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2021/01/29

Rufus Jones (writer) - Wikipedia

Rufus Jones (writer) - Wikipedia

Rufus Jones (writer)

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Rufus Matthew Jones (January 25, 1863 – June 16, 1948) was an American religious leader, writer, magazine editor, philosopher, and college professor. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Haverford Emergency Unit (a precursor to the American Friends Service Committee). One of the most influential Quakers of the 20th century, he was a Quaker historian and theologian as well as a philosopher. He is the only person to have delivered two Swarthmore Lectures.

Early life and education[edit]

Jones was born into an old Quaker family in South China, Maine where he attended services at the Pond Meeting House and then the newer South China Meeting House. In 1885 he graduated from Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and stayed on to earn his M.A. there in 1886. From 1893 to 1912 he was the editor of the Friends' Review (later called The American Friend); from this position he tried unsuccessfully to unite the divided body of Quakers. In 1901 Jones received another M. A., from Harvard. He also began teaching philosophy and psychology at Haverford in 1893 and continued to do so until retiring in 1934. From 1898 to 1936 he served on the board of trustees of Bryn Mawr College.

Career[edit]

In 1917 he helped found the American Friends Service Committee. In 1927 Jones took a trip to Asia at the invitation of the YMCA. His main purpose was to address missionaries in China, but he made stops in Japan, India, and Palestine as well. While in India, Jones visited Mahatma Gandhi and the birthplace of the Buddha. This trip helped Jones formulate a new approach to missions—that of giving humanitarian aid to people while respecting other religions and not aggressively converting people to one's own religion. In 1938 he went with George Walton and D. Robert Yarnall on a mission to Nazi Germany to try to help Jewish people there after Kristallnacht.

Jones worked hard at soothing some of the hurt from the 19th Century split among Friends and had some success. Jones wrote extensively on the topic of mysticism, which is one of the chief aspects of the Quaker faith. In 1948, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (Litt.D.) degree from Whittier College.[1]

He distinguished between negating or negative mysticism (making contact with an impersonal force) and affirming or affirmative mysticism (making contact with a personal being). He upheld that God is a personal being with whom human beings could interact. He wrote in The Trail of Life in the Middle Years, "The essential characteristic of [mysticism] is the attainment of a personal conviction by an individual that the human spirit and the divine Spirit have met, have found each other, and are in mutual and reciprocal correspondence as spirit with Spirit." At the same time that he distinguished between negative and affirmative mysticism, he asserted that all negative mystics occasionally take the affirmative approach and that all affirmative mystics tread the negative path from time to time. He exerted a major influence on the life and work of theologian Howard Thurman, who studied with him in 1929–30.

Jones was a member of the Laymen's Commission that toured mission fields in Asia and produced Re-Thinking Missions: A Laymen's Inquiry after One Hundred Years (1932). The conclusions of this inquiry reflect his views as outlined above.

Jones died in 1948 at age 85, in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Practical Christianity, 1899. (Full text available at the Digital Quaker Collection.)
  • Eli and Sybil Jones: Their Life and Work, 1899
  • Social law in the spiritual world; studies in human and divine inter-relationship, 1904. (Full text available at the Digital Quaker Collection.)
  • The double search: studies in atonement and prayer, 1906. (Full text available at the Digital Quaker Collection.)
  • The Abundant Life, 1908.
  • Studies in Mystical Religion, 1909.
  • The Quakers in the American Colonies, 1911
  • The Luminous Trail
  • New Eyes for Invisibles
  • The Spiritual Reformers in the 16th and 17th Centuries, 1914.
  • The Inner Life, 1916.
  • ’’George Fox: An Autobiography’’, 1919
  • A Service of Love in War Time: American Friends Relief Work in Europe, 1917-1919, 1920.
  • The Remnant, 1920
  • The Later Periods of Quakerism, 1921
  • Spiritual Energies in Daily Life, 1922.
  • The Church's Debt to Heretics, 1924?.
  • The Faith and Practice of the Quakers, 1927.
  • The Trail of Life in College, 1929.
  • Some Exponents of Mystical Religion, 1930.
  • Pathways to the Reality of God, 1931.
  • A Preface to Christian Faith In a New Age, 1932.
  • The Testimony of the Soul, 1936.
  • The Eternal Gospel, 1938.
  • The Flowering of Mysticism, 1939.
  • Spirit in Man, 1941
  • A Small-Town Boy, 1941
  • "Mystical Experience" in The Atlantic Monthly, May 1942.
  • The Radiant Life, 1944.
  • A Call to what is Vital, 1948.

See also[edit]

Rufus M. Jones also authored "SOME PROBLEMS OF LIFE" Copyright MCMXXXVII. Set up, Electrotyped, Printed, and Bound By The Parthenon Press at Nashville Tennessee, U. S. A. Later reprinted by Cokesbury. Thank You Don J. Hewett, Pastor ret.

