QUALITATIVE VERSUS QUANTITATIVE MISSIONS: AN ANALYSIS OF FRIENDS MISSIONAL WORK IN BOLIVIA

From its genesis, Quakerism has centered on obeying the Great Commission of Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:19–20[1] to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you.” In fact, in chapter one of his journal, Quaker founder George Fox confessed,

The Lord commanded me to go abroad into the world, which was like a briery, thorny wilderness; and when I came, in the Lord’s mighty power, with the word of life into the world, the world swelled and made a noise like the great raging waves of the sea. Priests and professors, magistrates and people, were all like a sea when I came to proclaim the day of the Lord amongst them, and to preach repentance to them. I was sent to turn people from darkness to the light, that, they might receive Christ Jesus: for, to as many as should receive Him in His light, I saw that He would give power to become the sons of God; which I had obtained by receiving Christ.

Inspired by Fox’s earnest testimony and fervent praxis (and God’s affirmation of their evangelistic yearnings), other early Friends followed suit and began sharing the Gospel in England and the American colonies in the seventeenth century. By the end of the twentieth century, though, Quaker missionaries had greatly expanded their missionary efforts, traveling to the four corners of the globe, including remote regions of Africa, India, China, and North America (as well as in South and Central America) to establish the Gospel among the nationals and indigenous peoples.[2] Not least of which, Bolivia found itself the focus of much missionary enterprise by William Abel,[3] Juan Ayllon,[4] Tomassa Valle,[5] Jack Willcuts,[6] and other important Central American missionaries.

Just like George Fox, these brave and dedicated Friends felt the Holy Spirit’s calling in their lives and went specifically to Bolivia to help its people “[receive] His word and [find] rest to their troubled souls.”[7] Their evangelism was not random nor skewed; rather, they approached missions work, carefully—in quantitative and qualitative ways. Nordyke explains,

There are three fundamental types of quantitative church growth: biological, transfer, and conversion. Biological means growth through the children born to the church families . . . Transfer growth means the members of one church transferring to another church . . . Conversion growth is winning new people from the world.[8] 

Perhaps from their insiders’ perspective (and personal, real-life observations), these missionaries saw these options played out, regularly, and acted upon them, productively.

Thus, Thomas notes of missionary Carroll Tamplin’s Bolivian excursions,

The ministry focus in the first half of the 1930s continued to be in evangelism, both on the part of the mission and on the part of the growing body of national workers, usually working together. Sometimes, Tamplin and the workers he was training visited places where they had contacts and a small group of believers. Sometimes, they set out on their own and entered completely unreached areas.[9]

In other words, the statistical, quantitative focus was on how many, how often, where, and how big—showing the breadth of the missionary milieu.

Yet, regarding qualitative discipleship growth of the nationals, Nordyke remarks,

By this [unnamed missionary] means the deepening of a Christian's spiritual experience, resulting in the bringing of new believers into a living relationship with Jesus Christ and with other Christians . . . He felt it was more important to win a few and have them become “perfect” Christians than to be the poor example he felt some other groups were because their rapidly growing churches were filled with new Christians.[10]

Fleshing this concept out even further, regarding Willcuts’ veteran conclusions on missional church growth, Stansell writes, “In Bolivia, God's rule through his people happened when people turned to Christ, when better agriculture was practiced, when education was shared, and when Aymara men and women were empowered by God to raise their faces and hearts toward God in dignity and grace.”[11] In other words, qualitative growth is more interested in individual or small group investment and holistic development, which indicates the spiritual depth or character of the people, rather than in mere numbers.

The truth of the matter assuredly lies somewhere between these two approaches. Thomas’ depiction of Ayllon’s La Paz congregation as “A strong preaching ministry, outreach into surrounding communities, the gradual development of local leadership, discipleship through Sunday school and Bible training classes, and general education classes for literacy were all aspects of this congregation from the beginning”[12]—seems to affirm missional hopes, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Ayllon’s congregation was a place where the multitudes’ needs were voiced and served (Acts 2:42–47). It also was a place that attracted many people for its “Good News” that changed their lives forever, through the God of the universe (and his followers) who actually saw them, touched them, and called them by name. Instead of a contrived façade of faith, it was an organic reservoir of divine love and authentic believers of Christ.[13]

Although physical churches are helpful to the Great Commission, the apostle Paul exhorted his readers, “For weare God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor 3:9). So, while it is good to construct churches, it is better thing to establish disciples, especially since Jesus instructed his Disciples, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matt 18:20).

Portland Pastor Frank Damazio sums it up well when he writes,

A church with no roof and no walls has no obstructions standing in the way of a free flow of God's love, forgiveness, power and blessings. It is a church with open heavens and intercessory prayer. It is not isolated from the unsaved and the unchurched. There is an unobstructed flow of the gospel to the multitudes. This is the church that goes into the highways and the hedges and compels people to come in so that God's house will be filled (see Luke 14:23).[14] 

Truly, the sagacious missions work in Bolivia over the past hundred years has shown that the size of a congregation is less important (or evangelistically effective) than the depths of its love for God and others.

Bibliography

Damazio, Frank. Strategic Church: A Lie-changing Church in an Ever-changing Culture. Ventura: Regal, 2012.

Nordyke, Quentin. Animistic Aymaras and Church Growth. Newberg: Barclay, 1972.

Thomas, Nancy J. A Long Walk, a Gradual Ascent: The Story of the Bolivian Friends Church in Its Context of Conflict. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2019.

Stansell, Ron. Missions by the Spirit: Learning from Quaker Examples. Newberg: Barclay, 2009.

[1] All scriptures are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (NASB).

[2] Ron Stansell, Missions by the Spirit: Learning from Quaker Examples (Newberg: Barclay, 2009), 10.

[3] Nancy J. Thomas, A Long Walk, A Gradual Ascent: The Story of the Bolivian Friends Church in Its Context of Conflict (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2019), 17.

[4] Thomas, A Long Walk, A Gradual Ascent, 21.

[5] Thomas, A Long Walk, A Gradual Ascent, 25.

[6] Stansell, Missions by the Spirit, 209.

[7] Thomas, A Long Walk, A Gradual Ascent, 15.

[8] Quentin Nordyke, Animistic Aymaras and Church Growth (Newberg: Barclay, 1972), 152–53.

[9] Thomas, A Long Walk, A Gradual Ascent, 30.

[10]  Nordyke, Animistic Aymaras and Church Growth, 161.

[11] Stansell, Missions by the Spirit, 227.

[12] Thomas, A Long Walk, A Gradual Ascent, 36.

[13] Nordyke, Animistic Aymaras and Church, 182.

[14] Frank Damazio, Strategic Church: A Life-changing Church in an Ever-changing Culture (Ventura: Regal, 2012), 233.

Sacro-Egoism in Wider Church-going American Society

In the beginning of this thesis, the dangers of ‘. . . inferring so much from so little’[1] were raised regarding sociological studies of religion.   Others have similar questions about creating a catchall theory to cover all religious communities in the West. Lynch states, ‘Over the past thirty years we have entered a new phase of progressive religion in the West which has led more recently to the development of new religious identities, groups and networks.’[2] Voas points out one argument for studying religion in Europe as, ‘The whole continent is so diverse that no single description of the religious situation is adequate and hence its evolution defies any simple explanation.’[3]  Yet, others like Roof speculate that ‘What is happening with religion may not be all that different from what’s occurring with other social institutions and may actually be a pretty good mirror of the larger culture in the 1990s.’[4]

As mentioned above, there are a myriad of factors that influence the religious flow of any one religious community, both in America, the West, and the world.  Wuthnow comments, ‘In logistic regression models that controlled for age, education, parents’ education, region, gender, race, ethnicity, religious tradition, and religious service attendance, the effect of spiritual shopping (versus Christian inclusivism) was statistically significant.’[5]

It would be easy to assume that McMinnville’s shift to Sacro-Egoism is also simultaneously occurring all over the United States.  However, such a specific conclusion is hasty without more such studies in other cities, both in Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and all over America.  Every city, state, and region has a different history, cultural priority, and demographic make-up.  The culture of McMinnville, Oregon may differ somewhat from that of Eugene, Oregon, some ninety-three miles away.  It may be still embracing Sacro-Clericalism or Sacro-Communalism.  Thus, there is no absolute certainty that the majority of Oregonians or Americans will immediately give up their former Sacro-states to immediately embrace Sacro-Egoism despite their expression of radical individualism.  However, the aforementioned American sociological studies of religion do suggest some connection to Sacro-Egoism.

