Quaker Faith & Podcast

This time we’re talking about death and how Quakers handle it. We cover Quaker memorial services/meetings/funerals and burial practices. Also, trigger warning for anyone sensitive to discussion of suicide, toward the end we talk about death with dignity laws. Transcript Mackenzie: Hi, welcome back to Quaker Faith and Podcast. We are your hosts, Mackenzie and […]

Sam Barnett-Cormack calls in to talk about nontheist Quakers. Sam is one. This has been requested by a few listeners. Micah is currently moving cross-country to be co-pastor (with his wife) at Berkeley Friends Church, so everybody wish him well. He’ll be back when things settle a little. Transcript Mackenzie: Hi. Welcome back to Quaker […]

This time we’re talking about a recent incident. A man named John Chau went to North Sentinel. He intended to talk to people whose language he didn’t know in order to bring them to Christ. He ended up dead. This is bringing up all sorts of ethical questions about missionaries working overseas. We talk about […]

This is another guest episode. When Hye Sung was on the show talking about charismatic gifts, we mentioned our good friend Elijah a few times. Elijah is a student at the same Quaker seminary Micah attended: Earlham School of Religion. Through Quaker Voluntary Service, he was a pastoral intern at West Hills Friends Church a […]

This time we’re talking about centering. Last time, Christy mentioned centering prayer as a Buddhist/Catholic practice with Quaker overlap. Transcript Speaker 1: Welcome to Quaker Faith and Podcast where we will explore traditional Quaker beliefs and the variety of Quaker beliefs found today. Mackenzie: Welcome back to Quaker Faith and Podcast with Mackenzie and Micah. […]

This time, Quaker academic Christy Randazzo joins us as a guest. They’ve studied all sorts of aspects of Quakerism, and this time we’re dealing with Quaker hybrids. Especially in the liberal Quaker world, you’ll find all sorts of Quaker hybrids. Some have cute names, like Quaker Pagans calling themselves “Quagans” and Quaker Catholics being “Quatholics.” […]

This time, Mackenzie has Hye Sung from the Friendly Fire Collective on the show as a guest, to talk about charismatic gifts. And it’s a long one, because we are going to talk about all the charismatic gifts we can think of! Years ago, Mackenzie told someone that Quakers speak from the Spirit. The question […]

We had a listener request to talk about the afterlife. So, to start off with: most cultures have some sort of idea that you somehow continue after your body dies. A lot of them, including that found in the Hebrew Bible, have everyone experiencing the same death after death. Micah gives an overview of some […]

This is the last episode we are doing from the book Traditional Quaker Christianity. We’re talking about integrity. This ties in a lot to our last episode, which was on plainness. People often use “integrity” and “honesty” interchangeably, but integrity is bigger. It means wholeness or completion. What’s whole? Well, you could say it’s our […]

The next section of the book we’re looking at is on simplicity and plainness. Since Mackenzie wears what Isabel Penraeth dubbed “plain modern” clothes, we’re gonna talk a fair bit about that. For reference, Mackenzie’s everyday clothes are a blouse, a black skirt, black boots, and a white head covering. Right up until that last […]

This time we’re talking about the Quaker peace testimony. We’re combining three sections of the book Traditional Quaker Christianity here. We start out with talking about the historical context (coronation of Charles II) in which Quakers first wrote the peace testimony. The peace testimony is basically like “Dear king: we believe violence is a sin, […]

Following last episode’s introduction to the Book of Revelation, we’re talking about the Lamb’s War, which comes directly from that book. It’s also the next bit in Traditional Quaker Christianity. This also means that, in general, we’re talking about spiritual warfare this time. Ok, first off, the lamb in the Book of Revelation is Jesus. […]

We had a listener request to talk about the Book of Revelation. We figure this would be a good intro before we dive into the Lamb’s War next time. The Book of Revelation is the only book on which George Fox wrote an entire treatise (PDF, go to page 127 as labeled at the top, to […]

Welcome to season 4! We’re on the final section of Traditional Quaker Christianity! Chapter 7A is on Quaker testimonies. Or Quaker testimony. We’re going to talk about the implications of those two. Quaker Testimony Testimony has two primary definitions: evidence in support of a fact, proof a public declaration regarding a religious experience Second things […]

Chapter 6G in Traditional Quaker Christianity is on eldering and oversight. Those correspond to roles that come from the New Testament, and they’re called various things in different Christian traditions. Eldering and oversight are also interpreted very differently in different Christian traditions. Eldering Sometimes eldering is described as “nurturing ministers.” We’ve talked about the position […]

