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JOINING - FORM AND SUBSTANCE
THE FUTURE OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS) IN BRITAIN
a contribution by Stuart Donnan
THE FUTURE OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS) IN BRITAIN
a contribution by Stuart Donnan
SECTION 4
NOTIONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
AN UNAVOIDABLE BUT BRIEF EXCURSION
INTO THEOLOGY (AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY)
RELEVANT TO THE FUTURE OF FRIENDS IN BRITAIN
NOTIONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
AN UNAVOIDABLE BUT BRIEF EXCURSION
INTO THEOLOGY (AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY)
RELEVANT TO THE FUTURE OF FRIENDS IN BRITAIN
The Quaker Testimonies - what are they, and where do they come from?
An American Quaker asserts that in the 20th century the testimonies became vague feel-good character traits - the now-famous SPICE testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community and equality. "Who isn't in favour of all those values?", he asked.
It is true that some of the traditional words can be rather broad and difficult to define precisely. The word 'justice' may have more potential content than 'equality', and 'sustainability' is an important but relatively recent addition and expansion to the list. But the answer to the rather cynical question about who isn't in favour is - regrettably there seem to be many people and some cultures who aren't committed to these values.
In addition to the foundational ideas about society (and religion) which developed in and around and after the first Quakers, we can look to 21st century moral philosophers for a basis the testimonies. Mary Warnock, for example, argues that altruism is the basis of ethics. In a metaphor attractive to Quakers, she says that ethics - and thence the values we view as testimonies - begin when people become aware of themselves and imaginatively aware of others; and see that, first their own society, then human beings at large, are all in the same boat, and it is a precarious boat that will sink if there is no co-operation among those who are on board.
Integrity and justice are the fundamentals - then peace, and community, and sustainability, and simplicity, follow on.
Theology - transcendence, immanence, relationships and humanism
In The Friend in August 2009 Sarah Pearce described how "the silence of Meeting for Worship can help reawaken the Divine Presence". She believed that there may be many other Friends who have similar views and experiences. She regretted that talking about these experiences was often met with "bafflement and, sometimes, even hostility" and felt drawn towards Catholicism although not be leaving Quakerism behind, but "taking it with me to what feels like a place where I can find a closer relationship with God".
Writing 10 years ago, Harvey Gillman said, "Forget the Universalist - Christocentric debate, that's not where we are. Where we are ... is whether we can have a relationship with God or whether God is a personification, a metaphor for our highest ideals."
And very recently Andy Stoller in the Friend says that the Jewish faith and Quakerism are both "at their heart mystical religions, assuming the possibility of a direct relationship with God".
More formally, Felicity Kaal in the latest Friends Quarterly considers that "we need to articulate a transcendent - 2nd person - concept of God that embraces the wisdom of the traditions, the knowledge of science and the postmodern insights".
David Boulton thinks differently: "Modern radical religious humanism ... rationalises religion and enriches humanism. It dissolves the old differences between the sacred and the secular, the human and the divine, the natural and the supernatural. It does not deify humanity, but it understands that our values are human values, and could be no other." He says further that "nonrealism, far from denying any reality to what we call the experience of God, actually affirms and cherishes the experience, defending it against a shallow reductionist materialism on the one front and the perils of an outmoded supernaturalism on the other". In another place he writes, "There is a long historical tradition which has located 'God' or 'the divine' within rather than beyond humanity: the tradition of radical immanentism, in which early Quakerism was born."
So there are very different views within the Society, and all are agreed that caution and humility are needed in discussions. Some may be unsettled by suggestions such as David Boulton's above that 'supernaturalism' is 'outmoded' (Don Cupitt in reviewing one of David Boulton's books dismisses what he calls 'crude supernaturalism').
In reviewing David Boulton's absorbing discussion about reality, "Real like the daisies or real like I love you" it can be remarked that 'real like I love you' does seem to imply some sort of relationship. In any case there may be much to be said for the view of CS Lewis about distinctions. In Perelandra, the second part of his cosmic trilogy, his hero mused that "The whole distinction between things accidental and things designed, like the distinction between fact and myth, was purely terrestrial." Quakers might take such an overview of the debate about transcendence and immanence.
Enough of philosophical theology! Pascal, a contemporary of the first Quakers and variously called the first modern Christian or one of the first existential Christians, had a profound religious experience - a "night of fire" - in 1654; he sought and found the "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of philosophers and scholars." Quakers may join him in asking to be rescued from the God of philosophers and scholars - and may even seek experience and encounters in such a variety of circumstances as the Hebrew patriarchs.
The Judaeo-Christian tradition and the sayings of Jesus
Concerning the Judaeo-Christian tradition of Quakers, Harvey Gillman writes (in 'The Quaker way, a vision for the new century, 2008'): "I see the Quaker way as an internalisation and spiritualisation of the Judeo-Christian tradition which has learned to sit lightly with the old metaphors of divinity and may be open to new ones." He also says, "We live in a society of growing biblical and religious ignorance. The revolutionary understanding of early Friends was based on a serious exploration and reinterpretation of Christian history. We need as a Society not to base our outreach on outdated and ignorant pictures of other forms of Christianity and other religions."
