Quaker
religious education, particularly for adults, presents several difficulties.
For such a well educated group it is odd that we would resist organized classes,
but we seem to.
Part
of this is inherent in our tradition. George Fox was looking for someone who
could answer his questions until, after exhausting the resources seemingly
available and in dispair, he "heard a voice which said, 'there is one,
even Christ Jesus that can speak to thy condition'" (Journal of George
Fox, p. 11, Nickalls ed.*). He went on to preach to others that the Lord
has come to teach his people himself. We expect to be taught directly, forgetting
all the preparation that came before that great opening.
This
opening immediately followed Fox's opening that a college education did not
qualify one to be a minister. "As I was walking in a field on a First-day
morning, the Lord opened unto me that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was
not enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of Christ; and I wondered
at it, because it was the common belief of people." (Journal,
p. 7).
We
expect new Friends to just get it. Get what? What is it to be a Quaker? We
don't have a creed but we do have a system of beliefs and behaviors which
characterize us and make us "a peculiar people." When seekers come
to us in hopes of joining us (becoming one of us) how do we enable this process?
And how do we continue the seasoning process for the rest of us?
What
is to be the content of Quaker Religious Education? Lacking a creed, what
is it we teach? Theology has been defined as faith reflected upon. For Friends,
theology, or what takes the place of theology, is experience reflected upon.
We begin by reflecting on our own experience, but as members of the Religious
Society of Friends we are engaged in a corporate endeavor. Ours is not a do-it-yourself
religion but a do-it-together religion. The individualism which dominates
our secular life has also undermined our sense of communal seeking, but if
we do not seek together we may only find what we bring with us to the search
without realizing what we are missing. Our search must be educated by the
more seasoned members of our meetings, but not just our monthly meetings (particularly
if that meeting is small and young), by our yearly meetings and the entire
Religious Society of Friends.
We
should start with the book of discipline (Faith and Practice) of our
yearly meeting. This is the corporate statement of what it is to be a Quaker
in each yearly meeting. We should ask everyone applying for membership to
read it. Where other denominations are concerned with orthodoxy (right belief)
Quakers are said to be concerned with orthopraxis (right practice, often seen
as the testimonies). Faith and Practice includes queries where we examine
our own faith (experience) and practice, and that of our meeting. The queries
are a distinctly Quaker approach to self examination, and in the meeting to
seeking and examining unity.
A
God's eye view of our religious society would include Friends past and future.
We can't know what the future will bring but do have access to the past. It
is found in our journals and our history. The journals are to Friends what
books of theology are to other denominations. The journals of Fox and Woolman
are classics, but also of great value (and also available) are those of Levi
Coffin*, David Ferris*, and the volume Wilt Thou Go On My Errand? Three
18th Century Journals Of Quaker Women*. While journals are accounts of
individual Friends, histories describe the development of the movement, they
describe God working in the world through the Religious Society of Friends
(or some might say Friends' efforts to bring the world into conformity with
the divine plan, rightly ordered).
Philadelphia
Yearly Meeting supports four traveling courses. The first is "Quakerism
101*" or basic Quakerism. In six weekly two hour classes it covers early
Quaker history, Quaker beliefs, worship and vocal ministry, community and
meeting for business, testimonies, and structure. A second course, sometimes
called Quakerism 201, is Faith and Witmess which focuses on the testimonies.
Bible and Prayer round out the offerings.
The
Bible must be a part of our religious education. It has always been
an inspiration to Friends and for this reason alone it is important. It is
also the starting point for our continuing revelation; I should say "starting
points" as it contains itself a progressive understanding of God's will
and work in history. It is hard to read the writings of early Friends without
an understanding of the scriptures. Without that understanding one misses
so much of what is being said without even realizing it. Continuing revelation
supposes a continuity and we must come to terms with that book which was so
important to Friends for the past 350 years. The FGC bookstore carries curricula,
and Susan Jeffers (LEYM) has a very useful web site at: www.read-the-bible.org.
There is also a course on prayer. Ultimately
our religious education should strengthen our relationship to God (deepen
our spiritual life). At one level Quakerism may be a sub-culture or a way
of life shaped by our testimonies, but if our testimonies are cut off from
that deeper level to which they testify, our direct experience of Godâs presence,
they loose their power and authority. The challenge to Quaker religious education,
particularly for adults, is to deepen this experience - "in the manner
of Friends."
There are also prayer groups; my meeting
has a men's prayer group that meets twice a month. Another approach is the
Spiritual Formation Program, a ten month program involving reading, discussion,
and spiritual friendships in which spiritual disciplines are developed. Spiritual
Friendships, in which two people will meet regularly to support each others
prayer lives and devotional practices, are valuable in themselves.
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*
the asterisk indicates the book or curricula is available from the FGC Bookstore
at www.quakerbooks.org
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Monthly Meeting Services Specialist
evand@pym.org
215 241 7182
Last updated
March 20, 2007