Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Wallingford, Pa. : Pendle Hill Publications, 2006.
Subjects
ISBN
0875743846 / 9780875743844
Description
Light is the central metaphor in the religious lives of Friends, but not of Friends alone. "The light that lighteth every person who cometh into the world" has served as an image of sacred mystery for ancient Hebrews and Greeks, for Dante, for modern poets, and for theorists on the physics of electromagnetism. What has Light meant to different people throughout the ages? How did various ideas about Light influence the prologue to John's Gospel? What did early Friends understand Light to mean? In this pamphlet, Peter Bien explores the theology and poetry of Friends' favorite religious symbol--Back cover.
User reviews
LibraryThing member kaulsu
Excellent discussion of the Light. Main idea I take from it is that it is not the "Inner" Light, but is the "Light Within." It is not "all about me," not something "I" have earned, or achieved, or even have as my birthright, but is something given to me by Grace, though Bien didn't go that far.
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Grace comes to me from without and I must be open to its reception. This is probably what the NFF meant to convey when it wrote that Rufus Jones never used the term "Inner Light." Show Less
LibraryThing member QuakerReviews
A scholarly account of the evolution of Light as a spiritual metaphor. He includes an interesting and revealing discussion of the meaning of Inward Light to Quakers, with explanation and quotes.
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Call number
CP 384