Currently, American society media focuses on the youth culture, but the vast majority of Americans are over thirty-five (and growing).[6]  One could assume that as mature, enculturated, adults, most Americans will possibly still subjugate their personal authority for sometime to the old church institute that they grew up in as a child; yet, the diminishing church membership numbers indicate that some religious and/or social change is occurring in Western society.  As Heelas et al. note, ‘young people’s detachment from the congregational domain has not only continued since the sixties but has intensified, with their religious commitment declining steadily over time.’[7]  Information on aspects such as age, gender, economic class, political affiliation, and education was also collected in the McMinnville Project congregational surveys.  The data is considered in turn below.

Sacro-Egoism and Age

The question of age and religiosity, however, is still a study in progress in the modern world of sociology.  Putnam remarks, ‘So before we can tell whether the ubiquitous age-related difference in civic engagement are truly generational, and thus producing social change, we need to determine whether these differences are attributable to the normal life cycle.’[8]  Heelas and Woodhead state, ‘The average age of a churchgoer is now higher than the average age in the population, and the number of young people, under age 19, attending church has halved in the last 20 years to 25 per cent of all churchgoers.’[9]  There seems to be a correlation between age and religious affiliation.

In the McMinnville Project Congregational survey, the majority of respondents (70%), aged sixteen to seventy-five and older, chose ‘God’ as their highest authority.  More specifically, in the study, the largest age group (11.3%) claiming ‘God’ as their highest authority included participants aged twenty to twenty-four.  The next largest age group claiming ‘God’ as their highest authority (7.8%) included participants aged sixty to sixty to sixty-four.  Thus, both the young and the older generations appear to cling to the notion of God as an authority figure.

Similarly, 13.4% of the Congregational survey participants indicated they considered their own reason, judgment, feelings, or intuition as the highest authority in their lives.  The largest age group claiming this aspect of authority again was from the younger and older generations. 7% were aged sixteen to twenty-nine and 5% were ages sixty to seventy-five or older.  Furthermore, those who indicated the Church or Scripture as their highest authority accounted only for 11.4% of the congregational survey and the majority were ages thirty to fifty-nine.

Based on the McMinnville Project Congregational survey, age has some correlation with Sacro-Egoism.  Both the younger and older generations demonstrated Sacro-Egoism the most, with the middle-aged demonstrating Sacro-Clericalist attributes more than other age groups.  However, as the younger generations mature and establish themselves into the church scene in the future, their expectations and demands will increase—potentially in Sacro-Egoistical ways.  Flory and Miller remark on the modern youth’s approach to religion,

Although some remnant of the more stable past remains for the [youth] individual, these forms of spirituality are primarily to be understood as involving an individual search, or quest, for spiritual growth, fulfillment, and understanding, with the religious community acting, to the extent that it has an active role, as a sort of non-essential aid, or context, to this journey.[10]

The future direction of Religion is somewhat open to speculation; however, Lytch states, ‘Faith communities need to help youth to articulate their faith in reference to life issues, using the vocabulary, story and theology of their tradition’[11] in order for churches to connect with young people’s modern sense of individualism. Florence comments, ‘Congregations and denominations may disagree about theology and polity, but nearly everyone agrees that youth are important and that future-minded churches should try to develop ministries with and for young people.’[12] 

Sacro-Egoism and Gender

            An important area of inquiry concerns gender and Sacro-Egoism. Furseth and Repstad comment, ‘It appears reasonable to argue that the rational choice perspective describes the world of men better than the world of women. Several studies conclude that women tend to be more focused on responsibility and care for others than men.’[13]  Heelas and Woodhead state,

Given that both women and men are equally subjectivized in the general autonomous/moral individualism sense, we have to explain why women are more likely than men to be attracted to the holistic milieu and subjective wellbeing culture.[14]

Grenz adds, ‘The last quarter of the twentieth century has brought increased awareness of the status, role, and contribution of women within the history of Christianity.’[15]

There may be some evidence of this in the McMinnville Project data. 

In the McMinnville Project Congregational surveys, the same number of men and women both had equally low rating on the church as a source of authority (2%).  Men had a slightly higher view of the scripture than women (5% versus 2%), but both genders held scripture as a low source of authority (8% of total participants).  More women (43%) than men (29%) claimed God as their highest authority, but more men (5%) than women (2%) claimed their reason or judgment was their highest authority.  More women participated in the survey than men so that could skew the results somewhat.

Even though there are hints of gender-correlation to Sacro-Egoism and possibly the other Sacro-states in McMinnville, Oregon, without more investigation, the connection between belief patterns and gender is uncertain, at best.  Bruce does remark, however, that ‘When Western laws insist that women and men must enjoy equal rights, they are denying to communities that wish to maintain traditional gender divisions of labour the right to sustain their notion of what God requires.’[16]  This seems to indicate that gender-issues might be connected with Sacro-Communalism as well as Sacro-Egoism.

Sacro-Egoism and Economic Class

The correlation of economic status and adherence to traditional religion has been an item of sociological investigation for sometime in the West. Summarizing Weber’s view on economic class and religiosity, Furseth and Repstad state,

Economically and politically advantaged groups assign to religion the primary function of legitimizing their own life-pattern and situation in the world.  Underprivileged groups are more inclined toward religious ideas that promise future compensation for present unhappiness.[17]  Putnam claims that ‘Income, social status, and education are used together to predict various forms of civic engagement.’[18]  

The McMinnville Project provided some opportunity to test this potential relationship.  In the McMinnville Project Congregational surveys, economic class had some relevance to Sacro-Egoism expression.  Most survey participants (42%) with a household income of $0 to $49,000 (£25,000) indicated that ‘God’ was the highest authority in their lives.  Household income had no remarkable correlation with any other of the authority choices, although only two people (one making $20,000-$29,000 and one making $100,000 or above) selected the church as their highest authority. 

Thus, the data presented no conclusive evidence to support the notion that poor people or rich people were more likely to become Sacro-Egoistical or Sacro-Clerical.  Sacro-Egoism traits were apparently across the board, economically. 

Sacro-Egoism and Political Affiliation

            In the United States, one of the most fundamental civil rights is the freedom to choose which political party one belongs to; it is a gift imparted by the original revolutionary founders to ensure individual liberties.  This notion is not inconsequential to the notion of Sacro-Egoism. Wuthnow states, ‘The future of public religion in the United States is likely to see a continuation of the conflict between liberals and conservatives, even if particular issues come and go, because both traditions are in a state of internal ferment and uncertainty.’[19] 

The McMinnville Project tested the relationship between Sacro-Egoism and political association.  Based on the McMinnville Project data, the only real difference between Republican and Democratic affiliation and Sacro-Egoism is that more Republicans (3%) claim scripture as the highest authority in their lives as Democrats (1%) and more Republicans (20%) than Democrats (15%) claimed God as their highest authority.  Besides those aspects, the differences were negligible.

Thus, according to the McMinnville Project Congregational survey data, there is no clear or direct connection between the Sacro-states and political beliefs.  If Sacro-Egoism is prevalent in McMinnville, it makes no difference whether a person is a Democrat, Republican, involved in other political groups or none at all.   

Sacro-Egoism and Education

            Beyond the state-enforced schooling that Americans receive in high school, the opportunity for any future education truly depends upon the discretion of the individual (and economics).  Therefore, it is reasonable to look for connections between education and Sacro-Egoism.  Heelas and Woodhead noted in The Spiritual Revolution, ‘The higher the level of educational attainment the greater the likelihood of a shift of emphasis from seeking value by way of achievement in the material world to seeking value by way of what subjective-life has to offer.’[20]  This appears evident in the McMinnville Project as well. 