Further reading[edit]

  • Bernet, Claus: "Rufus Jones (1863-1948). Life and Bibliography of an American Scholar, Writer, and Social Activist. With a Foreword by Douglas Gwyn", New York 2009, ISBN 978-3-631-58930-4
  • Endy, Melvin B.: "The Interpretation of Quakerism. Rufus Jones and His Critics", in: Quaker History. The Bulletin of Friends’ Historical Association, 62, 1, 1981, 3-21
  • Hedstrom, Matthews: "Rufus Jones and Mysticism for the Masses", in: Cross Currents, Summer 2004.
  • Kent, Stephen: Psychological and Mystical Interpretations of Early Quakerism. William James and Rufus Jones. In: Religion. A Journal of Religion and Religions, 17, 1987, 251–274.
  • Vining, Elizabeth Gray: Friend of Life. Philadelphia 1958. London 1959.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Honorary Degrees | Whittier College"www.whittier.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-06.

External links[edit]

2021/01/28

The Quakers in America by Thomas D. Hamm | Goodreads

The Quakers in America by Thomas D. Hamm | Goodreads


The Quakers in America
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The Quakers in America
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by Thomas D. Hamm
 3.90  ·   Rating details ·  93 ratings  ·  12 reviews
The book opens with lively vignettes of Conservative, Evangelical. Friends General Conference, and Friends United meetings that illuminate basic Quaker concepts and theology and reflect the group's diversity in the wake of the sectarian splintering of the nineteenth century. Yet the book also examines commonalities among American Friends that demonstrate a fundamental unity within the religion: their commitments to worship, the ministry of all believers, decision making based on seeking spiritual consensus rather than voting, a simple lifestyle, and education. Thomas Hamm shows that Quaker culture encompasses a rich tradition of practice even as believers continue to debate a number of central questions: Is Quakerism necessarily Christian? Where should religious authority reside? Is the self sacred? How does one transmit faith to children? How do gender and sexuality shape religious belief and behavior? Hamm's analysis of these debates reveals a vital religion that prizes both unity and diversity. (less)
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 Average rating3.90  ·  Rating details ·  93 ratings  ·  12 reviews

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Rhiannon Grant
Mar 18, 2019Rhiannon Grant rated it really liked it
Shelves: theology-and-philosophy, quakerism, library-wb, liberal-quaker-theology
A very helpful overview of the history and present of Quakers in North America, including thematic chapters on Quaker worship, Quaker beliefs and practices, contemporary debates, interactions with the world, and women and marriage, as well as chronological sections.
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Nathan
Apr 19, 2019Nathan rated it really liked it
4.5 stars - a wonderful and fairly comprehensive look at American Quakerism. Enjoyable written and nuanced.
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Jane Barber
May 02, 2020Jane Barber added it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: christian, history-religion, history-usa, quakerism
American Quaker History. I haven't read this through, I read the early chapters and then some sections as the questions come up, in my family history research. (less)
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Nathan
Dec 13, 2010Nathan rated it liked it
Shelves: franklin-library, history
I generally don't enjoy histories that are part of a series put out by a university as a general work on a broad area; they're usually too dispassionate, too removed from their subjects to be engaging. This was a pleasant exception. Thomas Hamm seems genuinely intrigued by his subject, and sincerely appreciative of Quaker traditions and influences. Those feelings energize this book, as general as it is.He presents Quakerism as a diverse tradition (which it is) and takes care to differentiate between the various strands of the faith, noting their distinctives and placing each in their historical context, briskly and efficiently. No new history is revealed, but all the high points are hit with economy and usefulness.

The really enjoyable part of this book is Hamm's report on contemporary meetings of Friends and his research of modern Quakerism as practiced by contemporary Friends. He shows that Friends have established a special and unique part of modern American culture, rescuing Quakerism from mere historical oddity and showing it for the vibrant and significant spiritual practice that it is. Indeed, he also addresses the postmodern aspects of the faith, touching on how it relates to contemporary social issues like feminism, pacifism, the place of LGBT politics in current Quaker discourse, and the debate between theological conservatism and liberalism as it specifically relates to Quakerism. I particularly enjoyed that he recognized the commonalities between Quakerism, veganism and Christian anarchism.

Given the diversity of this tradition, it's perhaps unreasonable to expect more emphasis on the distinctives of Quakerism, but I wanted it. Quakerism is a decided minority, uninterested in proselytizing or watering down what makes them unique. While acknowledging the similiarities between Quakerism and mainstream liberal Protestantism has its place, this book might have celebrated the distinct spirit of Quakerism a little more exuberantly.

That's a minor quibble with a book that gives rightful respect and sober analysis of a truly fascinating and important part of American religion. (less)
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Pat
Jun 24, 2012Pat rated it really liked it
A good book that is insightful, informative, illuminating and in some instances affirming as one who left an Evangelical meeting last year. I felt as though the author, a Quaker historian, had been a fly on the wall of my particular meeting. Thus far in the book, he hasn't mentioned that particular meeting, so I can only assume in his 30 years of research that what occurred in the meeting I was a part of was not an isolated event. One quote in particular that struck me and that describes this meeting well was, "Some congregations have been so riven by unresolved conflicts that they are effectively dysfunctional, 'the perpetrators of generations of corporate pain. With each new pastor the congregation hopes that he or she will be the 'miracle worker' who will make the pain go away" (p. 94).

