"Society of Friends" redirects here. For the Greek movement for independence, seeFiliki Eteria. For the followers of the Public Universal Friend, seePublic Universal Friend. For the associations known as Friendly Societies, seeFriendly Society.
For the sect that broke off from the Quakers in the mid-18th century, seeShakers.
Religious Society of Friends
George Fox, the principal early leader of the Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to theReligious Society of Friends, originally known as simply the Society of Friends, a historicallyProtestant Christian set ofdenominations. Members refer to each other as Friends afterJohn 15:14 in the Bible. Originally, others referred to them as Quakers because the founder of the movement,George Fox, told a judge to "quake before the authority of God".[2]
Some 89% of Quakers worldwide belong toevangelical andprogrammed branches that hold services with singing and a preparedBible message coordinated by a pastor (with the largest Quaker group being theEvangelical Friends Church International).[11][12] Some 11% practicewaiting worship orunprogrammed worship (commonlyMeeting for Worship),[13] where the unplanned order of service is mainly silent and may include unprepared vocal ministry from those present. Some meetings of both types haveRecorded Ministers present, Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry.[14]
Quakerism is amystical Christian movement variously described as bothproto-evangelical anduniversalistic,quietist andprogressive. It arose in mid-17th-century England from theLegatine-Arians and otherdissenting Protestant groups breaking with theestablishedChurch of England.[15] The Quakers, especially theValiant Sixty, sought to convert others by travelling through Britain and overseas preaching the Gospel; some early Quaker ministers were women.[16] They based their message on a belief that "Christ has come to teach his people himself", stressing direct relations with God throughJesus Christ and belief in the universal priesthood of all believers.[17] This personal religious experience ofChrist was acquired by direct experience and by reading and studying theBible.[18]
Friends focused their private lives on behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity and the light of God, with a goal ofChristian perfection.[19][20] A prominent theological text of the Religious Society of Friends isA Catechism and Confession of Faith (1673), published by Quaker divineRobert Barclay.[21][22] TheRichmond Declaration of Faith (1887) was adopted by manyOrthodox Friends and continues to serve as a doctrinal statement of many yearly meetings.[23][24]
Religious strife in theKingdom of England had existed for centuries, withproto-Protestant groups (mainly theLollards) emerging before theEnglish Reformation brought radical ideas to the mainstream. During and after theEnglish Civil War (1642–1651) manydissenting Christian groups emerged, including theSeekers and others. A young man,George Fox, was dissatisfied with the teachings of theChurch of England andnonconformists. Whilst living inMansfield,Nottinghamshire in 1647 he claimed to have received a revelation that "there is one, even Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition",[29] and became convinced that it was possible to have a direct experience of Christ without the aid of ordained clergy. In 1652 he had avision onPendle Hill in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that "the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered".[29] Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands,[30] andBarbados[31] preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith. The central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself.[29] Fox considered himself to be restoring a true, "pure" Christian church.[32]
In 1650, Fox was brought before themagistratesGervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religiousblasphemy. According to Fox's autobiography, Bennet "was the first that called us Quakers, because I bade them tremble at the word of the Lord".[29]: 125 It is thought that Fox was referring toIsaiah 66:2 orEzra 9:4. Thus the nameQuaker began as a way of ridiculing Fox's admonition, but became widely accepted and used by some Quakers.[33] Quakers also described themselves using terms such as true Christianity, Saints, Children of the Light, and Friends of Truth, reflecting terms used in the New Testament by members of the early Christian church.
James Nayler, a prominent Quaker leader, being pilloried and whipped
Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, not least among women. An address "To the Reader" byMary Forster accompanied a Petition to theParliament of England presented on 20 May 1659, expressing the opposition of over 7000 women to "the oppression of Tithes".[34] The overall number of Quakers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680[35] (1.15% of the population of England and Wales).[35] But the dominant discourse of Protestantism viewed the Quakers as a blasphemous challenge to social and political order,[36] leading to official persecution in England and Wales under theQuaker Act 1662 and theConventicle Act 1664. This persecution of dissenters was relaxed after theDeclaration of Indulgence (1687–1688) and stopped under theAct of Toleration 1689.
One modern view of Quakerism at this time was that the direct relationship with Christ was encouraged through spiritualisation of human relations, and "the redefinition of the Quakers as a holy tribe, 'the family and household of God'".[37] Together withMargaret Fell, the wife ofThomas Fell, who was the vice-chancellor of theDuchy of Lancaster and an eminent judge, Fox developed new conceptions of family and community that emphasised "holy conversation": speech and behaviour that reflected piety, faith, and love.[38] With the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women; Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing "holy conversation" in her children and husband.[37] Quaker women were also responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in "meetings" that regulated marriage and domestic behaviour.[39]
The persecution of Quakers in North America began in July 1656 when English Quaker missionariesMary Fisher andAnn Austin began preaching in Boston.[40] They were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to theInward light. They were imprisoned in harsh conditions for five weeks and banished by theMassachusetts Bay Colony.[40][41] Their books were burned, and most of their property confiscated.[40]
Quaker Mary Dyer led to execution on Boston Common, 1 June 1660.
In 1660, English QuakerMary Dyer was hanged near[42]Boston Common for repeatedly defying aPuritan law banning Quakers from the colony.[43] She was one of the four executed Quakers known as theBoston martyrs. In 1661,King Charles II forbade Massachusetts from executing anyone for professing Quakerism.[44] In 1684, Englandrevoked the Massachusetts charter, sent over a royal governor to enforce English laws in 1686 and, in 1689, passed a broad Toleration Act.[44]
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania and West Jersey, as a young man
Some Friends migrated to what is now the north-eastern region of the United States in the 1660s in search of economic opportunities and a more tolerant environment in which to build communities of "holy conversation".[45] In 1665 Quakers established a meeting inShrewsbury, New Jersey (now Monmouth County), and built a meeting house in 1672 that was visited by George Fox in the same year.[46] They were able to establish thriving communities in theDelaware Valley, although they continued to experience persecution in some areas, such asNew England. The three colonies that tolerated Quakers at this time wereWest Jersey,Rhode Island, andPennsylvania, where Quakers established themselves politically. In Rhode Island, 36 governors in the first 100 years were Quakers. West Jersey and Pennsylvania were established by affluent QuakerWilliam Penn in 1676 and 1682 respectively, with Pennsylvania as an American commonwealth run under Quaker principles. William Penn signed a peace treaty withTamanend, leader of theLenape,[47] and other treaties followed between Quakers and Native Americans.[32] This peace endured almost a century, until thePenn's Creek Massacre of 1755.[48] Early colonial Quakers also established communities and meeting houses in North Carolina and Maryland, after fleeing persecution by the Anglican Church in Virginia.[49]
In a 2007 interview, author David Yount (How the Quakers Invented America) said that Quakers first introduced many ideas from England that later became mainstream, such as democracy in the Pennsylvania legislature, theBill of Rights to theU.S. Constitution from Rhode Island Quakers, trial by jury, equal rights for men and women, and public education. TheLiberty Bell was cast by Quakers inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.[50]
Early Quakerism tolerated boisterous behaviour that challenged conventional etiquette; however, by 1700, its adherents no longer supported disruptive and unruly behaviour.[51] During the 18th century, Quakers entered theQuietist period in the history of their church, becoming more inward-looking spiritually and less active in converting others. Marrying outside the Society was cause for having one's membership revoked. Numbers dwindled, dropping to 19,800 in England and Wales by 1800 (0.21% of the population),[35] and 13,859 by 1860 (0.07% of population).[35] The formal name "Religious Society of Friends" dates from this period and was probably derived from the appellations "Friends of the Light" and "Friends of Truth".[52]
The divisions of Quakers 1800–1900s. Orthodox adopt "mainstreamProtestant orthodoxy". Liberals value theInner Light over the Bible. Conservatives want to conserve the Inner Light over outwardevangelicalism. Late 1800s many meetings became programmed (pastoral) with splits by unprogrammed meetings. 2019Beanite - 2 Yearly Meetings joined FGC, 1 YM remained unaffiliated. (US and world membership K=1,000. 49% in Africa) WWIpeace work brought the diverse Friends together in followship formalized with theFriends World Committee for Consultation in 1937.
Around the time of theAmerican Revolutionary War, some American Quakers split from the main Society of Friends over issues such as support for the war, forming groups such as theFree Quakers and theUniversal Friends.[53] Later, in the 19th century, there was a diversification of theological beliefs in the Religious Society of Friends, and this led to several larger splits within the movement.
