways in which early Quaker leaders, particularly Margaret Fell, helped shape a stable organization that allowed for the transition from movement to church to occur. Fell's role was essential to this process because she developed and maintained the epistolary exchange that was the basis of the early religious community. Her efforts allowed for others to travel and spread the faith while she served as nucleus of the community's communication network by determining how and where to share news. Memory of the early years of Quakerism were based on the letters Fell preserved. Marjon Ames analyzes not only how Fell's efforts shaped the inchoate faith, but also how subsequent generations memorialized their founding members.