Attending a college or university had a huge correlation with claiming God as the highest authority in survey participants’ lives.  56.8% of Congregational survey respondents who were currently attending college claimed God as their highest authority.  The next highest correlation to education concerned Scripture--5% of survey participants with college experience claimed scripture as their highest authority.  The only high correlation for participants with no education was ‘Your own reason or judgment.’ Only 4% of survey participants who are not in college claimed reason/judgment as their highest authority.

Thus, Sacro-Egoism also has some relation to educational achievement.  It seems (as with the Kendal Project)[21]that those with higher educational achievement were more likely to grant spirituality personal value and influence.  Few college-educated people gave the Bible much authority in their lives, at least as translated through the church institute.  These two aspects alone fit well into the criteria for Sacro-Egoism.

[1] Laurence Iannaccone and Sean Everton, ‘Never on Sunny Days: Lessons From Weekly Attendance Counts,’ Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43, no. 2 (June 2004): 191.

[2] Gordon Lynch, The New Spirituality: An Introduction to Progressive Belief in the Twenty-First Century(London: I.B. Tauris, 2007), 20.

[3] David Voas, ‘The Rise and Fall of Fuzzy Fidelity In Europe’ in European Sociology Review (Under Review): 1; article emailed to author, 28/05/2007.

[4] Wade Clark Roof, ‘God is in the Details: Reflections on Religion’s Public Presence in the United States in the Mid-1990’s,’ Sociology of Religion 57, no. 2 (1996): 155.

[5] Robert Wuthnow, America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 2005), 342.

[6] ‘Dramatic Changes in U.S. Aging Highlighted in New Census, NIH Report: Impact of Baby Boomers Anticipated,’ U.S. Census Bureau News; available from http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/aging_population/006544.html [accessed 10/09/2007].   

[7] Heelas et al., The Spiritual Revolution, 119.

[8] Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 248.

[9] Heelas et al., The Spiritual Revolution, 140.

[10] Flory and Miller, ‘The Embodied Spirituality of Post-Boomer Generations,’ 214.

[11] Carol E. Lytch, ‘What Teens Believe: A Survey on Youth and Religion,’ Christian Century 122, no. 18 (September 2005): 21.

[12] Anna Carter Florence, ‘A Prodigal Preaching Story and Bored-to-Death Youth,’ Theology Today 64 (2007): 233.

[13] Furseth and Repstad, An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion, 119.

[14] Heelas et al., The Spiritual Revolution, 98.

[15] Amy Oden, ‘Introduction,’ In Her Words: Women’s Writings in the History of Christian Thought, Amy Oden, ed. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1994), 11.

[16] Bruce, God is Dead, 149.

[17] Furseth and Repstad, An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion, 125.

[18] Putnam, Bowling Alone, 186.

[19] Wuthnow, Christianity in the 21st Century, 150.

[20] Heelas et al., The Spiritual Revolution, 93-94.

[21] Heelas et al., The Spiritual Revolution, 93-94.

A SUPERLATIVE-YET-MORTAL MISSIONARY: A CRITIQUE OF R. ESTHER SMITH’S MINISTRY IN CENTRAL AMERICA

The life of any minister or missionary is typically a dramatic and dynamic affair. The duties of being a devoted ambassador of the faith are huge, weighty, and inescapable. Some people seem born to be ministers and thrive; others cannot endure the trials and temptations in ministerial leadership. As retired Lutheran minister Peter W. Marty explains,

Congregational ministry is demanding. I know this firsthand, having given this calling everything I had for 39 years. Conversing through tears at the bedsides of hundreds of dying friends. Showing up at murder scenes, fatal car crash sites, and households reeling from suicide. Shepherding a few parishioners who enjoyed tearing at the fabric of the congregation and undermining my leadership. Speaking hard truth to individuals in wretchedly difficult personal situations. Letting staff colleagues go who weren’t a good fit. Navigating lonely moments. Loving people who were more fascinated by politics than by faith. Enduring more 16-hour days than I can calculate. But you know what? I count everything I got to do, maybe especially the toughest responsibilities, as true privilege.[1]

Reverend Marty’s perspective is not unique. From Christianity’s earliest days, other evangelists rejoiced in their callings and embraced their personal struggles and sacrifices for the sake of the One (Jesus) who obediently followed God’s own calling for Him, which ultimately led Him to the cross for others’ sakes and eternal salvation. As the apostle Paul confessed from prison, “It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:7–8).[2]

In joyous times and sad, in good health and bad, in energetic youth and weary maturity, in great acceptance or outright rejection, in great abundance or in pitiful scarcity, the apostle Paul devoted all he could (to the very end) in his mission from God. If Paul is the superlative model, then to be a minister is to have a sacrificial, steadfast, servant’s heart—for God and for others—in all climates, cultures, and conditions.

As such, the life and work of Quaker missionary R. (Ruth) Esther Smith is a powerful testimony to one who also heard the Lord’s calling to go to a far away land and to share the gospel to whomever would hear it. Stansell writes, “On June 8 [1906], less than two months after the earthquake and fire, Esther—while walking down a street in Oakland—felt she heard God's word to her: Guatemala. Joy filled her heart at the thought of joining her friends there.”[3]

Regarding her ministry in Guatemala and Central America, Paul Enyart shares:

Of all the early pioneers, Ruth Esther Smith contributed the most to the establishment of a solid Mission. She was a woman of great faith and vision and often worked against apparently insurmountable obstacles. A capable organizer and efficient administratrix, she led the Mission for over forty years and saw the Church grow from 12 believers in 1906 to nearly 5000 at the time of her death in 1947.[4] 

Virginia Miller affirms R. Esther Smith’s importance to the Mission in Guatemala, stating, “Ruth Esther was not only a capable leader; she was a godly person who walked in the Spirit, truly a lady of prayer and action. She loved people and they loved and respected her in return.”[5]

For most of her tenure as administrator of the Mission, R. Smith demonstrated strong leadership qualities in her missional labors in the office or in the field. With great efficiency, she 1) helped the Mission meet its goals despite adversity and limited resources (showing instrumental leadership), and 2) regularly sought to create group harmony and unity (showing expressive leadership).[6] She is what most would call a “born leader;” and held the reins of the Mission firmly for decades (but perhaps too tightly at the end of her governance).

As with all human leaders, Smith was fallible and prone to the typical weaknesses and dependency issues that accompany aging and institutional rigidity. As the main character in Hemingway’s famous novel confessed, “I may not be as strong as I think,” the old man said. “But I know many tricks and I have resolution.”[7] Although Smith was expert at accomplishing missional goals in the most difficult of environments and situations outside her control, in her later years, she showed tendencies of over-self-reliance, xenophobia, and anxiety over the future of the Mission.

Enyart remarks:

The close control held over the Mission and Church by Ruth Esther Smith in the early days was an aid to the growth and development of a solid Church. She had a large vision and definite goals for the future, and she led the Mission and Church toward achieving them. However, it appears it was difficult for her to delegate responsibility, and eventually the Church outgrew the limits of her control. No single individual could effectively direct the work without help.[8] 

Miller adds, “She was highly respected, not only by the Christians, but also by government officials, merchants and professional people. It became increasingly evident, however, that she could no longer give dynamic leadership to the greatly expanded ministry in Central America, and that it was difficult for her to delegate responsibility.”[9]

Yet, even with the aforementioned in mind, R. Esther Smith’s legacy and reputation are still highly commendable. Her missions work eventually spread much further into Central and South America, and in the end, when her physical health was failing, she continued to be an advocate and arbitrator for numerous initiatives, enterprises, and hopes in present/future missions to the region. As Stansell wisely concludes, “Despite the problems, none can deny the example of a deep faithfulness and commitment to the Great Commission lived and breathed by ‘Miss Ruth of Chiquimula.’ An account of weaknesses and failures should not obscure her stature and greatness. She was correctly hailed as a pioneer who gave faithful and fruitful service.”[10]

[1] Peter W. Marty, “The Privilege of Ministry,” The Christian Century 142, no. 2 (2025): available online at https://www.christiancentury.org/first-words/privilege-ministry.

