Culture Articles
Psalm 119
O Lord, thou hast dealt graciously with thy servant Butterflies are happy for our garden. Something coppery there, a Small Heath, and a Wood White skipping, luciform.
Poem: Friend
I never knew you were a Quaker. I might have guessed. A silence in the midst of argument; A pause for thought. A sense that something else was going on Quietly, all the time.
Talking About Skin: A memoir, by Rosa L Carter
Rosa Carter, who is a Staffordshire Quaker, has written a fascinating memoir. Although originally only intended for her three sons, it has now been published for a wider audience. It should be essential reading for white Quakers who wonder about the lack of black people within the Religious Society of...
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad
For many Friends, the violent death in Minneapolis of George Floyd has felt impossible to discount or ignore. But like others I have been uncertain about what would be an appropriate response. ‘Black Lives Matter’ has not leapt to the top of our Society’s national agenda, though we have...
Ways to Kiss the Earth by Linda Murgatroyd
Last summer, an art exhibition called Seeking Routes was held at Swarthmoor Hall. It showed work in which Friends explored Quaker experience and action in building a more sustainable Earth. This book presents a selection from the exhibition and its five themes: ‘Reverence for Nature’; ‘Spiritual and Creative Process’; ‘Climate...
The Myth of Religious Neutrality by Roy Clouser
I have been a Christian for more than forty years. Until about three years ago I attended an Anglican church but I now believe that I simply did not understand my own faith. I am indebted to Roy Clouser and his book, which explains, in a way that I could...
The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku
Eddie Jaku was born Abraham Jakubowicz, in Germany in 1920. He is a holocaust survivor, recently turned 100, and a large part of his book describes his experiences in Buchenwald and Auschwitz concentration camps. In 1950 he migrated to Sydney, where he has lived ever since with his wife, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Telling the Truth About God by Rhiannon Grant
If you think theology is now irrelevant to Quakers, think again. Rhiannon Grant shows us that to ‘theologize’ remains an exciting and, indeed, daring venture, once we acknowledge how it might be misused. Her own efforts to be honest about God fall within a radical tradition. She writes: ‘Any form...
A Black Theology of Liberation by James Cone
Every now and again I encounter a book that gives me such a jolt it demands to be talked about. This book was first published in 1970 but I read it recently and it has stirred me up. James H Cone’s work has been much discussed within the black theological...
Unique selling point
Fall of dregs-from-the-wine-vat petals: unprogrammed, let’s say, or aleatory blossom. The thought (today’s) is this: unique selling point of religion is (still) holiness. Petals in blood-spill asymmetry make it more arduous for reason to prevail. Stamens sift rich sand in timbre, shock flakes are tumbled pumpkin.