I have been asked to teach Quakerism 101 for Salem Quarter in the winter. Here is a tentative syllabus. The syllabus will be updated here as it is ready.

Instructor: Gene Hillman
Telephone: 610-565-0381
e-mail to: geneh@pym.org

All sessions will be at the Salem Meeting House in Salem, NJ, first day evening at 7:00. Mary Waddington is the coordinator and the reading materials are being sent to her for distribution (we get a discount if you obtain them from her).

Participants will be asked to do the readings from Howard Brinton’s Friends for 300 Years (Wallingford, Pa.: Pendle Hill Publications, 1952), the Bible, Faith and Practice, and an essay or pamphlet (in what follows "PHP stands for Pendle Hill Pamphlet and is followed by the number in the series). I hope the extracts will be read not so much for information as for reflection, slowly and allowing a period of silence before going on to the next. For each class I also make a suggestion for further reading, a book on the subject.

In each class we will begin with worship. There will then be a short presentation of material (20-30 minutes) and a discussion of the readings until the break at the end of the first hour. After a ten minute break we will return for a period of worship sharing around a query or topic.

Session One: 27^th of first month (1/27/02)

Readings:

• Faith and Practice Historical Introduction, Extract 285
• Brinton, Introduction and chapter one
• Peck, George T. "What Is Quakerism? A Primer" PHP #277

Points to cover

• Social setting: Cavaliers, Puritans, Diggers, Seekers
• Roots in the Protestant Reformation: Radical Puritanism, Anabaptisism, Mysticism
• Lamb's War
• The Restoration, gospel order, Pennsylvania, Quietism (1660-1827)
• Reorginization (1827-1950)

For further study:

• The Apocalypse of the Word: The Life and Message of George Fox (1624-1690) (study guide available) by Douglas Gwyn. Friends United Press, 1986.

Session Two: 3^rd of second month (2/3/02)

Readings:

• The Bible: John 1:1-18
• Faith and Practice pages 16-17, 30-33, 13-44
• Brinton, Chapter two and three
• Sam Caldwell's "The Inward Light" (handout)

Points to consider

• The Light
• Direct - unmediated - experience
• The place of Scripture
• Universalism

For further study:

• Wilmer Cooper A Living Faith. Friends United Press, 1990.

Session Three: 10^th of Second Month (2/10/02)

Readings:

• The Bible: John 4:23-24, Acts 2
• Faith and Practice pages 17-20, Extracts #45-125
• Brinton, Chapters four and five
• William Taber. Four Doors to the Meeting for Worship PHP#306.

Points to consider

• Centering down
• Waiting on the Lord
• Knowing When to Speak
• Gathered and covered meetings

For further study:

• Encounter with Silence by John Punshon. Friends United Press, 1987.
• A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly. Note: the current Harpers edition (1996) has been edited by Richard Foster (to make it more accessable to non-Quakers I presume) but the unedited version (also origionaly Harpers and introduced by Douglas Steere) is still published by Quaker Home Service and available from Quaker Book Service in Ottawa. When available I prefer the origional.

Session Four: 17^th of Second Month (2/17/02)

Readings:

• The Bible: Matthew 18
• Faith and Practice pages 21-29, 34-43, Extracts #126-150
• Brinton, Chapter six and seven
• Gospel Order by Sondra Cronk, PHP#297

Points to consider

• "Sense of the meeting" or unity; not consensus
• gospel order

For further study:

• Beyond Majority Rule by Michael J. Sheeran. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1983

Session five: 24^th of Second Month (2/24/02)

Readings:

• The Bible: Isaiah 20; Matthew 5; Romans 12:9-21; James 4:1-3 and 5:7-12
• Faith and Practice: pages 65-81 and Extracts 8, 197,198, 199, 205, 208, 215, 230, 234, 239, 243, 247, 289
• Brinton, Chapter eight
• "Leading and Being Led" by Paul Lacey. PHP#264, 1985.

Points to consider

• Testimonies then and now:
• Truth telling to Integrety
• Plainness to Simplicity
• "Respect no man" to Equality
• Against war to Peace
• To what do they testify?

For further study:

• John Punshon "Testimony and Tradition" (London: Quaker Home Service, 1990).

Session six: 3^rd of Third Month (3/3/02)

Readings:

• Faith and Practice pages 63-64, 193-202
• Brinton, chapters nine and ten
• "Stories from Kenya" by Tom and Liz Gates, PHP #319

Points to consider

• Structure of Yearly Meeting
• AFSC, FCNL, FGC and so on (and on ... and on)
• FUM and the pastoral system
• EFI and Evangelical Friends
• Friends outside North America
• Bolivia and the rest of South America
• Britian and the rest of Europe
• Central America
• Cuba
• Indonesia
• Kenya and East Africa
• Taiwan

For further study:

• TBA