The Hicksite–Orthodox split arose out of both ideological and socioeconomic tensions. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Hicksites tended to be agrarian and poorer than the more urban, wealthier, Orthodox Quakers. With increasing financial success, Orthodox Quakers wanted to "make the Society a more respectable body – to transform their sect into a church – by adopting mainstream Protestant orthodoxy".[54] Hicksites, though they held a variety of views, generally saw the market economy as corrupting, and believed Orthodox Quakers had sacrificed their orthodox Christian spirituality for material success. Hicksites viewed the Bible as secondary to the individual cultivation of God's light within.[55]
With Gurneyite Quakers' shift toward Protestant principles and away from the spiritualisation of human relations, women's role as promoters of "holy conversation" started to decrease. Conversely, within the Hicksite movement the rejection of the market economy and the continuing focus on community and family bonds tended to encourage women to retain their role as powerful arbiters.
Elias Hicks's religious views were claimed to beuniversalist and to contradict Quakers' historical orthodox Christian beliefs and practices. Hicks' Gospel preaching and teaching precipitated theGreat Separation of 1827, which resulted in a parallel system of Yearly Meetings in America, joined by Friends from Philadelphia, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Baltimore. They were referred to by opponents as Hicksites and by others and sometimes themselves as Orthodox. Quakers in Britain recognised only the Orthodox Quakers and refused to correspond with the Hicksites.
Isaac Crewdson was aRecorded Minister inManchester. His 1835 bookA Beacon to the Society of Friends insisted that the inner light was at odds with a religious belief insalvation by theatonement of Christ.[56]: 155 This Christian controversy led to Crewdson's resignation from the Religious Society of Friends, along with 48 fellow members of Manchester Meeting and about 250 other British Quakers in 1836–1837. Some of these joined thePlymouth Brethren.
Rise of Gurneyite Quakerism, and the Gurneyite–Conservative split
Joseph John Gurney was a prominent 19th-century British Friend and a strong proponent of evangelical views.
Orthodox Friends became moreevangelical during the 19th century[57] and were influenced by theSecond Great Awakening. This movement was led by British QuakerJoseph John Gurney. Christian Friends heldRevival meetings in America and became involved in theHoliness movement of churches. Quakers such asHannah Whitall Smith andRobert Pearsall Smith became speakers in the religious movement and introduced Quaker phrases and practices to it.[56]: 157 British Friends became involved with theHigher Life movement, with Robert Wilson from theCockermouth meeting founding theKeswick Convention.[56]: 157 From the 1870s it became common in Britain to have "home mission meetings" on Sunday evening with Christian hymns and a Bible-based sermon, alongside the silent meetings for worship on Sunday morning.[56]: 155
The Quaker Yearly Meetings supporting the religious beliefs of Joseph John Gurney were known asGurneyite yearly meetings. Many eventually collectively became the Five Years Meeting (FYM) and then theFriends United Meeting, althoughLondon Yearly Meeting, which had been strongly Gurneyite in the 19th century, did not join either of these. In 1924, theCentral Yearly Meeting of Friends, a Gurneyite yearly meeting, was started by some Friends who left the Five Years Meeting due to a concern of what they saw as the allowance of modernism in the FYM.[58]
Some Orthodox Quakers in America disliked the move towards evangelical Christianity and saw it as a dilution of Friends' traditional orthodox Christian belief in being inwardly led by theHoly Spirit. These Friends were headed byJohn Wilbur, who was expelled from his yearly meeting in 1842. He and his supporters formed their own Conservative Friends Yearly Meeting. Some UK Friends broke away from theLondon Yearly Meeting for the same reason in 1865. They formed a separate body of Friends calledFritchley General Meeting, which remained distinct and separate from London Yearly Meeting until 1968. Similar splits took place in Canada. The Yearly Meetings that supported John Wilbur's religious beliefs became known asConservative Friends.
In 1887, a Gurneyite Quaker of British descent,Joseph Bevan Braithwaite, proposed to Friends a statement of faith known as theRichmond Declaration. Supported by many of the older, longstanding members in the London Yearly Meeting, Braithwaite saw the Richmond Declaration of Faith as being a bulwark against "unsound and dangerous doctrine" in times when Friends were "in a state of discipline and warfare".[59] This statement of faith was agreed to by 95 of the representatives at a meeting ofFive Years Meeting Friends, but unexpectedly the Richmond Declaration was not adopted by London Yearly Meeting because a vocal minority, includingEdward Grubb, opposed it.[60]
Fifteen years after the signing on the Richmond Declaration, Five Years Meeting was established in 1902 by a collection of orthodox yearly meetings. In 1963 Five Years Meeting was renamedFriends United Meeting.
Friends' Syrian Mission, 1874, built this mission house inRamallah.
Following theChristian revivals in the mid-19th century, Friends in Great Britain sought also to start missionary activity overseas. The first missionaries were sent toBenares (Varanasi), in India, in 1866. The Friends Foreign Mission Association was formed in 1868 and sent missionaries toMadhya Pradesh, India, forming what is now the Mid-India Yearly Meeting. Later it spread toMadagascar from 1867, China from 1896,Sri Lanka from 1896, andPemba Island from 1897.[61]
Cleveland Friends went toMombasa, Kenya, and started what became the most successful Friends' mission. Their Quakerism spread withinKenya and toUganda,Tanzania,Burundi, andRwanda.
Thetheory of evolution as described inCharles Darwin'sOn the Origin of Species (1859) was opposed by many Quakers in the 19th century,[65] particularly by older evangelical Quakers who dominated the Religious Society of Friends in Great Britain. These older Quakers were suspicious of Darwin's theory and believed thatnatural selection could not explain life on its own.[66] The influential Quaker scientistEdward Newman[67] said that the theory was "not compatible with our notions of creation as delivered from the hands of a Creator".
However, some young Friends such asJohn Wilhelm Rowntree andEdward Grubb supported Darwin's theories, using the doctrine of progressive revelation.[66] In the United States, Joseph Moore taught the theory of evolution at the QuakerEarlham College as early as 1861.[68] This made him one of the first teachers to do so in the Midwest.[69] Acceptance of the theory of evolution became more widespread in Yearly Meetings who moved toward liberal Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries.[70] However,creationism predominates within evangelical Friends Churches, particularly in East Africa and parts of the United States.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the so-called Quaker Renaissance movement began within London Yearly Meeting. Young Friends in London Yearly Meeting at this time moved away from evangelicalism and towards liberal Christianity.[71] This movement was particularly influenced by Rowntree, Grubb, andRufus Jones. Such Liberal Friends promoted the theory of evolution, modernbiblical criticism, and the social meaning of Christ's teaching – encouraging Friends to follow the New Testament example of Christ by performing good works. These men downplayed the evangelical Quaker belief in theatonement of Christ on the Cross atCalvary.[71] After the Manchester Conference in England in 1895, one thousand British Friends met to consider the future of British Quakerism, and as a result, Liberal Quaker thought gradually increased within the London Yearly Meeting.[72]
Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU), a volunteer service founded by British Quakers, with a FAU ambulance and driver pictured in Germany in 1945
Formal legislation to exemptconscientious objectors from fighting was first granted in Great Britain in 1757 when Quakers were given exemption from military service, which was a milestone infreedom of conscience.[73]
DuringWorld War I andWorld War II, Friends' opposition to war was put to the test. Many Friends became conscientious objectors and some in Britain formed theFriends Ambulance Unit, aiming at "co-operating with others to build up a new world rather than fighting to destroy the old", as did theAmerican Friends Service Committee.Birmingham in England had a strong Quaker community during the war.[74] Many British Quakers were conscripted into theNon-Combatant Corps during both world wars.
After the two world wars had brought the different Quaker strands closer together, Friends from different yearly meetings – many having served together in the Friends Ambulance Unit or the American Friends Service Committee, or in other relief work – later held several Quaker World Conferences. This brought about a standing body of Friends: theFriends World Committee for Consultation.
A growing desire for a more fundamentalist approach among some Friends after the First World War began a split amongFive Years Meetings. In 1924, theCentral Yearly Meeting of Friends was started by some Friends who left the Five Years Meeting.[58] In 1926, Oregon Yearly Meeting seceded from the Five Years Meeting, bringing together several other yearly meetings and scattered monthly meetings.
In the 1650s, individual Quaker women prophesied and preached publicly, developing charismatic personae and spreading the sect. This practice was bolstered by the movement's firm concept of spiritual equality for men and women.[76] Moreover, Quakerism initially was propelled by the nonconformist behaviours of its followers, especially women who broke from social norms.[77] By the 1660s, the movement had gained a more structured organisation, which led to separate women's meetings.[78] Through the women's meetings, women oversaw domestic and community life, including marriage.[39] From the beginning, Quaker women, notablyMargaret Fell, played an important role in defining Quakerism.[79][80] They were involved in missionary work in various ways and places. Early Quaker women missionaries included Sarah Cheevers and Katharine Evans. Others active in proselytising includedMary Penington,Mary Mollineux andBarbara Blaugdone.[81] Quaker women published at least 220 texts during the 17th century.[82] However, some Quakers resented the power of women in the community.
