My “Editor’s Desk” post announcing the upcoming June/July issue of Friends Journal on #Quaker leadership.
Quaker Ranter
A Weekly Newsletter and Blog from Martin Kelley
Tag Archives ⇒ friends journal
What is a Quaker Book of Faith and Practice?
June 20, 2019
Thomas Hamm is one of the most literary QuakerSpeak interviewees — you could probably take his raw transcript and publish it as a Friends Journal article. But it’s good to have a YouTube-accessible explanation of one of the only formal compendiums of belief and practices that we creed-adverse Friends produce. It’s also fascinating to learn how the purpose and structure of Faith and Practice has differed over time, geography, and theology.
What do Quakers believe? How do we practice our faith? The best place to look for the answers might be in a book of faith and practice. Here’s what they are and how they evolved over time.
http://quakerspeak.com/what-is-a-quaker-book-of-faith-and-practice/
Half forgotten Philadelhpia Quaker cemetery at center of development controversy
May 2, 2019
As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
How many skeletons might remain buried? Possibly thousands, according to archaeologists, but no one knows. Historical maps are unclear on the cemeteries’ boundaries, but numerous histories portray the grounds as used first by Quakers and then by the poor, whose numbers increased along with the size of the city.
They quote the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting general secretary, who had heard nothing about this. The article also cites a 1880s article in Friends Intelligencer, the predecessor to Friends Journal.
https://www.philly.com/arts/schuylkill-yards-quaker-cemeteries-philadelphia-history-brandywine-drexel-20190502.html
George Fox Speaking
April 2, 2019
At some point 18 months ago, we at Friends Journal decided that a future issue would revolve around humor. I remember feeling a lump in my stomach at the time. I’ve learned to stop and poll my motivations before making a Quaker-related joke — not to see if it’s funny, but to make sure that at least most Quakers might think it’s funny. Well, that humor issue is out and available online. Many of the features talk about humor but the first feature actually aims for humor itself. Don McCormick imagines Quaker historical figures brought into modern-day cable news programming as they describe some of our rather odd customs.
George gives the camera a steely-TV-anchorman-type look and says, “Hello, this is the evening edition of Fox News. George Fox speaking. For our first story, let’s turn to Will ‘the Quill’ Penn at the sports desk.”
“Good evening,” says Will. “Well, it’s half-time over at Sierra Friends Center’s outdoor basketball court, and the Woolman Wombats are battling it out with the Quaker Oafs. Both teams just completed the league’s required workshops on nonviolent communication and the Alternatives to Violence Project. The score at half-time is zero to zero. We have some footage from the second quarter.”
What Does the Outside Say?
March 7, 2019
Also in Friends Journal’s issue, “Outside the Meetinghouse,” a piece from Brad Stocker of Miami Meeting in Florida:
Most Friends have an understanding of the architectural message that our meetinghouses express. We understand the simplicity of the structure. We understand the reason there are no steeples or crosses on the outside and why we have clear windows placed so as to invite the light to enter. We are equally sensitive to interior design. While we come into frequent, intimate contact with the meetinghouse exterior, and the land it sits on, we may be less aware of the message they convey.
There may be a little whiplash to talk about butterfly gardens after the recent article on Quaker worship from prison but I like the intentionality of Stocker’s observations: we are always making statements with the care (or non-care) of our physical space. Miami’s the kind of coastal city where climate change is very much not a theoretical issue and Stocker is very involved in his yearly meeting’s earthcare education initiatives. The meetinghouse grounds are a place to model good stewardship; taking the care to have them be inviting and quietly demonstrative of Quaker values is important outreach.
Another Quaker(ish) president?
March 4, 2019
Because the Quaker presidential track record is so distinguished (Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon) maybe it’s time to put another Quaker into the Oval Office. John Hickenlooper, former governor of Colorado and raised in the Philly suburbs, has thrown his hat into the ring.
Back in 2010 he told the Philadelphia Inquirer he and his wife were regular meeting attenders living “Quaker values” but when Friends Journal reached out to him a few years ago it sounded like he no longer identified as a Friend.
Quakerly competition?
February 13, 2019
A quick update that we at Friends Journal have extended the deadline for an upcoming issue on Friends and competition. It’s a really interesting topic and I’d like to see some more articles to choose from. In my “Editor’s Desk” post trying to drum up writing interest, I dug through the FJ archives to find previous discussions on the topic. I’ll excerpt a few here:
If you look back through Friends Journal archives, you’ll find warnings against competitive behavior. In 1955 Bess B. Lane of Swarthmore (Pa.) Meeting wrote that schools should “Place emphasis on cooperation, sharing, rather than on competition” and wondered if “competition is being overstressed in our schools.” In 1972, Christopher H. Anderson, then a senior at Wilmington College, had stronger words. He contrasted his Quaker education with public schools, which he said “breed a social conformity, an intellectual blandness and a repugnant spirit of competition.”
If you know anyone who is interested in the topic, please forward this along!
A 12-step program for world peace
February 12, 2019
Bob Dockhorn, my predecessor as Friends Journal senior editor, has been doing a lot of writing since he’s retired and one of his big projects involves a vision of a world free of its addiction to violence. Somewhere in the process he lost a step (there’s only 11).
Having been raised a Friend, I assume a hopeful stance toward the future. Unlike many others, we generally presume that the human world is not meant to be adversarial. Even decision making by voting is rejected among Friends as unnecessarily confrontational. Friends participate in local and national elections, but often with misgivings since these contests, lawmaking, and even courts can be settings in which privilege is preserved and fought for.
One evening a few years ago, as I sat in silence at Southampton (Pa.) Meeting, my attention turned to a 12-Step poster on the wall, left behind by a Narcotics Anonymous group that meets weekly in our space. As I stared at it, I experienced a flash of insight — that our entire culture is addicted to competition and violence.
I appreciate how the steps start simply (“Clear One’s Presumptions,” “Access Multiple Sources of Information”) and then build into proposals that seem pie-in-the-sky “(Transform Military Institutions,” “Implement World Government”), especially with current world trends. But that’s the nature of a journey: it starts with steps but maintains vision toward a destination.