Our Origins — Early Friends
Introductory Exercise
Presentation
Early Friends, 1647–1694 by Cliff Harrison
Question & answer, whole-group discussion
How does the original Quaker message speak to you today?
Small sharing groups
Reflections & Closing
Reference Material
Written materials
Two documents compiled by Cliff Harrison:
Some things George Fox said (PDF)
Some of George Fox’s ideas (PDF)
Other readings:
- A Brief History of the Friends in New England, from the Faith and Practice Revision Committee of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends. (A New England perspective)
- “Who Are the Quakers?” An excerpt from Ralph Beebe’s A Garden of the Lord: A History of Oregon Yearly Meeting of Friends Church on a website for a Quaker camp in Oregon. (An evangelical Quaker perspective)
- The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction, by Ben Pink Dandelion. As background for this week’s topic, read Chapter 1, “Who are the Quakers?” (A British Quaker perspective)
- Synopsis of Carole Dale Spencer’s Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism, by Danny Coleman. (Another evangelical Quaker perspective)
- “Puritanism, Spiritualism, and Quakerism: An Historiographical Essay,” by Melvin Endy, published in the journal “Quaker Theology.” (A scholarly differentiation between three religious movements in the 17th century)
Video
Quaker author Jan de Hartog (The Peaceable Kingdom, The Lambs War) narrates this somewhat anecdotal history of the Early Quakers in England and in the Pennsylvania colony. This is the first of a multi-part Quaker history series. The full series exists only in Dutch and was aired on Denmark television in the 1970s.