quakers: What's on A Friend's Bookshelf?

E.G. (

elainegrey) wrote in

quakers,
@ 2008-07-29 15:32:00

What's on A Friend's Bookshelf?
In the recent Friends Journal, there's an article that discusses what Quakers might learn from the Amish. When it comes to establishing our identity as Friends, Max Carter writes:

. In the home of each Amish family are a Bible and a Martyrs Mirror, for example . The former supports a Christian identity, and the latter defines, by way of the suffering of earlier Anabaptists, the nonconformist role their ancestors played within that Christian community. I would be surprised if a majority of Quaker homes has an equivalent library of literature underscoring Friends’ particularity.
Are young (or even older!) Friends provided ways to gain a clear understanding of who we are in relation to the religious communities around us?

I would think that most Friends have a Faith and Practice, and suspect most also have Bibles (plus other faith texts). Instead of speculating, i thought i'd ask this community.

I'll share in the comments a bit about my Friendly books, and would welcome reading about yours. If you want to post a reflection on your personal library and how it supports your identity as a Friend in your own blog, please comment with a link. I find myself wondering where you keep your books, whether books should be owned or kept communally, whether having web access to a book, or a digital copy on your phone or computer is the same as "owning" a copy when it comes to identity, whether you think Max's comment about identity is not just about owning the texts but also about display....

Poll #1231875 What's on your Bookshelf
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Do you identify as a Friend?

View Answers

Yes
50 (74.6%)

No
1 (1.5%)

I'm trying it on
6 (9.0%)

Yes, except because of [reason] i don't feel i should/have the right to/it's completely accurate
10 (14.9%)

Do you own a copy of Faith & Practice (or equivalent) for your closest community?

View Answers

yes
49 (72.1%)

no
10 (14.7%)

i prefer to use an on-line version
9 (13.2%)

Do you own a copy of the Christian Bible?

View Answers

yes
62 (91.2%)

no
6 (8.8%)

i prefer an on-line version
0 (0.0%)

Do you own a copy of any of the early Quaker texts? (Barclay, Fox's journal, etc)

View Answers

yes
40 (58.8%)

no
13 (19.1%)

i prefer on-line copies
10 (14.7%)

i did, and then i passed it on
6 (8.8%)

i borrow them from the library
17 (25.0%)

Do you own any Pendle Hill pamphlets?

View Answers

yes
31 (45.6%)

no
24 (35.3%)

i prefer on-line copies
5 (7.4%)

i did, and then i passed it on
5 (7.4%)

i borrow them from the library
13 (19.1%)

Do you have a subscription to a Friends publication?

View Answers

yes
31 (45.6%)

no
32 (47.1%)

two
3 (4.4%)

more than two
2 (2.9%)

Does your Meeting have a library?

View Answers

yes
53 (79.1%)

no
3 (4.5%)

I'm in a worship group/Meeting that doesn't have its own space
5 (7.5%)

I'm a Friend without a Meeting near by
7 (10.4%)

(Post a new comment)

	kibbles 2008-07-29 10:58 pm UTC (link)
	In Brooklyn, I used the library a lot. I have "A Quaker Book of Wisdom" and I got a lot out of An American Quaker in Nazi Germany (title may not be exactly that). I've had different Faith and Practices, and in NY, I didn't have the NYYM one. (Reply to this)

kibbles
2008-07-29 11:03 pm UTC (link)

Now about identity -- this is one thing I find very disappointing about Quakerism, the lack of any sort of Quaker identity. For example, I posted in the recent post in that Class & Quakerism blog about how Quakers DO NOT SUPPORT EDUCATING OTHER QUAKERS. In the rush to treat everyone equally, scholarships and discounts are NOT available to Quaker families first. Too often a Quaker education goes to non Quakers (which is fine) when Quaker children don't have access to it (this is not good). Do we not see a value in our children? Are they LESS worthy?