[2] All scriptures are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (NASB).

[3] Ron Stansell, Missions by the Spirit: Learning from Quaker Examples (Newberg: Barclay, 2009), 88.

[4] Paul Enyart, Friends in Central America: A History of Church Growth (South Pasadena: William Carey Library1970), 53.

[5] Virginia Miller, His Story: 1902–2002 (Whittier: Evangelical Friends Southwest, 2002), 2.

[6] John S. Knox, Sociology is Rude! A Concise Introduction to Sociological Theories (Dubuque: Kendall-Hunt, 2022), 107.

[7] Ernest Hemingway, Old Man and the Sea (New York: Scribner Classics, 1996), 20.

[8] Enyart, Friends in Central America, 53.

[9] Virginia Miller, His Story, 7.

[10] Stansell, Missions by the Spirit, 132.

Bibliography

Enyart, Paul. Friends in Central America: A History of Church Growth. South Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1970.

Hemingway, Ernest. Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Classics, 1996.

Knox, John S. Sociology is Rude! A Concise Introduction to Sociological Theories. Dubuque: Kendall-Hunt, 2022.

Marty, Peter W. “The Privilege of Ministry.” The Christian Century 142, no. 2 (2025). https://www.christiancentury.org/first-words/privilege-ministry.

Miller, Virginia. His Story: 1902–2002. Whittier: Evangelical Friends Southwest, 2002.

Stansell, Ron.Missions by the Spirit: Learning from Quaker Examples. Newberg: Barclay, 2009.

DISPLAYING HIS GLORY AMONG THE NATIONS: FRIENDS MISSIONS WORK IN EAST AFRICA

David Livingston, the famous missionary and explorer, once said, “God had only one Son, and He was a missionary.”[1] Such a mindset (and model) has been affirmed in the Bible, worldwide church history, and in the lives and testimonies of countless missionaries throughout the centuries.

In 1 Chronicles 16:24, court musician Asaph exhorted Israel to “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.” Later, the great prophet Isaiah prophesied:

The time is coming to gather all the nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. And I will put a sign among them and send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal, and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard of My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations (Isa 66:18–19).[2]

Seven hundred years later, Jesus personally commanded His disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Then, before His ascension, Jesus assured His apostles, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). God’s message is clear: to be a true believer, then, is to share the Good News of our one great God among all the peoples of the earth, even as far away as East Africa.

Many of Christ’s followers read Jesus’s charge from those early days, and faithfully and lovingly obeyed His command to risk everything, to sacrifice everything, to utilize everything, as ambassadors for His sake and His mission to the whole world. Within the Friends movement, this is no more evident than in the African missionary tales of men and women like Elisha and Virginia Blackburn, Emory and Deborah Rees, Edgar and Adelaide Hole, and Arthur and Edna Chilson. In their attitudes, affections, and actions, they clearly affirmed their heart-felt beliefs that:

We were on a mission for The King; the whole matter was in His hands: He had been in it from the beginning; He would see us through. It was for us to keep in His will and follow His guidance. This we craved more than anything else and were much in prayer that, each day, we might follow His “blueprints” for us and the Friends back home, who were praying for and backing us.[3] 

As Painter notes,

Mission staff members spent much of their time ministering to the sick, operating the mill, building roads or erecting houses. However, they always kept in mind their central purpose. They had come across the sea to bring to the Africans the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, the Savior of men.[4] 

Stansell also shares, “Wrote Edna, ‘We were on a mission for The King; the whole matter was in His hands: He had been in it from the beginning; He would see us through.’”[5]

Second, they had realistic-yet-resilient expectations. Chilson remarks, “To be a Christian here, is going to cost some folks hardness, but they will be the stronger when they find Christ as their Savior.”[6] Stansell notes, “God did not always heal, but sometimes he did, and Arthur came to accept that the outcome was not merely a matter of one's faith and unity of belief, but depended also upon the sovereignty of God. Every day of good health and no injuries was a cause for rejoicing.”[7] Painter admits, “Though few in number, they held weekly sessions of prayer together. They were aware of the need for constant renewal. Often, they were exhausted in body, and on many occasions, faith was severely tested.”[8]

Third, these missionaries were authentic and accessible. Chilson once remarked, “Our most effective witness is our daily lives, through which we demonstrate our Christian faith”[9] Stansell clarifies: “There is every indication of genuine affection by many Africans for Arthur Chilson. ‘He took time to talk with us and be friendly; he was our friend,’ said one. He was considered ‘happy, kind and considerate.’”

Finally, many [all] of these dedicated, dynamic, discipling duos embraced a holistic ministry of missions. Like the apostle Paul, they became all things to all people, so that they could—by all means—save some (1 Cor 9:22). These missionaries were not flighty, short timers; they were in for the long, deep haul that called for their “all.”

Stansell shares,

 [Perhaps] more than all else, Arthur Chilson created relationships as he worked hard with his friends to build roads, houses, and furniture, to repair cars and to plant trees. Through it all, Arthur Chilson had a passion for converts and disciples. His focus was upon the church.[10] 

Painter proclaims,

Their concern was to witness to the truly abundant life in Christ. The African people to whom the missionaries were being sent would need medical care, more suitable homes, food for their families, education for young and old, and above all, they would need to develop their own Christian culture by expanding the entire horizon of their living.[11] 

Chilson concludes the matter well:

Say, but these are busy days for us all—building, doctoring, preaching, itinerating, tree planting, garden making, making charts for the school we hope to open next week-out in the open or in the shop for we have no school building—and many other things are being done. But, oh, what a precious privilege of bringing the Gospel to these untouched masses.[12]

Christ had commanded them, they obeyed, and peoples’ lives were changed forever.

Bibliography

Chilson, Edna H. Ambassador of the King. Newberg: Barclay, 2009.

East-West Staff. “David Livingstone’s Legacy in Missions.” https://www.eastwest.org/blog/david-livingstones-legacy-in-missions/.

Painter, Levinus. Hill of Vision: The Story of the Quaker movement in East Africa, 1902-1965. Kitale: East Africa Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1966.

Stansell, Ron. Missions by the Spirit: Learning from Quaker Examples. Newberg: Barclay, 2009.

[1] East-West Staff, “David Livingstone’s Legacy in Missions,” https://www.eastwest.org/blog/david-livingstones-legacy-in-missions/.

[2] All scriptures are taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (NASB):

[3] Edna H. Chilson, Ambassador of the King (Newberg: Barclay, 2009), 189.

[4] Levinus Painter, Hill of Vision: The Story of the Quaker movement in East Africa, 1902-1965 (Kitale: East Africa Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1966), 27–28.

[5] Ron Stansell, Missions by the Spirit: Learning from Quaker Examples (Newberg: Barclay, 2009), 66.

[6] Chilson, Ambassador of the King, 204.

[7] Stansell, Missions by the Spirit, 40–41.

[8] Painter, Hill of Vision, 29.

[9] Painter, Hill of Vision, 29.

[10] Stansell, Missions by the Spirit, 80–81.

[11] Painter, Hill of Vision, 20.

[12] Chilson, Ambassador of the King, 201.

MINISTERING TO CHILDREN OF THE PROMISE: MISSIOLOGY POLICY AND PRACTICE AMONG QUAKERS WORLDWIDE

Since the beginning of the Christian movement, God has commissioned His followers to go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to follow the commands of Christ (Matt 28:19–20, NASB).[1] These modest-yet-dedicated men and women bravenly stepped out into pagan wildernesses, experiencing the inherent dangers, abuses, and afflictions that naturally accompany sharing the divine light in worldly darkness (2 Cor 4:7–12), trusting that God would supernaturally guide and empower them to do His missional bidding in these foreign lands,—and that, in the end, God would make it right (Rom 8:28). As such, key practices and policies can be ascertained from various missionary testimonies and tales from China to India to North America.

