Minister of the Inward Light
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Friends are doing a lot of reevaluation these days, reexamining our past and our venerable Quaker ancestors. In some cases, when moral inconsistencies emerge into the open, reexamination means that some iconic Friends are losing their luster. In other cases, stories of early Friends’ messy lives help us to see their humanity, which can lend greater depth and nuance to their spiritual writings.
We are bags full of muscle and bone. And although we can see the leather of the bags, we can only guess at the contents, the memories and desires that propel any life, including our own.
William Penn’s “Holy Experiment”
Quaker Truth in Pennsylvania, 1682-1781
written by James Proud
reviewed by Robert Levering
I’d be interested in this book even if I weren’t a Quaker.
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Quakerism: The Basics
by Margery Post Abbott and Carl Abbott
reviewed by Tom Head
Dear Editor: In your essay on Puritans and Quakers in the Sept/Oct 2021 Western Friend, we noticed the name of William Leddra, who was hanged on Boston Common. Leddra’s story is part of our family history. Robert Harper and his wife, Deborah Perry, are our 8th great grandparents and founders of Sandwich Meeting.
