Quakers Uniting in Publications annual meeting
Friends involved in publishing met in South Carolina
Quakers Uniting in Publications (QUIP) held its annual meeting in March at the Penn Center on Saint Helena Island in South Carolina, USA, with the theme ‘Are Quakers Still Publishers of Truth?’
Author C. Wess Daniels, director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College in North Carolina, spoke about how early Friends were trained and strengthened in a community of Spirit, backed by culture and sacred text, before going out into the world as missionaries to convince people of ‘Truth’, synonymous with God.
In today’s post-modern society, cultures create their own truth. ‘So we struggle to make any truth claim outside of individual or small group,’ he said, and the cultural bubbles polarise communities.
Wess Daniels concluded that people are no longer convinced by mere facts, but by stories that connect with feeling. As Emily Dickinson wrote: ‘Tell all the truth but tell it slant.’
QUIP held its first virtual workshop as activist Oskar Castro spoke about the benefits and nuances of micro-blogging. He shared how social media has redefined journalism and news reporting.
Participants in a follow-up panel, ‘The New Pamphleteers’, shared their journeys in writing online. Most started with blogging, but moved either into social media or published articles and books. Time, priorities and audience influence the choice of media. For example, a current pastor can no longer use a public blog to process all his thoughts, but he can share sermons and research online. Past blog posts can be repurposed into other media.
QUIP will hold the 2018 annual meeting at Glenthorne in the north of England.
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