Perhaps the one constant observed in all missionary testimonies and journeys is that of the need for the missionaries to expect and endure the trials, temptations, and tribulations that were sure to come—and then to embrace ways to recuperate and revive. Anna Nixon confesses, “With the faith and knowledge they possessed, they had to face the hard realities of diverse religions, cultural adjustments, illness, disappointment, hostility, and death.”[2] Succinctly, Ron Stansell concludes that the missions’ opportunity could be “a stunningly difficult job,”[3] but one that could be accomplished through reasonable expectations and implementations.[4] Yet, they did not despair or give up; rather, they remained devoted, driven, and determined—even though, like Christ, they might occasionally need to take break to recover or recharge (Mark 6:30–31). Nixon notes, “They often failed in dark times, but rose in the triumph of the cross to serve again.”[5]

Second, as Walter Williams asserts in Ohio Friends in the Land of Sinim, of primary importance for successful missionaries is one’s foundation. He writes:

Whether you will or not, there are to-day in China two types of missionary; on the one hand are those who believe and teach the Bible as the “Good News” its doctrines of human depravity, the vicarious blood-atonement and the bodily resurrection of Christ, the transforming power of the Spirit in regenerating and sanctifying the believer. On the other hand are those who, deceived by men with supposed “superior scholarship,” have put away the “faith of their fathers” and carry a mongrel message—a mixture of biblical teaching and human philosophy.[6]

Nixon affirms this when she shares, “Belief that Jesus Christ was sent of God in fulfillment of Old Testament biblical prophecy, that He taught, healed, was executed, and rose from the dead for every person's spiritual redemption is basic. His life, His word, His commands are normative.”[7]

Ultimately, to replace the biblical Gospel of Christ with any other secular or watered-down “changeling” philosophy dooms missionary work or efforts, just as the apostle Paul admonished in Galatians 1. Walter also warns people to avoid “the quicksands of theory and hypothesis”[8] and to embrace “the Christ of the Bible and [accept] His testimony to Moses and the prophets.”[9]

Third, Anna Nixon (and Arthur Roberts) affirmed the value of assisting the indigenous peoples in the development, training, and installment of their own ministers and missionaries. Nixon writes, “[The missionaries] inspired the Indian Church to develop its own program of village preaching, which did not cease in the hot or cool seasons or during the monsoons.”[10] Speaking of Quaker missions in Alaska, Roberts explains, “[From] the very beginning the Friends Church had emphasized indigenous leadership.”[11] He also adds, “The missionaries increasingly became supportive rather than directive in their ministry.”[12]

For missions to truly succeed, the seed of faith must be first planted in fertile ground and then tended, but nothing is as nurishing than personal investment, mature commitment, and optimistic trust. As Stansell suggests, the more insular or institutionally-dependent avenues are in missions work, the less successful people become.[13] Knox adds, “The truth is that the more you allow someone or something to do the work for you, the weaker and more dependent you become in that area.”[14] All must do their part in the Kingdom of God.

The apostles started their missionary churches across the Mediterranean region, discipling their congregations to grow and share their own faith with others (Rom 10:14–15). Their disciples were not spoon-fed platitudes nor just “managed,” but were valued and loved as precious children of the Lord (this might be principle #4)—regardless of their ethnic backgrounds. This aligns well with the apostle Paul’s encouragement—“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith . . . There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). In Christ, they were affirmed, accepted, and approved. Wise missionaries follow Christ’s example.

Throughout the history of missions, God’s ambassadors succeeded brilliantly; more often, though, they struggled, even floundered, in their own attempts to minister to the indigenous peoples—to sow, raise up, and harvest native ambassadors of Christ in their regions, or simply to establish a permanent and thriving ministry in those far-away lands so needing of the healing and holiness of Jesus. Arthur Roberts may sum it all best when concludes, “Vessels of clay these witnesses may have been, but they carried the Light. And that Light was with those who heard as well as with those who spoke.”[15] 

Bibliography

Knox, John S. “A Tiny Truth Regarding the Use of AI in Formal Writing,” https://www.sacroegoism.com/blog/2025/3/2/a-tiny-truth-regarding-the-use-of-ai-in-formal-writing.

Nixon, E. Hanna. A Century of Planting: A History of American Friends in India. Canton: Friends Foreign Missionary Society, 1985.

Roberts, Arthur. Tomorrow is Growing Old: Stories of the Quakers in Alaska. Newberg: Barclay, 1978.

Stansell, Ron. Missions by the Spirit: Learning from Quaker Examples. Newberg: Barclay Press, 2009.

Williams, Walter.Ohio Friends in the Land of Sinim. Mt. Gilead: Friends Foreign Missionary Board of Ohio Yearly Meeting, 1925.

[1] All scriptures are taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (NASB):

[2] E. Hanna Nixon, A Century of Planting: A History of American Friends in India (Canton: Friends Foreign Missionary Society, 1985), ix.

[3] Ron Stansell, Missions by the Spirit: Learning from Quaker Examples (Newberg: Barclay, 2009), 137.

[4] Stansell, Missions by the Spirit, 173–185.

[5] Nixon, A Century of Planting, x.

[6] Walter Williams, Ohio Friends in the Land of Sinim (Mt. Gilead: Friends Foreign Missionary Board of Ohio Yearly Meeting, 1925), 181.

[7] Nixon, A Century of Planting, xiii.

[8] Williams, Ohio Friends in the Land of Sinim, 186.

[9] Williams, Ohio Friends in the Land of Sinim, 182.

[10] Nixon, A Century of Planting, 34.

[11] Roberts, Tomorrow is Growing Old, 373.

[12] Roberts, Tomorrow is Growing Old, 376.

[13] Stansell, Missions by the Spirit, 170–171.

[14] John S. Knox, “A Tiny Truth Regarding the Use of AI in Formal Writing,” https://www.sacroegoism.com/blog/2025/3/2/a-tiny-truth-regarding-the-use-of-ai-in-formal-writing.

[15] Arthur Roberts, Tomorrow is Growing Old: Stories of the Quakers in Alaska (Newberg: Barclay, 1978), 116.

A Tiny Truth Regarding the Use of AI in Formal Writing

The truth is that the more you allow someone or something to do the work for you, the weaker and more dependent you become in that area. I’m grateful that I did the core of my education before computers, even spell check, since it required that I memorize the fundamentals of knowledge, reading, and writing. I can go to a library that uses index cards and the Dewey Decimal System and find my sources. I can write an essay with an intro, body, conclusion, and bibliography (with legit scholarly sources). Why? Because my teachers made me learn those skills, personally. This professor condemning AI-assists is spot on in my experience. I laud his bravery, fortitude, and wisdom. If you learn English his way, you can do all your reading, reasoning, and writing even if your computer dies or the electricity goes out. That is true empowerment and improvement. The alternative may be more convenient, but it’s also more enslaving.

Evidence of an Evangelical Theology: Building a Friends Missiology to Carry the Gospel to Other Cultures

Considering the vacuous, variegated mutations of religiosity in the twenty-first century, the vernacular often employed in contemporary Christian communities can be murky to describe and dreadfully difficult to define (especially compared with Christian culture fifty or a hundred years ago). Words like faith, salvation, sin, hell, and so on may still cling to vestiges of their traditional denotations, but their postmodern emphases and interpretations (in some progressive churches) are often creatively removed or contorted from their original sense and significances. Still, at the core of many Christian terms and ideas is a steely kernel of meaning that endures throughout the historical timeline.

