In 1676 Robert Barclay wrote An Apology for True Christian Divinity. The whole Apology is rooted in the Second Proposition concerning Immediate Revelation: affirming that “the testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been, is, and can be only revealed.” This is what George Fox described as knowing truth “experimentally”.
This website is rooted in the belief that 21st Quakerism in its truest form is built on this same fundamental understanding of God and how God relates to, shapes, and guides our faith community.
This online library is organized thematically to help Friends find writings on particular subjects. You can often find writings by a particular author or on a particular subject using the Search box in the upper right. We also would suggest you check out the Guide to This Website.
Here is a quick look at the four major sections material is organized under:
Faith in Community describes what we believe as Friends and how this shapes our communal practices as Friends: God as a living Spirit shaping and guiding our faith community in this present moment through Spirit-filled and Spirit-led worship, nurture of spiritual gifts through “eldership”, and other dimensions of what Friends traditionally referred to as “Gospel Order”.
Witness describes how our community of faith interacts with the world around us. A God-led community lives in this world but not “of it”. God conveys to us as a community a prophetic vision of new heaven and earth that is radically different from the values and institutions of “Empire”. We are called as a movement of God’s people to prophetic work, transforming the world around us and drawing it ever closer over time to God’s hopes and plan. Early Friends referred to this as “The War of the Lamb”. Friends today often speak and think of this as a bundle of separate social “testimonies”. In truth these ways of living and transforming the world all derive from a single vision of God and God’s relationship with creation.
Transformation addresses personal dimensions of transformation. These all begin with “willingness” – an inward attitude of leaning on God – in contrast to willful resistance to God’s hopes for our lives. There are many barriers to healing: the scars of our upbringing that may have taught us that we do not deserve to be well cared for, addictions that lie to us and block us off hearing God’s voice in our lives, and the values and behaviors that Empire has sown in our hearts and relationships. But we do nor have to tackle these challenges alone. If we are able to trust others in our faith community enough to share vulnerably our own struggles with other, we can help each other on our personal journeys to wholeness.
Resources describes a variety (the Bible, Quaker writings, spiritual formation classes and programs, song, poetry, etc.) that can help us grow closer to God, deepen our faith community, and strengthen our capacity to carry forward God’s work in the world.
This website does not speak for any official body of Friends. It expresses the understanding and experience of Quakerism held by the writers whose pieces are posted here. It is rooted in our understanding of the faith and practices of the first generation of Friends, drawing significantly on the experience of Conservative or “Wilburite” Friends, but drawing heavily on the many recent Friends’ sense of where God is calling Friends today.
Peter Blood-Patterson of Mt Toby Meeting in New England Yearly Meeting is at this stage the main curator of what gets posted on this site, under a ministry accountability committee of Mt Toby Meeting. Many other Quakerism teachers and writers have been providing advice and support for this project. If you have written or are aware of articles, pamphlets, talks or short books that are in harmony with this vision of Quakerism, please email them to Peter at inwardlight1@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback and prayers—and partners to help build this online library and fulfill its mission.