Thank you to my readers in 2023

Dear reader,

In the small corner of the world that is jollyquaker.com, it’s been a good year. When I look back at my writing in 2023, I see myself both exploring a queer Jesus-centred spirituality that embraces and goes beyond Quakerism, and growing in confidence as an academic theologian. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey by reading the blog. Here’s my summary of the year as a reader and writer.

Reading

This has been a year full of books, many academic and skim-read. The good books I’ve read for a general audience related to my research on Quaker theology and whiteness are Nell Irvin Painter’s The History of White People, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited.

My non-PhD reading has been dominated by my interest in Celtic Christianity and neo-Pagan spirituality, and my joining the new monastic Community of Aidan and Hilda. A lot has been written on both these subjects, much containing some very dodgy historical and theological claims. I’ve particularly appreciated the work of Ronald Hutton, whose histories of modern witchcraft (The Triumph of the Moon) and Druidry (Blood and Mistletoe) are entertaining and well written, as well as tremendously helpful in understanding the currents of modern Pagan (and to an extent, liberal Quaker) spirituality. Hutton respectfully and methodically clears away the pseudo-historical fog to show how new the ‘Old Religion’ really is. This kind of approach, also found in John Michael Greer’s The Druidry Handbook, is a good antidote to the unhelpfully speculative and overly romantic approach I found in Kristoffer Hughes’ From the Cauldron Born. Similarly, Thomas O’Loughlin’s Journeys on the Edges and Ian Bradley’s Celtic Christianity: Making Myths and Chasing Dreams and Following the Celtic Way offer historically grounded assessments of Celtic Christianity, whereas J. Philip Newell’s Listening for the Heartbeat of God and Ray Simpson’s Celtic Christianity make claims for a continuous ‘Celtic’ tradition that I find both dubious and unnecessary.

What I find fascinating about both the Celtic Christian and neo-Pagan currents is how they are modern responses to the deficiencies of modernity. I have no complaint about this. I think it’s fine for a religion or spiritual practice to be new. If we find that it works then it doesn’t need antique origins. What I dislike is the projection of our modern selves and our modern concerns into the past. Many Christians and Pagans long to be part of an ancient, pure tradition with distinct boundaries. Within the Pagan literature is the idea that Christianity is full of Pagan survivals, that the ‘Old Religion’ has survived over the centuries hidden in Christian clothing, taking an extreme form in the idea that Christianity is at its roots a pagan fertility cult. This places an unhistorical and unnecessary boundary between Christianity and what we think of as Paganism. Christianity is not a monolith. It’s multiple and various, taking many forms over the last 2000 years. Some of the forms it has taken look very Pagan to modern eyes. Southwell Minister, a medieval cathedral in Nottinghamshire which I visited in the spring, contains stone carvings of ‘green men’ and a Sheela na gig. This year I discovered a fascinating description of the pentagram as a Christian symbol in the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Are these Pagan stowaways in Christian disguise, or are they evidence that Christianity is more varied and flexible than we think?

Writing

My writing highlight of 2023 is the reception of my first book Quaker Shaped Christianity, published at the end of 2022. A year later it has sold nearly 1000 copies. People have read it, enjoyed it, and wanted to talk about it. I ran two online book groups with Woodbrooke in January and November, both of which were an absolute joy. In September I spent a day with Quakers in Mid-Wales speaking about themes in the book. Ollie interviewed me for his excellent Quake It Up vlog, and I spoke to Peterson Toscano for the Quakers Today podcast run by Friends Journal. Spurred on by the success of Quaker Shaped Christianity, I submitted the manuscript of my second book, The Spirit of Freedom: Quaker-shaped Christian theology to Christian Alternative Books in the summer. It’s an edited collection of the best of my writing from the last decade, and I’m very proud of it. It’s now due to be published in late 2024, and I’ll be announcing a specific date very soon.

This year I presented my first ever academic conference paper, ‘Tasting the Eternal Sabbath: The hopeful possibilities of Quaker Worship,’ presented at the Society for the Study of Theology Postgraduate Conference in September. I also presented on ‘Whiteness and the Quaker Universalist Discourse in Britain’ at the online Quaker Theological Discussion Group in December, and this will hopefully be published in the journal Quaker Religious Thought in 2024.

On jollyquaker.com I’ve written four original blog posts this year, all of which I’m very pleased with for different reasons. ‘Celtic Spirituality and Whiteness’ is my most read post of the year and has prompted a lot of correspondence. ‘Leaving Quaker Meeting and Discovering Queer Faith’ was a very personal post and is my second most read post of the year. ‘Quakers and Universal Mystical Experience’ comes out of my PhD research (and is still due a follow up post on Quakers and the Mystic East) and ‘The hard work of translating: a message for St Cedd’s Day’ is a sermon I gave at Inclusive Gathering Birmingham in the autumn. My third most read post of the year is my 2021 piece on ‘What does Qf&p say about sin and evil.’ I’m glad people are still interested in this topic, as one of the outcomes of my PhD research will be a contribution to the Quaker theology of sin.

The blog ends the year with 280 subscribers, up from 262 in 2022, and 9355 visits, a big jump up from 6755 in 2022.

What next?

The big event on the horizon in 2024 is the publication of The Spirit of Freedom. I’ll be sharing more information as we count down to the publication date.

I’m running an online course with Woodbrooke based on my PhD research. I’m very excited about it! Do join me for ‘Quaker Theology and Whiteness’ (3 June – 8 July 2024).

I hope for more writing and speaking engagements in 2024. I’ll be submitting conference papers and journal articles, as well as making time to write for this blog. I look forward to hearing what you make of my writing in the coming year.

As a theologian 2023 has been filled with many good things, including a wonderful community of readers. I am so grateful to everyone who has read my work, given it a review online, talked about it in a book group, listened to me on a podcast, recommended my work to others, and taken the time to get in touch with me with words of encouragement. Thank you for your time, engagement, and comments.

Thank you dear readers! May you enter 2024 grounded in God’s deep joy and unshakeable hope, to meet whatever challenges lie ahead.

Love

Mark

[Featured image photo by Morvanic Lee on Unsplash]