Quaker Writings: An Anthology, 1650-1920

by Thomas D. Hamm

An illuminating collection of work by members of the Religious Society of Friends.

Covering nearly three centuries of religious development, this comprehensive anthology brings together writings from prominent Friends that illustrate the development of Quakerism, show the nature of Quaker spiritual life, discuss Quaker contributions to European and American civilization, and introduce the diverse community of Friends, some of whom are little remembered even among Quakers today. It gives a balanced overview of Quaker history, spanning the globe from its origins to missionary work, and explores daily life, beliefs, perspectives, movements within the community, and activism throughout the world. It is an exceptional contribution to contemporary understanding of religious thought.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity

400 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 2010

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cool overview! Quakers are distinguished by their long-standing image of God as a benevolent, loving God (though many, or even most, Quakers in American today do not believe in an anthropomorphic God), in contrast to Puritans with their vengeful God image. This makes their writing for much more pleasant reading.

I'm also impressed by the amount of writing by female Quakers contained in this anthology, though that certainly tallies with Quakerism's long history of advocating for gender equality. Early Quaker leaders such as Margaret Fell, Katherine Evans, and Sarah Chevars make appearances here.

Here's a couple of my favourite quotes from this anthology:

Jesse Holmes: “Nations and churches are made of men— are nothing apart from them or in addition to them. The whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. Nothing is right for us as Friends, as Christians, as citizens, which is wrong for us as individuals. There is no mysterious entity to be called a nation or a church that may cancel our duties as sons of God, and substitute another standard of right and wrong. If individuals making up a church represent a spirit of force, of violence, the church cannot represent a spirit of peace and goodwill. If citizens go forth to slay and destroy they may carry the name of civilization on their lips, but they are simply homicides and barbarians. Men salve their consciences, yea, even benumb their consciences, by shifting the responsibilities of their deeds to a mythical something called a government, a church; but no power can release a man from the burden of his deeds."

John Woolman, on slavery: “I believe liberty is their right, and as I see it, they are not only deprived of it, but treated in other respects with inhumanity in many places. I believe He who is a refuge for the oppressed will, in his own time, plead their cause, and happy will it be for such as walk in brightness before him… these are the people who have made no agreement to serve us, and who have not forefeited their liberty. These are the souls for whom Christ died, and for our conduct towards them we must answer before Him.”

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Religious Society of Friends (more commonly known as Quakers) is a very unique religious group with a long history. Originally formed in England during the 1650s Quakers immediately faced censure, accusations of blasphemy, imprisonment and, in extreme cases, execution by the intolerant religious establishments of the time. The reasons for this treatment ranged from the questioning of scripture to the refusal to swear oaths, address magistrates by titles or fight in wars.

As the title suggests the book is a collection of essays and letters written by such famous Friends as George Fox, William Penn and Margaret Fell (to name a few) over a period of almost three hundred years. Despite the introduction to this review the book is not all about persecution, far from it. Although some of the letters were written by Friends from inside prison cells the majority of the book celebrate the religious convictions of Friends and speak about their faith, beliefs and practices.
One thing that is very obvious from reading the book is that Quakerism has changed since its original creation over three hundred years ago and I’m not going to go into whether or not I think that’s a good thing. The book paints a wonderful mental picture of early Quakerism with much talk of Christ which is often missing from more contemporary Quaker writings.

The book isn’t without its downsides; I had particular trouble appreciating the writing style of William Penn, however considering the age of some of the writings by and large it is easy to get on with. Also I am unsure as to why the author only included letters written up to 1920 and not any more recent offerings.

This is an excellent book for someone who is interested in Quakers and wants to learn more about their roots particularly the beliefs and practices of early Friends. Personally I found it deeply inspirational and will definitely be re-reading it.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough going, tiny print... but worth the price for anyone who wants to know what this friends of the light m'larkys all about. A very approachable christian sect.

[path · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is what it claims to be: an anthology of Quaker writings from 1650-1920, but it didn’t quite provide what I was looking for. To use the GR rating system, it was just "okay."

I have a secular and intellectual interest in the Religious Society of Friends (aka the Quakers) because of what I know about more modern forms of the faith that somehow combine tolerance, peace, and a deep commitment to humanistic principles with a respect for science, critical thinking, and inquiry. There is something about the state of the world today that has me thinking a lot about tolerance, respect for persons, and the pursuit of truth and understanding. Those concerns are deep within the selections of this anthology but not brought to the surface as much as I would like.

If I were to focus my complaint on something in particular, it would be the overall absence of editorial presence to help to pull some of these selections together. There is the obligatory introduction that provides some orientation to the events recorded in these excerpts. The headings used to organize the excerpts also provide some orientation. Otherwise there is not much editorial comment within the sections or between the sections. There isn’t even an index. The result reading experience for me was of a collection of writings that had some similar thematic content but with many idiosyncratic applications and contexts. The selections appear to have been chosen to highlight the movement’s historical evolution over its theological and intellectual principles. An overarching theology struggled to come to light, but perhaps this is due to the unusual individual orientation of the Quaker faith. For a group that believes that the Inward Light exists in each individual, it is probably not surprising to find so much splintering and divergence over the decades, but the core that remains was not always visible.

[Mattschratz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I went into this book with a kind of unfocused idea, which was to find something like Quaker slogans, or sentences that I would underline as little apothegms. The Ten Best Zingers From Elias Hicks or something. Such were not forthcoming, but that seems to me, now, the point, or a point. (I guess that would be in the Penguin Anthology of Episcopalian Writing, maybe). What's evidenced throughout this book, instead, is the quiet kind of doing right and living right that's at a kind of odds with outward shows and thus maybe with the apothegm strategy of determining what's valuable. Which gives yours truly, maybe needless to say, a lot to continue to think about.

[Colin Cloutus · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little lack of diversity in selection with the later sections on slavery, pacifism, liberalism. But the early selections of theology and spiritual biography are a very interesting introduction to the core values and diversity of Quakerism. George Fox's and John Woolman's journals are very interesting, and there's a nice selection of a civil war memoir near the end.
Worth reading the first half, but suffers as an overall anthology for its lacklustre second half. Perhaps someone more interested in American slavery and emancipation would get more out of it though.

[Mabon Finch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give the writings in the first half of the Anthology two or three stars, because I found them quite boring; however, I would give the writings in the second half four or five stars - I thoroughly enjoyed them. So I compromised with four.

[Bryce Van Vleet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic resource for folks looking to understand the Quaker experience as it unfolded.