Are Quakers Christian, Non-Christian, or Both?
February 1, 2013
By Anthony Manousos
Photo Mircea RubaI am both a Christian and a Universalist Friend. I see no theological contradiction between Universalism and Christianity because the Gospel of John makes it clear that the Logos/Christ Spirit is present in everyone and everything. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (1:3). Furthermore, “the true light [another name for the Logos] that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (1:9). This was the basis of early Friends’ belief that the Inward Light is universal, present in all people (though some ignore or turn away from it). If you look in the dictionary, you’ll see that the first definition of “Universalist” is a Christian who believes that God will save everyone.
There is no doubt that early Quakers saw themselves as Christian—in fact, they saw themselves as the only real Christians. Early Friends argued this in pamphlet wars, tracts, and longer works such as like Robert Barclay’s 1675 Apology for the True Christian Divinity. Around 1690, George Fox wrote an epistle to American Friends admonishing them to evangelize among the peoples there. Since this is not a passage you’re likely to see in your Faith and Practice, it’s worth quoting:
Dear Friends and brethren, ministers, exhorters, and admonishers that are gone into America and the Caribbean islands. Stir up the gift of God in you and the pure mind, and improve your talents; that you may be the light of the world, a city set upon a hill, that cannot be hidden. Let your light shine among the Indians, the blacks and the whites; that you may answer the truth in them, and bring them to the standard and ensign, that God has set up, Christ Jesus. For from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, God’s name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every temple, or sanctified heart, “incense shall be offered up to God’s name.” And have salt in yourselves, that you may be the salt of the earth, that you may salt it; that it may be preserved from corruption and putrefaction; so that all sacrifices offered up to the Lord may be seasoned, and be a good savor to God…. And Friends, be not negligent but keep up your negroes’ meetings and your family meetings; and have meetings with the Indian kings, and their councils and subjects everywhere, and with others. Bring them all to the baptizing and circumcising spirit, by which they may know God, and serve and worship him.
It is clear from passages like these that George Fox was not only a Christian, but an Evangelical who believed that Christ was the “way, the truth, and the life.”
Some prominent early Quakers embraced a more inclusive and tolerant view of other forms of Christianity, and even of other religions, as is evident in the writings of William Penn and Isaac Penington. Some 70 years after Fox’s epistle, John Woolman wrote:
There is a Principle which is pure, placed in the human Mind, which in different Places and Ages hath had different Names; it is, however, pure, and proceeds from God. It is deep, and inward, confined to no Forms of Religion, nor excluded from any, where the Heart stands in perfect Sincerity. In whomsoever this takes Root and grows, of what Nation soever, they become Brethren.
When John Woolman felt led to go among the Native Americans, he didn’t feel a need to convert them. He simply wanted to share what he knew about God, and to learn from them.[?]
William Penn also saw the Indians as having “that of God” and wrote about them with great sympathy. He was a (Christian) Universalist who believed that there was truth in all religions and in all people:
The humble, meek, merciful, just, pious, and devout souls are everywhere of one religion; and when death has taken off the mask, they will know one another, though the liveries they wear here make them strangers.
The issue of whether Quakerism should be inclusive or exclusive—conventionally Christian or faithful to the Inward Light—has long been a divisive one among American Quakers. In the 1820s, the split between Orthodox and Hicksite Friends was partly over power—rural Friends felt that wealthy Philadelphia Friends were lording it over them. Urban Friends felt that the rural Friends were out of touch with what was happening in the cities. The Orthodox wanted to become involved in Bible societies and other outreach efforts, like mainstream Christians. Followers of Elias Hicks, a rural Friend from Long Island, wanted to stick with traditional Quaker doctrines, such as the Inward Light, which seemed strange to mainstream Christians. Elias Hicks was an extremely charismatic and popular preacher who travelled all over the United States and drew huge crowds, including many non-Quakers. (The poet Walt Whitman was a big fan of Hicks and you can see glimpses of Hicksite Quakerism in Leaves of Grass.)
Perhaps the most controversial teaching of Hicks had to do with the Bible. Hicks totally disapproved of Bible societies and didn’t believe that they would do anything to advance “real Christianity.” In a controversial letter, Hicks argued that when the Bible was translated into English in the sixteenth century, and people finally had a chance to read it in their own language, it didn’t lead to more Christian love but to religious wars in which huge numbers of people were killed. Hicks argued that that it is the Holy Spirit, not the Bible, that makes you a “real Christian.”
