Thomas Raymond Kelly (June 4, 1893 – January 17, 1941) was an AmericanQuakereducator. He taught and wrote on the subject ofmysticism. His books are widely read, especially by people interested inspirituality.
Kelly was born in 1893 inChillicothe, Ohio, to a Quaker family (members of the Religious Society of Friends). The branch of Quakerism in which he was raised (WilmingtonYearly Meeting) had been influenced by the 19th century revivalists and worship services were similar to other low-churchProtestant groups.
He graduated in 1913 fromWilmington College as a chemistry major. Then he went toHaverford College just outsidePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, where he came under the mentoring ofRufus Jones, a prominent Friend. It was at this time that he came into contact with the more traditionalmystical vein of the Religious Society of Friends.
Kelly went to Hartford Theological Seminary to be trained as a missionary and he desired to serve inAsia. WhenWorld War I broke out, he signed up to work for theYMCA with the troops in training atSalisbury Plain in England.[1] He eventually worked with German prisoners of war. He was fired as he and many of his colleagues became ardent pacifists and the military did not want persons with those views to have access to military personnel. When he returned to theUnited States he completed hisSeminary training and married Lael Macy.[2]
Kelly taught for two years (1919–1921) at his alma mater, Wilmington College. Then he went back toHartford Seminary where he earned adoctorate[3] inphilosophy and an induction toPhi Beta Kappa. He and his wife then went toBerlin and worked with theAmerican Friends' Service Committee in the child feeding program, where they were instrumental in founding the Quaker community in Germany.
When he returned he was appointed head of the Philosophy Department ofEarlham College inRichmond, Indiana. He was unhappy there and came to realize that he did not agree with much of hisevangelical background anymore.
In 1930 Kelly began working on a second Ph.D. atHarvard. While working on this degree he taught atWellesley College (1931–1932) and again at Earlham (1932–1935). In 1935, he went to teach at theUniversity of Hawaii[4] and began advanced research inEastern philosophies.
In 1936, Kelly became a professor atHaverford College.[4] He published thedissertation for his second doctorate in 1937, but he failed in the oral defense due to a memory lapse;[3] this failure put Kelly into a period of grief, during which time he apparently had a spiritual awakening.
In 1938, Kelly went to Germany to encourage Friends living underHitler's regime.[1]
Kelly received word on January 17, 1941, that Harper and Brothers was willing to meet with him to discuss the publication of a devotional book. He died of a heart attack inHaverford, Pennsylvania, later that same day.[5] Three months later Kelly's colleague,Douglas V. Steere, submitted five of Kelly's devotional essays to the publisher along with a biographical sketch of Kelly. The book was published under the titleA Testament of Devotion.[6] Some of his other essays have been collected in a book entitledThe Eternal Promise.[7] A formal biography was written by his son, Richard Kelly[2] in 1966, and published by Harper and Row.
Kelly was married to Lael and they had two children, Lois and Richard.[8]