In the early years of Quakerism, George Fox faced resistance in developing and establishing women's meetings. As controversy increased, Fox did not fully adhere to his agenda. For example, he established the London Six Weeks Meeting in 1671 as a regulatory body, led by 35 women and 49 men.[83] Even so, conflict culminated in the Wilkinson–Story split, in which a portion of the Quaker community left to worship independently in protest at women's meetings.[84] After several years, this schism became largely resolved, testifying to the resistance of some within the Quaker community and to the spiritual role of women that Fox and Margaret Fell had encouraged. Particularly within the relatively prosperous Quaker communities of the eastern United States, the focus on the child and "holy conversation" gave women unusual community power, although they were largely excluded from the market economy. With the Hicksite–Orthodox split of 1827–1828, Orthodox women found their spiritual role decreased, while Hicksite women retained greater influence.
According toQuakers In The World, "The Women's Suffrage Movement in the USA is widely considered to date from the First Women's Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York State in 1848. This meeting was instigated by five women who had been closely involved in the abolition of slavery, all but one of whom were Quakers."[85]
Quakers have a long history of establishing educational institutions. Initially, Quakers had no ordainedclergy, and therefore needed noseminaries for theological training. In England, Quaker schools sprang up soon after the movement emerged, withFriends School Saffron Walden being the most prominent.[91] Quaker schools in the UK and Ireland are supported by The Friends' Schools' Council.[92] In Australia,Friends' School, Hobart, founded in 1887, has grown into the largest Quaker school in the world. In Britain and the United States, friends have established a variety of institutions at a variety ofeducational levels. In Kenya, Quakers founded several primary and secondary schools in the first half of the 20th century beforethe country's independence in 1963.[93]
The QuakerEdith Pye established a national Famine Relief Committee in May 1942, encouraging a network of local famine relief committees, among the most energetic of which was the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief,Oxfam.[95]Irving andDorothy Stowe co-foundedGreenpeace with many other environmental activists in 1971, shortly after becoming Quakers.[96]
Some Quakers in America and Britain became known for their involvement in the abolitionist movement. In the early history ofColonial America, it was fairly common for Friends to own slaves,e.g. in Pennsylvania. Following moves by Britain Yearly Meeting to pursue an agenda leading to reparations for Quaker involvement in slavery, Ann Morgan published in 2024 her study of the involvement of Lancaster Quakers in the enslavement economy.[97][98] During the early to mid-1700s, disquiet about this practice arose among Friends, best exemplified by the testimonies ofBenjamin Lay,Anthony Benezet andJohn Woolman, and this resulted in an abolition movement among Friends.
Nine of the twelve founding members of theSociety for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, or The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, were Quakers:[99]John Barton (1755–1789);William Dillwyn (1743–1824); George Harrison (1747–1827);Samuel Hoare Jr (1751–1825); Joseph Hooper (1732–1789); John Lloyd;Joseph Woods Sr (1738–1812); James Phillips (1745–1799); and Richard Phillips.[100] Five of the Quakers had been amongst the informal group of six Quakers who had pioneered the movement in 1783, when the first petition against the slave trade was presented to Parliament. As Quakers could not serve as Members of Parliament, they relied on the help of Anglican men who could, such asWilliam Wilberforce and his brother-in-lawJames Stephen.
One example of a reversal in sentiment about slavery took place in the life ofMoses Brown, one of four Rhode Island brothers who, in 1764, organized and funded the tragic and fateful voyage of theslave shipSally.[102] Brown broke away from his three brothers, became an abolitionist, and converted to Christian Quakerism. During the 19th century, Quakers such asLevi Coffin andIsaac Hopper played a major role in helping enslaved people escape through theUnderground Railroad.[103] Black QuakerPaul Cuffe, a sea captain and businessman, was active in the abolitionist andresettlement movement in the early part of that century.[104] QuakerLaura Smith Haviland, with her husband, established the first station on the Underground Railroad in Michigan. Later, Haviland befriendedSojourner Truth, who called her the Superintendent of the Underground Railroad.[105]
However, in the 1830s, the abolitionistGrimké sisters dissociated themselves from the Quakers "when they saw that Negro Quakers were segregated in separate pews in the Philadelphia meeting house".[106]
Quakers' theological beliefs vary considerably. Tolerance of dissent widely varies among yearly meetings.[107] Most Friends believe incontinuing revelation: that God continuously reveals truth directly to individuals. George Fox, an "early Friend", said, "Christ has come to teach His people Himself".[29] Friends often focus on trying to feel the presence of God. AsIsaac Penington wrote in 1670, "It is not enough to hear of Christ, or read of Christ, but this is the thing – to feel him to be my root, my life, and my foundation..."[108] Quakers reject the idea ofpriests, believing in thepriesthood of all believers. Some express their concept of God using phrases such as "the inner light", "inward light of Christ", or "Holy Spirit".[109]
Diverse theological beliefs, understandings of the "leading of the Holy Spirit", and statements of "faith and practice" have always existed among Friends.[110] Due in part to the emphasis on immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, Quaker doctrines have only at times been codified as statements of faith, confessions or theological texts. Those that exist include theLetter to the Governor of Barbados (Fox, 1671),[111]An Apology for the True Christian Divinity (Barclay, 1678),[112]A Catechism and Confession of Faith (Barclay, 1690),[113]The Testimony of the Society of Friends on the Continent of America (adopted jointly by allOrthodox yearly meetings in the United States, 1830),[114] theRichmond Declaration of Faith (adopted byFive Years Meeting, 1887),[115] andEssential Truths (Jones and Wood, adopted byFive Years Meeting, 1922).[116] Most yearly meetings make a public statement of faith in their ownBook of Discipline, expressing Christian discipleship within the experience of Friends in that yearly meeting.
Conservative Friends worshipping in London in 1809. Friends are in traditionalplain dress. At the front of the meeting house, theRecorded Ministers sit on a raisedministers' gallery facing the rest of the meeting, with the elders sitting on the bench in front of them, also facing the meeting. Men and women are segregated, but both are able to minister.
Conservative Friends (also known as "Wilburites" after their founder,John Wilbur), share some of the beliefs of Fox and the Early Friends. Many Wilburites see themselves as the Quakers whose beliefs are truest to original Quaker doctrine, arguing that the majority of Friends "broke away" from the Wilburites in the 19th and 20th centuries (rather than vice versa). Conservative Friends place their trust in the immediate guidance of God.[117] They reject all forms ofreligious symbolism and outwardsacraments, such as theEucharist andwater baptism. Conservative Friends do not rely on the practice of outward rites and sacraments in their living relationship with God through Christ, believing that holiness can exist in all of the activities of one's daily life – and that all of life is sacred in God. Many believe that a meal held with others can become a form ofcommunion with God and with one another.
Conservative Friends in the United States are part of three small Quaker Yearly Meetings in Ohio, North Carolina, and Iowa. Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) is generally considered the most Bible-centred of the three, retaining Christian Quakers who use plain language, wear plain dress, and are more likely to live in villages or rural areas than the Conservative Friends from their other two Yearly Meetings.[118]
In 2007, total membership of such Yearly Meetings was around 1,642,[119] making them around 0.4% of the world family of Quakers.
Evangelical Friends regard Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour,[117] and have similar religious beliefs to otherevangelical Christians. They believe in and hold high regard forpenal substitution of theatonement of Christ on the Cross at Calvary,biblical infallibility, and the need for all to experience a relationship with God personally.[120] They believe that the Evangelical Friends Church is intended to evangelise the unsaved of the world, to transform them spiritually through God's love and through social service to others.[120] They regard the Bible as God's infallible, self-authenticating Word. The statement of faith ofEvangelical Friends International is comparable to that of other Evangelical churches. Those who are members of Evangelical Friends International are mainly located in the United States, Central America, and Asia.
Beginning in the 1880s, some Friends began using outward sacraments in their Sunday services, first in Evangelical Friends Church–Eastern Region (then known as Ohio Yearly Meeting [Damascus]). Friends Church–Southwest Region also approved such a practice. In places where Evangelical Friends engage in missionary work, such as Africa, Latin America, and Asia, adult baptism by immersion in water occurs. They differ from most other branches of the Religious Society of Friends. EFCI in 2014 was claiming to represent more than 140,000 Friends,[121] some 39% of the total number of Friends worldwide.