We're so concerned about the individual, or the world community, it appears that we've lost the Quaker community. We don't want to get more members, for fear of offending individuals and people outside. We don't want to put any sort of standards on ourselves, for the same reason. (Except of course the standard of not putting standards out there, or a vague liberal-ess-ness of some sort.)

It seems we're hung up on equality and peace and other testimonies have gone out the window.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	_darkvictory 2008-07-29 11:29 pm UTC (link)
	Is this the fear of having "some more equal than others"? I don't know. Definitely something to think about. Your icon is wonderful, by the way. I have an absurd fondness for stick people. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

kibbles
2008-07-29 11:40 pm UTC (link)

Ah that's from XKCD an entire stick comic.

This is the strip:
http://xkcd.com/442/

Which was inspired by this Discovery channel spot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ (Which gets me teary eyed)

Which comes from an old camp song.

Anyways, the whole thing that gets me, if we don't spread the message, does that mean we don't believe in it? Isn't anything worth believing in worth talking about? Sure we'll go and protest against the war and work to raise consciousness about race and gender an other issues, maybe poverty, but the thread that runs through it we hide. We don't shine any light on it. Why?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

stafferchick
2008-07-30 02:41 am UTC (link)

there is a few groups forming to "spread" the word about Quakerism... an outreach type of group... I just got some emails about it for the Chicago area... if you're interested in a copy just let me know and we'll work out a way for me to forward it to you (or anyone else who wants it)...

If there's enough interest in that email, I can put it in an lj-cut.

I've been wanting to put together information and a book for young Friends to sort of be a primer for Quaker education. However, the editor I worked for has retired, so I don't know if the offer to be published still stands (it was informal).
But I do find it very important for young Friends -- and new Friends -- to know a basic history to understand our foundations.

And while part of me wishes I could get some sort of discount or extra scholarship for being a Friend (which I think there are some Friends scholarships.. maybe, you'd have to check with each school, but I think ESR had a couple)... but at the same time, I feel that we should all have an equal chance at getting those funds... it's a hard issue. One we will all have to consider as new generations of Friends are raised without* a knowledge of their religious heritage.

*or a limited one

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

kibbles
2008-07-30 02:55 am UTC (link)

My daughter has no interest, really. I can only do so much and the values she learns from friends and school are so counter to Quaker ones. As she gets older, my influence lessens. Imagine if she had the opportunity to go to a Quaker school! Maybe she wouldn't have rejected it. She was at first idealistic when trying to apply Quaker beliefs to public school, but she then gave up, and now is kind of resentful. Brooklyn Friends School not only doesn't give Quaker scholarships (and it is a very wealthy school that some of the most elite and rich families in NYC attend), but penalizes stay at home parents when calculating how much they think you should contribute. The school cost more than my husband made in a year when we first looked into it (we are in Iowa now). How can Quakers be about simplicity with grade schools that are so elite and expensive? And honestly, I probably would not have been able to compete with those families, and my daughter would have felt like a pauper. Other Friends who could get scholarships/afford some of it said they felt that way/their kids felt that way. That they couldn't compete with the super rich people that attend the Quaker schools.

Just about every other faith around goes out of their way to make their children feel welcome and WANTS to share and educate them. Only Quakers reject their children like that, far as I can tell. "Well, we would educate you, but you're not rich enough. So even though you share our values, and beliefs, and worship with us, you can't LEARN with us, during the week."

I would like to see information about that, for the Chicago area, as I am 3 hours away from Chicago. Our worship group is under the care of the Madison Meeting.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Northern YM quakerclass.blogspot.com 2008-08-04 03:13 am UTC (link)
	Hey Kibbles, is your Meeting in Northern? I (Jeanne, the author of "that Quakers & Social Class blog) live in Minnesota and get to Wisconsin from time-to-time. Would love to meet you sometime. You can contact me directly. Writeousness at gmail dot com. :-) Jeanne (Reply to this) (Parent)

elainegrey
2008-07-30 04:09 am UTC (link)

There are two threads to your comment here. One is about class and privilege and Quaker schools -- i have similar concerns.