More from Friends Journal on Christianity
• “God, Jesus, Christianity, and Quakers,” by Jim Cain
A nontheist Friend on the role of Jesus and Christianity in his life.
• “Are We Really Christian?” by Margaret Namubuya Amudavi
Do we focus on the religiosity or the spirituality of our Quakerism?
• “Expectant Visions of a Christian Anarchist,” by Zae Isa Illo
If all the gifts of the Spirit are still available today, why aren’t they present among us?
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, an Evangelical revival swept through Friends in the Midwestern United States, bitterly dividing Friends into “real Christians” who were “saved” and the traditional, Inward Light Friends who didn’t ascribe to the methods and theology of revivalism, and were therefore “unsaved.”
This revival was a severe trial for Joel and Hannah Bean, weighty Friends who had served as clerks of Iowa Yearly Meeting in the 1860s and 70s. The Beans tried to mend fences between the camps, but finally retired to San Jose, California, where they founded a new Friends meeting. Iowa Yearly Meeting refused to approve the San Jose meeting, and stripped the Beans of their status as recorded ministers after they incorrectly answered theological questions on a written test.
A test of this sort had never been used by Quakers, nor had a recorded ministry status been taken away for doctrinal reasons. Because the Beans were internationally known and respected, this became a huge “issue.”
Hannah and Joel Bean then did something unprecedented among Friends: they declared San Jose an independent monthly meeting. This “Beanite” movement eventually grew into an independent association that spawned three independent yearly meetings in the Western United States.
Even broad-minded twentieth-century Liberal Friends like Howard Brinton used divisive language at times. In his memoir, Brinton refers to unprogrammed Quakers as “real” Quakers. In the 1940s and 50s Howard Brinton worked hard to bring Hicksite and Orthodox Friends together because both practiced unprogrammed worship, but he didn’t reach out to pastoral Friends and hardly mentions them in Friends for 300 Years because he felt that programmed worship was not Quakerly.
Given this history of divisiveness, I can see why Friends are wary about identifying themselves as Christian or non-Christian. It seems safer, and saner, to keep Christ and God talk to a minimum. I am glad that many Friends are willing to bring up these concerns, however. I think we can be better Quakers if we are honest and admit our differences and have respectful dialogues about theological issues. We can learn much from each other when we open up and share our beliefs and spiritual experiences. And I think we can communicate with those in the ecumenical and interfaith movement, as well as our neighbors of other faiths, when we feel comfortable talking about theology among ourselves in a Friendly, non-exclusive way.
Until the 1960s or so, most unprogrammed Quakers identified with being Christian, at least publicly. But many questioned the dogmas of traditional Christianity, and some were drawn to other religious practices, such as Buddhism. In the 1980s, the Quaker Universalist Fellowship was created for Friends who didn’t identify with Christianity per se. (I belong to this group and manage their blog at quakeruniversalist.org.)
This Universalist approach was controversial at first. Some feared it might create new divisions. But the Universalist perspective met a deeply felt need. It has served those who have come to Friends as “refugees” from Christian denominations in which they felt spiritually abused. Others have come from other faiths, such as Judaism and Buddhism, and are grateful to find a religious community that is non-dogmatic and welcoming; a growing number of Friends proclaim themselves non-theists.
This theological diversity has enriched Quakerism in many ways—indeed, there would probably be no Quakers in South America, Africa, and Asia if it were not for splits that led to Quaker missionary efforts—but this complex history has also led to questions that many Friends struggle with. Are Quakers Christian? If not, what binds us together? What makes Quakerism distinctive?
The majority of U.S. Quakers consider themselves Christian. One third belong to Friends United Meeting, and another third are Evangelicals. Worldwide, the vast majority of Friends living in Africa and Latin America are Evangelicals. Kenya alone has 133,000 Quakers, far more than the 50,000 unprogrammed Friends in the United States and Britain.
