Western Friend logo

Search

Begin Again (review) This collection of autobiographical stories by Paul Lowance Niebanck, Begin Again, is a treat for ear, eye, and Spirit. Paul shares escapades and events from his life with entertaining and inspiring verve.

On Conflict (January 2023)

Collaborators - Review Collaborators by Deborah Wheeler

On Patriotism (January 2014)

Approved! (review) This delightful book by Nancy L. Haines, with illustrations by Anne E.G. Nydam, would be a good addition to any Friends Meeting library. Drawing on the experience of Wellesley Meeting with junior meeting for business, the slim volume offers clear information about Quaker decision-making.

On Captivity (January 2018)

Renewable (review) Intermountain Yearly Meeting’s book of Faith and Practice advises us that Friends’ faith is a living faith; and it provides us with queries, which if held up close, serve as mirrors to our internal “what is” and move us toward action in the world.

On Water (March 2019)

Ulysses (review) Many Friends are unaware that James Joyce included a Quaker librarian, Lyster, in Ulysses. As the Religious Society of Friends gropes out of its colorless stasis, Ulysses reminds us that Friends carry a cultural presence beyond the confines of minutes, meetings, and social concerns.  Even so, [pullquote]I encourage Friends to read Ulysses not for its utility, but as a brutally honest exploration of our inner condition.[/pullquote]

On Mediation (January 2020)

Everyday Prophets (Review) Recently, I read the wonderful 2016 Backhouse Lecture, Everyday Prophets by Margery Post Abbott. I identified with Abbott’s description of everyday prophets as “. . . people who listen to the voice of all that it Holy and follow its guidance” (p. 3). Yet these everyday prophets face challenges, too. “It takes practice to develop the skill of listening with an inward ear and coming to recognize the taste and color of all that it holy . . . Above all, such a person is one who listens inwardly and has learned to distinguish the voice of the Spirit, the presence of Christ, from their own desires or self-will, the pressures of the surrounding culture and the need to win approval from those around them” (pp. 5-6).

On Home (September 2017)

Resisting Empire (review) Revelation is probably most the polarizing book of the Bible. Continually refashioned and remixed to support countless views crossing over from religious to political, Revelation is a text that is tempting to avoid confronting directly.

On Secrets (July 2020)

Viking Economics – Review George Lakey’s Viking Economics isn’t a treatise on the economic advantages of pillaging the Northern European coast, although Friends would be forgiven for thinking so! Rather, Viking Economics is an analysis of the “Nordic model” of macroeconomics, liberally laced with Lakey’s own experiences in Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. Mr. Lakey interviews noted economists, Nordic political leaders, community organizers, teachers, farmers, and fishermen to answer two basic questions: 1) How have the Scandinavians succeeded in building progressive, democratic, egalitarian and free economies where others failed? and 2) How can the United States (and others) replicate this success?

On Competition (January 2017)

Cosmic Pockets (review) If I knew nothing of Joann Boswell’s life, I would still enjoy her new book of poetry, Cosmic Pockets. It tugs at a reader’s elbows and whispers, “Are you ready for an adventure?” As the text on the front cover says, the book is written “for sci-loving skeptical mystics, mothers, feminists, all.”

On Rules (November 2020)