Study groups at Leicester Quaker Meeting House
1. ADVICES AND QUERIES (Feb - April 2010). The slim red volume entitled Advices and Queries is one of the most important Quaker documents in regular use as a prompt to faithful living. A series of meetings about it was completed in the spring of 2010, and we hope to launch another in the autumn. If you would like to join a small group then to make a study of some more of its forty two suggestions, you can reserve a place by sending us an email from the 'Get in touch' page of this site. (Alternatively, on a Sunday the person who will tell you more is Janet Thompson).
" Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts ... "
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2. QUAKER HISTORY STUDY (April 2010 - summer). Notes to help anyone who has to miss a meeting.
At our first meeting we read sections from H Larry Ingle's study of the early life of George Fox and the context in which he lived:
"First among Friends - George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism" - by H. Larry Ingle
The early part of that book is available on line. Just click on this link and and then click the icon for a 'full screen view'. Use the forward and back arrows to find the page you want - you can see it as far as page 41, but not beyond that without buying the book!
These readings were interspersed with shorter ones from Fox's own Journal, which was not written day by day, but composed in his later years as he looked back on his life. It is also on line and you can read it by clicking here.
To get a feel for the readings we chose, start with Fox's own account of his 'earnestness' in late childhood - pages 1-2 of the Journal - and then read Ingle's explanation / interpretation of the young man in his times, on pages 18-20 of The First among Friends.
As for George Fox's growth of understanding as he gained in years, you can feel it from what he writes on page 8 of the Journal; to get an understanding of how this came about we read several sections of Ingle's book up to and including pages 38-9. So do have a look at what you can.
At our second meeting we read aloud from several books that give accounts of the events of early summer 1652 at Pendle Hill, Brigflatts, Sedbergh, Firbank Fell and then at Swarthmoor Hall. These sources included 1. Fox's own Journal 2. Truth of the Heart (writings of Fox, annotated and rendered into modern English by Rex Ambler).
The simplest 'revision source' will be the first two sections of chapter 3 of John Punshon's book.
At our third meeting (concerned with the period 1653 onwards) we read more from Punshon's book, and passages from W.C. Braithwaite's 'The Beginnings of Quakerism' - the first of the historical volumes in the project which John Wilhelm Rowntree had planned at the start of the twentieth century.
At our fourth meeting we looked at the early Quaker period in America and then into the origins of the quietist phase, and in particular the influence of Robert Barclay, the Quaker theologian. We found him exciting and controversial.
Fifth Meeting We studied the development of 'church discipline' in the 'Quietist' period of Quaker life, the origins of 'Advices and Queries', and the importance of simplicity in dress and lifestyle. There was of course Betsy Gurney's encounter with Wm Savery at the end of the eighteenth century, and we thought about John Woolman's visit to England too, and his death in York in 1772. The first part of John Punshon's chapter 6 'The creation of a Quaker Culture' covers most of what we considered.
Our Sixth Meeting included (i) a reading from Janet Whitney's biography of John Woolman, (ii) several readings about the amazing life of John Fothergill with his diversity of contacts in medicine, and science, and his contacts with Pennsylvania, and his work in the life of the Society of Friends in England, then eventually his role in the foundation of Ackworth School. (iii) passages about the Tuke family in York - the influence of William and Esther Tuke in relation to Ackworth school, then The Mount school, and then the foundation of The Retreat.
At our seventh meeting we examined John Punshon's account of the end of the eighteenth century and the influence of both enlightenment thought and the rising evangelical revival. There will now be a short break for holidays and we shall meet again on Wendesday 11 August.