Gurneyite Friends (also known as Friends United Meeting Friends) are modern followers of the Evangelical Quaker theology specified byJoseph John Gurney, a 19th-century British Friend. They make up 49% of the total number of Quakers worldwide.[107] They see Jesus Christ as their Teacher and Lord[117] and favour close work with other Protestant Christian churches. Gurneyite Friends balance the Bible's authority as inspired words of God with personal, direct experience of God in their lives. Both children and adults participate in religious education, which emphasises orthodox Christian teaching from the Bible in relation to both orthodox Christian Quaker history and Quaker testimonies. Gurneyite Friends subscribe to a set of orthodox Christian doctrines, such as those found in theRichmond Declaration of faith. In later years, conflict arose among Gurneyite Friends over the Richmond Declaration of Faith, but after a while, it was adopted by nearly all of Gurneyite's yearly meetings. The Five Years Meeting of Friends reaffirmed its loyalty to the Richmond Declaration of Faith in 1912 but specified that it was not to constitute a Christian creed. Although Gurneyism was the main form of Quakerism in 19th-century Britain, Gurneyite Friends today are also found in America, Ireland, Africa, and India. Many Gurneyite Friends combine "waiting" (unprogrammed) worship with practices commonly found in other Protestant Christian churches, such as readings from the Bible and singing hymns. A small minority of Gurneyite Friends practice wholly unprogrammed worship.[122]
Holiness Friends are Quakers of the Gurneyite branch who are heavily influenced by theHoliness movement, in particular, the doctrine ofChristian perfection, also called "entire sanctification". This states that loving God and humanity totally, as exemplified by Christ, enables believers to rid themselves of voluntary sin. This dominant view within Quakerism in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 19th century influenced other branches of Quakerism. Holiness Friends argue, leaning on writings that includeGeorge Fox's message ofperfection, that the early Friends had this understanding of holiness.[123]
Today, many Friends hold holiness beliefs within most yearly meetings, but it is the predominant theological view ofCentral Yearly Meeting of Friends, (founded in 1926 specifically to promote holiness theology) and the Holiness Mission of the Bolivian Evangelical Friends Church (founded by missionaries from that meeting in 1919, the largest group of Friends in Bolivia).[124]
Liberal Quakerism generally refers to Friends who take ideas fromliberal Christianity, often sharing a similar mix of ideas, such as more critical Biblicalhermeneutics, often with a focus on thesocial gospel. The ideas ofthat of God in everyone and theinner light were popularised by the American FriendRufus Jones in the early 20th century, he andJohn Wilhelm Rowntree originating the movement. Liberal Friends predominated in Britain in the 20th century, among US meetings affiliated toFriends General Conference, and some meetings in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Southern Africa.
These ideas remain important in Liberal Friends' understanding of God. They highlight the importance of good works, particularly living a life that upholds the virtues preached by Jesus. They often emphasise pacifism, treating others equally, living simply, and telling the truth.[107]
Like Conservative Friends, Liberal Friends rejectreligious symbolism and sacraments such as water baptism and the Eucharist. While Liberal Friends recognise the potential of these outward forms for awakening experiences of the InwardLight of Christ, they are not part of their worship and are thought unnecessary to authentic Christian spirituality.
The Bible remains central to most Liberal Friends' worship. Almost all meetings make it available in themeeting house,[according to whom?] often on a table in the centre of the room, which attendees may read privately or publicly during worship. But Liberal Friends decided that the Scriptures should give way to God's lead if God leads them in a way contrary to the Bible. Many Friends are also influenced by liberal Christian theologians and modernBiblical criticism. They often adopt non-propositional Biblical hermeneutics, such as believing that the Bible is an anthology of human authors' beliefs and feelings about God rather than the Holy Writ and that multiple interpretations of the Scriptures are acceptable.
Liberal Friends believe that a corporate confession of faith would be an obstacle to authentic listening and new insight. As a non-creed form of Christianity, Liberal Quakerism is receptive to a wide range of understandings of religion. Most Liberal Quaker Yearly Meetings publish aFaith and Practice containing a range of religious experiences of what it means to be a Friend in that Yearly Meeting.
Universalist Friends affirmreligious pluralism: there are many different paths to God and understandings of the divine reached through non-Christian religious experiences, which are as valid as Christian understandings. The group was founded in the late 1970s by John Linton, who had worshipped with the Delhi Worship Group in India (an independent meeting unaffiliated to any yearly meeting or wider Quaker group) with Christians, Muslims, and Hindus worshipping together.[125]
After moving to Britain, Linton founded theQuaker Universalist Fellowship in 1978. Later, his views spread to the United States, where the Quaker Universalist Fellowship was founded in 1983.[125] Most of the Friends who joined these two fellowships were Liberal Friends from the Britain Yearly Meeting in the United Kingdom and Friends General Conference in the United States. Interest in Quaker Universalism is low among Friends from other Yearly meetings. The views of the Universalists provoked controversy in the 1980s[citation needed] among themselves and Christian Quakers within the Britain Yearly Meeting and within the Friends General Conference. Despite the label, Quaker Universalists are not necessarilyChristian Universalists, embracing the doctrine ofuniversal reconciliation.
A minority of Friends have views similar to post-Christian non-theists in other churches, such as theSea of Faith, which emerged from theAnglican church. They are predominantly atheists, agnostics, and humanists who still value membership in a religious organization. The first organisation for non-theist Friends was the Humanistic Society of Friends, founded in Los Angeles in 1939. This remained small and was absorbed into theAmerican Humanist Association.[126] Interest in non-theism resurfaced, particularly under the British Friend David Boulton, who founded the 40-member Nontheist Friends Network in 2011.[127] Non-theism is controversial, leading some Christian Quakers from within Britain Yearly Meeting to call for non-theists to be denied membership.[128]
In one study of Friends in theBritain Yearly Meeting, some 30% of Quakers had views described asnon-theistic,agnostic, oratheist.[129][130] Another study found that 75.1% of the 727 members of the Religious Society of Friends who completed the survey said that they consider themselves to be Christian and 17.6% that they did not, while 7.3% either did not answer or circled both answers.[131]: p.41 A further 22% of Quakers did not consider themselves Christian but fulfilled a definition of being a Christian in that they said that they devoutly followed the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.[131]: p.52 In the same survey, 86.9% said they believed in God.[131]
Quakers bear witness or "testify" to their religious beliefs in their spiritual lives,[132] drawing on theEpistle of James exhortation that "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead".[133] This religious witness is rooted in their immediate experience of God and verified by the Bible, especially in Jesus Christ's life and teachings. They may bear witness in many ways, according to how they believe God is leading them. Although Quakers share how they relate to God and the world, mirroring Christian ethical codes, for example theSermon on the Mount or theSermon on the Plain, Friends argue that they feel personally moved by God rather than following an ethical code.
Some theologians classify Friends' religious witness into categories, known by some Friends as "testimonies". These Friends believe these principles and practices testify to, witness to, or provide evidence for God's truth. No categorisation is universally accepted.[134]
In the United Kingdom, the acronym STEPS is sometimes used (simplicity, truth, equality, peace, and sustainability) to help remember the testimonies, although most Quakers just use the full words.[citation needed] In his bookQuaker Speak, British FriendAlastair Heron, lists the following testimonies of common practical values in Quaker belief:[135]integrity (or truth),peace, penal reform, plain language, relief of suffering,simplicity, social order, Sunday observance,sustainability, temperance and moderation; and opposition to the following: betting and gambling,capital punishment, conscription, hat-honour (the largely historical practice of dipping one's hat toward social superiors),oaths,slavery,times and seasons, andtithing.