But, i'm not convinced there is a lack of Quaker identity and community. I may be very fortunate in my Meeting, but ministry reaches spiritual depths as well as into the concerns about international ministries, local service, and political change.

I have mentioned this in the past, but one of the most significant distinctive practices for Friends is the collective search for Truth, which one practices monthly in Meeting for Business. You've challenged me about what one does when that practice isn't available. I don't have an answer for you. I do wonder though, when Friends complain about lack of community and lack of Identity while not being involved in Meeting for Business. That is where the Meeting community defines itself, its priorities, its practices.

It know to some Friends it may seem that the practice in Meeting for Business is overly trivial in some cases (How many Quakers does it take to change a lightbulb?) , but that is the practicing part of practice. My Meeting certainly doesn't have problems with new members, and works to care for visitors, but is also balancing that with caring for current members. I do wonder about the consistency possible if we call for new members when our community isn't strong. Friends' practice, because it is different , takes longer to learn. Nurturing new members takes a great deal of commitment.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

kibbles
2008-07-30 04:25 am UTC (link)

In Brooklyn, they had no child care for Meeting for Business.

Here, I have no transportation for it, (or childcare, but I don't expect that, we're just a worship group). And for the 'main' Meeting? That's 90 minutes away. I've stuck around when I can, though, and like their process. It's very down to earth.

I feel closer with my 'little group' here, though, because class-wise, I feel on more even footing. Even those that are better off, practice simplicity. They shop in thrift shops and extol the virtues of doing so. They farm, and we have potlucks (didn't have that in Brooklyn) and are very open to ideas. They print notes/flyers/mail on the back of stuff that was printed on already.

It's more of a community. But that's to be expected in a small town of this size. I guess groups/Meetings very much reflect their local communities. Obvious, I suppose.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

kibbles
2008-07-30 04:29 am UTC (link)

I should add, too, that our tiny group passes information very easily. When they have scholarships available for summer camp, they make a point of handing the details out to families that might be interested.

I MAY have the opportunity to worship more frequently. Where we meet (too far away to walk, and we have no public transportation on Sunday -- and I won't call for a ride last minute, Ted is a factor that I have to take week by week) will be closing down. They are TRYING to get something that would be closer to me (only because I am centrally located). In bad weather, it would be no more than a $10 ride (I can usually get a ride home). Now? Minimum $20. I don't always have that (for example, Dan was out of work what, 5 weeks this summer). If I can become more involved, I will. Now I at least keep close to them through other means. (Including one teaching at my school, one working in one son's school, one working in my daughter's school, and so on. VERY close community.)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

engelhardtlm1
2008-07-30 02:53 am UTC (link)

My "Quaker" (either written about Friends or by Friends) library:

Barclay's Apology (Quaker Heritage Press's edition)
George Fox's Journal (edited by Rufus Jones)
A Living Faith (Wilmer Cooper)
The Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster)
Streams of Living Water (Richard Foster)
EFC-ER YM's Faith and Practice
The Quaker Reader (edited by Jessamyn West)
Why Friends are Friends (Jack Willcuts)
The Rich Heritage of Quakerism (Walter R. Williams)

All of these are on a bookshelf in my living room. I also have a copy of Keys to the Prison somewhere... I think at my parents' house.

Lately, I've been finding myself developing more appreciation for the more liturgical expressions of Christianity, so I'm not as certain about calling myself a "Friend" as I was a few years ago.

As far as not instilling Quakerism in others, I agree that we really don't, at least in my experience. Part of it, I think is an over-emphasis on the freedom of conscience. Freedom of conscience is a good thing, and a firm part of the Quaker tradition. However, there is something of a tendency to take it to such an extreme that, rather than just letting people act a way that we disagree with, we affirm them in whatever decision they make. This is certainly not part of the early Quaker tradition. If George Fox is our example, Quaker tradition is that we disagree so vocally that we are imprisoned by those we disagree with. George Fox and Robert Barclay seem to declare people "reprobate" all the time. I imagine very few modern Quakers would do so... except maybe toward Pres. GW Bush...

