Quakers
Quakers or the Religious Society of Friends are a Protestant denomination formed as a radical group in 17th century England. Its main base became Philadelphia in the colony of Pennsylvania. Quakers were active leaders of many American reform movements, such as abolition, Indians' rights, prohibition, women's rights, and peace. The most famous British Quakers were George Fox and William Penn. Famous Americans include abolitionist John Brown, feminist Lucretia Mott, and presidents Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon.
Current status
There are about 100,000 Quakers in the United States today. Hamm (2003) identifies seven currently contested issues--the centrality of Christ, leadership, religious authority, sexuality, identity, unity, and growth. The Quakers are heavily involved with the Peace Testimony, support for "People of Color," the American Friends Service Committee, and the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
About 20,000 Quakers now live in Britain, and several thousand in Canada. Overseas missions, starting in 1903, were most successful in Africa, especially Kenya, which has 300,000 Quakers in 15 Yearly Metings.[1]
Quaker beliefs
While there is a wide range of beliefs among American Friends in the 21st century, the central ones, almost universally shared, are worship based on the leading of the Spirit; the ministry of all believers; decision making through the traditional Quaker business process; simplicity as a basic philosophy of life; and a commitment to education as a manifestation of Quaker faith."[2]
History
Bibliography
- Barbour, Hugh, and J. William Frost. The Quakers. Greenwood Press. 1988, 412pp; historical survey, including many capsule biographies online edition
- Barbour, Hugh. The Quakers in Puritan England (1964).
- Benjamin, Philip. Philadelphia Quakers in an Age of Industrialism, 1870-1920 (1976),
- Braithwaite, William C. The Beginnings of Quakerism (1912); revised by Henry J. Cadbury (1955) online edition
- Braithwaite, William C. Second Period of Quakerism (1919); revised by Henry Cadbury (1961), covers 1660 to 1720s
- Brock, Peter. Pioneers of the Peaceable Kingdom (1968), on peace Testimony from the 1650s to 1900.
- Bronner, Edwin B. William Penn's Holy Experiment (1962)
- Doherty, Robert. The Hicksite Separation (1967), uses the new social history to inquire who joined which side
- Dunn, Mary Maples. William Penn: Politics and Conscience (1967)
- Frost, J. William. The Quaker Family in Colonial America: A Portrait of the Society of Friends (1973), emphasis on social structure and family life
- Frost, J. William. "The Origins of the Quaker Crusade against Slavery: A Review of Recent Literature," Quaker History 67 (1978): 42-58,
- Hamm, Thomas. The Quakers in America. Columbia University Press, 2003. 293 pp., very well reviewed overview of both historical and current conditions
- Hamm, Thomas. The Transformation of American
Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800-1907 (1988), looks at the impact of the Holiness movement on the Orthodox faction
- Hewitt, Nancy. Women's Activism and Social Change (1984).
- Ingle, H. Larry Quakers in Conflict: The Hicksite Reformation (1986)
- James, Sydney. A People among Peoples: Quaker Benevolence in Eighteenth-Century America (1963), a broad ranging study that remains the best history in America before 1800
- Jones, Rufus M., Amelia M. Gummere, and Isaac Sharpless. Quakers in the American Colonies (1911) to 1775 online edition
- Jones, Rufus M. Later Periods of Quakerism, 2 vols. (1921), covers England and America until World War I.
- Jones, Rufus M. The Story of George Fox (1919) 169 pages online edition
- Jones, Rufus M. A Service of Love in War Time: American Friends Relief Work in Europe, 1917-1919 (1922) online edition
- Jordan, Ryan. "The Dilemma of Quaker Pacifism in a Slaveholding Republic, 1833-1865," Civil War History, Vol. 53, 2007 online edition
- Nash, Gary. Quakers and Politics: Pennsylvania, 1680-1726 (1968),
- Russell, Elbert. The History of Quakerism (1942). online edition
- Smuck, Harold. Friends in East Africa (Richmond, Ind.: 1987)
- Trueblood, D. Elton The People Called Quakers (1966)
- Tolles, Frederick B. Meeting House and Counting House'; (1948)
- Tolles, Frederick B. Quakers and the Atlantic Culture (1960)
- Vlach, John Michael. "Quaker Tradition and the Paintings of Edward Hicks: A Strategy for the Study of Folk Art," Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 94, 1981 online edition
- Yarrow, Clarence H. The Quaker Experience in International Conciliation (1979), for post-1945
Primary sources
- Gummere, Amelia, ed. The Journal and Essays of John Woolman (1922) online edition