Quakerism 201 at London Grove (Fall 2001)

(I have removed any other refrences specific to the course such as dates - gh)

This Is Our Testimony to the World·

Instructor/facilitator: Peter Blood-Patterson ©2001

This will be an 8 week course exploring our Quaker testimonies regarding ways of living. It will take place during Adult First Day School, each First Day immediately following Meeting for Woirship. We will be focusing on the following specific topics:

Week 1: What Is a Testimony Anyway?

Week 2: The Testimony on Integrity
(truthspeaking, oaths, plain speech)

Week 3: Simplicity (or Purity)

Week 4: Equality

Week 5: Peace

Week 6: Unity with Nature

Week 7: Embodiment (faithful sexuality)

Week 8: Other Testimonies (past & future)

Readings: Faith & Practice, Leonard Kenworthy's Friends Face the World (espec. Chap. 1), 3 Pendle Hill pamphlets: Gospel Order,
The Testimony on Integrity, and Reflections on Simplicity.

You can contact Peter via email: peterbp46@comcast.net, or at 610-399-6764

Quakerism 201 Week 1

What Is a Testimony?

A "Testimony" is what Friends refer to as how we believe people should be living their lives in a particular area as an expression of their faith. It grows directly out of the idea of Gospel Order, or God's vision of how a faithful community should be shaped. (See Sandra Cronk's Pendle Hill pamphlet we used for our course last winter). God's hope is that Friends will live in certain ways with each other as part of the beloved community. This dream of a way of living with each other spills over into the way Friends live in the surrounding non-Quaker society.

The specific testimonies have gradually evolved over time. There is no fixed or universally agreed-upon list of testimonies. Different people like to use different terms.Many overlap.

A testimony is a way of approaching a particular lifestyle issue widely agreed upon by many Friends. This consensus is reflected in its inclusion (in various forms) in many yearly meeting disciplines. The evolution of testimonies can be traced by reading YM disciplines over time. New ãtestimoniesä get added. Old ones become de-emphasized or even dropped entirely.

A testimony grows organically from an individual Friendâs ãconcernä or religious leading about a particular issue. This concern may (or may not!) by adopted or supported by the individual Friendâs monthly meeting. The individual may communicate her/his individual concern to other Friends through writing or (in theory at least with the approval of his meeting) through "travel in the ministry." John Woolman is the best-known example of a Friend struggling to share his personal concern about slavery widely with Friends around this country and to England. His individual concern eventually led (after a very long period of disunity) to widespread agreement that Friends should not hold slaves.

In theory at least a Meeting would wrestle with individual Friends who failed to live in keeping with the testimonies which the wider Quaker community has agreed are essential. Although this sometimes happened in the past (e.g. the visit of the elders in "Friendly Persuasion" regarding owning a musical instrument), it is very rare today. If most Friends fail to live out a given testimony, it becomes hollow and is eventually dropped from our disciplines.

Reflection questions:

What testimonies do you think are most important to London Grove Friends today?
What testimonies are so obvious to non-Friends that many non-Friends identify these with Quaker membership? (Would the list have been different a century ago?)
How does the Meeting communicate what it holds to be important about lifestyle to its children, its adult members, to the surrounding non-Quaker community?
Are there any activities that would be likely today to elicit some form of counsel or eldering from the meeting? Are there any that could lead to disownment?
How actively does the meeting explore together its responses to the YM queries on our testimonies?
How receptive do you feel the meeting is to new concerns that arise within the membership?

Readings:

Jack Kirk, ãCreaturely Activities or Spiritually Based Concerns?ä. Chap. 1 in Leonard Kenworthy (ed.), Friends Face the World. (Pub. jointly by FGC, FUM & Quaker Publics. in 1987 but now out of print.)

Faith & Practice: pp. 65-7, 74-5. Extracts # 195-214 (pp. 145-51).

Sandra Cronk , Gospel Order: A Quaker Understanding of the Faithful Quaker Community, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #297, 1991. Especially pp. 11-13 (on testimonies as one of three 3 key dimensions of gospel order) and 21-31 (on mutual accountability).