I know some reviewers of Pink Dandelion's book, The Quakers, stated that they found the book confusing. I did not, but if they thought Dandelion's book was confusing, they may find Hamm's book confusing as well. However, I don't believe the authors themselves are to blame. The Quakers have a complicated history what with all the splits named primarily for the main players: Gurney, Wilbur, Hicks. To compound matters is the task of keeping the particular movements matched up with their modern-day descendants: Liberal, Conservative, Evangelical and the various groups within each of these camps.

In Hamm's book, one will get a detailed outline of the distinctives of each group such as worship practices and doctrinal views that might lend itself it to demystifying an often hard-to-understand group. After reading the book, one might even want to visit a Quaker meeting. In some instances, reading ahead may serve as preparation for what one can expect to experience, particularly in some of the liberal or conservative churches whose worship styles are vastly different from what one may be accustomed to encountering in many Protestant evangelical churches. (less)
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Keith
Aug 22, 2008Keith rated it really liked it
Recently I have decided to finally sit down and learn some Quaker history. I've been involved a bit with the Society of Friends for about 7 years now, and am getting more seriously into it... just about ready to call myself a convinced Friend, a big deal for someone like me who's never been much of a joiner.

The Quakers in America is an overview of... just what the title would indicate... specifically focused on the 20th century, though of course of bit of historical information is required to explain what Quakers are and how they got to America, having their roots in England as they do.

Hamm covers the major divisions in the body of Quakers early on and in each section devotes time to the different views and experiences of they various factions on subjects such as faith and practice in meeting (or church), the role of women, education, and service in the broader world.

Scholarly and fair in its treatment, this book is a good resource for those such as myself who have heard of some of the names of individuals and groups of import in the Quaker world, but want to know a bit more, and probably it is also a good introduction to Quakers in general, though hanging out with some is a better one I would say. Having been exposed primarily to the liberal, unprogrammed Friends tradition I found the information on other branches particularly enlightening. My reading will carry on into further contemporary writings as well as delving deeper into the history, so look for John Woolman's journal to pop up here at some point. (less)
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Elizabeth
Jun 06, 2008Elizabeth rated it really liked it
If you should be interested in the history of Quakers in America, this is the book for you. It is surprisingly well-written--I thought it would be dry, it wasn't. It describes the history from England to the Colonies, to the U.S., to the present. Who knew there were so many different types of Quakers. (less)
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Kate
Oct 05, 2007Kate rated it liked it
Recommends it for: aspiring Quakers
Shelves: religions
Thorough, informative account of the Quakers in America, including origins, divisions, international outreach, and contemporary debates.

On the history of the name "Quakers:"

Founder George Fox to Justice Gervase Bennett (in response to charges of blasphemy): Tremble in the fear of the Lord.

Bennett to Fox: And quake, thou quaker, before the majesty of the law. ...more
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Rachel
Jan 01, 2010Rachel rated it liked it
A nice overview of Quakers in America - as the title implies. Nothing fancy about it (plain if you will - sorry couldn't help myself) but definately touches upon some key points and people. I particularly enjoyed reading about the various splits as it was new information for me. (less)
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Genie
Jan 21, 2014Genie rated it liked it
Shelves: history, quaker-related, religion-and-spirituality
A good basic introduction to Quakerism in America- The different bodies and views of different branches as well as descriptions of services and practices. Nothing too in-depth, however.
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Bill Crowley
Jan 04, 2015Bill Crowley rated it really liked it
A solid overview.
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Matthew Carlin
Sep 17, 2010Matthew Carlin rated it liked it
It's good... it's informative, but... why did I think reading about Quakers would be any more *interesting* than actual Quakers? (less)
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Diogenes
5.0 out of 5 stars clearly written and just enough detail
Reviewed in the United States on 13 September 2018
Verified Purchase
I attend a Quaker meeting and have wanted an accessible, scholarly explanation of the different varieties of Quaker faith and practice. This book describes the major varieties of Quakerism in the U.S., how they evolved and how their present differences relate to the few core principles that date back to George Fox and the other founders.
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C. Newman
4.0 out of 5 stars Written like a Traveler's Journal, Learning from Place to Place, and from Meeting to Meeting
Reviewed in the United States on 17 November 2013
Verified Purchase
This book answered a lot of questions for me. Well-written and documented, Thomas Hamm, a life-long Quaker, explores many types of Meetings and many ways to the Quaker experience. This is a good book for a novice to read, as well as giving deeper understanding to those who feel that Quakers are of a particular mould, or that, perhaps,even, that they no longer exist.
One person found this helpful
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