Quaker Pamphlets Online

Christ in Catastrophe

2008-03-28T10:27:00.003-04:00

Emil Fuchs, a man who has passed through great suffering, has walked among us and lived among us. He spoke to us with the authenticity of one who has seen Truth and heard it and felt it; and even when he spoke of disasters his face was serene. He speaks of the catastrophe of Nazi Germany from his own experiences in protest, in prison, in despair and in hope.Let us hear the challenge of Christ.

Quaker Strongholds

2008-03-18T10:43:00.002-04:00

This book written in 1891 by Caroline Stephen was considered by Howard Brinton to be a "Quaker classic" and was studied at Pendle Hill along with works by Barclay, Penington, Penn and Woolman.Caroline E. Stephen (1834-1909) a Friend by convincement, was a member of the Stephen family, prominent in England and well-known in other countries for several generations. Her father was Sir James Stephen

Prophetic Ministry

2008-03-11T13:59:00.001-04:00

In this essay Howard Brinton presents his Dudleian Lecture which was delivered at Harvard University on April 26, 1949. He explains at the beginning that "the term prophetic indicates in a single word the basic theory of Quaker ministry. He who appears in the ministry in a Quaker meeting is, at least theoretically a prophet, in the sense that he or she is an instrument through which God speaks to

The Place of Prayer

2008-03-06T14:30:00.002-05:00

In "The Place of Prayer Is A Precious Habitation" John Nicholson summarizes for Friends the testimony of John Woolman about his rich and varied prayer life. He also helps us understand how it moved from direct prayer to living the spirit of prayer.John Nicholson is a birthright Friend and was the long-time head of the Westtown School middle school. He gave this address as the principal speaker at

The Power of Truth

2008-02-26T11:05:00.007-05:00

Quakers speak blithely of the Truth, seldom knowing why it is capitalized. What is this Truth? Is this a Truth which evolves, which is different for each person, or is this Truth common among all people of faith in all generations? And what importance has this Truth? What are its origins, and how can it convince us?These are the questions that Herrymon Maurer addresses in this small pamphlet,

Obstacles to Mystical Experience

2008-02-13T09:07:00.001-05:00

Scott Crom, a Quaker and philosophy professor at Beliot College in Wisconsin, wrestles with the dual nature of man's existence: the struggle between reason and intuition, between tradition and illumination, between liturgy and prophesy. Just a glance at his section heading will give you a glimpse of the depth of his examination: Intellectual Obstacles; There Are Many Paths; Between Time and

Our Hearts Are Restless

2008-02-04T14:42:00.000-05:00

The premise of this pamphlet is that "Quakerism is a way of response to God, a way of response to the universal tide of unrest which ever relentlessly sweeps in upon us."Gilbert Kilpack, a director of studies at Pendle Hill in the 1950's, begins with an astounding declaration: The outcome of all human living and thinking depends upon what we make of the first three chapters of the book of Genesis

The Flavor of Man

2008-01-28T13:35:00.000-05:00

Jean Toomer was an American poet and novelist who wrote most popularly in the 1920's. Perhaps his most famous collection is Cane which depicts the struggles of the African-American in his times. The publication of that work established Toomer as an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance.Jean Toomer was noted as a mystic and an important element in the introduction of Gurdjieff's system in

Let Your Lives Speak

2008-01-21T10:05:00.000-05:00

Elfrida Vipont Foulds, an English Quaker of the 20th Century, was most noted as an author of Children's books. A birthright Quaker she served as head of a Quaker school during World War II, and as clerk of the Meeting for Sufferings of London Yearly Meeting.In this pamphlet she recreates for us some of the happenings of 1652 in the northwest country where she makes her home. She helps us

Worship, by John Woolman

2008-01-14T09:10:00.000-05:00

In 1949 Herrymon Maurer headed up the publications program at Pendle Hill. There he wrote several books during the 40's and 50's including The Pendle Hill Reader, The Power of Truth, and this important collection all published by Pendle Hill.His more direct Quaker writings are certainly overshadowed by his more popular translation of the Tao Teh Ching, The Way of The Ways: Tao. As noted by

Quakerism of the Future

2008-01-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

John Yungblut, a student of Rufus Jones and Henry J. Cadbury, worked for the AFSC in the South and became director of Quaker House, a civil rights and peace program in Atlanta in the 1960’s. He was invited to give this Henry J. Cadbury lecture at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1974.Yungblut begins immediately by dismissing any pretention to predict the future of Quakerism. “I am doing something

The Practice of The Love of God

2007-12-31T13:51:00.000-05:00

To quote the Wikipedia entry, "Kenneth Ewart Boulding was an economist, educator, peace activist, poet, religious mystic, devoted Quaker, systems scientist, and interdisciplinary philosopher." Ken Boulding has published some thirty books and numerous articles. His contribution to the Quaker literature includes There is a Spirit: The Nayler Sonnets where he envelops James Nayler's last words in

