An Index of Essays on
Issues in Contemporary Quakerism

156: Speaking Truth to Trauma, by Loren Cobb

"Persistent news reports of rapes, torture, and war atrocities perpetrated by American soldiers in Iraq continue to bring us enormous pain and sadness. The facts and rumors filtering out of Iraq are sickening, but I believe there is an alternative to yet another round of blame and guilt, of angry defense and deadpan denial. It concerns trauma. This is a very personal letter, on a matter with which I have too much experience..." [5 Apr 07]

147: Quaker Values and Economic Evaluations, by William Rhoads

"Recently, The Quaker Economist has focused on major issues facing the world — the peak of oil production, and global warming with perhaps catastrophic climate change — without relating them to any unique or specific Quaker religious values. I would like to tarry for a while and ask what our Quaker values are on some of these subjects, and what, if anything, our Quaker values have to offer to today’s world..." [24 May 06]

140: Myth, Ritual, and Symbol, by Loren Cobb

"In this era of accelerating change, it often seems to me that my youth was spent in a departed age, and that my father's youth was spent in a world so different from mine it might as well have been on another planet. Against this ever-shifting background, where can we find the constants of life? Where is the well of universal and timeless waters into which we may dip to refresh our sense of meaning in life? People find meaning in their lives from symbolic sources, far from the domain of rationality and economics. If you look at the people around you with eyes that see beneath the surface of everyday affairs, you will find traces of this wellspring everywhere..." [1-Jan-06]

126: Commentary on "Leadings", by Jack Powelson

"Some Friends have told me I am an 'arrogant know-it-all.' I have been aware for years that Friends have thought of me this way. But all I want is for Friends to think before they take actions as Friends on economic matters..." [7-Jul-05]

125: Leadings, by Jack Powelson

"One Quaker said he favored forgiving debts of Third World countries, because "Jesus forgave." I wondered whether accepting the leadings of God or Jesus means that Quakers no longer think for ourselves..." [28-Jun-05]

114: Who is Human? by Loren Cobb

"Let us take a hard look at this emerging future, setting quick moral judgements aside for the moment in order to remain clear and dispassionate about what is likely to happen..." [1-Dec-04]

97: My Spiritual Journey, by Jack Powelson

"Gandhi insisted that if his people wanted independence, they had to start acting like they were free and take responsibility for their own lives, their own local communities, and their own local, concrete issues of poverty..." [29-Feb-04]

76: How Political Should a Friends' Meeting be? by Jack Powelson

"Why is it so difficult to distinguish a spiritual concern from a political one..." [30-Jun-2003]

63: What Should Quakers Talk About? by Jack Powelson

"I have just returned from a Quaker Peace Conference, where many heartfelt thoughts were expressed. Several of the delegates, recently returned from Iraq, had communicated in friendly fashion with ordinary Iraqis..." [30-Jan-2003]

58: Friends in Business, by Jack Powelson

" 'Good evening, endangered species,' I began my talk at the October dinner of Philadelphia Friends in Business..." [4-Nov-02]

40: Quaker Attitudes towards Business, by Jack Powelson

"Unprogrammed liberal Friends today seem publicly almost uniformly negative about most business activity. I have been to talks at the Pendle Hill Conference Center where speakers casually state that capitalism is the cause of all the injustice and inequality in our world..." [28-Mar-02]

26: Is Life Sacred? by Jack Powelson

"When Henry V of England besieged Rouen in 1418-19, the starving French inhabitants pushed the noncombatants out of the gates, thinking the English would let them by..." [20-Oct-01]

19: Our Reason for Existence, by Jack Powelson

"When I joined Friends 58 years ago, we were a diverse Society. Republicans sat in the benches in about equal numbers to Democrats. Men in uniform came to Meeting, then went off to war. Others went to CPS camps (for conscientious objectors) or ambulance service..." [13-Aug-01]

11: How do Friends Feel about Torture? by Jack Powelson

"We keep hearing of torture and other abuses of human rights all around the world. How do we feel? Are we enraged, or do we just shrug them off as everyday things far from us? ..." [21-May-01]

10: Zoroastrian Quakers? by Jack Powelson

"Adherents to the ancient Persian religion of Zoroaster believe the world is engaged in a never-ending war between good and evil. Many religions — even Christianity — carry some of this sentiment..." [14-May-01]