I think that we've blurred the line between freedom of conscience and moral relativism, and as a result, Truth gets fuzzy, and taking a stand for it is pure arrogance. We don't want to be arrogant, so we don't stand for Truth.

Just my thoughts.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	kibbles 2008-07-30 02:59 am UTC (link)
	At this point it seems truth is now just about material/tangible things. Not anything deeper than that. Because if it were, we'd be discussing our faith more, sharing it with others, don't you think? We can tell them the truth about war, but not about the light. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

engelhardtlm1
2008-07-30 04:07 am UTC (link)

Sounds like a fair observation. In a hyper-scientific age, "truth" is something tangible. So, all the intangibles get swept aside... or, at the very least, are declared "a matter of opinion".

OH! Two important books on my shelf that I forgot to mention. Thomas Kelly's "Testament of Devotion" (How could I forget that???) and D. Elton Trueblood's "The Trustworthiness of Religious Experience", that last one is one of the best little pieces that I've read. It does a great job defending religion to a scientific age.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

elainegrey
2008-07-30 05:15 am UTC (link)

"... rather than just letting people act a way that we disagree with, we affirm them in whatever decision they make."

I read this and think of how my Meeting just struggled recently through a minute regarding the California constitutional requirement that any state employee (including teachers) affirm their willingness to defend the state constitution from enemies foreign or domestic (or some such wording.)

Now, it's a constitution that needs defending, as during almost every election when there is the possibility of some group of people adding an amendment through voter initiative. But what does this affirmation *mean*?

Some Friends are able to make the affirmation in clear conscience as they do see their work as defending. Recently, however, some Friends have wanted to ensure that it was understood that they were not committing to the violent defense, bringing this practice to visibility. Politically, it's a good time to make a change.

During our Meeting's discussion about the action the Meeting would take, it was difficult and Friends were required to be tender with one another. One who was not present might say "we affirmed whatever decision" Friends choose with respect to how they handle this state constitutional requirement. For those of us in that discernment, struggling to listen to the greater Truth, to listen to what action the Light asks of us, it was a deep practice of letting the Love move among us leading us to Truth. I do think out meeting chose to stand for Truth that day, but we did it with great humility.

I certainly can name Friends in my Quarter who have been thrown in jail and who have put their lives on their line for Truth. I've read the Epistles between Yearly Meetings where Friends are firm with Friends about Truth, and Friends continue to travel amongst each other witnessing to how God's love moves among their communities, and listening to those who deny it.

In the continuing revelation we as a body have received and witnessed, we have learned that it is often not effective to witness by shouting out "reprobate," but it is often very powerful to listen. While listening Friends do not stop standing for Truth.

I hope that you hear what i have witnessed in my Meeting and larger community as with celebration. I hope you are able to find a community where you can experience it too.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

dawn9163
2008-07-30 08:30 am UTC (link)

My Quaker bookshelf is now overflowing, broadly it contains (I'm a UK Friend):
Quaker Faith & Practice, the Bible
George Fox's Journal and assorted biographies of other Friends
Copies of the Swarthmore Lectures (approx 15)
Epistles and Testimonies for the last few years
Lots of other books about Quakers/lifestyle etc

and then there's also the Quaker fiction bookshelf:
copies of Daisy Newman's novels
as many Elfrida Vipont's as I've been able to collect
Ann Turnbull's 2 novels about early Quaker times
other assorted books from different ages
and Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nichols - although not a Quaker book, she was brought up as a Quaker and it's a mind blowing book about an 11 year old boy who has terminal leukemia

Most of these are children/young adults books - but that is what I collect and enjoy reading

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Judielaine [claimid.com]
2008-08-02 02:37 pm UTC (link)

Hi Dawn

I'm on the library committee for Palo Alto Friends Meeting and was rather intrigued to see this list. If you were to write up a brief guide for some YA Quaker Fiction, i think my committee would be delighted to buy the books and run your notes in our Meeting's newsletter.