In East Africa, Friends teach peace andnonviolence, simplicity, honesty, equality, humility, marriage and sexual ethics (defining marriage as lifelong between one man and one woman), sanctity of life (opposition to abortion), cultural conflicts and Christian life.[136]
In the United States, the acronym SPICES is often used in many yearly meetings (simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship). Stewardship is not recognised as a testimony in all yearly meetings. Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting Friends put their faith in action through living their lives by the following principles: prayer, personal integrity, stewardship (which includes giving away minimum of 10% income and refraining from lotteries), marriage and family (lifelong commitment), regard for mind and body (refraining from certain amusements, propriety and modesty of dress, abstinence from alcohol, tobacco and drugs), peace and nonviolence (including refusing to participate in war), abortion (opposition to abortion, practical ministry to women with unwanted pregnancy and promotion of adoption), human sexuality, the Christian and state (look to God for authority, not the government), capital punishment (find alternatives), human equality, women in ministry (recognising women and men have an equal part to play in ministry).[137] The Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association lists as testimonies integrity, peace, simplicity, equality, and community; areas of witness include children, education, government, sexuality, and harmony with nature.[138]
Former Friends Meeting House, Coanwood, Northumberland, England, dating from 1720
Quakers traditionally use numbers for referencing the months and days of the week, something they call the plain calendar. This does not use names of calendar units derived from the names of pagan deities. The week begins with First Day (Sunday) and ends with Seventh Day (Saturday).[139] Months run from First (January) to Twelfth (December). This rests on the terms used in the Bible, e.g. that Jesus Christ's followers went to the tomb early on the First Day.[140] The plain calendar emerged in the 17th century in England in thePuritan movement, but became closely identified with Friends by the end of the 1650s, and was commonly employed into the 20th century. It is less commonly found today. The term "First Day school" is commonly used for what is referred to by other churches as "Sunday school".[citation needed]
From 1155 to 1751, the English calendar (and that of Wales, Ireland and the British colonies overseas) marked March 25 as the first day of the year. For this reason, Quaker records of the 17th and early 18th centuries usually referred to March as First Month and February as Twelfth Month.[141]
Like other Christian denominations derived from 16th-centuryPuritanism, many Friends eschew religious festivals (e.g.Christmas,Lent, orEaster), and believe that Christ's birth,crucifixion andresurrection, should be marked every day of the year. For example, many Quakers feel thatfasting inLent, but then eating in excess at other times of the year ishypocrisy. Many Quakers, rather than observing Lent, live a simple lifestyle all the year round (seeTestimony of simplicity). Such practices are called thetestimony against times and seasons.[142]
TheRichmond Declaration, affirmed by the Orthodox branch of Quakerism, teaches the importance of the observance of theLord's Day consistent withFirst-day Sabbatarian principles, though some Friends are non-Sabbatarians, holding that "every day is the Lord's day", and that what should be done on a First Day should be done every day of the week, although Meeting for Worship is usually held on a First Day, after the advice first issued by the elders ofBalby in 1656.[143]
Inprogrammed worship there is often a prepared Biblical message, which may be delivered by an individual with theological training from a Bible College. There may be hymns, a sermon, Bible readings, joint prayers and a period of silent worship. The worship resembles thechurch services of otherProtestant denominations, although in most cases does not include the Eucharist. A paid pastor may be responsible forpastoral care. Worship of this kind is celebrated by about 89% of Friends worldwide.[107]: 5–6 It is found in many Yearly Meetings in Africa, Asia and parts of the US (central and southern), and is common in programmed meetings affiliated toFriends United Meeting (who make up around 49% of worldwide membership[107]: 5 ), and evangelical meetings, including those affiliated toEvangelical Friends International (who make up at least 40% of Friends worldwide[107]: 5–6 ). The religious event is sometimes called a Quakermeeting for worship or sometimes a Friends church service. This tradition arose among Friends in the United States in the 19th century, and in response to many converts to Christian Quakerism during the nationalspiritual revival of the time. Friends meetings in Africa and Latin America were generally started by Orthodox Friends from programmed elements of the Society, so that most African and Latin American Friends worship in a programmed style.
Some Friends hold Semi-Programmed Worship, which brings programmed elements such as hymns and readings into an otherwise unprogrammed service of worship.
Unprogrammed worship (also known aswaiting worship,silent worship, orholy communion in the manner of Friends) rests on the practices of George Fox and early Friends, who based their beliefs and practices on their interpretation of how early Christians worshipped God their Heavenly Father. Friends gather together in "expectant waiting upon God" to experience his still small voice leading them from within. There is no plan on how the meeting will proceed, and practice varies widely between Meetings and individual worship services. Friends believe that God plans what will happen, with his spirit leading people to speak. A participant who feels led to speak will stand and share a spoken ministry in front of others. When this happens, Quakers believe that the spirit of God is speaking through the speaker. After someone has spoken, it is customary to allow a few minutes to pass in silence for reflection on what was said, before further vocal ministry is given. Sometimes a meeting is quite silent, sometimes many speak. These meetings lasted for several hours in George Fox's day.
Modern meetings are often limited to an hour, ending when two people (usually theelders) exchange thesign of peace by ahandshake. This handshake is often shared by the others. This style of worship is the norm in Britain, Ireland, the continent of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Southern Africa, Canada, and parts of the United States (particularly yearly meetings associated withFriends General Conference andBeanite Quakerism)—constituting about 11%[107]: 5 of Quakers. Those who worship in this way hold each person to be equal before God and capable of knowingthe light of God directly. Anyone present may speak if feeling led to do so. Traditionally,Recorded Ministers were recognised for their particular gift in vocal ministry. This practice continues amongConservative Friends andLiberal Friends (e.g.New York Yearly Meeting,[145]), but many meetings where Liberal Friends predominate abolished this practice.London Yearly Meeting of Friends abolished the acknowledging and recording ofRecorded Ministers in 1924.
Governance and decision-making are conducted at a special meeting for worship – often called ameeting for worship with a concern for business ormeeting for worship for church affairs, where all members can attend, as in aCongregational church. Quakers consider this a form of worship, conducted in the manner of meeting for worship. They believe it is a gathering of believers whowait upon the Lord to discover God's will, believing they are not making their own decisions. They seek to understand God's will for the religious community, via the actions of the Holy Spirit within the meeting.[146]
As in a meeting for worship, each member is expected to listen to God, and if led by Him, stand up and contribute. In some business meetings, Friends wait for theclerk to acknowledge them before speaking. Direct replies to someone's contribution are not permitted, with an aim of seeking truth rather than debate. A decision is reached when the meeting as a whole feels that the "way forward" has been discerned (also called "coming to unity"). There is no voting. On some occasions Friends may delay a decision because they feel the meeting is not following God's will. Others (especially non-Friends) may describe this asconsensus decision-making; however, Friends in general continue to seek God's will. It is assumed that if everyone is attuned to God's spirit, the way forward becomes clear.
Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is the international Quaker organization that loosely unifies the different religious traditions of Quakers; FWCC brings together the largest variety of Friends in the world. Friends World Committee for Consultation is divided into four sections to represent different regions of the world: Africa, Asia West Pacific, Europe and Middle East, and the Americas.[147]
A Friend is a member of a Yearly Meeting, usually beginning with membership in a local monthly meeting. Means of acquiring membership vary. For example, in most Kenyan yearly meetings, attenders who wish to become members must take part in some two years' adult education, memorising key Bible passages, and learning about the history of orthodox Christianity and of Christian Quakerism. Within the Britain Yearly Meeting, membership is acquired through a process ofpeer review, where a potential member is visited by several members, who report to the other members before a decision is reached.
Within some Friends Churches in the Evangelical Friends Church – in particular in Rwanda, Burundi, and parts of the United States – an adult believer's baptism by immersion in water is optional. Within Liberal Friends, Conservative Friends, and Pastoral Friends Churches, Friends do not practisewater baptism,Christening, or other initiation ceremonies to admit a new member or a newborn baby. Children are often welcomed into the meeting at their first attendance. Formerly, children born to Quaker parents automatically became members (sometimes called birthright membership), but this no longer applies in many areas. Some parents apply for membership on behalf of their children, while others allow children to decide whether to be a member when they are ready and older in age. Some meetings adopt a policy that children, some time after becoming young adults, must apply independently for membership.
The Quaker testimony of simplicity extends to memorialisation. FounderGeorge Fox is remembered with a simple grave marker atQuaker Gardens, Islington, London.
Traditional Quaker memorial services are held as a form of worship and known as memorial meetings. Friends gather for worship and offer remembrances of the deceased. In some Quaker traditions, the coffin or ashes are not present. Memorial meetings may be held many weeks after the death, which can enable wider attendance, replacement of grief with spiritual reflection, and celebration of life to dominate. Memorial meetings can last over an hour, particularly if many people attend. Memorial services give all a chance to remember the lost individual in their own way, comforting those present and re-affirming the love of the people in the wider community.[citation needed]
A meeting for worship for the solemnisation of marriage in an unprogrammed Friends meeting is similar to any other unprogrammed meeting for worship.[150] The pair exchange declarations before God and gathered witnesses, and the meeting returns to open worship. (Declarations are used as typically Friends do not swear oaths or make vows). At the rise of meeting, the witnesses, including the youngest children, are asked to sign the wedding certificate as a record. In Britain, Quakers keep a separate record of the union and notify theGeneral Register Office.[151]
In the early days of the United States, there was doubt whether a marriage solemnised in that way was entitled to legal recognition. Over the years, each state has set rules for the procedure. Most states expect the marriage document to be signed by a single officiant (a priest, rabbi, minister, Justice of the Peace, etc.) Quakers routinely modify the document to allow three or four Friends to sign as officiant. Often these are the members of a committee of ministry and oversight, who have helped the couple to plan their marriage. Usually, a separate document containing the vows and signatures of all present is kept by the couple and often displayed prominently in their home.
