The purpose of the Quaker Theological Discussion Group is to explore the meaning and implications of our Quaker faith and religious experience through discussion and publication. This search for unity in the claim of truth upon us concerns both the content and application of our faith.
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These photos are a throwback to last year’s Quaker Theological Discussion Group sessions and Quaker Studies Unit panel in Denver, CO at the American Academy of Religion! We heard papers by those whose work was published in the 2019 QRT issues, #132 and #133, and enjoyed times of scholarly fellowship around our shared Quaker nerdiness. We look forward to seeing everyone again tomorrow in San Diego!
Cherice Bock reviewed Gospel of the Absurd: Assemblies of Interpretation, Embodiment, and Faithfulness by R. Scot Miller for QRT Issue #133. A Friend and Earlham School of Religion grad (now ministering among Brethren), Miller does not write to a specifically Quaker audience, but “presents a Christian ethic based in the Bible and that belies his Friends perspective,” according to Bock. The review describes Miller’s Messianic care ethic, and discusses how Miller’s suggestion of faithful absurdity may be received by Friends today in both liberal and evangelical wings, intimating that neither may like what he has to say but it may be the kind of call all Friends need to hear. Order a copy of the review to learn more about this book and how it might speak to Friends.
The 20th anniversary edition of “Heaven on Earth: Quakers and the Second Coming,” by Ben Pink Dandelion, Douglas Gwyn, and Timothy Peat, was reviewed in the last QRT volume by Jay Miller. This post also includes a photo of the authors from ca. 1997 and ca. 2017!
Miller describes the book’s grounding in Peat’s biblical scholarship, along with analyses by Gwyn and Dandelion of the apocalyptic Quakerism and realising eschatology espoused by early Friends, and shifts in eschatological hermeneutics in subsequent centuries. Check out his review by purchasing your copy of QRT #133 here.
Jon Kershner wrote a review of William Penn, A Life, by Andrew R. Murphy (Oxford University Press, 2018), a book which marked the 300th anniversary of Penn’s death and focuses primarily on his political career. The text also “carefully corrects some of the previous mischaracterizations of the nature of the relationship between Lenape and the early Quaker settlers,” according to Kershner. Check out the rest of the review by purchasing a copy of QRT’s Fall 2019 issue here. Have you read William Penn, A Life? What did you think of it?
Oscar Lugusa Malande wrote “The Concept of Hierarchy and Doing Ministry in the Church: Evaluating the Roles of Leaders and the Use of Authority in Quakerism” for the Fall 2019 issue of QRT. With experience as a pastor and chaplain in Vihiga Yearly Meeting in Kenya, as well as teaching and serving as academic dean of Friends Theological College Kaimosi, he provides insight into the challenges and opportunities of the Friends understanding of authority and ministry leadership in general, and particularly how it is being received and interpreted in an African context. He interviewed Friends from several East Africa countries, and shares some of their opinions and insights. He also offers thoughts about the differences between pastors’ and clerks’ leadership, and the need for close collaboration.
In the first of a two-part series, Cherice Bock contributed “Oregon Yearly Meeting and the Peace Testimony, Part I: Navigating Evangelicalism and Quakerism, 1938-1954,” based on interviews and archival research she conducted with her late grandfather, Ralph Beebe. In this article, Bock details Oregon Yearly Meeting’s approach to the peace testimony during World War II and the Korean War, and shares the stories and beliefs of Quaker men faced with the military draft in these years. She analyzes the balance between particularly Quaker beliefs and evangelicalism in this yearly meeting as Evangelical Friends began.
Christy Randazzo contributed “Affirmation Mysticism: The Activist Theology of Rufus Jones” to the Fall 2019 issue of QRT. Through an exploration of the social activism of Jones through his involvement with the American Friends Service Committee, combined with his mystical Quakerism, Randazzo highlights the interdependent and social theology of Jones, and of Quakerism as a whole. Order your copy of this issue today at https://qtdg.org/subscribe.
