Useful theology from a Quaker-shaped Christian
Something is queer if it smudges and transgresses boundaries. Queerness takes stone walls and reveals them to be lines drawn in the sand. Queerness asks: Who drew these lines and who do they serve? Queerness delights in the blurring of edges and shows how joy and creative energy can be found in the in-between places. So a queer approach to faith is to embrace loose ends and trespass across supposedly unpassable borders, and say this is a legitimate spiritual path.
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed for the "Quake It Up" channel about my book "Quaker Shaped Christianity." I'm really enjoying hearing people's responses to the book, and Olly had lots of really great questions.
In 2013, when I began the Jolly Quaker blog, I was a primary school music teacher and writing Quaker-shaped Christian theology was a hobby. As 2022 draws to a close, the seeds I planted a decade ago have bourn more fruit than I could ever anticipate. I started a PhD, my first book was published, and I branched out into broadcasting. I wouldn’t have gotten very far without the encouragement of people like you who’ve taken an interest in my work, so as a big ‘thank you’ for your support and the time you’ve given to reading my theologising, here’s my now customary reflection on my reading, writing and thinking over the last year.
On Monday 7th December, Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre hosted the online launch of my new book, 'Quaker Shaped Christianity'. Over 50 people attended from all over the world. Thank you to everyone who attended! The first part of the launch was recorded and is now available to watch. The recording includes a conversation between myself and Woodbrooke tutor Stuart Masters, followed by a short reading of the book.
I hear, through social media, the letters page of the Friend, and conversations with Quakers in my Meeting, a steady trickle of Quaker voices rejecting various bits of religious vocabulary, including “prayer”, “faith”, and particularly the word "worship". This is framed in terms of "inclusivity", even "radical inclusivity". The more religious words we eliminate from our vocabulary, the more inclusive we will be of those who are put off by religion. As someone who longs for a rich shared theology, I don't experience it as inclusion.
My latest contribution to the Woodbrooke Learning Blog is on vocal ministry as spiritual food and as a skill we can learn and improve.
Here’s the third and final part of my conversation with fellow Quaker theologian and author Ben Wood. In this podcast episode we talk about whether Quakers can believe anything they want, and the importance of a shared story.
Here's the second part of my conversation with fellow Quaker theologian and author Ben Wood. In this podcast episode we get excited about the sabbath, the philosophy of Anne Conway, and spiritual desire for God. Enjoy. 🙂
I recently met with fellow Quaker theologian Ben Wood to talk about our upcoming books that both reflect on Quakerism and Christianity. We originally meant our conversation to be one long video, but after recording we realised it’d be better offered as a series of three shorter podcast episodes. So in this first part of our conversation we talk about what prompted us to write our books, our difficulties with universalism and our approaches to Jesus.
Quakers in the past may have had a ‘testimony against times and seasons’, but this is no longer true in Britain today. Many Quaker meetings, including my own, will have Christmas-themed worship in December. We have abandoned referring to Monday as ‘second day’ and June as ‘sixth month’, except in some formal documents like marriage certificates. In practice the testimony has fallen away, but nothing positive has replaced it. We find ourselves in a half-way house, with no clear corporate answer on the place of times and seasons in the Quaker faith. If we take a look at why Quakers opposed times and seasons in the first place, we might be able to construct an approach that makes sense for us today.
Jolly Quaker 