This time we’re looking at section 6F in Traditional Quaker Christianity, which is really just a quote from Barclay’s Apology. The section is titled “Spirit-led Teachers.” The quote reflects the semi-Gnostic perspective the early Quakers found in the Gospel of John. Gnosticism makes a strong distinction between spirit (good) and material (bad). Really, the point […]

This time we’re talking about advices and queries, which is section 6E in Traditional Quaker Christianity. British Friends have a little red book called Advices and Queries. Other Quaker groups don’t tend to publish them separately—they’re a section in the Book of Discipline or the Faith & Practice. Advices The first advices came from the […]

Section 6D in Traditional Quaker Christianity is called “Clerking: an Aid for Decision Making,” meaning it’s about business process. Quaker business process is generally pretty much the same at least across the Western world. We’re less certain about how it’s done in Africa and Latin America. The book makes several assertions about business process that […]

We’re going off-book this time, because we felt like it. There’s a taboo on recording worship during waiting worship. This is especially the case with photography. This comes up most in regard to Quaker weddings. In non-Quaker weddings, it’s really common to have photography all throughout the wedding. Non-Quakers couples often have photos of themselves […]

This time around we’re discussing individualism and community in the Quaker tradition. Section 6C in Traditional Quaker Christianity quotes heavily from William Penn’s True Spiritual Liberty. The opening paragraph of this chapter is gold: Western individualism, which elevates individuals above the group, destroys community, eats away at our concern for others’ welfare, and too often […]

This time, we’re discussing the Church visible and invisible, a phrase that goes back to Augustine, but about which early Friends were certainly concerned too. This is section 6B in Traditional Quaker Christianity, and the reading is mostly taken from Barclay’s Apology. The Church Invisible In discussing the Church visible and invisible, we’re starting with […]

What makes someone Christian? There are many ways to define Christianity and church. Accusations of apostasy and heresy flew back and forth between Quakers and everyone else and occasionally still come at us.

This time we’re talking about traveling in ministry. Quakers have traveled in ministry from the very beginning. It really started as sort of ministry campaigns, traveling in pairs. That’s a Biblical practice: Jesus sent the Apostles out in pairs in Luke 10. Early Days These early campaigns would have people traveling in ministry for months […]

Section 5C in Traditional Quaker Christianity is on speaking in meeting, so that’s what we’re talking about today. Should I speak? Speaking in meeting is, as we’ve discussed before, meant to be oracular. We have to do some discernment about when to speak or not to speak. In this episode, we talk about how we […]

We talked some about women preaching when we talked about the new covenant, but chapter 5B in Traditional Quaker Christianity is specifically about women ministers. The book we’re using takes care to point out that women ministers weren’t part of a political or secular equality movement for women. It wasn’t motivated by feminism (which didn’t exist […]

This time we’re talking about the call to ministry with references to section 5A of Traditional Quaker Christianity. One of the first things you see with a call to ministry is often a feeling of inadequacy or humility. Jonah doesn’t want to go to Nineveh. Jeremiah doesn’t want to prophecy. John Woolman doesn’t want to […]

We talked a bunch about waiting worship in the last episode, so this time we’re looking at a quote from John Punshon about corporate aspects of worship. There’s a difference between personal and corporate. And corporate in this situation doesn’t mean businesses. It’s about community. A lot of American Christians talk about “Jesus as your […]

We got a listener request asking “is there a Quaker liturgy?” Well, yes and no. No, we don’t do the Liturgy of the Word followed by the Liturgy of the Eucharist, with a set of readings in the first part determined by the Lectionary. For that reason, and the fact that we don’t follow a […]

In a timely post for December, we’re discussing the old Testimony Against Times & Seasons, aka holidays. Historically, Quakers did not do holidays. Every day is sacred. “This is the day the Lord has made.” Nowadays, most of us are fine with holidays. Why Quakers didn’t do holidays For some historical context, when Quakers were […]

This, the last episode of season 2, is from Traditional Quaker Christianity‘s section 3J, titled Knowing Christ in Us. We’re looking at two readings from George Fox’s Journal. Sure Word of Prophecy In the first, Fox relates hearing a priest in a steeple-house preach that we have “a more sure Word of prophecy” and then […]

In this episode, we talk about George Fox’s letter to Lady Claypole (Oliver Cromwell’s daughter), found in section 3I in Traditional Quaker Christianity. He tells her to “be still and cool in thine own mind and spirit,” because she was “very sick and troubled in mind.” Consequently, content warning: discussion of mental illness. Be still […]

Today we look at Margaret Fell’s introduction to George Fox, when she became convinced and became a Friend. Fox was preaching in Ulverston Chapel, and he asked “Christ saith this, and the Apostles say this, but what canst thou say?” And so he went on, and said, “That Christ was the Light of the world, […]

