Synopses & Reviews
Known best for their long-standing commitment to social activism, pacifism, fair treatment for Native Americans, and equality for women, the Quakers have influenced American thought and society far out of proportion to their relatively small numbers. Whether in the foreign policy arena (the American Friends Service Committee), in education (the Friends schools), or in the arts (prominent Quakers profiled in this book include James Turrell, Bonnie Raitt, and James Michener), Quakers have left a lasting imprint on American life. This multifaceted book is a concise history of the Religious Society of Friends; an introduction to its beliefs and practices; and a vivid picture of the culture and controversies of the Friends today.
The book opens with lively vignettes of Conservative, Evangelical, Friends General Conference, and Friends United meetings that illuminate basic Quaker concepts and theology and reflect the group's diversity in the wake of the sectarian splintering of the nineteenth century. Yet the book also examines commonalities among American Friends that demonstrate a fundamental unity within the religion: their commitments to worship, the ministry of all believers, decision making based on seeking spiritual consensus rather than voting, a simple lifestyle, and education. Thomas Hamm shows that Quaker culture encompasses a rich tradition of practice even as believers continue to debate a number of central questions: Is Quakerism necessarily Christian? Where should religious authority reside? Is the self sacred? How does one transmit faith to children? How do gender and sexuality shape religious belief and behavior? Hamm's analysis of these debates reveals a vital religion that prizes both unity and diversity.
Review
and#8220;This book makes a significant contribution to scholarly understanding of Quaker history and casts new light on religionand#8217;s role in the development of modern nations. Far from being the quietists portrayed in some scholarly accounts, Quakers responded to the new pressures of nationalism by becoming reformers of their nations. No one to my knowledge has done as much as Crabtree to unpack this interesting history.and#8221;
Review
andldquo;Crabtree has presented a strong and compelling history of the Quaker challenge to emergent nationalism during the Age of Revolutions. Well-grounded theoretically and smoothly written, Holy Nation is highly intriguing, is deeply researched, and offers a creative and important intervention in the fields of religious and Atlantic history.andrdquo;
Review
"This absorbing and important book reconstructsand#160;a radical challenge developed by leading Quakers during the Age of Revolution to emergent ideologies of nationhood and citizenship. Crabtreeand#8217;s studyand#160;provides a new and thought-provoking perspective on religious faith as an inspiration for political and social reform in the Atlantic World."
Review
andldquo;With rare insight, Crabtree examines the travails and perseverance of the transatlantic community of Quaker ministers during the tumultuous, war-torn years of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. She shows how the Quakersandrsquo; rejection of violent patriotism often served to strengthen their resolve, and provided them a way to critique the divisive and burdensome concept of andlsquo;citizenshipandrsquo; that was sweeping the Atlantic world. The Quakers gained some stature and influence, but also generated tremendous controversy, by positioning themselves as a pacifist transnational community during the Age of Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Though Crabtree concentrates on the Quakers, her work has much broader significance, casting light on the politics of this formative era, and the ways religious affiliation could complicate the spread of nationalism.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Crabtree has written an original and paradigm-shifting account of Quakersandrsquo; relationships to nation-states during the Age of Revolution. Unlike other Christian denominations that shored up and were in turn supported by new governments, the Society of Friends challenged the authority of the nation and its claims to the primary allegiance of its citizens. Quakers gave their fealty to a transnational andlsquo;holy nationandrsquo; of believers that superseded the demands of any secular polity, especially when those became exclusive, divisive, and aggressive. Crabtree vividly recounts how Quakers challenged the nation-state and offered a viable alternative. Friendsandrsquo; primary allegiance to God and to one another put them at odds with nationalist projects that required demonstrations of patriotism on both sides of the Atlantic between 1750 and 1820. Much more than a sectarian history, this study makes a significant and highly important contribution to the scholarship on the intersection of religion and nationalism during the critical decades in which nations were recast and their boundaries of citizenship strengthened. This carefully researched and elegantly written study will interest scholars of religion, nationalism, patriotism, and cosmopolitanism in the revolutionary transatlantic world.andrdquo;
Synopsis
< p=""> < i=""> The Quakers in America<> is a multifaceted history of the Religious Society of Friends and a fascinating study of its culture and controversies today. Lively vignettes of Conservative, Evangelical, Friends General Conference, and Friends United meetings illuminate basic Quaker theology and reflect the group's diversity while also highlighting the fundamental unity within the religion. Quaker culture encompasses a rich tradition of practice even as believers continue to debate whether Quakerism is necessarily Christian, where religious authority should reside, how one transmits faith to children, and how gender and sexuality shape religious belief and behavior. Praised for its rich insight and wide-ranging perspective, < i=""> The Quakers in America<> is a penetrating account of an influential, vibrant, and often misunderstood religious sect.<>
Synopsis
Early American Quakers have long been perceived as retiring separatists, but in
Holy Nation Sarah Crabtree transforms our historical understanding of the sect by drawing on the sermons, diaries, and correspondence of Quakers themselves. Situating Quakerism within the larger intellectual and religious undercurrents of the Atlantic World, Crabtree shows how Quakers forged a paradoxical sense of their place in the world as militant warriors fighting for peace. She argues that during the turbulent Age of Revolution and Reaction, the Religious Society of Friends forged a andldquo;holy nation,andrdquo; a transnational community of like-minded believers committed first and foremost to divine law and to one another. Declaring themselves citizens of their own nation served to underscore the decidedly
unholy nature of the nation-state, worldly governments, and profane laws. As a result, campaigns of persecution against the Friends escalated as those in power moved to declare Quakers aliens and traitors to their home countries.
Holy Nation convincingly shows that ideals and actions were inseparable for the Society of Friends, yielding an account of Quakerism that is simultaneously a history of the faith and its adherents and a history of its confrontations with the wider world. Ultimately, Crabtree argues, the conflicts experienced between obligations of church and state that Quakers faced can illuminate similar contemporary struggles.
Synopsis
In this investigation of Quakers in early America, Sarah Crabtree elaborates on the tensions caused by Quakersand#8217; conception of themselves as people beholden not to states but to Christ. Quakers were no less than a triple threat to their governments because they claimed loyalties above and beyond the state, resisted the military strategies that were used to bolster the state, and became political activists pushing for reform. In resisting both the compulsion and the exercise of state power, Quakers put forth alternative definitions of nation and citizenand#151;and yet, many Quakers often found themselves drawn to political and social reform efforts that required recognizing and engaging with nations and states. Crabtree argues that the resulting conflicts between obligations to church and state illuminate similar contemporary conflicts.
About the Author
Sarah Crabtree is assistant professor of history at San Francisco State University.
Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations
Introductionand#160;and#160;
Holy Nationand#160;and#160;
Part I: Combat, 1754andndash;89
1. Zion in Crisis: Friends as the Israel of Oldand#160;
2. Lamb-Like Warriors: The Quakersandrsquo; Church Militant
Part II: Compromise, 1779andndash;1809
3. Walled Gardens: Friendsandrsquo; Schools
Part III: Concession, 1793andndash;1826
4. The Still, Small Voice: Quaker Activism
5. The Whole World My Country: A Cosmopolitan Society
Conclusion: At Peace with the World, at War with Itself
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index