Two years ago, I felt a leading to reach out to Evangelical Quakers. This came about when I heard the theologian Marcus Borg speak at the Friends General Conference gathering. I asked him, “What is the biggest challenge for interfaith dialogue?” His response startled me. “The real challenge is not interfaith dialogue, but intra-faith dialogue.” He went on to say that some of the bitterest misunderstandings are among people within a faith tradition. That insight spoke to my condition. It was far easier for me as a liberal Quaker to reach out to Muslims than to Evangelical Quakers.
Something seemed wrong with this picture, so I offered to become a representative to Friends World Committee for Consultation, the umbrella group started by Rufus Jones in the 1930s to enable Friends of different theological persuasions to come together and dialogue.
One reason I believe that God has led me to this work is because eight months ago I met my wife at a Peace Parade that took place in Pasadena on Palm Sunday. I went to this parade because the main speaker was Jim Loney, a Christian Peace Team member who was kidnapped along with the Quaker Tom Fox, who was killed by his Iraqi captors. Tom is one of my heroes and I wanted to honor him.
Meeting Jill was a major turning point in my life. She is an Evangelical Christian who defies media stereotypes. She believes passionately in the Bible as the Word of God and Jesus Christ as her savior, and she also believes passionately in social justice and peace. She moved into a low-income neighborhood in Pasadena to be a good neighbor and serve the poor. She started tutoring programs, a gang prevention program, and works for affordable housing.
Jill opened me up to a world of Evangelical Christians who share many of our Quaker values. For example, Professor Glen Stassen of Fuller Seminary has written powerful books arguing for “Just Peacemaking” and he is also a peace activist. (He went to a Quaker high school, and two of his children attended Quaker colleges.) He is part of an Evangelical group called the Matthew 5 project that advocates the abolition of nuclear weapons and the use of diplomacy rather than arms to resolve international conflicts. Jill also knows Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners—an ardent advocate for progressive social change. And finally, Jill introduced me to a young countercultural Evangelical named Shane Claiborne who believes that Jesus is a revolutionary who calls us to work for economic justice. Shane started an intentional community called “The Simple Way” in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Philadelphia. He was also asked to be the keynote speaker at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Jill has made me realize that many Evangelicals are open to many of our Quaker theological beliefs, as long as we can justify them biblically. Some, like Ron Mock, a professor of Political Science and Peace Studies at George Fox University, have a keen interest in the theory as well as practice of Christian peacemaking.
Other Evangelical Friends are taking active steps to promote peace. For example, Evangelical Friends in Rwanda founded Friends Peace House in 2000 because of the genocide that took place in 1994 in which an estimated 800,000 people, about 20 percent of the total population, were killed. The surviving Rwandese were traumatized and destabilized. The young Friends Church of Rwanda, founded only eight years previously, accepted the challenge this posed, and has taken an active part in the rehabilitation of Rwandese society ever since.
In Kenya, where I took part in a pre-Conference program organized by Judy Lumb and David Zarembka, Evangelical Friends are active in trying to insure that violence doesn’t break out during the next election. They are enlisting Friends to help do trainings in the Alternatives to Violence Project.
Ever since 2000, Evangelical and liberal Friends have been working together in the African Great Lakes Initiative to do a variety of peacemaking efforts: trauma healing, community organizing training, conflict resolution training, compassionate listening.
I was not only impressed by how Kenyan Friends live out the Quaker Peace Testimony, I was also intrigued by their theological understanding. In Early Christianity Revised in the Perspective of Friends in Kenya, Zablon Isaac Malenge, one of the leading theologians of Kenya and former General Secretary of Nairobi Yearly Meeting, had a remarkable take on missionaries and the universal basis of Quakerism:
I will tell you a mystery. Many people in this world are practicing Quakerism without being aware of it. Some have never heard of it and yet they are practicing it. Even our great-grandparents might have practiced Quakerism long before missionaries came here. Quakerism is a religion of the soul, the indwelling Spirit, the light within, the light of Christ, the Seed. Missionaries did not bring it to us, but the missionaries revealed it to us and said, ‘This is Quakerism.’