Quakerism 201 Week 2 -

The Testimony on Integrity (truthspeaking, oaths, plain speech)

Early Friends considered it critical to live in a way that reflected their sense of integrity. This meant speaking truth at all times. It meant trying to find ways to keep scrupulously to an ethical way of life and to do nothing to hide oneâs convictions or status as a Friend even at great cost.

Early applications:

Refusal to take oaths (But I say swear not at all, but let your yay by yay and your nay be nay)

Plain speech 1) plural address (use of ãtheeä & ãthouä to all persons), 2) names of days & months

Refusing to hold Quaker worship in secret even if this meant imprisonment

Speaking the truth to others even when it got one in trouble

Wear thy sword as long as thou canst. (Fox's statement to Wm Penn)

Refusal to pay tithes to support a state church Friends did not agree with

Commercial honesty (e.g. refusal to haggle prices) led to commercial success

Other possible applications of this testimony:

Cheating on income taxes

Refusing to take loyalty oaths during McCarthy period

Software use without purchase

Honesty when given the wrong change at a store

Refusing deception in personal relationships ö refusing to collaborate with others doing this.

Reflection Questions

Do you ever cheat on your income taxes?
Does the meeting ever discuss ethical issues?
Would you ever tell a friend that you disagree with something they have done that is dishonest or unethical?
Is being scrupulous honesty as important today as it was in the 17^th century?
Where (if ever) would you make exceptions (e.g. hiding Jews in Nazi-controlled Europe)?
Do you think Friends still have a public reputation for honesty?

Readings:

Faith & Practice: Extracts #270-97 (pp.167-74) Query #12 (p. 215)

Wilmer Cooper, The Testimony of Integrity, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #296, 1991.

Additional reading:

Good Business Ethics at Work, The Quakers at Business Group, London, 2000.

Quakerism 201 Week 3

Simplicity (or Purity)

This is probably the least understood of the Quaker testimonies. It overlaps, to some extent, with virtually all the other testimonies (integrity, equality, peace, family life, community, unity with nature).

The heart of the testimony involves living oneâs life in a manner that enables one to stay focused on God - to avoid activities which get in the way of a disciplined daily life of prayer and inward attentiveness to the motions of the Divine Spirit.

This has been an important aspect of spiritual faithfulness in other religious traditions, e.g.

St. Francis of Assisi gave up all possessions to be closer to God

Brother Lawrence was a monk who tried to pray without ceasing even while doing housework.

Thich Nhat Nahn and other Zen Buddhists are keenly aware of how certain activities distract us from a spiritually grounded life.

Early applications:

Plain dress - taken up primarily to avoid ostentation and frivolity associated with worldly fashions. Margaret Fell referred to opposition to bright clothing as a silly testimony & refused to go along!)
Rejection of world's holidays / feast days (shared with Puritans)
Along similar lines: rejection of musical instruments, choral singing, dancing, plays
Sexual faithfulness (no sex outside of traditional marriage)
Requirement to be married to a Friend

Later applications:

Gambling
Drugs and alcohol use / abuse

Other possibilities

TV, internet abuse
Wearing suit & ties. (Jeans & T-shirt as plain dress?)

Personal spiritual disciplines

Fasting

Reflection Questions:

What kinds of activities help you to feel centered / grounded in God / to hear Godâs voice speaking to you?

What kinds of activities interfere with your ability to pray / to hear Godâs voice / to feel present with God?

What kinds of possessions seem to interfere with your ability to live in God?

What dangers do you see addictions playing in your spiritual life / the integrity of your relations with others?

Do you talk about these issues with your family? Your friends? The meeting?

Readings:

Faith & Practice: pp. 70-71, pp. 73-4 (addictions). Extracts 225-40 (pp. 155-8).
Queries #4B (Care in My Home, on p. 209), #11 (Stewardship of Resources, p. 213) & #12 (p. 214)

Elaine Prevallet, Reflections on Simplicity, PH Pamphlet 244, 1982 (Elaine is a member of the Catholic order called the Sisters of Loretto & has led many retreats at Pendle Hill.)

