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Quakers

"Quaker" redirects here. For other uses, see Quaker (disambiguation).
"Society of Friends" redirects here. For the Greek movement for independence, see Filiki Eteria. For the followers of the Public Universal Friend, see Public Universal Friend. For the sect that broke off from the Quakers in the mid-18th century, see Shakers.

Religious Society of Friends
George Fox, the principal early leader of the Quakers
TheologyVariable; depends on meeting
Distinct fellowshipsFriends World Committee for Consultation
AssociationsBritain Yearly Meeting, Friends United Meeting, Evangelical Friends Church International, Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, Conservative Friends, Friends General Conference, Beanite Quakerism
FounderGeorge Fox
Margaret Fell
OriginMid-17th century
England
Separated fromChurch of England
SeparationsShakers[1]
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Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after John 15:14 in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers because the founder of the movement, George Fox, told a judge to quake "before the authority of God".[2] The Friends are generally united by a belief in each human's ability to be guided by the inward light to "make the witness of God" known to everyone.[3][4] Quakers have traditionally professed a priesthood of all believers inspired by the First Epistle of Peter.[5][6][7][8] They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity, as well as Nontheist Quakers. To differing extents, the Friends avoid creeds and hierarchical structures.[9] In 2017, there were an estimated 377,557 adult Quakers, 49% of them in Africa followed by 22% in North America.[10]

Some 89% of Quakers worldwide belong to evangelical and programmed branches that hold services with singing and a prepared Bible message coordinated by a pastor (with the largest Quaker group being the Evangelical Friends Church International).[11][12] Some 11% practice waiting worship or unprogrammed worship (commonly Meeting for Worship),[13] where the unplanned order of service is mainly silent and may include unprepared vocal ministry from those present. Some meetings of both types have Recorded Ministers present, Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry.[14]

The proto-evangelical Christian movement dubbed Quakerism arose in mid-17th-century England from the Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups breaking with the established Church of England.[15] The Quakers, especially the Valiant Sixty, sought to convert others by travelling through Britain and overseas preaching the Gospel. Some early Quaker ministers were women.[16] They based their message on a belief that "Christ has come to teach his people himself", stressing direct relations with God through Jesus Christ and belief in the universal priesthood of all believers.[17] This personal religious experience of Christ was acquired by direct experience and by reading and studying the Bible.[18] Friends focused their private lives on behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity and the light of God, with a goal of Christian perfection.[19][20] A prominent theological text of the Religious Society of Friends is A Catechism and Confession of Faith (1673), published by Quaker divine Robert Barclay.[21][22] The Richmond Declaration of Faith (1887) was adopted by many Orthodox Friends and continues to serve as a doctrinal statement of many yearly meetings.[23][24]

Quakers were known to use thee as an ordinary pronoun, refuse to participate in war, wear plain dress, refuse to swear oaths, oppose slavery, and practice teetotalism.[25] Some Quakers founded banks and financial institutions, including Barclays, Lloyds, and Friends Provident; manufacturers including the footwear firm of C. & J. Clark and the big three British confectionery makers Cadbury, Rowntree and Fry; and philanthropic efforts, including abolition of slavery, prison reform, and social justice.[26] In 1947, in recognition of their dedication to peace and the common good, Quakers represented by the British Friends Service Council and the American Friends Service Committee were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[27][28]

