An update from Jolly Quaker

Hello Jolly Quaker readers. I hope you’ve had a good summer. Mine’s been busy, often too busy, but full of things to be thankful for. Here’s a short update about my blog and the plans I have for it.

You may have noticed that I’ve posted very infrequently over the last year. That’s because I’ve been putting all my reading and writing energies into my MA dissertation. I’m happy to announce that the dissertation is finished and submitted! Now that three years of part-time study has come to an end, I’m really looking forward to spending time developing the blog (as well as paying more attention to my garden). I’ve already updated the look of the blog, given it a new tag line, and written a new ‘About‘ page. Do take a look!

I’m also excited about putting my dissertation to good use. It’s entitled ‘Towards a Quaker Theology of Hope: postmodern Quaker eschatology through the lens of narrative.’ I’m hoping to get it published in some form, perhaps as a journal article, so I won’t be sharing my findings on the blog just yet. However, I have lots of other ideas for blog posts, which I hope to publish in the next few months. I want to write something exploring what we mean by ‘that-of-God in everyone’, something about parallels between Quaker theology and that of Symeon the New Theology, and something about Mary mother of Jesus being a model Quaker.

I recently taught an online course called ‘Bible Study for Quakers’, which inspired me to have a go at a Quaker Bible commentary, giving a Quaker take on various books/chapters of the Bible. I’m wary about making grand plans for particular series of posts – my series on Advices and Queries has stalled and I’m not sure when I’ll get going with that again – so I’m happy to let a Quaker Bible commentary evolve haphazardly. I don’t plan on starting with Genesis 1 and going all the way through to Revelation 22! Maybe I’ll start with something from Luke, which I think is possibly the most accessible and attractive Biblical book for modern British Friends. Or perhaps something by Paul for the opposite reason.

Thanks for reading the blog. I value your support and encouragement. I hope to give you lots of interesting, challenging and useful things to read over the coming year.