Quaker Pamphlets
August 2005 Updates:
William Penn Lectures:
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The Basic Necessity for Spiritual Reconstruction
By Howard W. Hintz, 1936
Caught between two world wars, Howard Hintz, clerk of the New York Yearly Meeting Young Friends Movement, and professor of English at Brooklyn College, considers the condition of the Western world and the responsibilities of Quakers.
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The Open Life
By Douglas V. Steere, 1937
Douglas Steere, at this point an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Haverford College,
reflects on his reading of our Quaker heritage: "As I read the journals, the letters and the essays of men like George Fox, Isaac Penington and William Penn, there is only one phase that I find adequate to describe what I find there: the power of an open life."
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Sharpening the Edge of the Spiritual Message
By Allen D. Hole, 1940
Taking his texts from the Song of Deborah, and the story of Elisha at Dothan, Allen Hole focuses on the use of language in Biblical times, and our understanding of that language today.
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The Light Within as Redemptive Power
By Cecil E. Hinshaw, 1945
Cecil Hinshaw is not satisfied with the course set by Friends: "Satisfied with mediocrity, contented with our comfortable plans for a secure future, pleased that our sins are seemingly small and overlooked by others who likewise do not desire complete purity, proud that we occasionally deny ourselves in order to contribute to some good cause, we continue to be weighty Friends and important people in our communities, but we have not known the life and power and spirit of those who have dared to be prophets of God."
Pendle Hill Pamphlets:
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The Discipline of Prayer
php042 by Frederick J. Tritton, 1948
Frederick Tritton explores prayer, meditation and contemplation as practices which have led him to a greater spirituality, and he suggests that we also could benefit from a disciplined practice.
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The Faith of an Ex-Agnostic
php046 by Carol R. Murphy, 1949
Carol Murphy's essay is a reflection on her journey from agnosticism to faith. Her philosopy "is not so much the record as the result and rationalization of an inward change which touched depths of the personality unplumbed by conscious reasoning..."
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Search: A Personal Journey through Chaos
php052 by Ruth Domino, 1950
"Search, a Personal Journey through Chaos, is a narrative of first hand experience rehearsing with exquisite discernment memories of temporal events connected by a single thread of eternal validity." (Anna Brinton.)
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Prophetic Ministry
php054 by Howard H. Brinton, 1950
In this essay Howard Brinton presents his Dudleian Lecture which was delivered at Harvard University on April 26, 1949. He explains at the beginning that "the term prophetic indicates in a single word the basic theory of Quaker ministry. He who appears in the ministry in a Quaker meeting is, at least theoretically a prophet, in the sense that he or she is an instrument through which God speaks to the congregation."
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Quaker Strongholds
php059 by Caroline Stephen, 1951
"To the study of Quakerism, Caroline Stephen brought the judgment of an intellectual person who came into contact with the Society of Friends at a mature age, after having closely analyzed her own position in regard to religion and the church.
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Scruples
php089 by Gilbert Kilpack, 1956
Gilbert Kilpack begins his essay with a quote from Frederick Faber: "A scrupulous man teases God, irritates his neighbor, torments himself and oppresses his director." Here he begins his amusing but important discussion of the morality of qualifications. His fundamental point comes down to the statement that "the opposite of a scrupulous man is not an unscrupulous man but a man of faith."
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Saints for This Age
php124 by A.J. Muste, 1951
A. J. Muste devoted his life to the causes that stem from a religious faith - peace action, racial equality, political and economic justice. When he spoke at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting on "Springs of Religious Living in Our Age," Friends knew that he was speaking of the religious faith that has sustained a lifetime of action. The present pamphlet contains the essence of that speech.
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In The Belly of a Paradox
php224 by Parker J. Palmer, 1979
"This pamphlet is a happy surprise. It is a surprise because of the smiling way in which it calls our attention to the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. In this, it differs from most writing on him. Merton, who never thought of himself as a scholar, has probably inspired more scholarly theses than any other contemporary spiritual writer.