Swarthmore Lecture: Open for transformation
Tara Craig reports on Ben Pink Dandelion’s Swarthmore Lecture
Ben Pink Dandelion of Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre gave this year’s Swarthmore Lecture at Yearly Meeting Gathering on Sunday 3 August.
Speaking to a packed Big Top, Ben shared his thoughts on ‘Open for Transformation: being Quaker’.
He began by pointing out that Friends already have the answer to what it means to be Quaker. ‘It’s all there in Quaker faith & practice,’ he said. ‘The beginning of chapter eleven lists the fundamental elements.’
The difficulty today, as highlighted by Ben, is one of fuzziness. The last couple of decades, he said, have seen less clarity in Quakers’ idea of what it means to be a Friend. While it is clearly laid out in Quaker faith & practice, there is ‘a gap between the ‘Red Book’ and how we are amongst ourselves’.
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