In many Friends meetings, the couple meet with aclearness committee before the wedding. Its purpose is to discuss with the couple the many aspects of marriage and life as a couple. If the couple seem ready, the marriage is recommended to the meeting.
As in wider society, there is a diversity of views among Friends on the issue ofsame-sex marriage. Various Friends meetings around the world have voiced support for and recognised same-sex marriages. In 1986, Hartford Friends Meeting in Connecticut reached a decision that "the Meeting recognised a committed union in a celebration of marriage, under the care of the Meeting. The same loving care and consideration should be given to both homosexual and heterosexual applicants as outlined in Faith and Practice."[152] Since then, other meetings of liberal and progressive Friends from Australia, Britain, New Zealand, parts of North America, and other countries have recognised marriage between partners of the same sex. In jurisdictions where same-sex marriage is not recognised by civil authorities, some meetings follow the practice of early Quakers in overseeing the union without reference to the state. There are also Friends who do not support same-sex marriage. Some Evangelical and Pastoral yearly meetings in the United States have issued public statements stating that homosexuality is a sin.[152]
National and international divisions and organisation
Like many religious movements, the Religious Society of Friends has evolved, changed, and split into sub-groups.
Quakerism started in England and Wales, and quickly spread to Ireland, the Netherlands,[30] Barbados[31] and North America. In 2017, there were 119,200 Quakers in Kenya, 80,000 in the United States, 47,600 in Burundi and 28,500 in Bolivia. Other countries with over 5,000 Quakers were Guatemala, the United Kingdom, Nepal, Taiwan and Uganda.[153]
The highest concentration of Quakers is in Africa.[154] The Friends of East Africa were at one time part of a single East Africa Yearly Meeting, then the world's largest. Today, the region is served by several distinct yearly meetings. Most are affiliated with theFriends United Meeting, practice programmed worship and employ pastors. Friends meet in Rwanda and Burundi; new work is beginning in North Africa. Small unprogrammed meetings exist also in Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
In 2017, there were around 181,000 adult Quakers in Africa.[153]
Friends in Australia and New Zealand follow the unprogrammed tradition, similar to that of theBritain Yearly Meeting. Considerable distances between the colonies and small numbers of Quakers meant that Australia Friends were dependent on London until the 20th century. The Society remained unprogrammed and is named Australia Yearly Meeting, with local organizations around seven Regional Meetings: Canberra (which extends into southern New South Wales), New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia (which extends into Northern Territory), Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia.[155]The Friends' School is found inHobart. An annual meeting each January, is hosted by a different Regional Meeting over a seven-year cycle, with a Standing Committee each July or August. The Australia Yearly Meeting publishedThis We Can Say: Australian Quaker Life, Faith and Thought in 2003.
Meetings for worship in New Zealand started inNelson in 1842 and inAuckland in 1885. In 1889 it was estimated that there were about 30 Quakers in Auckland.[156] The New Zealand Yearly Meeting, today consists of nine monthly meetings.[157] The Yearly Meeting published Quaker Faith and Practice in Aotearoa New Zealand, in 2003.
Quaker meetings occur in India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Philippines, Japan, Bhutan and Nepal. There are also Quaker worship houses in other Asian nations such as Myanmar and Singapore as of 2017.
India has four yearly meetings: the unprogrammedMid-India Yearly Meeting, programmed Bhopal Yearly Meeting, and the Mahoba Yearly Meeting.Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting is an evangelical Friends Church affiliated to Evangelical Friends International. Other programmed and unprogrammed worship groups are not affiliated to any yearly meeting.
Evangelical Friends Central Europe Yearly Meeting has 4,306 members[153] across six nations,[163] including Albania, Hungary and Romania.[153]
Ireland Yearly Meeting is unprogrammed and more conservative than Britain Yearly Meeting. It has 1,591 members[153] in 28 meetings[164] across the Republic of Ireland, and in Northern Ireland.
German Yearly Meeting is unprogrammed and liberal and has 453 members,[153] worshiping in 31 meetings in Germany and Austria.
Small groups of Friends in Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, and Ukraine attend meetings for worship there.[153]
There has been an active and vibrant Palestinian Quaker community inRamallah since the late 1800s. In 1910 this community built the Ramallah Friends Meetinghouse and later added another building that was used for community outreach. The Ramallah Friends Meeting has always played a vital role in the community. In 1948 the buildings and grounds became home to many Palestinian refugees. Throughout the years, the members of the Ramallah Friends Meeting organised numerous community programs such as the Children's Play Centre, the First Day School, and women's activities.
By the early 1990s the Meetinghouse and Annex, which housed meeting rooms and bathroom facilities, fell into disrepair as a result of damage inflicted by time and the impact of conflict. So serious was the deterioration of the meetinghouse that by the middle 1990s it was impossible to use the building at all. A further blow to the Friends and the wider Palestinian community was the high level of emigration brought on by the economic situation and the hardships arising from continuing Israeli military occupation. The Meetinghouse, which had served as a place of worship for the Friends in Ramallah could no longer be used as such and the Annex could no longer be used for community outreach.
In 2002 a committee consisting of members of the Religious Society of Friends in the US and the Clerk of the Ramallah Meeting began to raise funds for the renovations of the buildings and grounds of the Meetinghouse. By November 2004 the renovations were complete, and on 6 March 2005, exactly 95 years to the day after the dedication, the Meetinghouse and Annex were rededicated as a Quaker and community resource. Friends meet every Sunday for unprogrammed Meeting for Worship. The meeting is open to Quakers and non-Quakers, including Muslims.
The Brummana Monthly meeting in Lebanon was founded in 1868. It is closely associated with the Brummana High School, which was founded by Quakers in 1873. Conflict and economic conditions have caused the meeting to drop in membership. There are presently around 35 attendees which meet every Sunday.[167]
Quakers can be found throughout the Americas. Friends in the United States in particular have diverse worship styles and differences of theology, vocabulary, and practice.
A localcongregation in the unprogrammed tradition is called ameeting, or amonthly meeting (e.g.,Smalltown Meeting orSmalltown Monthly Meeting). The reference to "monthly" is because the meeting meets monthly to conduct the group's business. Most "monthly meetings" meet for worship at least once a week; some meetings have several worship meetings during the week. In programmed traditions, local congregations are often referred to as "Friends Churches" or "Meetings".
Monthly meetings are often part of a regional group called aquarterly meeting, which is usually part of an even larger group called ayearly meeting; with the adjectives "quarterly" and "yearly" referring specifically to the frequency ofmeetings for worship with a concern for business.
Some yearly meetings, like Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, belong to larger organisations to help maintain order and communication within the Society. The three chief ones areFriends General Conference (FGC),Friends United Meeting (FUM), andEvangelical Friends Church International (EFCI). In all three groups, most member organisations, though not necessarily members, are from the United States. FGC is theologically the most liberal of the three groups, while EFCI is the most evangelical. FUM is the largest; it was originally known as "Five Years Meeting". Some monthly meetings belong to more than one larger organisation, while others are fully independent.
The Quaker star is used by many Quaker service organizations, such as The American Friends Service Committee, Canadian Friends Service Committee andQuaker Peace and Social Witness (previously Friends Service Council). It was originally used by British Quakers performingwar relief efforts during theFranco-Prussian War to distinguish themselves from theRed Cross.[169] Today the star is used by multiple Quaker organizations as their symbol to represent "a common commitment to service and the spirit in which it is provided."[170]
Prior to the 20th century Quakers considered the Religious Society of Friends to be a Christian movement, but many did not feel that their religious faith fit within the categories ofCatholic,Orthodox, orProtestant.[32] Many Conservative Friends, while fully seeing themselves as orthodox Christians, choose to remain separate from other Christian groups.
Guerneyite Friends would typically see themselves as part of an orthodox Christian movement and work closely with other Christian denominations.Friends United Meeting (the international organisation of Gurneyite yearly meetings) is a member of theNational Council of Churches[171] and theWorld Council of Churches,[172] which are pan-Christian organisations that include Lutheran, Orthodox, Reformed, Anglican and Baptist Churches, among others.[173][174]
The majority of other Christian groups recognise Friends among their fellow-Christians.[32] Some people who attend Quaker Meetings assume that Quakers are not Christians, when they do not hear overtly Christian language during the meeting for worship.[175]
Relationships between Quakers and non-Christians vary considerably, according to sect, geography, and history.