For instance, the words, “Friends Evangelical Missions,” can be understood in the nuanced-yet-united understandings of people groups separated by ages, geography, and culturalisms. In his 1880 book, Friends Missions, English philanthropist Stanley Pumphrey remarked, “The early Friends . . . recognized the obligation, to quote words which occur so often in their writings, to ‘spread the truth abroad and be valiant for it.’ Very early in their history, we find their ministers in most of the countries of Europe, in Asia, Africa, America and the West Indies.”[1]

In Christina Jones’ 1946 book, American Friends in World Missions, she explains, “A sense of mission permeated the life and thought of early Quakerism. The early followers of George Fox . . . were filled with a burning desire to tell [great truth] to all men. The discovery of the power of the love of Jesus to transform souls and lead them from darkness to light was glad tidings of great joy to be told to all people everywhere.”[2]

Some sixty years later, Quaker professor Ron Stansell notes, “Beneath their stolid Victorian appearances, Friends at the end of the nineteenth century were saturated in a spiritual gospel and enlivened by Wesleyan revivals. This made them a part of the hugely significant missionary movement that would profoundly alter world cultures and color the geo-political picture for decades to come.”[3]

Four clear themes can be ascertained in their writings: 1. they all felt compelled to share the good news with others far away, 2. they wanted to introduce foreigners to Jesus, their Savior, 3. they wanted to help improve the daily lives (with biblical studies, spiritual formation, education, literacy, healthcare, vocational training, economic assistance, and so on) of those suffering in other countries and cultures, and 4. they were willing to suffer and sacrifice for their message and the missions. Pumphrey writes, “[My own book] deals with Missionary Work—a term by which I understand the service of those who are sent out by the churches into needy districts, to live and labour with the object of bringing people to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and planting churches.”[4] Jones attests, “In the harshest periods of persecution, they seemed almost oblivious to physical suffering, so powerful was the reality of the spiritual resources within them. It was a wonderful privilege to tell men of the near-ness of God, of his intimateness, and his great love.”[5]

Stansell sums up the evangelical missions mentality nicely in his book, Missions by the Spirit: “But common themes emerge from their lives core message, integrity of life, equal concern for faith and practice, and belief that a spiritual gospel radiates from a personal Spirit who communicates Jesus Christ to individuals and to societies. Their stories express a concept of conversion as a spiritual transformation and a commitment to evangelization as reconciliation and peace with God and neighbor.”[6]

Truthfully, though, in all three books, these authors (who lived several decades apart) tell tale-after-tale of Quaker missionaries (and their domestic administrators) on fire for the Lord,[7] empowered by the Holy Spirit, eager to “enter into the world's needs and suffering. They had a message, living and glowing within them to be shared, and they were ready.”[8] Such altruistic attitudes, sacrificial sufferance, and steadfast intentionality were the constant, unquestionable, beneficent proofs of their evangelical missionary callings.

Perhaps that is why American author (and literary cynic) Mark Twain admiringly admitted about these missionaries:

A missionary is a man who is pretty nearly all heart, else he would not be in a calling which requires of him such large sacrifices of one kind and another. He is made up of faith, zeal, courage, sentiment, emotion, enthusiasm; and so he is a mixture of poet, devotee and knight-errant. He exiles himself from home and friends and the scenes and associations that are dearest to him; patiently endures discomforts, privations, discouragements; goes with good pluck into dangers which he knows may cost him his life; and. when he must suffer death, willingly makes that supreme sacrifice for his cause.[9]

Ultimately, to find the clearest evidence of an evangelical theology upon which to build a Friends missiology to carry the Gospel to other cultures, one can (and should) carefully study the numerous Quaker testimonies, lives, and missionary examples shared by Pumphrey, Jones, and Stansell. These brave men and women obeyed Jesus’s commandment to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19); and they positively responded to the apostle Paul’s crucial questions in Romans 10:14—“And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” Thankfully, the same opportunity still holds true today for any would-be Quaker evangelical seeking to share the Good News across the globe to those in need of Christ.

Bibliography 

Jones, Christina. American Friends in World Missions. Eigin: Brethren, 1946.

Pumphrey, Stanley. Friends Missions. Richmond: Friends’ Review, 1880.

Stansell, Ron. Missions by the Spirit. Newberg: Barclay Press, 2009.

Twain, Mark. “To My Missionary Critics.” The North American Review 172, no. 533 (1901): 520–34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25105150.

[1] Stanley Pumphrey, Friends Missions (Richmond: Friends’ Review, 1880), 11.

[2] Christina Jones, American Friends in World Missions (Eigin: Brethren, 1946), 11.

[3] Ron Stansell, Missions by the Spirit (Newberg: Barclay Press, 2009), 7.

[4] Pumphrey, Friends Missions, 6.

[5] Jones, American Friends in World Missions, 18.

[6] Stansell, Missions by the Spirit, 11.

[7] Such as Joseph S. Sewell, Louis and Sarah Street, Rachel Metcafe, Irena S. Beard, Charles Gayford, Eli and Sibyl Jones, Theophilus Waldmeier, Micajah M. Binford, Calvin and Alida Clark, and so on. See Stanley Pumphrey, Friends Missions (Richmond: Friends’ Review, 1880) for more missionary testimonies and stories.

[8] Jones, American Friends in World Missions, 35.

[9] Mark Twain, “To My Missionary Critics,” The North American Review 172, no. 533 (1901): 534. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25105150.

Tacitus on the Christians

“But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor (Nero) and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration (burning of Rome in 64 AD) was the result of an order (given by Nero). Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called “Chrestians” by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all (Christians) who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.” Tacitus, Annals, 15.44

‘Never Be Afraid’: William Faulkner’s Speech to His Daughter’s Graduating Class in 1951

“Years ago, before any of you were born, a wise Frenchman said, ‘If youth knew; if age could.’ We all know what he meant: that when you are young, you have the power to do anything, but you don’t know what to do. Then, when you have got old and experience and observation have taught you answers, you are tired, frightened; you don’t care, you want to be left alone as long as you yourself are safe; you no longer have the capacity or the will to grieve over any wrongs but your own.

“So you young men and women in this room tonight, and in thousands of other rooms like this one about the earth today, have the power to change the world, rid it forever of war and injustice and suffering, provided you know how, know what to do. And so according to the old Frenchman, since you can’t know what to do because you are young, then anyone standing here with a head full white hair should be able to tell you.

“But maybe this one is not as old and wise as his white hairs pretend to claim. Because he can’t give you a glib answer or pattern either. But he can tell you this, because he believes this. What threatens us today is fear. Not the atom bomb, nor even fear of it, because if the bomb fell on Oxford tonight, all it could do would be to kill us, which is nothing, since in doing that, it will have robbed itself of its only power over us: which is fear of it, the being afraid of it. Our danger is not that. Our danger is the forces in the world today which are trying to use man’s fear to rob him of his individuality, his soul, trying to reduce him to an unthinking mass by fear and bribery — giving him free food which he has not earned, easy and valueless money which he has not worked for; the economies and ideologies or political systems, communist or socialistic or democratic, whatever they wish to call themselves, the tyrants and the politicians, American or European or Asiatic, whatever they call themselves, who would reduce man to one obedient mass for their own aggrandizement and power, or because they themselves are baffled and afraid, afraid of, or incapable of, believing in man’s capacity for courage and endurance and sacrifice.

“That is what we must resist, if we are to change the world for man’s peace and security. It is not men in the mass who can and will save man. It is man himself, created in the image of God so that he shall have the power to choose right from wrong, and so be able to save himself because he is worth saving — man, the individual, men and women, who will refuse always to be tricked or frightened or bribed into surrendering, not just the right but the duty too, to choose between justice and injustice, courage and cowardice, sacrifice and greed, pity and self — who will believe always not only in the right of man to be free of injustice and rapacity and deception, but the duty and responsibility of man to see that justice and truth and pity and compassion are done.

“So, never be afraid. Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion, against injustice and lying and greed. If you, not just you in this room tonight, but in all the thousands of other rooms like this one about the world today and tomorrow and next week, will do this, not as a class or classes, but as individuals, men and women, you will change the earth; in one generation all the Napoleons and Hitlers and Caesars and Mussolinis and Stalins and all the other tyrants who want power and aggrandizement, and the simple politicians and time-servers who themselves are merely baffled or ignorant of afraid, who have used, or are using, or hope to use, man’s fear and greed for man’s enslavement, will have vanished from the face of it.”

