In seven letters to a fictional correspondent, Steve Chase describes his spiritual journey among Quakers. The writer introduces the Quaker way to a newcomer in language that is personal and gentle, while offering powerful inspiration through stories.

BOOK SUMMARY: Upstate New York farmer and philosopher Jim Atwell has been living the dream life in Fly Creek since his retirement in 1993. His award-winning weekly newspaper columns about rural life and his past as a teaching monk, professor, and college administrator led to his successful first book, "From Fly Creek: Celebrating Life in Leatherstocking Country" (North Country Books, 2005). But his life took a dramatic turn in 2007 when he was forced to deal with a neurological disease diagnosed first as Parkinson's, then as Parkinson's Plus, and most recently as Parkinson's: unknown. He has been told by his doctor that a positive diagnosis of this odd family of diseases is best done by autopsy -- a strategy that Jim stoutly rejects. This second collection of columns, "Wobbling Home," is a deeply insightful meditation on his illness, his Christian faith, and his journey's end. Raised a Roman Catholic, Jim has been a Quaker for forty years. Viewing his life as a "Parkie" through the lens of Quakerism, he sees the disease as emanating from the same loving Source that gives him life -- a Source which also manipulates his body and brain at random times and in mysterious ways. He shares not only his own thoughts and reactions, but also those of his loving wife Anne and other Parkies and their spouses as well. Interspersed with tales of daily life and ritual in one of New York's most bucolic small towns, Jim's writings are shot through with the warm humor that is a mark of his personality and his masterful style. AUTHOR BIO: A Maryland native, Jim Atwell spent thirteen years as a Catholic teaching monk in the Christian Brothers religious order. In 1969, he returned to life as a layman and took a faculty position at Anne Arundel Community College near his hometown of Annapolis. In his twenty-three years at the College, he served as assistant, associate, and full professor, and as chairman, dean, and Vice President for Academic Affairs. In retirement, he is an emeritus member of the Anne Arundel faculty. His personal spiritual development now marks him as being a practicing Quaker for forty years. Jim owes his deep love of Upstate New York to his late first wife Gwen, who grew up near Cooperstown. After her death in 1989, he moved north to start life again in the 18th-century farmhouse they had bought for a retirement home. In 1997 Jim remarried; he and Anne Geddes-Atwell still make their home in Fly Creek, raising sheep and chickens, and pursuing writing and graphic design, respectively.

This collection shows how war tax resistance developed in the Society of Friends in America and how Quaker war tax resistance has been seen by other Americans. These highlight the search for truth within the Society of Friends as well as the interest, concern, and occasional aggravation of those outside of the Society who found themselves trying to understand or navigate the Quaker point of view.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Drawn from the rich archives of Friends Journal, this book illuminates the many aspects of Friends' most central and most public spiritual testimony: a search for peace. This book is an invaluable resource for those who wish to explore the Quaker peace experience and to better understand and develop their own personal calling for peace. With a careful selection of material approaching peace from many philosophical and practical angles, Quakers and the Search for Peace will serve as a guide not only for Quakers and their meetings and churches, but for readers of all faith traditions who yearn for a more peaceful world. Students and newcomers to Quakerism will find a diverse and compelling introduction to the Quaker religion in modern practice.

From her picture on the British 5 pound note to the numerous Elizabeth Fry Societies worldwide, Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) is well known for her work for prison reform. But less well known is how her Quaker faith inspired that work, leading her to see the light within the impoverished and imprisoned. With Elizabeth Fry: A Quaker Life, noted Quaker historian Gil Skidmore has brought together Fry's essential writings-some previously unpublished-from her journals,letters, and more general works. The result is a rich portrait of the struggles and anxieties behind the public persona of this "Quaker saint." Gil Skidmore, herself a Quaker, has spent many years researching the lives and writings of the early Quakers. She is currently research collections coordinator at the the library of the University of Reading.

Fifty Quakers across the West share their stories through art, poetry, fiction, and essays in this testament to the breadth of spiritual experience in the Religious Society of Friends.

Blue Laws Of New York, Maryland, Virginia, And South Carolina. First Record Of Connecticut.