Early Quakers distanced themselves from practices that they saw aspagan. For instance, they refused to use the usual names of the days of the week, since they were derived from the names of pagan deities.[176] They refused to celebrateChristmas because they believed it was based on pagan festivities.[177]
Early Friends called on adherents of other world religions to turn to the 'Light of Christ within' that they believed was present in all people born into the world.[178] For example, George Fox wrote a number of open letters toJews andMuslims, in which he encouraged them to turn to Jesus Christ as the only path to salvation (e.g.,A Visitation to the Jews,[179]To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria, and all that are under his authority, to read this over, which concerns their salvation[180][181] andTo the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria).[182] In the letters to Muslim readers, Fox is exceptional for his time in his sympathetic and wide-ranging use of theQur'an, and his belief that its contents were consistent with Christian scripture.[183][184]
In 1870, Richard Price Hallowell argued that the logical extension of Christian Quakerism is a universal Church, which "demands a religion which embraces Jew, Pagan and Christian, and which cannot be limited by the dogmas of one or the other".[186]
Since the late 20th century, in part due to the allowance ofReligious pluralism &Universalism, some attenders at Liberal Quaker Meetings have actively identified with world faiths other than Christianity, such asJudaism,Islam,[187]Buddhism[188] andPaganism. This occurrence evolved from the idea in Liberal Quaker circles that the Inward light is found in Christians and non-Christians alike and influenced the Holy Writ of other faiths.[citation needed]
^"Where Did the Names "Quaker" and "Friends" Come From?". Walnut Creek Friends Church. Retrieved21 June 2024.They called themselves 'Friends' because of the words of Jesus recorded in John 15:14, 'You are my friends, if you do what I command you.' The early Friends were Christians who believed they could live like Jesus because Jesus lived in them. The name 'Quaker' was applied to the early Friends by their critics. The early Friends were so aware of the presence of God among them that they sometimes trembled with excitement. Upon being threatened by a judge to 'quake' before the authority of his court, George Fox told him to quake before the authority of God.
^Fox, George (1903).George Fox's Journal. Isbister and Company Limited. pp. 215–216.This is the word of the Lord God to you all, and a charge to you all in the presence of the living God; be patterns, be examples in all your countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people and to them: then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one; whereby in them ye may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you: then to the Lord God you will be a sweet savour, and a blessing.
^Hodge, Charles (12 March 2015).Systematic Theology. Delmarva Publications, Inc. p. 137.This spiritual illumination is peculiar to the true people of God; the inward light, in which the Quakers believe, is common to all men. The design and effect of the "inward light" are the communication of new truth, or of truth not objectively revealed, as well as the spiritual discernment of the truths of Scripture. The design and effect of spiritual illumination are the proper apprehension of truth already speculatively known. Secondly. By the inner light the orthodox Quakers understand the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit, concerning which they teach, – (1.) That it is given to all men. (2.) That it not only convinces of sin, and enables the soul to apprehend aright the truths of Scripture, but also communicates a knowledge of 'the mysteries of salvation.' ... The orthodox Friends teach concerning this inward light, as has been already shown, that it is subordinate to the Holy Scriptures, inasmuch as the Scriptures are the infallible rule of faith and practice, and everything contrary thereto is to be rejected as false and destructive.
^Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain (2012).Epistles and Testimonies(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 15 January 2016.
^Angell, Stephen Ward; Dandelion, Pink (19 April 2018).The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism. Cambridge University Press. p. 290.ISBN978-1-107-13660-1.Contemporary Quakers worldwide are predominately evangelical and are often referred to as the Friends Church.
^Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain (2012).Epistles and Testimonies(PDF). p. 7. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 19 November 2015.
^Christian Scholar's Review, Volume 27.Hope College. 1997. p. 205.This was especially true of proto-evangelical movements like the Quakers, organized as the Religious Society of Friends by George Fox in 1668 as a group of Christians who rejected clerical authority and taught that the Holy Spirit guided
^Bacon, Margaret (1986).Mothers of Feminism: The Story of Quaker Women in America. San Francisco: Harper & Row. p. 24.
^Fox, George (1803). Armistead, Wilson (ed.).Journal of George Fox. Vol. 2 (7 ed.). p. 186.
^Stewart, Kathleen Anne (1992).The York Retreat in the Light of the Quaker Way: Moral Treatment Theory : Humane Therapy Or Mind Control?. William Sessions.ISBN9781850720898.On the other hand, Fox believed that perfectionism and freedom from sin were possible in this world.
^Coffey, John (29 May 2020).The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Volume I: The Post-Reformation Era, 1559-1689. Oxford University Press. p. 399.ISBN978-0-19-252098-2.
^A Short Account of the Life and Writings of Robert Barclay. Tract Association of the Society of Friends. 1827. p. 22.
^Williams, Walter R. (13 January 2019).The Rich Heritage of Quakerism. Pickle Partners Publishing.ISBN978-1-78912-341-8.From time to time, over the three centuries of their history, Friends have issued longer or shorter statements of belief. They earnestly seek to base these declarations of the essential truths of Christianity upon the clear teaching of the Holy Scriptures. The most detailed of these statements commonly held by orthodox Friends is known as the Richmond Declaration of Faith. This instrument was drawn up by ninety-nine representatives of ten American yearly meetings and of London and Dublin yearly meetings, assembled at Richmond, Indiana, in 1887.
^"Declaration of Faith Issued by the Richmond Conference in 1887". 23 July 2008. Retrieved30 May 2024.A conference of 95 delegates appointed by 12 Friends (Quaker) yearly meetings representing the Orthodox branch of Friends across the world met in Richmond, Indiana in September 1887. This conference issued a Declaration of Faith, which has been widely used by Orthodox Friends ever since.
^abcd"Quakers".Religions. BBC. Retrieved13 June 2017.
^Margery Post Abbott; et al. (2003).Historical dictionary of the Friends (Quakers). p. xxxi.
^Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, eds,The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 388.
^Pink Dandelion (2007).An Introduction to Quakerism (ISBN0521841119), p. 78.
^Crothers, Glenn (2012).Quakers Living in the Lion's Mouth: The Society of Friends in Northern Virginia, 1730–1865. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. p. 145.
^Crothers, Glenn.Quakers Living in the Lion's Mouth. p. 145.
^Bronner, Edwin B. (1990). "Moderates in London Yearly Meeting, 1857–1873: Precursors of Quaker Liberals".Church History.59 (3):356–371.doi:10.2307/3167744.JSTOR3167744.S2CID163077764.
^abDandelion, Pink (12 April 2007).An Introduction to Quakerism. Cambridge University Press. p. 165.ISBN978-0-521-84111-5.
^Kennedy, Thomas CummingsBritish Quakerism 1860-1920: the transformation of a religious community Oxford University Press, 2001. p. 117.ISBN0-19-827035-6
^Kennedy, Thomas C. (2001).British Quakerism 1860–1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community. New York: Oxford University Press.
^Dandelion, Pink; Collins, Peter, eds. (26 March 2009).The Quaker Condition: The Sociology of a Liberal Religion. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 2–3.ISBN978-1847185655.
^abPacker, Ian (1 April 2003). "Religion and the New Liberalism: The Rowntree Family, Quakerism and Social Reform".Journal of British Studies.42 (2):236–257.doi:10.1086/345607.ISSN0021-9371.JSTOR10.1086/345607.
^Blamires, David (1996). "The context and character of the 1895 Manchester Conference".Friends Quarterly.30: 50.
^O'Halloran, Kerry (2022).Conscientious Objection: Dissent and Democracy in a Common Law Context. Springer International Publishing. p. 121.
^Gill, Catie (2005).Women in the Seventeenth-century Quaker Community: a Literary Study of Political Identities, 1650–1700. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. p. 1.
^Mack, Phyllis (1995).Visionary Women: Ecstatic Prophecy in Seventeenth-Century England. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 289.
^Buchanan, T. (2002). "The Truth Will Set You Free': The Making of Amnesty International".Journal of Contemporary History.37 (4):575–597.doi:10.1177/00220094020370040501.JSTOR3180761.
^Black, Maggie (1992).A Cause for Our Times: Oxfam – The First Fifty Years. Oxfam. p. 9.
^Lapsansky, Emma Jones (26 January 2003).Quaker Aesthetics: Reflections on a Quaker Ethic in American Design and Consumption, 1720–1920. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 65.ISBN978-0-8122-3692-7.
^Britain Yearly Meeting (1999).Quaker faith & practice (3rd ed.). London: Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain.ISBN0-85245-306-X.
^– 43 per cent of Quakers worldwide are found in Africa, versus 30 per cent in North America, 17 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 6 per cent in Europe, and 4 per cent in Asia/West Pacific. SeeQuaker Information CenterArchived 29 April 2008 at theWayback Machine.