Today, we’re talking about discerning leadings. This is section 3G in Traditional Quaker Christianity, if you’re following along in the book. Which, on that note: just looked at the iBook store for the first time ever last week (yes, really), and hey! It turns out TQC is available for purchase as an ebook in iBooks. So, […]

It’s really common for Christians to ask “why don’t Quakers do communion?” This relates to last week’s episode about spiritual baptism. In that episode, we talked about how these sacraments that the government-run church said you needed to get heaven were only accessible through the government priests. Looking at Scripture, one mark against the idea […]

Sometimes you’ll see someone ask, “I was baptized as a baby, but I stopped believing, and now I’m back. Should I get baptized again?” Or maybe they were never dunked in or sprinkled with water. The common Quaker answer is: No, you don’t need to be water baptized. But what is the Quaker reasoning for this? […]

This time, we’re talking about George Fox’s moment of revelation, when he heard a voice. In his journal he wrote: When all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could I tell what to do, then, oh, then, I heard a voice […]

In this episode we look at answers to the question “who is Christ?” This is section 3C in Traditional Quaker Christianity, a book we’ve been following along. Our very first episode, Jesus Christ is the Word of God, laid the foundation for where Quakerism comes from, but let’s go into what other roles Christ (or Light) […]

In this episode we continue our series on the spiritual search. This time, we’re looking at inward states, dryness, and the daily cross. This is section 3B in Traditional Quaker Christianity, which I’ve just noticed now has a Kindle version available. Inward States First, we look at a George Fox quote about how people tend […]

Today’s reading from Traditional Quaker Christianity is from Barclay’s Apology (Freiday’s 20th century version), on how a spiritual search begins. Barclay says a person goes looking for God when “his conscience brings about a sense of his own unworthiness.” Beginning the spiritual search For both Micah and Mackenzie, a need for community (if you do outreach […]

For the first time, we’re having a special guest on the show. Mackenzie went to the Friends Association for Higher Education annual conference and had a chance to sit down with Wess Daniels to talk about Convergent Friends. Wess the Director of Friends Center at Guilford College and author of “A Convergent Model of Renewal: Remixing the […]

Ok, really, we don’t tend to call it ordination of ministers. We call it recording ministers. Why? God ordains ministers. We don’t. All we can do is record the fact that God has done so. Usually when people hear “I’m a minister,” they assume the person is the pastor of a congregation, often with that […]

We had a listener request to talk about the devil, so we’re responding to that in this episode. We also talk a little about the distinction between ethics and morality. Early Quakers refer to the devil in their writings as the tempter, the reasoner, the enemy, the deceiver, and various other names. “Reasoner” takes a bit […]

This time around, we’re taking a break from the book to answer a listener request about Quaker branches. There are 4 primary Quaker branches: Evangelical, Pastoral/FUM, Conservative, and Liberal. The first two tend to have pastors and a program for their worship—a sermon, a few songs, perhaps a little bit of silent (or “open”) worship. […]

As part 3 in our series about the Scriptures/the Bible, we’re talking about how to read the Bible. A lot of people (*cough* both of us), when they decide to try reading the Bible try to do it cover to cover, and it’s a real slog. We both think for Jesus-oriented folks, starting with the […]

Section 2B of Traditional Quaker Christianity asks “Are the Scriptures essential to salvation?” and it answers “no, Scripture is not essential to salvation.” Uh oh, them’s fightin’ words? This is a good example of why many describe Conservative Friends as the “middle” in Quakerism. Because really? This is a topic where Quakers vary heavily. Evangelical Quakers would […]

Today we start a series on Quakers and the Bible by talking about continuing revelation, with section 2A in Traditional Quaker Christianity. Overall this section introduces what we will discuss in the next three episodes. In particular, we look at how the Spirit through Jesus goes beyond what was laid out in the original Scriptures and then […]

Section 1D of Traditional Quaker Christianity looks at idealism, obligation, and Quaker holiness. Uh oh, we’re going to use a word some Quakers tend to avoid: sin. Idealism & Obligation Lewis Benson, in his “Catholic Quakerism,” defines an ethic of idealism and an ethic of obligation. He asserts that Quakers, from the early days, adhere […]

Today we discuss Quaker beliefs about atonement and salvation through obedience to the promptings of the Light. This is section 1C in the book Traditional Quaker Christianity. Universalism: “Christ tasted death for every man ” and “the Light enlightens every man that comes into the world.” The Light is available to all, and the Holy Spirit […]

We’re kicking off episode 1 of Quaker Faith & Podcast with a heavy topic: Jesus Christ is the Word of God. However,  this belief is foundational to Quakerism’s origins and still resonates for most Quakers today. So, it’s pretty clear why the authors of Traditional Quaker Christianity chose to put it first. Many Christians are […]