The megaphone of 21st-century liberal-Liberal Quakers, David Boulton, at the very end of his tour de force Who on earth was Jesus? describes Jesus's "uniquely expressive parables and aphorisms (mangled by editors etc) ... After 2000 years of white noise, those who have ears to hear may still pick up the authentic voice of a man of his own age who somehow contrives to speak to ours." In another place Boulton wrote "What a makeover we could give this troubled world if we took this Jesus seriously! ... Jesus lives, in his teaching."
Paul Oestreicher in The Friend a year ago said, "Jesus ... is the inspired teacher who personified love and therefore God. Alone among religious teachers he proclaimed a love that was total and unconditional, that broke down all human barriers, that made no distinction between friend and foe, that lived out limitless forgiveness. He challenged the corruption of power, religious and secular. For this he paid the classical price that good people do and have done down the ages."
The sayings of Jesus are frequently mentioned by Quakers, often obliquely. Michael Bartlett writing very recently on Quakers and Human Rights refers to the call in the Sermon on the Mount 'to go the second mile' and also to the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable is also referred to in the Frontpiece of the Friends Quarterly in November 2009: "And where does that distinctiveness come from, which both sets us apart and yet still compels us in our daily lives not to pass by on the other side?"(my emphasis).
And Harvey Gillman in the Quaker Way says, "I see Friends in general as a place of hospitality, an idea of .. spiritual liberation, ... in the words of Jesus: bringing life, and life in abundance."
The Lost Gospel Q: the original sayings of Jesus shows (says Thomas Moore in the Introduction) "a Jesus who is less shielded and packaged by later traditions, less nuanced by the purposes of well-intentioned institutions, and therefore more poetic and more sublimely relevant to my own desire for a truly intelligent, deeply felt and socially responsive life of spirit." In the Preface, Marcus Borg writes, "The sayings in Q most often speak of the way or path that Jesus taught, a way deeply subversive of the dominant cultural consciousness of his day, and perhaps of every day. Here was a form of early Christianity ... that centrally emphasized 'The Way'."
So Quakers of all persuasions can be attracted to the sayings and the way of Jesus.
Transformation
Convincement is not a common word these days, and 'conversion' which is a modern synonym is even less popular. But Harvey Gillman's vision is of a Quaker community that is "open to the possibility of transforming encounter with Spirit". In earlier days Rufus Jones remarked that "no philosophy can remake men and fill them with power". Our Society now needs power - and wisdom - as much as ever before in its extraordinary history. For some this implies a spiritual relationship, but elaborating notions will not produce the desired and necessary experiences.
Back to topAn American Quaker asserts that in the 20th century the testimonies became vague feel-good character traits - the now-famous SPICE testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community and equality. "Who isn't in favour of all those values?", he asked.
It is true that some of the traditional words can be rather broad and difficult to define precisely. The word 'justice' may have more potential content than 'equality', and 'sustainability' is an important but relatively recent addition and expansion to the list. But the answer to the rather cynical question about who isn't in favour is - regrettably there seem to be many people and some cultures who aren't committed to these values.
In addition to the foundational ideas about society (and religion) which developed in and around and after the first Quakers, we can look to 21st century moral philosophers for a basis the testimonies. Mary Warnock, for example, argues that altruism is the basis of ethics. In a metaphor attractive to Quakers, she says that ethics - and thence the values we view as testimonies - begin when people become aware of themselves and imaginatively aware of others; and see that, first their own society, then human beings at large, are all in the same boat, and it is a precarious boat that will sink if there is no co-operation among those who are on board.
Integrity and justice are the fundamentals - then peace, and community, and sustainability, and simplicity, follow on.
Theology - transcendence, immanence, relationships and humanism
In The Friend in August 2009 Sarah Pearce described how "the silence of Meeting for Worship can help reawaken the Divine Presence". She believed that there may be many other Friends who have similar views and experiences. She regretted that talking about these experiences was often met with "bafflement and, sometimes, even hostility" and felt drawn towards Catholicism although not be leaving Quakerism behind, but "taking it with me to what feels like a place where I can find a closer relationship with God".
Writing 10 years ago, Harvey Gillman said, "Forget the Universalist - Christocentric debate, that's not where we are. Where we are ... is whether we can have a relationship with God or whether God is a personification, a metaphor for our highest ideals."
And very recently Andy Stoller in the Friend says that the Jewish faith and Quakerism are both "at their heart mystical religions, assuming the possibility of a direct relationship with God".
More formally, Felicity Kaal in the latest Friends Quarterly considers that "we need to articulate a transcendent - 2nd person - concept of God that embraces the wisdom of the traditions, the knowledge of science and the postmodern insights".