Additional reading: Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God.

Fran Tabor, ãFinding the Taproot of Simplicity: The Movement between Inner Knowledge & Outer Actionä, Chap. 5 in Friends Face the World.

James Neff MD, ãAlcohol & Drugs: A Quaker Concernä. Chap. 10 in Friends Face the World.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Present Moment, Wonderful Moment; The Miracle of Mindfulness, and other books.

Quakerism 201 Week 4

Equality (including antislavery, womenâs rights, social justice)

This testimony grows from the conviction that God is present in every life. It is essential to make certain that no oppressive assumptions or social structure interfere with the ability of God to find expression through each precious person. This means:

Treating each person we meet equally
Allowing each person a voice in meeting life and (by extension) in the larger body politic
Ending social institutions that by their nature oppress or exploit others
Becoming sensitive to the ways in which our possessions and lifestyle result in harm to others.

Early application: Hat honor (still enforced in courtrooms!)

- Honorifics in speech (e.g. plural address to superiors)

- Allowing women to take active role in leadership (revolutionary at the time)

Later applications:

- Slavery

- Womenâs suffrage

- Concern about how certain possessions exploit / harm others (Woolman)

- Prison reform (extended to prison visitors, meetings in prisons, Restorative Justice movement, AVP, opposition to capital punishment)

Recent extensions: Rights of disabled people

- Resistance against ageism / oppression & disenfranchisement of the elderly

- Sexual orientation (discrimination against gays)

Other possibilities: Socialism (there is a Quaker Socialists organization in the UK.)

Use of titles, degrees, current honorifics (e.g. ãYour Honorä, ãThe Honorable·ä)

Rights of children

Readings:

Faith & Practice: p. 75-6, 80. Extracts # 241-69 (on pp. 159-67). Queries # 6 & 7 (on pp. 210-11).

John Woolman, A Plea for the Poor. (This extraordinary essay is appended to most editions of his Journal. If you only have the chance to read one thing other than Faith & Practice in this course, choose this!)

Additional reading:

Margaret Hope Bacon, ãBeyond Equal Rights: The Quaker Concern for the Rights of Womenä, Chap. 9 in Friends Face the World.

Quakerism 201 Week 5

The Peace Testimony

Beginnings: Limited to personal non-participation in military and violence

(On the other hand, tate to anticipate divine retribution for persecution of Friends!)

First publicly articulated in 1660 to avoid confusion with the Fifth Monarchy Insurrection.

After Friends withdrew from public government (in Pennsylvania due to conflicts regarding the French & Indian War), Friends generally expressed neutrality toward governmental decisions, similar to Amish position today.

Later extensions: The seeds of war in personal possessions & lifestyle (John Woolman)

In the 20^th century: Political peacemaking - organizing opposition to govt policiesä that promote war

Recent extensions: Refusing taxes that go to war (similar to earlier refusal of tithes)

The movement to abolish capital punishment

Conflict resolution work in communities

Rationale for the peace testimony:

Initially ãWe do not fight with outward weapons.ä (cf. rejection of outward sacraments). Separation from ãthe worldä and its struggle. Jesus ãMy kingdom is not of this worldä. ãI am not that kind of Messiahä

Later religious justifications:

Killing violates ãthat of God in every one.ä

Admonitions of Jesus (ãTurn the other cheek· Love those who hate you.ä)

Political reasons

Wastefulness of military spending

Insidious effects of hatred begetting hatred & violence begetting violence

Importance of developing international understanding and institutions

Other recent extensions of peace testimony:

Vegetarianism. An extension of peace testimony, right sharing of world resources Unity with Nature, care for our bodies. Much more common among Friends in England, New Zealand & Australia.

Ending Use of Physical Restraints (in care of the elderly) ö Friends life-care communities & nursing homes have led the way in pioneering alternatives.

Struggle against violence towards women

Alternatives to Violence Project. Started by Quakers, especially in prisons ö holistic personal change

Violence towards the environment. We must treat all creation with deep respect just as other people.

Reflection questions:

What approach do you think the Meeting should take to a member who is joining the military?

