Quaker Pagan Reflections

American Quaker War Tax Resistance from the 17th through the 19th Century: A Documentary History . David Gross (ed). 2008. 500 p. The Picket Line, softcover, $24. (ISBN/EAN13:1438260156 / 9781438260150). One of the wonderful things, for me, as a new convert to Quakers, is having 350 years of history to catch up on. In American Quaker War Tax Resistance , David Gross has created, not so much a history of Quaker war tax resistance as a source book for those who seek help discerning their leadings in this area. Gross has brought together over a hundred historical documents, from Friends as weighty as John Woolman and Elias Hicks, to prominent critics of Quakers' practices such as Benjamin Franklin, who found Friends guilty of "A Variety of Evasion" to avoid entering into direct conflict between an outward show of support for the peace testimony and the military requirements of the state. It is one of the strengths of this book that a full range of opinions and responses a...

This one has been making the rounds in both the Quaker and the Pagan world... Normally, I would place a meme on The Back Page --that being why I created it. But since Cosette of Pandora's Bazaar not only tagged me , but named Quaker Pagan Reflections itself in her own Book Meme post, that would probably be cheating. And, in any case, the book that is immediately to hand is one I've got a few thoughts about worth the sharing. So, for those of you not yet hit with this particular pyramid scheme of the blogosphere, the meme goes like this: 1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages). 2. Open the book to page 123. 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the next three sentences. 5. Tag five people. (My tags are at the bottom of the page, for enquiring minds.) Right. So, the book I had nearest at hand is one I've only begun dipping into--it was a gift from my daughter , who actually picked it up for free on a book exchange she found via the Web: the bestsell...

As per Stasa : "About the book on Pagan Quakerism which Jen Chapin-Smith is editing: Friends who are interested can contact her directly at jench1977 at hotmail dot com." This announcement will remain posted longterm at Quaker Pagan Reflections' Back Page area. Stasa has also posted at her blog a report on her experiences , particularly with the Pagan Quakerism workshop she facilitated, at FGC's Gathering this year.