Margaret Fell was one of the early converts of George Fox-a woman who more clearly understood Fox's dynamic experience and understanding of the original Christian gospel than anyone else. It was Margaret who quickly turned her estate into a key communication and support node for the growing Quaker movement. It was she who fostered a Quaker community on her estate at Swarthmore Hall. And it was she who, twenty years after her convincement and fifteen after her widowhood, became Fox's helpmate in marriage and co-partner in ministry. To dismiss her would be to dismiss one of the key female founders of early Quakerism.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

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The Quaking Meeting: transforming our selves, our Meetings and the more-than-human world. Once, Quakers quaked. Some of us still do. I discuss individual and communal practices of Waiting Worship. My theology and practice, like that of first generation Friends, is mystical. In centring down we can directly experience God's presence: loving, divine energy sensed in our bodies, which can cause physical manifestations like quaking. Such practice transforms our lives, gradually leading us into a life of holy obedience to the Divine. I have learned from the teachings of early Friends, both directly, and mediated through Rex Ambler's Experiment with Light. Yoga and Buddhism have also inspired me. My findings are illustrated with stories, mostly drawn from my own life, and with Max Raupach's drawings. In Meetings for Worship we may sense a mystical communion with God through each other. This is the gift of the 'gathered meeting'. The 'power of the Lord' made first generation Friends quake and filled them with power. We, too, can open ourselves to the loving divine energy, and to the naturally arising miracles that become possible for those who live such lives. Transformation may flow through us to others, in an everwidening spiral, embracing the more-than-human world.

Blue Laws Of New York, Maryland, Virginia, And South Carolina. First Record Of Connecticut.

Written 100 Years Ago - Now Released to the Public for the First Time!
The letterhead on the manuscript read, "Looking forward to the Future, 1911." I carefully turned the yellow tattered pages. I was quickly swept into the world of the Holiness People, the Rowdies, and the "Old Quaker" that stood in the gap. Enjoy your journey guided by the "Old Quakers" own words written nearly 100 years ago Education was at low ebb; the young man graduated at the age of 12 or 14 with little knowledge of real life and no knowledge of business methods.
The girl soon followed the boy from school and the marriage was not long postponed. A log house was built down back of the "old mans" and another Rooseveltian family was started. Things had jogged along thus for two or three generations, when a change came. The monotony of the scene was broken by the advent of a Quaker evangelist into their neighborhood.

Classic Quaker arguments why Christians should neither fight in wars nor pay others to fight in their place by paying taxes that sustain the military.

"A mystic is one who has had the experience that the divine Ultimate and the essence of the individual Self are fundamentally one and the same." In his maturity George Fox dictated a vivid account of his profound mystical experience, which transformed him from an unhappy questing youth into a charismatic spiritual giant. Unlike some other mystics he resolved to share his experience with others. This became his life s work, and resulted in establishing the community known today as the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers. He did this by travelling widely, addressing crowds, and by an amazing output of documents. Hugh McGregor Ross made an intensive study of these documents in the majestic Quaker Library in London. He there identified that Fox s record of his spiritual awakening, which involved what in the seventeenth century was regarded as a blasphemy, had been tampered with. Here it is restored to its original form. It is followed by a great number of the documents Fox created to guide and support hisfollowers, all given in his own words but edited sensitively for the modern reader. This is a unique record of the awakening of a mystic in the Christian tradition, and of living out that experience in his way of life.

Christopher Holdsworth's own experience led him to become interested in the monastic tradition, and to spend much of his life in learning more about it as a mediaeval historian. In this book he presents aspects of that tradition which may be useful for Quakers. Starting from outward things, like stability, humility, obedience and the regular attendance at public worship, the author moves towards other sides of what the tradition calls the exploration of the heart, which he calls inner space: namely attentive reading of the Bible, and prayer. 'We, like Benedict's monks, need to let the whole of ourselves be irradiated with the Spirit, so that, in George Fox's memorable phrase, our lives preach.'

Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) was a lay speaker and author in the Holiness movement in the United States and the Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. She was also active in the Women's suffrage movement and the Temperance movement.

Born in Philadelphia, Smith was from a long line of prominent and influential Quakers in New Jersey. Hannah Tatum Whitall was the daughter of John Mickle Whitall and Mary Tatum Whitall. Her most famous ancestor was Ann Cooper Whitall.

Quaker meetings in Britain today encounter unprecedented diversity of belief and religious language. How do we better understand - and work creatively with - the tension between traditional Christian faith and emerging expressions of Quakerism? The two authors developed the 'Rooted in Christianity, Open to New Light' project for Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. This is the book they have written from the project, in which they explore the issues that spiritual diversity raises for Quakers individually and corporately, and the challenges and rewards of being a diverse, inclusive community of faith.

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.

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.