Malenge describes Quakerism as an “old practical religion” that preceded the arrival of Europeans to Africa. It is the religion similar to that of James, the practical apostle, whose letter was a favorite with Quakers. James wrote: “faith without works is dead” and “true religion means taking care of the widows and orphans, and remaining unspotted by the world.” Similarly, Malenge writes:
When Quaker Missionaries came to Africa, and revealed Quakerism to our people, many lesser-known individuals discovered that they had been Quakers long before they had heard of this new movement. They had been caring for one another with compassion, they had aided each other in times of need and trouble and they had been providing companionship in their small communities. They had elders in their communities who handled conflict resolution through dialogue and counseling. Those who were offended were encouraged to reconcile with their offenders and so they forgave one another, loved their neighbors and exercised fairness and justice in their societies.
Reading this passage, I wondered: If Friends cannot unite around theology, could we instead unite around practices like peacemaking and social justice? George Fox said we need to be “salt” and “light”; Jesus urged us to a “Light to the world.” How can we, as a world-wide community of Friends, show that we can indeed be a Light to the world, as well as a preservative that prevents the world from sinking into decay and corruption?
To be “salt and light,” we need to transcend our differences. We need to share our stories, listen to those we disagree with, and be open to a change of heart. We also need to seek common ground wherein we can put our faith into practice. One important lesson I have learned from my marriage to an Evangelical is we don’t have to agree about everything in order to love each other.
American Quakers
Early Christianity Revised
God
Hicksite Quakerism
Anthony Manousos
Anthony Manousos, author of Quakers and the Interfaith Movement, attends Orange Grove Meeting in Pasadena, Calif., where he lives with his wife Jill Shook, author of Making Housing Happen, a book about faith-based affordable housing models. He is currently completing a book about Howard and Anna Brinton. His blog is laquaker.blogspot.com.
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28 thoughts on “Are Quakers Christian, Non-Christian, or Both?”
Quaker Writing on Listening and Speaking from the Heart | Nontheist FriendsMarch 11, 2013 at 5:02 pm
[…] Given this history of divisiveness, I can see why Friends are wary about identifying themselves as Christian or non-Christian. It seems safer, and saner, to keep Christ and God talk to a minimum. I am glad that many Friends are willing to bring up these concerns, however. I think we can be better Quakers if we are honest and admit our differences and have respectful dialogues about theological issues. We can learn much from each other when we open up and share our beliefs and spiritual experiences. And I think we can communicate with those in the ecumenical and interfaith movement, as well as our neighbors of other faiths, when we feel comfortable talking about theology among ourselves in a Friendly, non-exclusive way….If Friends cannot unite around theology, could we instead unite around practices like peacemaking and social justice? George Fox said we need to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’…To be ‘salt and light,’ we need to transcend our differences. We need to share our stories, listen to those we disagree with, and be open to a change of heart. We also need to seek common ground wherein we can put our faith into practice. [Anthony Manousos, “Are Quakers Christian, Non-Christian, or Both?” Friends Journal, 59(2), Feb. 2013, pp. 19-22, online at oldfj.wpengine.com/are-quakers-christian-non-christian-or-both/] […]
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Day 163: Are Quakers Christian, Non-Christian, or Both? Does it Matter? | Finding God in 365 DaysMarch 24, 2013 at 4:01 am
[…] Are Quakers Christian, Non-Christian, or Both? | Friends Journal. […]
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dihappyJune 16, 2013 at 12:17 pm
Nice website.
I just wanted to point something out and let you know i didnt even get past your first paragraph.
Heres why:
“the Gospel of John makes it clear that the Logos/Christ Spirit is present in everyone and everything. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (1:3)”
This is an incorrect statement. The only thing the Gospel of John makes clear is that Christ had a hand in creating all things. This in no way means His “spirit” dwells in all things. The Gospels make it clear that only those who have accepted Christ have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Time and time again this message is preached, and can easily be proven by referencing the original texts/words and comparing how these words were used elsewhere in the Bible.
Well, thats my .02 cents. Your in my prayers.
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Chester KirchmanSeptember 1, 2013 at 8:10 pm
Anthony Manousos, “Are Quakers Christian, Non-Christian, or Both?” actually does an excellent presentation of people actually believing in Quakerism, before being aware of its existence. We all have training and personal beliefs. Without being Christian, the ‘salt and light’ can appear in many people around the world. Love of life, a belief, is to be in each sane individual on earth.