The Vital Cell

2007-12-24T10:24:00.000-05:00

The William Penn Lectures addressed the youth of a Quaker Philadelphia, and it is to this audience that Rufus Jones particularly appeals in 1941: "The really important thing is the quality of freshness and elasticity in our spirits. There is no use talking to minds that have congealed and set, and whose windows are not open for new light to dawn, and expectant of it."There is no use saying

Bethlehem Revisited

2007-12-18T09:51:00.000-05:00

In this short pamphlet Douglas Steere revisits his understanding of Christmas and the mysteries surrounding the Christmas story.Christmas is a time when we are invited to revisit Bethlehem and to reconsider its miracle. Bethlehem does not change and the miracle does not change, but we change, and the eyes with which we are able to see change. Hence what we see from year to year is not the same,

Can Quakerism Speak To The Times?

2007-12-10T12:13:00.000-05:00

John Hobart, born in England and active among Canadian Friends in the Thirties and Forties, served as the director of studies at Pendle Hill in the early Fifties. In Hobart we find both a birthright Friend and a Quaker by convincement who had been active in the Quaker movement for decades.Given the admonition, "Oh, why don't Quakers preach what you practice?", John Hobart considers the content of

The Quaker Doctrine of Inward Peace

2007-12-07T13:49:00.000-05:00

Howard Brinton had been a professor or lecturer at Guilford, Earlham, Mills, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr Colleges, and at Woodbrooke, one of the Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham in England. He has also worked in Europe for the American Friends Service Committee and in Japan. From 1936 to 1950 he, with his wife, were Directors of Pendle Hill and from 1950 to 1952 he was Director. This pamphlet is

Holy Disobedience

2007-11-18T16:04:00.000-05:00

Coming after an introduction to Holy Obedience written by a God- entranced Quaker mystic Thomas Kelly, it is fitting that we also consider the Holy Disobedience advocated by the sometime Communist, peripatetic Socialist and fellow traveler of many Quakers, A.J. Muste. It a Muste slogan which is quoted by Quakers when they proclaim "There is no way to peace - peace is the way."Inspired by a

Holy Obedience

2007-11-13T10:14:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of the holocaust, at the start of the devastation of World War II, Thomas Kelly returned from Europe with a message for Quakers. He returned from that visit shaken by the suffering he had witnessed in Germany but buttressed by new experiences of divine love able to meet that agony."Out in front of us is the drama of men and of nations, seething, struggling, laboring, dying. Upon

Rufus Jones

2007-11-05T13:45:00.000-05:00

In the pamphlet Religion As Reality, Life and Power Rufus Jones makes an eloquent case for a mystical approach to religion. Familiar with the questions often raised by young college students, he addresses the Young Friends Association in Philadelphia in 1918 about truth, life, beauty and meaning.Rufus Jones, professor of philosophy at Haverford College, is not one to mince his words, to couch his

Quakerism and Politics

2007-10-30T08:24:00.000-04:00

Frederick Tolles, a noted historian and professor of Quaker History and Research at Swarthmore College, presented the seventh Ward Lecture: "Quakerism and Politics" in 1956. In that lecture he quotes a passage written by Rufus Jones:There has always been in the Society of Friends a group of persons pledged unswervingly to the ideal. To those who form this inner group compromise is under no

The Hubble Quaker Posters

2007-10-26T11:29:00.000-04:00

Deployed April 25, 1990 from the space shuttle Discovery, the Hubble Space Telescope is one of the largest and most complex satellites ever built. Hubble's deployment culminated more than 30 years of research by NASA and other scientists. The telescope is named for American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who first discovered that countless island cities of stars and galaxies dwell far beyond our

Quaker Universalism

2007-10-25T11:59:00.000-04:00

Dan Seeger has been an advocate of universalism for more than a quarter of a century. He has written widely, not only for the Quaker Universalist Fellowship, but also in Friends Journal and other venues. Dan continues to 'speechify', giving voice to his heartfelt concern about the polarizing influence of dogmatically insular worldviews.Perhaps his best known pamphlet is "The Place of

Temptations and Service / Politics and Religion

2007-10-22T10:14:00.000-04:00

Newton Garver in his pamphlet Jesus, Jefferson and the Task of Friends juxtaposes two passages from the Gospels: the temptations in the desert and the final message of Jesus before his trials and

"Jesus, Jefferson and the Tasks of Friends" by Newton Garver

2007-10-20T16:46:00.000-04:00

Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Newton Garver has given flesh to the peace testimony over the years by burning his draft card, refusing to register for the draft, and clerking the NYYM Peace and Social Action Program. Newton takes the fundamental message of Christianity from the Temptations of Jesus, "I want you to consider that it does not matter by