Quaker Theology #33: Winter 2019 20th Anniversary Issue

For the 20th anniversary issue of this twice-yearly journal, we begin with a review and reflection on the goals we set when it began in 1999. In Issue #1 we defined theology as "the ongoing work of self-examination and definition which any living faith community faces. This ever-unfinished work is at the center of 'Quaker Theology''s efforts. . . ." It still is. However, over the two decades, our plans for this work were repeatedly derailed by the impact of unexpected events, both outside and inside our small Quaker realm. From outside, we felt (like others) the shocks of war, physical attacks, and governmental upheaval. From within Quakerism, we (and others) confronted a series of unexpected communal disputes and divisions. No less than five of the central Quaker bodies called Yearly Meetings have broken apart in this period. This issue (#33) begins with a detailed report on the latest of these schisms. The press of unfolding events have obliged us to report on these events in a quasi-journalistic fashion. With this fifth rupture, the wave of shipwreck may (or may not) have crested. At least we feel there is something of a pause or breathing space, so have taken this opportunity to venture a tentative overview and analysis of what is called the Separation Generation. From our standpoint at least, these communal traumas rival what historians call the Great Separation of 1827, the archetype of divisive Quaker conflict. Against this background of struggle among Friends and intense disarray in public life, we then present two distinctly different examples of prophetic Quaker theology. One was by a towering, formative figure of the 19th century liberal stream, relating an unorthodox view of the Bible, and the life and teachings of Jesus, and these should be carried into practical witness. The other is by a relatively young contemporary prophetic figure, who undertakes to retrieve key elements of the long Quaker tradition of sacrificial, countercultural "peculiarity," as the basis of a way forward. Closely examining the examples of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., it questions our fixation with worldly politics and conventional activism, though it is by no means a call for Quietist withdrawal. In both these proclamations, there is plentiful challenge to conventional approaches and ideas. All these pieces, in our judgment, are constructive contributions to the ongoing work of self-examination and definition that is at the nub of theology for Quakers.… (more)