What is believed, can be false in reality. Many United States citizens wish to believe in a valid Justice Court System. However, an attorney at Buzgon-Davis has explained the four Judges in the Lebanon County Court, Pennsylvania that will automatically disregard a twenty year lease, once materials from a flooded home is seen in a picture of a Manufactured Home and the leased lot. Even though a picture the lessor’s considerably more dangerous mess, before the lot was prepared for the Manufactured Home. What we have faith in, may or may not be true. The lessor was trained in a Mennonite School and lied before a District Magistrate, at least twice, after taking a vow to tell the truth with the left hand on the Bible. The District Magistrate insisted the lessee pay for cleaning-up the lessor’s mess and evicted the lessee.
In the United States, the apparent God is money. Many local governments insist people keep their lawns ‘mowed’ within certain regulations. The real reason for this, is artificial value of the property to keep real estate taxes higher. There is total disregard for natural landscaping and the high level of air pollution created by machines used to meet the regulations. To many Christians, this is the right thing to do, to keep the value of their homes and even church buildings at higher levels.
Does it really make any difference, whether Quakers are Christian, some other religion, Agnostic, and/or atheist? With belief in the Quaker Universalist Fellowship, plus similar to Africans presented by Anthony Manousos, practicing Quakerism before joining, this individual has finally found a permanent Honor as a Quaker.
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James TowerDecember 28, 2013 at 1:00 pm
Great article. As an Evangelical Friend who has recently migrated to FUM, I have come at this from the opposite direction. I have struggled greatly in trying to reconcile liberal Quakerism’s positions. I do feel we have much to learn from each other, yet theology is profoundly important to me. It has been said that Evangelical Friends are a politically diverse group bound together by a unified theology, and liberal Friends are a theologically diverse group bound together by the politics of social justice. I am one of those who want to have it both ways. I firmly believe that the gospel is important and that social justice is an expression of the gospel lived out. For me, true Quakerism must embrace not only the theology of social justice embraced by early Friends but the theology of the Gospel from which these expression arose.
While we have divided further along a spectrum over time, I find it odd to be accused by liberal Friends of not being Quaker enough because I have definitive theological beliefs and attend a programmed meeting, when they have virtually turned their back on the theology of early Friends. While many liberal Friends have been more faithful to early Friends worship practices and social justice concerns, I have found a lot of intolerance for someone who gets to the same sorts of practices theologically, though the Bible. How can one person who reveres the name of God speak to those who are offended by it? Shane Claiborne and Ron Mock are heroes to me. They take the Bible seriously and let it shape them with its redemptive message. I too have been shaped powerfully by God through the Bible, as well as by mystical experience. For me, doing good alongside a non-Christocentric Quaker is still good, but what I would rather have is a shared vision of what it means to be working toward the inbreaking Kingdom of God. I want a shared vision of servant evangelism, where service and gospel are working together as they did in the days of early Friends. Frankly, I refuse to settle for anything less. I have a great deal in common with liberal Friends, but if we don’t have Jesus in common, there will always be something of great value missing.
Thank you for your efforts coming toward the middle from the other side!
Agape,
James
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Guy NapthineJanuary 5, 2014 at 11:29 am
Not everyone is going to Heaven. However religious someone might be, God is no respecter of persons and will not save everyone. Christ Jesus alone is the One to whom we must look for soul salvation, forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
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KevinJanuary 20, 2014 at 11:18 am
Thanks for a poignant article. I find the greatest freedom as a disciple of Jesus to follow the Quaker way in joining God in his loving/saving/redemptive work in the world. To know God as final judge (far more righteous than me and anyone I know) and that he has come to all whom he spoke into existence… (John 1:1-18; Romans 1:16-2:4 – hopefully proof texting with some context) is incredibly freeing! It matters not what tradition you ascribe to in the Christian faith nor what Religion you adhere to in the global market. Kevin. Committed to the Gospel and its effects according to Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
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ChristopherMarch 1, 2016 at 5:45 am
Stealing from Al Gore, his soundbit was “An Inconvenient Truth” and it says it all. Truth isn’t what we fancy it ought to be, truth is what it is.
But what is “True” ? Its certainly not for us to decide – if as individuals we say we can decide “what truth is” we are stating that we are “God”. Its for us to weigh the evidence, discard the chaff and accept what remains, however inconvenient it may be.
Somehow we as human’s don’t like being told we messed up – whether that’s teenagers who won’t admit their best attempts have failed, or when they were toddlers and refused to be shown.
