Issue 09-06-2023
Featured story
Risk capital: Helen Johnson’s Thought for the week
The building on the corner is recognisably a church. It’s not too fancy, or architecturally distinguished, but a blue plaque tells its story as a place of worship for the soldiers that once barracked on the top of the hill. When a visitor ventures inside, however, things become really...
Top stories
Art and soul: Clive Ashwin looks to painting for the bigger picture
At the time of its origins, in the second half of the seventeenth century, Quakerism must have seemed very remote from other Christian traditions. Most of those had, in varying degrees, become highly dependent upon the arts in their broadest sense, including painting, sculpture, architectural symbolism, costume, devotional literature, and...
Universal appeal: Daniel Clarke Flynn attends the Quaker Universalist Conference
Last month, Quaker universalists met for our annual conference, the last to be held at Woodbrooke. Our full title – ‘Universalism and Creativity: How creativity expresses and enhances spirituality across the world’ – was ambitious, but the cornucopia of speakers and workshop leaders didn’t disappoint.
Friends in Italy fight landslides
Two Quaker farmers are raising funds to counter damage caused by devastating, climate-related floods.
For what it’s worth: Howard Grace meets Bharti Dhir
When she was twelve years old, Bharti Dhir was expelled from Uganda, along with many other Asians, by Idi Amin. She faced many other challenges in her childhood, any of which could have broken her. As a baby, she was abandoned at a roadside in the Ugandan heat, and was...
The Good Prison Officer: Inside perspectives, edited by Andi Brierley
This book is written by past prisoners, all of whom are now professional practitioners and educators in the criminal justice field. They draw on lived experience, as well as diverse literature on penal policy, to explore examples of professional practice.
All articles
Call for peer mediators in every school
Every school in Britain should have peer mediators, Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has said.
George Richardson Lecture
Friends gathered to hear theologian Rachel Muers discuss ‘The Seed and the Day of Small Things – finding power and powerlessness in Quaker theology’, for this year’s George Richardson Lecture.
Wandsworth prison charity launched
A new Quaker-backed charity to support people at Wandsworth Prison was publicly launched last month.
British Museum ends BP sponsorship deal
Friends celebrated the news last week that, after twenty-seven years, and a decade-long campaign, the BP sponsorship deal with the British Museum ended. Campaigners including Quakers hailed the move as a ‘momentous shift’ with fossil-fuel companies retreating from arts-funding. The museum joins Royal Opera House, National Portrait Gallery and Royal...
March of time: Tony D’Souza on Iraq war protests
‘Look’ said my seven-year-old grandniece as she burst through the door, giggling uncontrollably. ‘It’s an old man dancing like a chicken.’ She handed me a phone and I could hardly believe my eyes. It was Mick Jagger performing on stage. The song was ‘Street Fighting Man’ from 1968.
Eye - 9 June 2023
Calling Friends of all ages! Whether you’re two or 102, we welcome contributions from Quakers of all ages! Friends, Meetings, Children’s Meetings… show us what you’ve been up to! Discernment in Lego A colourful creation by the children of an Area Meeting at a recent learning programme caught...
The day and the seed of small things
How will it come, the day of small things between the heart-break and herb robert; the rape and the ox-eye daisies?
Letters - 09 June 2023
Quakers and Christianity My thanks to all those contributors who have raised the question of Quakers and Christianity. I too have experienced (but in another Meeting) the feeling of reluctance to talk about my belief in God and of being inspired by the teachings of Jesus, which to me are...