Source: https://www.openculture.com/2020/05/never-be-afraid-william-faulkners-speech-to-his-daughters-graduating-class-in-1951.html#google_vignette

Principles of Clear, Effective Writing

Short words

Use a short word instead of a long word if the meaning of the shorter word is as precise as the longer one.

Familiar words

The reader wants information that he can grasp easily and quickly. Short words and familiar words have a big impact. Specific rather than abstract words Specific words pinpoint your meaning; abstract words have many connotations and are subject to each reader's interpretation.

Precise words

Be sure that each word conveys its precise meaning. Use your dictionary and thesaurus.

Strong verbs

Use the active voice wherever possible. Active verbs strengthen your sentences and convey their meaning in a direct and straightforward way. Passive verb forms weaken the message.

Few qualifying words and phrases

Check your adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. Are they needed? If not, strike them out. Be especially alert for long strings of prepositional phrases.

Short sentences

Keep sentences short on the average--not more than an average of 20 words. For promotional writing, sentences should average 15 to 17 words.

Varied sentence pattern

Balance long sentences with short ones. Monotony in sentence length puts the reader to sleep, whether the sentences are long or short.

Straightforward sentences

Take the most direct route between subject, verb, and object. Rambling sentences, filled with qualifying clauses, cause th reader to lose the trend of thought.

Simplicity

Avoid wordiness, jargon, pompous phrases, and generalities. When you find these barriers to communication in your copy, cut them out.

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SIMPLE, CLEAR WRITING

1. Define your audience and purpose.

If you are writing a pamphlet on mental health to be read by nearly all adults, you must ask two question. What do they want to know in order to build a background for what they need to know. You must get into the reader's shoes and think and feel as he does, be as ignorant or as bright as he is. What is your own purpose in writing the material? Do you have five or six key ideas that experts think everyone ought to know about mental health? What do you want the reader to feel and do about mental health? Are you trying to change your reader, or merely remind him about something he already believes? Samuel Johnson said that men need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.

2. Avoid a lengthy introduction.

Catch your reader's attention quickly. Many introductions are both dull and useless. Your reader may give up before he gets to your first point. Use a short introduction, if any, to make quite clear what is coming, the questions that will be answered. This, too, will help you sharpen the logic of the material.

3. Tell a logical story.

Study your key points and note the basic arguments and ideas being presented. Are your big ideas clearly outlined and developed, or are they hidden? Could a reader easily remember them and tell them to someone else? Is there a logic of time, cause and effect, etc., that you can use?

4. Make your key points visible.

A reader should be able to skim your article, see quickly what it says, decide whether he wants to read it. Therefore, visual guides can make the article clearer and more inviting. Sometimes you can help the reader by subheads, italics, boldface, or by numbering the points made. You can spread your material out typographically, make it less dense in appearance by more paragraphing. Aerate your material, let it breathe, let the white paper show up more.

5. Be concise but clear.

Maybe you have covered too much in one article. It is better to fully uncover one point than to cover 10 points. However, a serious article on a serious problem for a serious reader can be long. Make the article as long as it needs to be. But stop just before the reader's cup runs over. The popularity of proverbs is often due to their crisp and easily remembered wording.

6. Make it personal.

Think of writing a personal letter rather than an article. You can make material personal by using conversation in it, by putting personal the stories, real names, real places. Notice how personal the stories are in Reader’s Digest. Do you nearly always read the "letters" column in Time, Newsweek, or Life? They are personal, simple, and nearly everybody can read them.

If you are writing a story about municipal government, you might well quote what the local citizen said about the garbage problem: "It stinks." Effective writing often sounds like talk.

The dividing line between impersonal reporting and personal reporting is at about the eighth-grade level. When material deals with a named person and his problems it tends to be at this level or below. When it deals with impersonal ideas it tends to be above this level.

7. Invite reader participation and involvement.

All reading material explicitly or implicitly answers the questions of the reader. Note the effectiveness of questions and answers used in printed interviews. Our studies show that they are two or three grade levels easier to read than the rest of the magazine. Effective writing causes the reader to identify himself with, or to involve himself in, the writing.

8. Use pointed examples.

You can simplify and clarify an article by inserting examples. Many highly condensed articles need illustrations, "for examples." These examples may include anecdotes, a more concrete explanation, an illustration which makes an abstract idea concrete. Lazy writers often say: "The reader will think of other examples." This usually means that the writer has run out of them himself. Season writing with anecdotes. You enter the world of the abstract through the door of the concrete. Amplify by examples: in short, "examplify."

9. Simplify the vocabulary.

Avoid pedantic mumbo-jumbo. You can sometimes substitute short, simple, vivid, easily understood words for the longer Latin or Greek equivalents. Instead of confronting problems, just face them. A sine qua non is merely a necessity. A multifacted problem is many-sided. Don't proceed on the assumption. Just assume. Avoid polysyllabic profundity which may dazzle but not illuminate. There is no need to dress up the obvious in the finery of the obscure. However, if important and difficult technical words are needed in an article, explain them or put them into a context that suggests their meaning without insulting the intelligence of the able reader. People do like to learn new, hard words. So don't rob them of this unexpected bonus, this enjoyable serendipity. Important hard words might well be repeated the article. Planned duplication is important.

10. Watch your sentence structure.

Sentences may become too long and too involved by much qualification. This may be necessary when writing for fellow specialists but not for laymen. Remove unnecessary qualification. It is the complexity of the sentence and not its length that is the chief cause of its hardness. You would not make John Dewey's Democracy and Education any easier to read by cutting all the sentences in two. However, some specialized writing can be changed to make necessary qualifications less cumbersome, more easily seen.

11. Repeat and summarize thoughtfully.

As you approach the end of your article you should be answering the reader's questions: So what? What is the author driving finished your article. When the article is long, the reader will forget points made earlier. Carry key points along with you, don't drop them abruptly. When you reach the third or fifth points, you may wish to remind the reader what the and second ones were. In a long article, a summary may recast the key points that have been made. But tell them in a fresh way. Mere repetition is not good enough.

From "Writing for Nearly Everybody" by Edgar Dale. The News Letter, November 1969, College of Education, The Ohio State University.

Rules for Good Writing

1. Prefer the plain word to the fancy.

2. Prefer the familiar word to the unfamiliar.

3. Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance.

4. Prefer nouns and verbs to adjectives and adverbs.

5. Prefer picture nouns and action verbs.

6. Never use a long word when a short one will do as well.

7. Master the simple declarative sentence.

8. Prefer the simple sentence to the complicated.

9. Vary your sentence length.

10. Put the words you want to emphasize at the beginning or the end of your sentence.

11. Use the active voice.

12. Put statements in a positive form.

13. Use short paragraphs.

14. Cut needless words, sentences, and paragraphs.

15. Use plain, conversational language. Write like you talk.

16. Avoid imitation. Write in your natural style.

17. Write clearly.

18. Avoid gobbledygook.

19. Write to be understood, not to impress.

20. Revise and rewrite. Improvement is always possible.

Source: Writer's Digest School, Cincinnati, Ohio

The Holistic Milieu in the Pacific Northwest Church

This article presents relevant data from the 2007 McMinnville Project regarding the New Age Movement—a.k.a. the holistic milieu, and provides four key implications from that data concerning the direction the holistic milieu is moving in the Pacific Northwest—that people in the holistic milieu express their faith more as radical individualists than communally or institutionally, that despite being anti-institutional, they are not necessarily opposed to the notion of Jesus or the use of the Bible, that they are personally committed to their spiritual quests, and that they appreciate and utilize non-traditional avenues of religion and spirituality in their lives.  Matthew Fox writes, “Renewal implies a new beginning, a new spirit, a new energy unleashed, a new paradigm, a new way to see the world.  Enter the phrase, ‘New Age.”’