Should our children be playing with war toys? Violent games? Watching media with violent content?

What attitudes or institutions do you see as holding the seeds of war in our society? In our own lives?

Do the affluent (by world standards) lifestyles of most U.S. Friends contradict our testimony against war?

What happened to the peace movement in this country ö is there anything we can do to witness more actively to our testimony today?

Readings:

Faith & Practice: pp. 76-9. Extracts # 215-24 (pp. 151-5). Query #8 (pg. 211).

Additional reading: Friends & the Vietnam War: Papers & Presentations from a Gathering for Reconciliation, Reappraisal & Looking Ahead, ed. by Chuck Fager, Pendle Hill, 1998.

Wallace Collett, ãPay Thy Taxes as Long as Thou Canstä. Chap. 14 in Friends Face the World.

Quakerism 201 Week 6

Unity with Nature

The youngest of the widely agreed-pon testimonies. Many Yearly Meetings have passed statements in recent years on this issue. Many have add queries and other passages toheir disciplines. Many Friends around the country have in the past couple of decades felt ãdeeply exercisedä about this issue.

Represents an extension of our testimonies on peace and equality to other creatures besides humans and to the natural world in general. Arises from a far-reaching re-evaluation of traditional theological assumptions that saw humans as being superior to and dominant over the rest of creation. Grows from seeing humans as a small part of and our own future intimately intertwined with the entire planet and natural order.

Seen as involving both profound inward shifts in consciousness and spirituality and radical changes in personal and political behaviors including:

Cutting back on levels of consumption & energy use
Environmentally sound practices (recycling, cutting water use)
Eating lower on the food chain
Personal limits to family size
Environmentally aware investing and purchasing

Also involves heavy involvement in environmental organizations and political advocacy to affect local and national policies in areas such as:

World population growth
Protection of undeveloped wilderness areas
Protection of oceans and marine mammals
Laws to protect
Endangered species

Reflection Questions:

What steps has your family taken to live in ways which protect the future of this planet and all its creatures?
What has the meeting done to change its corporate practice (e.g. energy use, recycling, investing, etc.) in this area?
Has the meeting carried out witness on this testimony to the surrounding community? Could it?
Do you see this testimony conflicting with our testimony of equality (e.g. in terms of conflicting priorities regarding development and social justice for the poor?)

Readings:

Faith & Practice: pp. 81. Query #10 (on pg. 213).

Additional reading:

Ruth Lofgren, ãSharing Stewardship of Our Planet Earthä. Chap. 11 in Friends Face the World.

A variety of pamphletds from FCUN (the national Quaker organization advancing this concern)

Many excellent articles in Friends Journal in recent years.

Quakerism 201 - Week 7
Embodiment: Towards a Quaker Testimony on Sexual Ethics

Early Quaker writings. Fox and other Friends argued that:

1. First cousins should not marry each other

2. Friends should not be married to non-Friends (opposition to ãmixed marriageä)

3. Friends saying their vows to each other during a meeting for worship have sacred status in Godâs eyes

4. Christians who argue for the impossibility of a life of perfection in Christ cannot experience holy matrimonial love but are as animals lusting after each other (!)

Traditional Christian rule. During most of Friends history, Friends advocated a traditional Christian position that sex outside of the marriage of one man and one woman was contrary to Godâs intentions. This proscription encompassed premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexual behavior and partnerships, and masturbation. Divorce was also strongly disapproved of.

Continuing revelation. Friends have always maintained the importance of ongoing discernment of Godâs intentions for their faith community. Friends attitude towards slavery, womenâs suffrage, celebration of holidays, use of ãplain speechä (thee and numerical names for months and weekdays), distinctive plain dress, and mixed marriage have all evolved radically over time. Over time, many Friends have similarly come to have doubts about one or more components of the traditional sexual standard. Widespread questioning of the old assumptions tended to arise (in the liberal yearly meetings) in the following order:

1. ãMixedä marriage (i.e. marriage between Friends and non-Friends)

2. Divorce

3. Masturbation

4. Pre-marital sex (especially serial monogamy in the context of committed relationships)

5. Committed same gender relationships

Quaker institutions from Pendle Hill to colleges to conferences like FGC annual gathering to summer camps have struggled since the 1960âs with their policies regarding housing rules and employment policies Explicit guidance in the area of sexuality has largely been removed from the disciplines of liberal unprogrammed yearly meetings. There is a deafening silence in terms of teaching and guidance in this area today among liberal Friends Meetings. . Pastoral Friends (Friends United Meeting and Evangelical Friends International) continue to hold strongly to traditional Christian rules, especially in opposition to homosexual relationships.

