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Syllabus: Quakerism 101

Green Street Monthly Meeting - Winter 2003

Classes will be held at Green Street Meeting Sunday afternoon, 1:00-3:00, on the first, second and fourth Sunday in February and March.

The instructor will be Gene Hillman (bio at www.homepage.villanova.edu/gene.hillman), Coordinator of Adult Religious Education for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. He can normally be reached Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (during office hours) at 215-241-7182, or by e-mail at geneh@pym.org. The Meeting coordinator is Doris Clinkscale who can be reached at (215) 242-1450.

Basic readings will be from Friends for 350 Years by Howard H. Brinton (Wallingford, Pa: Pendle Hill, 2002, $16.00) and Faith & Practice of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (1997, available on line at www.pym.org/publish/fnp/index.htm for those who do not own a copy). Other readings will be from The Bible, handouts, and a Pendle Hill (or similar) pamphlet each week (4@$3.00 and 1@$2.50). These materials are being ordered by the coordinator. The pamphlets are to be:

Cronk, Sandra. "Gospel Order" (Pendle Hill Pamphlet #297)
Lacey, Paul "Leading and Being Led" (Pendle Hill Pamphlet #264)
Taber, Bill "Four Doors to Meeting for Worship" (Pendle Hill Pamphlet #306)
Nuhn, Ferner . "The Shape of Quakerism in North America" (FWCC/SA)
Caldwell, Sam. "The Inward Light" (handout).

At a minimum please read the selections from Brinton and as much of Faith & Practice (F&P) as possible. You are strongly urged to also read the Bible selections (brief) and the pamphlet and/or handout. Please try to read the specified extracts from F&P (and any of the others that speak to you), and the selections from the Bible devotionally, reading the selections one at a time and sitting with each in silence and listening for the Holy Spirit speak to you through their words. Queries are also designed to speak to you at this deeper level. Note that each of the queries (on pages 206-214 of F&P) has two sections. First, in plain type, are the queries for the meeting. Following are queries for individual consideration in italics.

The suggestions for further reading are for those who wish to delve further into the subject, and list first an early work, then two or more recent works. I suggest getting Pendle Hill Publications directly from their bookstore, and Friends United Press books from the Quaker Hill Bookstore at www.quakerhillbooks.org or 800-537-8838. Other works can be obtained from The FGC Bookstore at 800-966-4556 or www.quakerbooks.org. Suggested readings are also available by phone or web from the PYM Library at www.pym.org/library/index.htm.

Week One (Second month, 2nd) - Quaker Roots: The early Quaker movement, the religious (English Reformation; Seekers - mystical, anabaptist, puritan influences) and social (civil war, diggers, levelers) context out of which it developed, the establishment of meetings, quietism

Please read

Brinton, Introduction and chapter 1
F&P p.1-15, 30-33, 215-221.
The Bible: Ephesians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:5; John 12:35-36, 15:12-17