David Boulton thinks differently: "Modern radical religious humanism ... rationalises religion and enriches humanism. It dissolves the old differences between the sacred and the secular, the human and the divine, the natural and the supernatural. It does not deify humanity, but it understands that our values are human values, and could be no other." He says further that "nonrealism, far from denying any reality to what we call the experience of God, actually affirms and cherishes the experience, defending it against a shallow reductionist materialism on the one front and the perils of an outmoded supernaturalism on the other". In another place he writes, "There is a long historical tradition which has located 'God' or 'the divine' within rather than beyond humanity: the tradition of radical immanentism, in which early Quakerism was born."
So there are very different views within the Society, and all are agreed that caution and humility are needed in discussions. Some may be unsettled by suggestions such as David Boulton's above that 'supernaturalism' is 'outmoded' (Don Cupitt in reviewing one of David Boulton's books dismisses what he calls 'crude supernaturalism').
In reviewing David Boulton's absorbing discussion about reality, "Real like the daisies or real like I love you" it can be remarked that 'real like I love you' does seem to imply some sort of relationship. In any case there may be much to be said for the view of CS Lewis about distinctions. In Perelandra, the second part of his cosmic trilogy, his hero mused that "The whole distinction between things accidental and things designed, like the distinction between fact and myth, was purely terrestrial." Quakers might take such an overview of the debate about transcendence and immanence.
Enough of philosophical theology! Pascal, a contemporary of the first Quakers and variously called the first modern Christian or one of the first existential Christians, had a profound religious experience - a "night of fire" - in 1654; he sought and found the "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of philosophers and scholars." Quakers may join him in asking to be rescued from the God of philosophers and scholars - and may even seek experience and encounters in such a variety of circumstances as the Hebrew patriarchs.
The Judaeo-Christian tradition and the sayings of Jesus
Concerning the Judaeo-Christian tradition of Quakers, Harvey Gillman writes (in 'The Quaker way, a vision for the new century, 2008'): "I see the Quaker way as an internalisation and spiritualisation of the Judeo-Christian tradition which has learned to sit lightly with the old metaphors of divinity and may be open to new ones." He also says, "We live in a society of growing biblical and religious ignorance. The revolutionary understanding of early Friends was based on a serious exploration and reinterpretation of Christian history. We need as a Society not to base our outreach on outdated and ignorant pictures of other forms of Christianity and other religions."
The megaphone of 21st-century liberal-Liberal Quakers, David Boulton, at the very end of his tour de force Who on earth was Jesus? describes Jesus's "uniquely expressive parables and aphorisms (mangled by editors etc) ... After 2000 years of white noise, those who have ears to hear may still pick up the authentic voice of a man of his own age who somehow contrives to speak to ours." In another place Boulton wrote "What a makeover we could give this troubled world if we took this Jesus seriously! ... Jesus lives, in his teaching."
Paul Oestreicher in The Friend a year ago said, "Jesus ... is the inspired teacher who personified love and therefore God. Alone among religious teachers he proclaimed a love that was total and unconditional, that broke down all human barriers, that made no distinction between friend and foe, that lived out limitless forgiveness. He challenged the corruption of power, religious and secular. For this he paid the classical price that good people do and have done down the ages."
The sayings of Jesus are frequently mentioned by Quakers, often obliquely. Michael Bartlett writing very recently on Quakers and Human Rights refers to the call in the Sermon on the Mount 'to go the second mile' and also to the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable is also referred to in the Frontpiece of the Friends Quarterly in November 2009: "And where does that distinctiveness come from, which both sets us apart and yet still compels us in our daily lives not to pass by on the other side?"(my emphasis).
And Harvey Gillman in the Quaker Way says, "I see Friends in general as a place of hospitality, an idea of .. spiritual liberation, ... in the words of Jesus: bringing life, and life in abundance."
The Lost Gospel Q: the original sayings of Jesus shows (says Thomas Moore in the Introduction) "a Jesus who is less shielded and packaged by later traditions, less nuanced by the purposes of well-intentioned institutions, and therefore more poetic and more sublimely relevant to my own desire for a truly intelligent, deeply felt and socially responsive life of spirit." In the Preface, Marcus Borg writes, "The sayings in Q most often speak of the way or path that Jesus taught, a way deeply subversive of the dominant cultural consciousness of his day, and perhaps of every day. Here was a form of early Christianity ... that centrally emphasized 'The Way'."
So Quakers of all persuasions can be attracted to the sayings and the way of Jesus.
Transformation
Convincement is not a common word these days, and 'conversion' which is a modern synonym is even less popular. But Harvey Gillman's vision is of a Quaker community that is "open to the possibility of transforming encounter with Spirit". In earlier days Rufus Jones remarked that "no philosophy can remake men and fill them with power". Our Society now needs power - and wisdom - as much as ever before in its extraordinary history. For some this implies a spiritual relationship, but elaborating notions will not produce the desired and necessary experiences.
