Quakers and Mysticism

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Introduction: Quaker Engagements with Mysticism

   • Jon R. Kershner

   Pages 1-22

3. “Meeting”: The Mystical Legacy of George Fox

   • Michael Birkel, Marie Vandenbark

   Pages 23-42

4. James Nayler and Jacob Boehme’s The Way to Christ

   • Carole Dale Spencer

   Pages 43-61

5. How Ecology and Economics Brought Winstanley and Nitobe to Quakerism

   • Stephanie Midori Komashin

   Pages 63-83

6. Robert Barclay and Kabbalah

   • Michael Birkel

   Pages 85-99

7. Elizabeth Ashbridge and Spiritual Autobiography: The Old Awakened in the New

   • Michele Lise Tarter

   Pages 101-119

8. John Woolman’s Christological Model of Discernment

   • Jon R. Kershner

   Pages 121-140

9. Hannah Whitall Smith’s Highway of Holiness

   • Carole Dale Spencer

   Pages 141-159

10. The Unifying Light of Allah: Ibn Tufayl and Rufus Jones in Dialogue

    • Christy Randazzo, David Russell

    Pages 161-180

11. Howard Thurman (1899–1981): Universalist Approaches to Buddhism and Quakerism

    • Stephen W. Angell

    Pages 181-199

12. The Singing Mysticism: Kenyan Quakerism, the Case of Gideon W. H. Mweresa

    • Esther Mombo

    Pages 201-219

13. Liberal Quakers and Buddhism

    • Sallie B. King

    Pages 221-239

14. Conclusion

    • Thomas Cattoi

    Pages 241-248

15. Back Matter

    Pages 249-255

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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, Abū 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.

• Nayler
• Boehme
• Winstanley
• Nitobe
• Barclay
• Quakerism

“The Quaker tradition, with its commitment to the immediacy of God, the internalization of religious experience, and dedication to the Inward Light, has always had a natural affinity to mysticism. Despite much recent attention to the history of Quakerism, what has been lacking has been an in-depth account of Quaker mysticism. That gap is now filled by this fine collection of essays, which provides insightful studies of major Quaker mystics from George Fox to Rufus Jones and beyond.” (Bernard McGinn, Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus, Divinity School, University of Chicago, USA)

“This rich volume presents Quaker worship, life and thought as meeting-spaces and gathering-points for diverse strands of religious life. Presenting specific examples carefully and persuasively, it enables a fresh, more nuanced and more expansive look at what it means to belong to a tradition of religious thought and practice – and what it means to engage in dialogue or encounter between traditions.Scholars of Quakerism, of mysticism or of comparative theology and spirituality will find valuable new perspectives in this book.” (Rachel Muers, Professor of Theology, University of Leeds, UK)

“This important and much-needed volume underscores the way in which the Quakers, across time and in different traditions, have seen mystical experience as a sufficient theological authority for their patterns of liturgy, ecclesiology and soteriology, rather than as an additional aspect of church life. This then is a must-read book for all scholars of religion.” (Ben Pink Dandelion, Programmes Leader, Centre for Research in Quaker Studies, Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, UK)

 

• Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, USA

  Jon R. Kershner

Jon R. Kershner teaches in the Religion department at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, USA.

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