Somehow we want to prove to God that we will do something good then having earnt his approval “he’ll owe us”, which is absurd. This is a foundation principle of many world religions.
Many have incorrectly assumed that Jesus left us a set of rules and a way for people to somehow “earn” God’s approval, he didn’t. He challenged us to accept that we can’t “earn” God’s approval, but we can simply ask for it,
Its a gift, if you don’t want it, send it back……………..and since he himself claimed to be God ……
You can’t change what the choices you can choose between are, you simply choose which one you want. Disagreeing is a choice. Agreeing is a choice. You takes your choice and pays your money …..
Jesus himself claimed to be God, He said he has no intention to Judge us, and we will only be separated into those who believe and accept he was God and those who don’t. He made that perfectly clear many times, not least when he had a stand-off with the religious and judgmental community of his day as recorded by mark, (mark ch2).
“Son, your sins are forgiven you.” And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” There are many other examples, this wasn’t an isolated exchange.
Jesus says he isn’t going to Judge (Separate / Choose / use whatever language you wish), but that the people will themselves be “Separated” between those who thought Jesus was God and those who don’t. – boiling down from John 12:47-50
“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. ……… {but}…. There is a judge for the one who rejects me ……….For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. ………………. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
So Jesus was either stark raving mad, or he was God. There is no middle ground. “An Inconvenient Truth” for sure.
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NicholasJanuary 10, 2017 at 2:18 pm
I became interested in Quakerism before even attending a meeting. The words of Fox, Woolman, and others “spoke to my condition”. When I did attend a few meetings (an east coast meeting in Massachusetts) I met some “Christian” Quakers, but also Buddhist Quakers, Wiccan Quakers, and atheist Quakers. I even met one Friend who didn’t know who George Fox was. “Not important”, another Friend told me. Jesus wasn’t mentioned at meeting, and God, if mentioned at all, was referred to in nebulas, all inclusive ways that would make a Unitarian proud. Much of the meeting’s focus was on social issues and concerns – a traditional Quaker focus to be sure, but one that was an expression of Quaker FAITH, never an end in and of itself. Oddly, for me, the Bible – never mentioned at meeting (and not my first source for guidance, that being the Spirit) WAS quoted – when touching on social concerns. I’m a Friend who’s too socially liberal for, and geographically distant from, the Wilburites – but too conservative and traditional for the more liberal Quaker groups that are around me. My life goes on – in endless song – but in a solitary manner, at this point. I identify as a Friend, but am a Friend – without a meeting.
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Mother of SixApril 10, 2017 at 10:41 pm
Why I know that you are not saved…a Christian. In your posts, Jesus, him being God’s Son, his death, on the cross to save us from our sins (You are not saved unless you believe with your heart, and confess with your mouth), and his resurrection and eventually return are not your focus. “Go ye into the all the world and preach the gospel”. As a Christian, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ is always our focus. Christians, those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior and confess him, know and understand that spreading that message….and that message only is what we have been tasked to do by our Savior Jesus Christ. Church organization, meetings, dress codes, denominations, church names..lifestyles (no matter how simple)……are not what Christians do… We live the life and witness to the unsaved as God leads us.
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Shelli HillAugust 15, 2017 at 12:41 pm
When I speak of my experience with God, I can’t speak of anything, but the risen Jesus, whom I have found to be alive, speaking and guiding me from the beginning of my seeking. Other spiritual voices (alive and deceased) have been appreciated throughout my reading and studies (I have a Master degree in Spiritual Formation from Portland Seminary, formerly George Fox Seminary), but none are authoritative, but Jesus. As for Scripture, my understanding of God’s love through Christ came through reading the New Testament without instruction. So, for me, the Scriptures are a powerful way that God reveals Gods self. However, I recognize the danger of going too far. The Scriptures have no power except the Spirit of God enlivens my mind to understand who the true Word is. I have a newfound appreciation for the Quaker saying, “What sayest thou?” It forces me to not be satisfied with only 1st century interaction with God, but to continue to seek God’s voice myself. I consider their testimony and what the Spirit reveals to me as well. I am a Quaker who believes in Jesus as the only Divne incarnation of God. I currently do not have a Meeting to Worship with.