^Harmon, Steven R. (15 March 2010).Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 97.ISBN978-1-62189-277-9.Since its creation, it has also established a cordial cooperation with the World Council of Churches and regularly names Catholic observers at various ecumenical gatherings and invites observers of 'fraternal delegates' of other churches or ecclesial communities to major events of the Catholic Church. The PCPCU publishes a journal calledInformation Service four times a year, in English and French. The WCC is the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement. It brings together 349 churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 100 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 560 million Christians and including most of the world's Orthodox churches, scores of Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, as well as many United and Independent churches. ... It describes itself as a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the Scriptures and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with the goal of visible unity in one faith and one Eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ.
^Roberson, Ronald G. (1995).Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Interchurch Marriages: And Other Pastoral Relationships. USCCB Publishing. p. 81.ISBN978-1-55586-097-4.These Churches are the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in India. In addition, an independent Orthodox Church of Eritrea was established following that country's independence from Ethiopia in 1993. All are members of the World Council of Churches and have committed themselves to the contemporary ecumenical movement. In total, there are probably about thirty million Oriental Orthodox faithful in the world today.
^Yount, David (2007).How the Quakers invented America. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc. p. 11.ISBN978-0-7425-5833-5.
^Frost, Jerry William (1968).The Quaker family in colonial America: a social history of the Society of Friends, Volume 2. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin. p. 436.
^For example, George Fox,Turcae, et omnibus sub ejus ditione, ut hoc perlegant quod ad salvationem eorum spectat (1660), pp. 10, 11, 13; cf. John 1:9)
^Matar, Nabil. 1989. 'Some Notes on George Fox and Islam'.Journal of the Friends' Historical Society 55: 271–76
^Meggitt, Justin J. 2016. 'Islam and Christianity in the Works of George Fox'. InChristian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 8. Northern and Eastern Europe (1600–1700), edited by David Thomas and John Chesworth, 527–34. Leiden: Brill.
^Meggitt, Justin J. (2016). "Mary Fisher". In Thomas, David; Chesworth, John (eds.).Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History. Vol. 8. Northern and Eastern Europe (1600–1700). Leiden: Brill. pp. 367–74.ISBN9789004326637.
Abbott, Margery; Chijioke, Mary Ellen; Dandelion, Pink; Oliver, John William, eds. (June 2003).Historical Dictionary of The Friends (Quakers). Scarecrow Press.ISBN978-0-8108-4483-4.
Anderson, Verily (1980).Friends and Relations: Three Centuries of Quaker Families. Hodder & Stoughton.
Bacon, Margaret Hope (April 2000).The Quiet Rebels: The Story of the Quakers in America. Pendle Hill Publications. p. 249.ISBN978-0-87574-935-8.
Margaret Hope Bacon, "Quakers and Colonization"Quaker History. 95 (Spring 2006), 26–43
Hugh Barbour and J. William Frost,The Quakers. (1988), 412 pp.; historical survey, including many capsule biographiesonline editionArchived 27 June 2012 at theWayback Machine
Barbour, Hugh (October 1985).The Quakers in Puritan England. Friends United Press. p. 272.ISBN978-0-913408-87-2.
Philip Benjamin,Philadelphia Quakers in an Age of Industrialism, 1870–1920 (1976)
J. Brent Bill,Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality (2005),ISBN1-55725-420-6
David Boulton, ed., 2006,Godless for God's Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism. Dales Historical Monographs.ISBN0-9511578-6-8
William C. Braithwaite,The Beginnings of Quakerism. (1912); revised by Henry J. Cadbury (1955)online editionArchived 21 July 2012 at theWayback Machine
William C. Braithwaite,Second Period of Quakerism. (1919); revised by Henry Cadbury (1961), covers 1660 to 1720s in Britain
Peter Brock,Pioneers of the Peaceable Kingdom. (1968) on Peace Testimony from the 1650s to 1900
Edwin B. Bronner,William Penn's Holy Experiment (1962)
G. B. Burnet,Story of Quakerism in Scotland. The Lutterworth Press (2007), Cambridge,ISBN978-0-7188-9176-3
Jennifer Connerley,Friendly Americans: Representing Quakers in the United States, 1850–1920 PhD dissertation University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2006). 277 pp. Citation: DAI 2006 67(2): 600-A. DA3207363 online atProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Wilmer A. Cooper,A Living Faith: An Historical and Comparative Study of Quaker Beliefs 2nd ed. (2000),ISBN0-944350-53-4
A. Glenn Crothers,Quakers Living in the Lion's Mouth: The Society of Friends in Northern Virginia, 1730–1865. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2012
Adrian Davies,The Quakers in English Society, 1655–1725 (2000) 261 pp.
Robert Doherty,The Hicksite Separation. (1967), uses the new social history to inquire who joined which side
Mary Maples Dunn,William Penn: Politics and Conscience (1967)
J. William Frost,The Quaker Family in Colonial America: A Portrait of the Society of Friends. (1973), emphasis on social structure and family life
J. William Frost, "The Origins of the Quaker Crusade against Slavery: A Review of Recent Literature",Quaker History 67 (1978): 42–58.JSTOR41946850
Jonathan Fryer, ed.,George Fox and the Children of the Light (London: Kyle Cathie, 1991),ISBN1-85626-024-0
Harvey Gillman,A Light that is Shining: Introduction to the Quakers (1988),ISBN0-85245-213-6
George H. Gorman,Introducing Quakers (3rd revised reprint) (London: Quaker Home Service, 1981),ISBN0-85245-005-2
Gerard Guiton,The Growth and Development of Quaker Testimony (2005),ISBN0-7734-6002-0
Thomas Hamm,The Quakers in America. (2003). 293 pp., strong analysis of current situation, with brief history
Thomas Hamm,The Transformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800–1907. (1988), looks at the impact of the Holiness movement on the Orthodox faction
Thomas D. Hamm,Earlham College: A History, 1847–1997. (1997) 448 pp.
H. Larry Ingle,Nixon's First Cover-up: The Religious Life of a Quaker President (2015),ISBN978-0-8262-2042-4
H. Larry Ingle,Quakers in Conflict: The Hicksite Reformation (1998),ISBN0-87574-926-7
Sydney James,A People among Peoples: Quaker Benevolence in Eighteenth-Century America. (1963), broad-ranging study that remains the best history in America before 1800
Rufus M. Jones, Amelia M. Gummere and Isaac Sharpless.Quakers in the American Colonies (1911), history to 1775online editionArchived 26 June 2012 at theWayback Machine
Rufus M. Jones,Later Periods of Quakerism. 2 vols. (1921), covers England and America until World War I.
Rufus M. Jones,The Story of George Fox. (1919) 169 pp.online edition
Rufus M. Jones,A Service of Love in War Time: American Friends Relief Work in Europe, 1917–1919 (1922)online edition
Ryan Jordan, "The Dilemma of Quaker Pacifism in a Slaveholding Republic, 1833–1865",Civil War History Vol. 53, (2007)online editionArchived 29 July 2012 at theWayback Machine
Ryan Jordan,Slavery and the Meetinghouse: The Quakers and the Abolitionist Dilemma, 1820–1865. (2007) 191 pp.
Thomas C. Kennedy,British Quakerism, 1860–1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community. (2001). 477 pp.
Rebecca Larson,Daughters of Light: Quaker Women Preaching and Prophesying in the Colonies and Abroad, 1700–1775 (1999) 399 pp.
James David LeShana,"'Heavenly Plantations': Quakers in Colonial North Carolina." PhD dissertation: University of California, Riverside 1998. 362 pp. DAI 2000 61(5): 2005-A. DA9974014 Fulltext:ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Mark Minear,Richmond, 1887: A Quaker Drama Unfolds (1987),ISBN9780913408988
Rosemary Moore,The Light in Their Consciences: The Early Quakers in Britain 1646–1666 (2000) 314 pp.ISBN0-271-01989-1
John A. Moretta,William Penn and the Quaker Legacy (2007),ISBN0-321-16392-3
Michael Mullet, ed.,New Light on George Fox (1624 to 1691) (1994),ISBN1-85072-142-4
Gary Nash,Quakers and Politis: Pennsylvania, 1680–1726 (1968)
John Punshon,Portrait in Grey : A Short History of the Quakers (2nd ed.) (London: Quaker Books, 2006),ISBN0-85245-399-X
Ane Marie Bak Rasmussen,A History of the Quaker Movement in Africa (1994) 168 pp.
John Michael Vlach, "Quaker Tradition and the Paintings of Edward Hicks: A Strategy for the Study of Folk Art",Journal of American Folklore Vol. 94 (1981)doi:10.2307/540122JSTOR540122
Karen Anna Vogel,Christmas Union: Quaker Abolitionists of Chester County, PA (2014) ,Murray Pura's Cry of Freedom Series, Volume 5
James Walvin,The Quakers: Money and Morals (1997) 243 pp.
Clarence H. Yarrow,The Quaker Experience in International Conciliation (1979) for post-1945
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