Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Education

The Spring Term at Pendle Hill

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A 10-week on-campus residential study program for those seeking space and community in which to share the daily rhythm of learning, work, and worship.

In a moment when the world feels exhausted, fractured, and depleted, Pendle Hill’s Spring Term offers a greenhouse – a protected space for Friends and other seekers to bring leadings, ideas, questions, and other seeds of the “already but not yet” – to nurture these visions into being, through the daily rhythm of study, work, and worship in community.

 

Pillars of the Program

Study 
The program will feature a series of courses centering around Pendle Hill’s three core, interrelated educational themes: 

  • Faith and Practice, including religious thought and spiritual practice, practices of spiritual discernment, Quakerism, and Biblical studies; 
  • Prophetic Witness and Social Concerns through the practice of community; and 
  • Nurturing Creativity through a creative exploration centered in the art studio. 

Students will have space to share with each other the leadings which brought them to Pendle Hill and will support each other in their personal development.  

Work 
Each student will take part in caring for the needs of the community, within the areas of hospitality (including housekeeping and work in the kitchen), buildings and grounds (gardening and maintenance), and education (upkeep of the library and art studio). 

In the daily rhythm of study, work, and worship, while also enjoying Pendle Hill’s shared meals and beautiful campus, students build a community focused on the integration of action and contemplation, returning to Pendle Hill’s roots as a school for prophetic witness in the world. 

Worship 
The heartbeat of Pendle Hill is daily Meeting for Worship. Students will be encouraged to join and support this and other spiritual practices. 

The Quaker City: A Walking Tour of Old City

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Participate in Arch Street Meeting House’s brand new walking tour of Quaker sites in Old City, Philadelphia!

The tour begins with a brief exploration of the historic burial grounds at ASMH before continuing on a walking tour of important Quaker sites throughout the neighborhood. This is not just your run-of-the-mill famous Founding Fathers’ tour! It is perfect for visitors who are seeking a different side of Philadelphia history.

REGISTER

About the tour: Visitors will start their walking tour at Arch Street Meeting House, then continue to the Betsy Ross House and on to Welcome Park, the site of William Penn’s first residence in Philadelphia. After snaking their way through Independence National Historical Park, the group will stop at various other sites with a Quaker twist.

Support provided by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

The Quaker City: A Walking Tour of Old City

Written on:

Participate in Arch Street Meeting House’s brand new walking tour of Quaker sites in Old City, Philadelphia!

The tour begins with a brief exploration of the historic burial grounds at ASMH before continuing on a walking tour of important Quaker sites throughout the neighborhood. This is not just your run-of-the-mill famous Founding Fathers’ tour! It is perfect for visitors who are seeking a different side of Philadelphia history.

REGISTER

About the tour: Visitors will start their walking tour at Arch Street Meeting House, then continue to the Betsy Ross House and on to Welcome Park, the site of William Penn’s first residence in Philadelphia. After snaking their way through Independence National Historical Park, the group will stop at various other sites with a Quaker twist.

Support provided by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

The Quaker City: A Walking Tour of Old City

Written on:

Participate in Arch Street Meeting House’s brand new walking tour of Quaker sites in Old City, Philadelphia!

The tour begins with a brief exploration of the historic burial grounds at ASMH before continuing on a walking tour of important Quaker sites throughout the neighborhood. This is not just your run-of-the-mill famous Founding Fathers’ tour! It is perfect for visitors who are seeking a different side of Philadelphia history.

REGISTER

About the tour: Visitors will start their walking tour at Arch Street Meeting House, then continue to the Betsy Ross House and on to Welcome Park, the site of William Penn’s first residence in Philadelphia. After snaking their way through Independence National Historical Park, the group will stop at various other sites with a Quaker twist.

Support provided by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

Quakers in Education: Nitobe Inazo, Elizabeth Gray Vining, and Joseph Wharton

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This is the second in a series of articles about Quakers who’ve impacted the fields of education and contributed to global scientific, medical, political, or economic leadership. The first article was published on September 23 and covered Elise Goulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins.

Nitobe Inazo (1862-1933) was a Japanese Quaker who became the first Under Secretary General for the League of Nations. Nitobe was born into a samurai family on Honshu, the main island of Japan. While in college, he became a Christian and later a Friend. In 1884, He moved to the US for post-graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University. There he began attending Quaker meetings, telling friends, “I very much like their simplicity and earnestness.”

[Read more…] about Quakers in Education: Nitobe Inazo, Elizabeth Gray Vining, and Joseph Wharton

Quakers in Education: Elise M. Boulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins

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Quaker education has always been grounded in basic principles of the Religious Society of Friends. Each child has that of God within, and Friends’ education is centered in truth, practical learning, scientific inquiry, simplicity, and concern for civic society.

Quakers have a long history of questioning power and engaging in social action for human rights and peace. Today, many Quaker schools or Quaker affiliated institutions of higher education frame their learning environments with social or civic responsibilities and define community expectations through the lens of Friends’ values while still honoring the individual.

As the United States grew from colony to nation, the Quakers advocated for and delivered universal pubic education in Pennsylvania, built colleges, and created private Quaker secondary and elementary schools. The motto of the William Penn Charter School; “Good Instruction is Better than Riches” dates back to its founding in 1689 and still serves to describe Friends’ fundamental belief that knowledge outperforms wealth over time.

In the United States, Quakers were key to the founding of Haverford College (Pennsylvania), Guilford College (North Carolina,) Earlham College (Indiana), Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania), Johns Hopkins University (Maryland), Cornell University (New York), and the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania). All that does not mean that Quakers were perfect. As we see in the stories below, the were human and also strongly influenced by their own time and place.

[Read more…] about Quakers in Education: Elise M. Boulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins

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