There are still some places left on my online book group which begins on Monday 23 June with live Zoom sessions at 19:00-20:30 (UK time) every Monday for six weeks. We'll be reading A Testament of Devotion, a classic of Quaker spirituality. You can sign up here: https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/courses/book-group-a-testament-of-devotion-by-thomas-kelly/ Thomas Kelly (1893-1941) was a Quaker from… Continue reading Join my online book group reading ‘A Testament of Devotion’ by Thomas Kelly
Tag: Quaker
Desiring Jesus in a world of queerphobic Christianity
It’s no secret that Christians do terrible things, or that terrible things have been done in the name of Jesus and the Christian God. As a scholar of Christian theology and racism I know that Christianity has some serious problems. But recent events in my life have brought this truth home to me in a deeply personal way, to the point where I’m questioning whether, as a queer person, being a Christian makes any sense.
Not all words are good words: Quakers in Britain and anti-trans ‘debate’
Welcome, support, acknowledgment and affirmation of trans people cannot coexist with continuing ‘debate and dialogue’ on the legitimacy of trans identities. Many cis Quakers have much to discover about the lived reality of trans people, and so there should always be space for discussion fuelled by the genuine desire to learn. But there comes a point where ‘debate and dialogue’ must end, where speech that does not measure up to our collectively discerned standards of love and truth needs to be halted. Either Quakers welcome and support trans people, which includes at a minimum believing they are who they say they are, or Quakers don’t. Or Quakers are using the word ‘welcome’ in such a weak manner as to render it meaningless. To truly welcome trans people means allowing trans people to set the terms for that welcome. We cannot welcome trans people and at the same time keep space open for anti-trans rhetoric. Friends who continue to tolerate this 'debate' set themselves against the wellbeing of trans people and against the leadings of the Holy Spirit as discerned by the Yearly Meeting. Compromise cannot be made with the spirit of fear that drives the anti-trans moral panic.
Interviewed on Quake It Up
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Ollie for his excellent Quake It Up YouTube channel. We talked for quite a while about my new book The Spirit of Freedom. You can watch the interview hear: https://youtu.be/E6kPx2K8uTI?si=k0RmwS9w6NekEb8W
Thank you to my readers in 2024
Thank you for journeying with me this year by reading my work. Here’s a summary of my 2024 as a reader and writer.
Quakers and gift-giving
I've written a Thought for the Week in the Friend about festive gift-giving. You can read it here: https://thefriend.org/article/present-and-correct-mark-russs-thought-for-the-week
Join me for the online launch of my new book
My new book 'The Spirit of Freedom: Quaker-shaped Christian Theology' will be published on 26 November 2024, available in paperback and as an e-book. To celebrate, please join me for an online book launch hosted by Woodbrooke on Tuesday 26 November 2024, 19:30-20:30 (UK time).
Thicc places: a Quaker on pilgrimage
On the Pembrokeshire coast is the holy well of St Gwyndaf, nestled in a ferny grove on the route to St David’s Cathedral. It’s listed in Guy Hayward and Nick Mayhew-Smith’s Britain’s Pilgrim Places (2020), and I was on holiday in the area trying to see as many sacred sites as possible. On my visit to St Gwyndaf’s, I found a collection of seashells surrounding the well opening with an invitation to take one. After pocketing the shell, I felt a bit of a fraud. I was a tourist, not a pilgrim. Despite spending a week in such a beautiful corner of Wales filled with wells, churches and standing stones, I was missing the special pilgrimage ingredient, whatever that is. Inspired by this sense of lack I booked myself on to a pilgrimage to Lindisfarne, following the St Cuthbert’s Way.
Quaker approaches to hope
Ask a room of Quakers what hope means to them and you’ll get a variety of answers. Ask these same Friends to describe the shared Quaker hope and it might take a while. You won’t find a section on hope in Quaker faith & practice. The most recent collective statement on hope made by Quakers in Britain, to my knowledge, is from 2009 in the context of climate change: ‘our faith in common humanity gives hope; love, rather than fear, can still lead us through this crisis.’[1] What does it mean to have faith in common humanity? Isn’t common humanity why we’re in this mess? Hope is something that Quakers today aren’t well practiced at talking about, even as situations like the climate crisis compel us to articulate what hope means.
Reflections on Britain Yearly Meeting 2024
Should I keep my membership of the Religious Society of Friends? This was the question I anticipated bringing with me to Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) at Friends House in London on a sunny July weekend. I stopped attending a local Quaker Meeting 18 months ago, and I no longer give financially to my Area Meeting. What does this mean for my status as a member? If membership means being part of the ship’s crew instead of a passenger (Qf&p 10.34) what am I now? It turns out I didn’t have to wait until BYM for an answer.
Jolly Quaker 