by Eleanor Coss Quaker Meetings for Worship are one of the things I find hardest to explain to people who have never experienced them. It sounds so dull: you sit in silence for an hour and try very hard not to think about what you’re going to have for lunch. Then someone stands up and…
by Simon Colbeck To answer this question like a Quaker I’ll start by saying “It depends what you mean by “why””. No single answer is enough. In one sense I’m a Quaker because my parents made the decision for me. They were quite religious people and when I was about ten they decided that the…
by Wess Daniels I found old school Quakerism in a place that may surprise my liberal unprogrammed F/friends, in an Evangelical Friends college that had largely forgotten its historical Quaker roots. I grew up a nominal Catholic and in my early teens my family began attending a charismatic Evangelical church. It was there that I…
By Sam Barnett-Cormack On my bag, I have a badge, and on social media, I have an avatar, and both say “I’m a Quaker – ask me whyâ€; that last one was just for Quaker Week, though. People are still slow to ask, but every little helps when letting people know what Quakers are really…
By Paul Levy For me being a Quaker is about thinking about others and the world when I make decisions, not something I find easy, I think that in me there is a very selfish person whom Quakerism helps keep in check. I found Quakerism because of spending a life changing two weeks with a…
The 2012 Swarthmore Lecture by Rachel Brett, reviewed by Mark Hoda After attending the Quaker United Nations Summer School in 2001, I remember feeling really uplifted by all the behind the scenes diplomatic conciliation that the Quaker United Nations office (QUNO) in Geneva facilitates. Students who attend QUNO’s annual summer school hear scores of diplomats, officials…
The 1913 Swarthmore Lecture by Joshua Rowntree, reviewed by John Hall The name of Joshua Rowntree is not as familiar to twenty-first century Friends as other historical members of his clan. However, as the nineteenth century turned into the twentieth, Joshua Rowntree (1844-1915) was well known to his contemporaries in the Society. He was the…
Advices & Queries 37 by John Hall. #37 Are you honest and truthful in all you say and do? Do you maintain strict integrity in business transactions and in your dealings with individuals and organisations? Do you use money and information entrusted to you with discretion and responsibility? Taking oaths implies a double standard of…
This is the 14th Nayler podcast. There’s a round-up from Britain Yearly Meeting that took place in 05/2012, plus an interview with Jess Metheringham, organiser of an event for politically-engaged Young Friends. And the podcast starts out with an interview with Ken Schroeder who is on a pilgrimage from Portugal to Egypt. Click here to…
The thirteenth Nayler podcast is a discussion with Paul Parker about ‘Whoosh!’ and how Quakers in Britain can share their faith vibrantly in the 21st century. Click here to access the podcast. Nayler podcasts are also available on itunes (Nayler’s posterous).