Culture Articles
Curmudgeonly sonnet at YMG
More humility, please. For we did not ‘Abolish slavery’. The record also shows How slaves at fearful cost themselves arose To fight, forgive, and change the global plot.
The other pilgrim
A Quaker was there also, as ye wistė That I had almost forgot from my listė So silent was he – when that it was Sunday, But talkėd more than any by the Monday.
Radical Quakerism
Quakers must be not be afraid to take extreme positions and proclaim them to the world. That was the message from Simon Best, who delivered this year’s George Gorman Memorial Lecture in Canterbury on Sunday. Hundreds of Friends of varied ages displayed a range of reactions as Simon...
Quaker silhouettes
Portraits of early Quakers are extremely rare. One of the reasons for this was strictly practical – most Friends did not come from the social class that could afford painted portraits. However, there were also serious religious objections to images of all kinds. Early Quakers shared with other nonconformist religious groups...
Whither Next?
We train them to fire bullets that we have sold them And wonder why they kill the rioting crowd.
Art in the Society
A woman turns, her arms flung high, her body twisting in the movement of the dance. She is vulnerable, naked to the light, and energized. She seems to move with the power of the moment, and yet she does not move at all. She is frozen in time, a sculpture...
Prayers for daily life
Many of us find difficulty with prayer. We want to give thanks. We hope for peace and for an end to the sufferings of others. We may find it easy to offer up spontaneous thanks to God for the blessings of this world, but to engage in daily prayer is...
Writing the Spirit
‘Writing the Spirit’ is the title of a series of creative writing workshops, led by Judy Clinton, in which she encourages people to write whatever they are experiencing in the present moment.
At the gates of heaven
Once upon a time there was a girl called Sinéad, and one day, when she was minding her own business, she unexpectedly died.
Stuffed and starved
This book will make you angry. And if you still have any illusions that the majority of those who process and manufacture our food have our best interests at heart, then they will be dispelled. Today on this planet, 800 million people are hungry, and they are outnumbered by one billion...