Useful theology from a Quaker-shaped Christian
I never know quite what to do with New Year. I love the Advent season of preparation (I generally read something from the Hebrew Scriptures, this time it was Ezekiel) and get all excited about Christmas, and then New Year muscles in and steals its thunder. There's something about New Year I always find anticlimactic,… Continue reading Thank you to my readers
I've written an article about how I, as a Quaker-shaped Christian, approach being in community with nontheists. It's been published in The Friend, and it's free to read. Do check it out! You can read it here.
In May 2019, the annual Swarthmore Lecture was given by Eden Grace, a member of New England Yearly Meeting and Director of Global Ministries for Friends United Meeting (FUM). Eden’s lecture was entitled ‘On earth as it is in heaven: The Kingdom of God and the yearning of creation.’ I’m blogging my reflections on the lecture, chapter by… Continue reading Reading the 2019 Swarthmore Lecture – Ch 3: Beginning, end, and new beginning
In May 2019, the annual Swarthmore Lecture was given by Eden Grace, a member of New England Yearly Meeting and Director of Global Ministries for Friends United Meeting (FUM). Eden’s lecture was entitled ‘On earth as it is in heaven: The Kingdom of God and the yearning of creation.’ I’m blogging my reflections on the lecture, chapter by… Continue reading Reading the 2019 Swarthmore Lecture – Ch 2: Staying low
In May 2019, the annual Swarthmore Lecture was given by Eden Grace, a member of New England Yearly Meeting and Director of Global Ministries for Friends United Meeting (FUM). Eden’s lecture was entitled ‘On earth as it is in heaven: The Kingdom of God and the yearning of creation.’ I'm blogging my reflections on the lecture, chapter by… Continue reading Reading the 2019 Swarthmore Lecture – Ch 1: The Kingdom is come and coming
In May 2019, the annual Swarthmore Lecture was given by Eden Grace, a member of New England Yearly Meeting and Director of Global Ministries for Friends United Meeting (FUM). Eden's lecture was entitled 'On earth as it is in heaven: The Kingdom of God and the yearning of creation.' This lecture set out a solid,… Continue reading Reading the 2019 Swarthmore Lecture – Introduction
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… Continue reading An update from Jolly Quaker
From 24-27 May, Quakers in Britain met to consider issues of privilege, diversity and inclusion and climate justice. You can read the Epistle here. Friends who were hoping for clear decisions to made, or actions to be agreed upon, may be disappointed. Some may worry that the gathering constituted a lot of 'naval gazing'. To… Continue reading No shortcut to the Kingdom: Reflections from Britain Yearly Meeting 2019
As a Christian Quaker living in a post-Christian Quaker culture, I'm occasionally called upon to explain my Christianity to my fellow Quakers. I recently did this by saying 'Jesus is the key that unlocks my experience of the world'. I was then asked 'could you say more about that?', and I didn't really have an… Continue reading Jesus the key to my experience
In the last few months, I have become increasingly involved in diversity and inclusion work within the Quaker community. Although challenging and emotionally demanding, this work is bringing lots of really important questions to the fore. One cluster of questions that has emerged is: Is Christianity by its very nature exclusive? Is a universalist Quakerism… Continue reading Does Jesus exclude?
Jolly Quaker 