  1. ^ Michael Bjerknes Aune; Valerie M. DeMarinis (1996). Religious and Social Ritual: Interdisciplinary Explorations. SUNY Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-7914-2825-2.
  2. ^ "Where Did the Names "Quaker" and "Friends" Come From?". Walnut Creek Friends Church. Retrieved 21 June 2024. They called themselves "Friends" because of the words of Jesus recorded in John 15:14, "You are my friends, if you do what I command you." The early Friends were Christians who believed they could live like Jesus because Jesus lived in them. The name "Quaker" was applied to the early Friends by their critics. The early Friends were so aware of the presence of God among them that they sometimes trembled with excitement. Upon being threatened by a judge to "quake" before the authority of his court, George Fox told him to quake before the authority of God.
  3. ^ Fox, George (1903). George Fox's Journal. Isbister and Company Limited. pp. 215–216. This is the word of the Lord God to you all, and a charge to you all in the presence of the living God; be patterns, be examples in all your countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people and to them: then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one; whereby in them ye may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you: then to the Lord God you will be a sweet savour, and a blessing.
  4. ^ Hodge, Charles (12 March 2015). Systematic Theology. Delmarva Publications, Inc. p. 137. This spiritual illumination is peculiar to the true people of God; the inward lihgt, in which the Quakers believe, is common to all men. The design and effect of the "inward light" are the communication of new truth, or of truth not objectively revealed, as well as the spiritual discernment of the truths of Scripture. The design and effect of spiritual illumination are the proper apprehension of truth already speculatively known. Secondly. By the inner light the orthodox Quakers understand the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit, concerning which they teach, – (1.) That it is given to all men. (2.) That it not only convinces of sin, and enables the soul to apprehend aright the truths of Scripture, but also communicates a knowledge of "the mysteries of salvation." ... The orthodox Friends teach concerning this inward light, as has been already shown, that it is subordinate to the Holy Scriptures, inasmuch as the Scriptures are the infallible rule of faith and practice, and everything contrary thereto is to be rejected as false and destructive.
  5. ^ "Membership | Quaker faith & practice". qfp.quaker.org.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Baltimore Yearly Meeting Faith & Practice". August 2011. Archived from the original on 13 April 2012.
  7. ^ 1 Peter 2:9
  8. ^ "'That of God' in every person". Quakers in Belgium and Luxembourg.
  9. ^ Fager, Chuck. "The Trouble With 'Ministers'". quakertheology.org. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  10. ^ "FWCC World Map 2017" (PDF). FWCC-AWPS. July 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  11. ^ Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain (2012). Epistles and Testimonies (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2016.
  12. ^ Angell, Stephen Ward; Dandelion, Pink (19 April 2018). The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism. Cambridge University Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-1-107-13660-1. Contemporary Quakers worldwide are predominately evangelical and are often referred to as the Friends Church.
  13. ^ Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain (2012). Epistles and Testimonies (PDF). p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2015.
  14. ^ Drayton, Brian (23 December 1994). "FGC Library: Recorded Ministers in the Society of Friends, Then and Now". Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  15. ^ Christian Scholar's Review, Volume 27. Hope College. 1997. p. 205. This was especially true of proto-evangelical movements like the Quakers, organized as the Religious Society of Friends by George Fox in 1668 as a group of Christians who rejected clerical authority and taught that the Holy Spirit guided
  16. ^ Bacon, Margaret (1986). Mothers of Feminism: The Story of Quaker Women in America. San Francisco: Harper & Row. p. 24.
  17. ^ Fox, George (1803). Armistead, Wilson (ed.). Journal of George Fox. Vol. 2 (7 ed.). p. 186.
  18. ^ World Council of Churches. "Friends (Quakers)". Church Families. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  19. ^ Stewart, Kathleen Anne (1992). The York Retreat in the Light of the Quaker Way: Moral Treatment Theory : Humane Therapy Or Mind Control?. William Sessions. ISBN 9781850720898. On the other hand, Fox believed that perfectionism and freedom from sin were possible in this world.
  20. ^ Levy, Barry (30 June 1988). Quakers and the American Family: British Settlement in the Delaware Valley. Oxford University Press, US. pp. 128. ISBN 9780198021674.
  21. ^ Coffey, John (29 May 2020). The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Volume I: The Post-Reformation Era, 1559-1689. Oxford University Press. p. 399. ISBN 978-0-19-252098-2.
  22. ^ A Short Account of the Life and Writings of Robert Barclay. Tract Association of the Society of Friends. 1827. p. 22.
  23. ^ Williams, Walter R. (13 January 2019). The Rich Heritage of Quakerism. Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78912-341-8. From time to time, over the three centuries of their history, Friends have issued longer or shorter statements of belief. They earnestly seek to base these declarations of the essential truths of Christianity upon the clear teaching of the Holy Scriptures. The most detailed of these statements commonly held by orthodox Friends is known as the Richmond Declaration of Faith. This instrument was drawn up by ninety-nine representatives of ten American yearly meetings and of London and Dublin yearly meetings, assembled at Richmond, Indiana, in 1887.
  24. ^ "Declaration of Faith Issued by the Richmond Conference in 1887". 23 July 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2024. A conference of 95 delegates appointed by 12 Friends (Quaker) yearly meetings representing the Orthodox branch of Friends across the world met in Richmond, Indiana in September 1887. This conference issued a Declaration of Faith, which has been widely used by Orthodox Friends ever since.
  25. ^ "Society of Friends | religion". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  26. ^ Jackson, Peter (20 January 2010). "How did Quakers conquer the British sweet shop?". BBC News. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  27. ^ Jahn, Gunnar. "Award Ceremony Speech (1947)". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  28. ^ Abrams, Irwin (1991). "The Quaker Peace Testimony and the Nobel Peace Prize". Retrieved 24 November 2018.
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