Reflection questions:

What do you think Godâs dream is for us today as sexual beings?
What teaching (if any) does London Grove provide to its young people in this area?
Do you think Friends need a new ãtestimonyä in this area? If so what would you include?
Is this a subject that London Grove Friends can talk about freely with each other?

Readings:

Faith & Practice: pp. 68-74 on marriage, sexuality & addictions. Queries 4B & 12

Additional readings:

Peggy Brick, Some Quaker Perspectives on Sexuality. Chap. 7 in Friends Face the World.

Elizabeth Watson, Sexuality: A Part of Wholeness (pub by Phila YM Fam Rels Comm. ö now out of print)

Towards a Quaker View of Sex, Friends Home Service Committee of London YM, 1963

Walter Barnett, Homosexuality and the Bible: An Interpretation. Pendle Hill Pamphlet #226.

Living with Oneself and Others. Queries on marriage & sexuality, 1986. Initiated by the New England YM
Committee on Worship & Ministry. Available for view online at http://www.neym.org/lwoo.pdf.

Richard Foster, Money, Sex & Power: The Challenge of the Disciplined Life, Harper & Row, 1985.

Quakerism 201 - Week 8
Other Testimonies: Past & Future·

Testimonies that have been abandoned

Plain Speech. Became obsolete because "you" is now used in addressing everyone.
Plain Dress
Against Payment of Tithes.
Names of Months & Days of the Week.
Times & Seasons: Friends objected to popular holidays like Christmas and Easter in part due to association with pre-Christian pagan traditions and partly to affirm the holiness of every day. Quaker schools and businesses used to be open on Christmas day.
Instrumental Music & Choral Singing. (Although many Friends are still ambivalent about choral singing during Meeting for Worship.)
Dancing. When I was a child folk dancing had to be called ãfolk gamesä at the Friends Boarding School in Barnesville, Ohio.
Plays ö Associated by Puritans & early Friends with sexual promiscuity & ãfrivolityä.

Testimonies of Continued Relevance (but lessened emphasis)

Gambling A Friend told me that the 2-3 Friends who were members of the Vermont State Legislature were the only ones who voted against the state lottery every year. Concerns include the indirect tendency of those least able to afford it to finance government programs via lotteries. Also the cultural effects of activities that glorify personal acquisition of wealth without work & addictive pull of gambling.
Substance Use Originally focused mainly on alcohol. Now also other drugs & smoking.
Concern for Native Americans

Possible ãNewä Testimonies

Vegetarianism
TV & Video Games. Some Quaker families refuse to have these in their homes. Others try to place sharp limits on amount of time and quality of use.
Music ö as being the birthright of all rather than just the ãexpertsä
Nonviolent / Caring Parenting Methods

Reflection Questions:

Are there issues of deep importance to meeting members not yet included in a ãtestimonyä?
Are there personal concerns that you hold along similar lines?
Are their issues that you sense Friends here would be very reluctant to look at?

Reading:

Faith & Practice pp 73-74 (addictive behaviors)

Additional reading

Fay Honey Knopp & Janet Lugo, ãThe Slavery of Penal Servitude: Quaker Concerns about Prisons & Prisoners, Chap. 12 in Friends Face the World.

Michael Allen, ãGray on Gray: Quaker Concerns on Aging in the United Statesä. Chap 19 in Friends Face the World.

Dean Bratis, ãThe Boundaries of Life: Is a Quaker Position Possible?ä Chap. 20 in Friends Face the World