'Timely, and beautifully-written, this is how you do theology.' Photo: Book cover of The Living Fountain: Remembrances of Quaker Christianity, by Benjamin Wood

Author: Benjamin Wood. Review by Jonathan Wooding

The Living Fountain: Remembrances of Quaker Christianity, by Benjamin Wood

Author: Benjamin Wood. Review by Jonathan Wooding

by Jonathan Wooding 25th August 2023

Just look at these chapter headings: ‘The Problem of “Thin” Quakerism’, ‘The Romantic Quakerism of Rufus Jones’, ‘The Unquiet Presence of God’, ‘Recovering the Slow Jesus’, ‘Heaven: Walking the Road with Anne Conway’ – goodness! Who’s Anne Conway? I couldn’t wait, and frankly, now I can’t cope. I need help, Friends; we need shared reading groups, we need workshops, and we need to read Wood alongside things like T S Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’ (to which he refers significantly). Eliot’s essay ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ might also help those who are nervous about Wood’s focus on tradition. What’s wrong with institutional conservatism?