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ToriaSeptember 17, 2017 at 9:01 am
If someone is an atheist and has concern for social justice why don’t they start their own humanist group and practice social justice etc? I don’t understand why atheists would want to attend a meeting that traditionally is based on religious principles.
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`Nancy MottOctober 22, 2018 at 10:05 pm
I like this suggestion. And as a friend of Quakers, please consider how you can be practicing Quakerism if you cannot be friendly toward Friends whose worship practices or theology differs from you. It surely makes your witness weak. And that’s sad.
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Aaron ZachariasMarch 28, 2019 at 8:21 am
Interesting article and thread of replies. I have been to a few Quaker meetings in my city, Vancouver, BC, and here in Monteverde, Costa Rica, where I a currently visiting. I do no identify as Quaker. I am a Christian. I am also an Anglican, but I feel centred in the Jesus Christ of the Four Gospels. I also have the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, from my days as a teenage Jesus freak. What has attracted me to Quakerism has been the focus on social justice, reconcilition and silent prayer. But I have always found something to be spiritually lacking in the meetings I have attended, and have also felt saddened and alienated at the evident hostility in many Friends towards the Christianity of the New Testament, which does involve centring and ordering our lives, not around a nebulous light, but around Jesus, the Light of the World. Just last week I attended Catholic mass in the parish church in nearby Santa Elena. I felt there a sense of God’s Spirit and presence that I have never experienced while in a Quaker meeting. I probably won’t visit the Friends again. There is something lacking when Christ is not the focus. By the same token, I’m not about to convert to Roman Catholicism either. But I do agree that we are all on a journey together, and that whether or not salvation is something universal, really, who knows? I would rather not put God to the test, but continue living my life in a state of holy reverance and awe and of universal kindness towards others.
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Aaron ZachariasMarch 29, 2019 at 9:27 am
Interesting article and thread of replies. I have been to a few Quaker meetings in my city, Vancouver, BC, and here in Monteverde, Costa Rica, where I am currently visiting. I do not identify as Quaker. I am a Christian. I am also an Anglican, but I feel centred in the Jesus Christ of the Four Gospels. I also have the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, from my days as a teenage Jesus freak. What has attracted me to Quakerism has been the focus on social justice, reconcilition and silent prayer. But I have always found something to be spiritually lacking in the meetings I have attended, and have also felt saddened and alienated at the evident hostility in many Friends towards the Christianity of the New Testament, which does involve centring and ordering our lives, not around a nebulous light, but around Jesus, the Light of the World. Just last week I attended Catholic mass in the parish church in nearby Santa Elena. I felt there a sense of God’s Spirit and presence that I have never experienced while in a Quaker meeting. I probably won’t visit the Friends again. There is something lacking when Christ is not the focus. By the same token, I’m not about to convert to Roman Catholicism either. But I do agree that we are all on a journey together, and that whether or not salvation is something universal, really, who knows? I would rather not put God to the test, but continue living my life in a state of holy reverance and awe and of universal kindness towards others.
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Jonathan LloydJuly 23, 2019 at 7:07 am
This is eye-opening and mind-opening for me. Just when I thought I had to run as fast and as far away from Evangelical Christianity as I could, here comes Quakerism. I, too, am married to an evangelical, a Bible-believing woman who holds social justice to heart. But as the Beans discovered and the Hicks discovered the dogma and teaching of the theologians within fundamentalism turn one against the Spirit. Even in these comments on this site you can see and hear the judgmentalism coming from that quarter. It sickens me and just makes me want to turn away from all things fundamentalist–the “it’s me or the highway” approach. I feel the error of fundamentalism; I feel it comes from a deep-set hatred of spiritual truth. It seems to love to circle the wagons, to protect what it has taken, to war from within and without. But Quakerism! This is something to consider, something to hold dear. Maybe the lilacs in the dooryard really can bloom after all–to steal from Walt Whitman.
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Bill RushbyCrown Point NY, May 6, 2021 at 10:37 am
I am also a Wilburite-evangelical Friend without a meeting. I understand your circumstances, but believe that being a genuine Christian calls for fellowship with other Christians; in our case, Christian Friends! For my take on matters of faith, see my essay on “Conservative Friends” https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/qrt/topdownloads.html. Let’s be in touch!
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