I'm *slowly* starting a Quaker Fiction (maybe Science Fiction) list at http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/judielaine/lists/102709 . I recommend WorldCat for this, but must add i do work for OCLC, the company that runs WorldCat. (Recommendation is because the export functions are very good and because one is linked to finding the book in a nearby library.)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	kibbles 2008-08-03 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	Do you have any contact with the Brooklyn Monthly Meeting? I ADORED their library. (Reply to this) (Parent)

dawn9163
2008-08-03 09:42 pm UTC (link)

Hi - I really haven't got the energy to be writing articles (I have ME/chronic fatigue and very little spare energy) - but didn't want to ignore you! Elfrida Vipont was mainly writing in the 1930/40/50s and they are very dated (but I love them - I also collect girls school stories from that period), so I doubt that the teenagers would want to read them or that the librarians would be able to get them. Although The Lark in the Morn is showing as available on the US Amazon site and some of the teenagers may enjoy that (it's the start of a series)

Ann Turnbulls novels are quite recent and are both available on US Amazon (Forged in the Fire & No Shame No Fear) - and AUS mazon is saying that Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls will be out in pb in september. I Take Thee Serenity by Daisy Newman (Amaerican Quaker) is also available on Us Amazon and there is one other book listed by her.

Sorry not to be of more use - you could maybe contact the Bookshop at Friends House in London http://www.quaker.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=89733 and see if they have any suggestions. I haven't been there since Yearly Meeting at the begining of May and I didn't particularly look at what was available then (I was rumaging around on the sale table for me and had a list of what my local meeting librarian wanted).

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Judielaine [claimid.com] 2008-08-03 10:59 pm UTC (link)
	Oh thank you, this is lovely. We've some big projects to take on so i'm mainly focussing there. It just hadn't occurred to me there would be so much Friendly young adult fiction! (Reply to this) (Parent)

My Favorite Quaker Books

quakerclass.blogspot.com
2008-08-04 04:24 am UTC (link)

I don't read many Quaker books, in part because some Quaker writing is (or was...) inaccessible to me, and in part because I find just as much if not more Light in other places.

I have two favorites, though:

If Grace is True by Philip Gulley and James Mullholland
Essays on the Quaker Vision of the Gospel Order by Lloyd Lee Wilson

I've read them both several times.

And what, exactly, would make "Quaker fiction?"

I've read very good fiction by a Quaker (A Door Into Ocean) and it reflected Quaker values. But I'm not sure I'd call a piece of fiction "Quaker." Something about the importance of truth and integrity...

(Which of course, gets to a question I posted on my blog).

(Reply to this)

	osodecanela 2008-08-06 10:58 pm UTC (link)
	I have both Faith & Practice and Fe y Practica for Pacific Yearly Meeting. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	elainegrey 2008-08-06 11:34 pm UTC (link)
	I had no idea PYM had a Spanish version -- but of course! Yet the PYM website doesn't list it, and it's not linked to in the AFSC store where the English version is available. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

osodecanela
2008-08-06 11:44 pm UTC (link)

If you write to the AFSC Bookstore in Pasadena, you can probably get a copy. Last I saw, they were $10 per, plus postage. However, it will likely be in on the website within the next 3-6 months where you'll be able to read it.

A member of our Discipline Committee, who's also a member of Mexico City MM is working on 'cleaning' up any translation errors in the latest edition, after which it will likely be posted to the PYM website. (We were just working on these details at PYM's gathering that just ended this past weekend.) Our English language edition is posted there, with searchable headings courtesy of our webmaster. The Spanish language version will likely be similarly searchable.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

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