 It argues that, contrary to Paul Heelas et al.’s prediction that “Those forms of spirituality in the West that help people to live in accordance with the deepest, sacred dimension of their own unique lives can be expected to be growing,” the holistic milieu is not usurping the traditional religious domain in people’s lives and priorities.  It still has a limited presence, but it is not a strong one nor one that will be taking over the spiritual scene very soon, if at all (based on the statistical data of participation, longevity, etc.).  Compared to traditional avenues of spirituality, the holistic milieu is difficult to find, although once found, it is not hard to join.

One of the more difficult aspects of the McMinnville Project’s sociological study of religion has involved the defining, locating, and sampling of the alternative spirituality practices.  Peter Ellway suggests that, based on religious studies such as Knoblauch’s, “Europe displays declining religiosity, but shows how this is qualified by a real takeup of what he [Knoblauch] calls alternative religion, a wider term than ‘New Age’ which means privatized non-traditional and non-institutional religions.”

Concerning spirituality in the United States, Dan Kimball remarks,

In our increasingly post-Christian culture, the influences and values shaping emerging generations are no longer aligned with Christianity.  Emerging generations don’t have a basic understanding of the story of the Bible, and they don’t have one God as the predominant God to worship. Rather, they are open to all types of faiths, including new mixtures of religions.  

Heelas et al. mention that these activities and groups are “less obvious” and that they are synonymous with the New Age movement. Heelas states,

One’s initial impression is of an eclectic hotch-potch of beliefs, practices and ways of life.  Esoteric or mystical Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Toaism enter the picture.  So do elements from ‘pagan’ teachings including Celtic, Druidic, Mayan and Native American Indians.  An exceedingly wide range of practices—Zen meditations, Wiccan rituals, enlightenment intensive seminars, management trainings, shamanic activities, wilderness events, spiritual therapies, forms of positive thinking—fall under the rubric.  

Because of the aforementioned, the holistic milieu, or New Age Movement, has been described as a “cultural fog bank,” “undeniably nebulous” and “subjective-life spirituality”—labels that describe the sometimes-ambiguous, very personal nature of the holistic milieu.    

Certainly connected to its ubiquitous floating presence is the challenge to find such centers and gathering places of its adherents.  Obviously, there is no “Church of the Holistic Milieu” officially set up in the Pacific Northwest; rather, there are pockets of people coming together to share a commonality of faith/spirituality different from the mainstream understanding. Not only are these assemblies difficult to find, but also they are also difficult to scientifically examine. Very often, people from the outside are welcomed in as seekers, but not always as observers (from personal experience during the 2007 McMinnville Project).           

What follows is an analysis of participants’ understandings of religion, spirituality, and the role of the individual in McMinnville, and the implications to greater society in the Pacific Northwest. 

Key Characteristics

There are a few specific traits that seem specific to the holistic milieu.  These include a belief in and involvement with alternative spirituality practices that holistic milieu participants consider spiritual in nature, a plurality or dualism in religious activity that allows for dual membership in traditional and alternative practices, a strong sense of community, and a cautionary outlook in life and relationships.   

Belief in the Spirituality of Holistic Activities

First and foremost, the holistic milieu participants experienced or were clearly aware of a spiritual connection in the alternative spirituality activities they were involved in outside of church. Some 90% of participants indicated that they had recently and regularly participated in a spiritual activity that they considered spiritual or religious in nature.  Furthermore, holistic milieu participants were involved with the holistic milieu activities for an extended period of time.  This involvement was not a one-time affair but ongoing in their lives.  Their involvement in the holistic milieu also was more diffused than in the congregational study; 90% of holistic milieu participants had tried multiple alternative activities. 

Sacro-Communalism

A seemingly paradoxical characteristic of the holistic milieu participants was a strong sense of community that embraced people with a strong sense of individualism.  Stephen Hunt states, “The movement is sufficiently broad, however, to embrace all-comers.” The holistic milieu survey responses also provided some light in this matter.  In the survey, several people indicate that they joined their particular groups, “to meet like minded people.”  They were looking for a spiritual support group where they could be fed (by a personal and community experience) and led (through individual and community enlightenment).  As one survey participant wrote, “I like the teachings of my community because I like what my spiritual leader says and what he says we are to do.  He wants us to be free in our thinking, he wants us to question, but there are certain laws we have to obey or we will suffer.”

Additionally, Both Neil and Laura voiced their appreciation for their approach to spirituality and spoke highly of the benefits it had brought to their lives.  In his interview, Neil confided about a family crisis where he was estranged from his wife and children.  He said, “There were some overwhelmingly ripping mystical experiences that made that happen.  That I was contacted and my wife was contacted by the Central Force in the Universe in a profound, jarring sort of way that brought me back to my family and sort of brought us back together.” The holistic milieu had a therapeutic aspect to it that helped heal, not only spiritual wounds, but emotional and physical ones as well.  It helped bring Neil back into community with his loved ones.

Laura, too, in her interview, opened up and shared her past experiences of church life.  She said, “As a youth I never felt connected in a way that I felt I should be.  Intuitively, I felt there was way that I should be connecting; I thought I must not be very spiritual since I was not. Now I feel connected.” Before she had felt disconnected from God despite being deeply involved in church (her father was a Methodist minister; later he became a Presbyterian minister instead); however, with her husband and their new-found embrace of the holistic movement, she felt comforted and part of a spiritual community.  

Cautionary Disposition

Another provocative aspect of the holistic milieu is its participants’ seemingly hyper-cautious response to outside investigation.  All-too-frequently, when asked if I could observe a holistic group in action, do a demographic count, and distribute a survey, the contact person would ask, “Why do you want to know that about us?”  Despite any further explanations and promises of innocuous intent, they would often reply, “I do not think we would be comfortable discussing our spiritual life with you.”  Their response went beyond privacy, and I sensed they were threatened by the notion of a public, academic study of their belief system.

This is not mere paranoia; historically, the New Age Movement and the holistic milieu have been criticized, chastised, and ridiculed by others in mainstream religion. Concerning the traditionalist appraisal of the holistic milieu, Partridge explains, “What they see as New Age immanentism has prompted not only the Catholic Church but also other Christian Churches to attack the movement as a form of modern paganism. They often consider any spiritual approach outside of the orthodox world to be a cult, “. . . the term ‘cult’ being adopted from Evangelical Christians as the appropriate label for the despised new religions.” Just on the sales website page of Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler’s book, The New Tolerance: How A Cultural Movement Threatens To Destroy You, Your Faith, And Your Children, one reads,

Best-selling author Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler unmask the true nature of the cultural movement of ‘tolerance’ in this powerful release. It will not only help you to understand it, but equip you to counter its insidious effects on your faith and your children. In addition, the authors teach you how to: neutralize this threat by discerning truth from error, teach your children to discern between acceptance and approval, and lovingly respond to a hostile culture that seems willing to tolerate just about anything except biblical truth. 

Evangelicals are not the only Christian group to criticize the holistic milieu.  The Catholic Church also has condemned this New Age movement.  The Pontifical Councils for Culture and Interreligious Dialogue warned Catholics that

It must unfortunately be admitted that there are too many cases where Catholic centres of spirituality are actively involved in diffusing New Age religiosity in the Church. This would of course have to be corrected, not only to stop the spread of confusion and error, but also so that they might be effective in promoting true Christian spirituality.

Furthermore, Jesuit Catholic Priest Father Mitch Pacwa called the New Age movement “downright dangerous.” It is clear that both Evangelical Christian groups and the Catholic Church are actively fighting against New Age beliefs and considers New Age groups to be generally spiritually harmful to Christianity and the world.

With this in mind, it is no wonder that many in the holistic milieu are reticent to divulge their innermost religious/spiritual beliefs and feelings.  In one interview, one person said that she had “learned to live her spiritual life underground” because of the hostility she has experienced from mainline Christians.  Another mentioned that she does not let anyone know at the church she is attending that she also embraces New Age spirituality. When I sent a short email to the New Thought group (found on their website), my email went through four people before it was replied to.  I found a great deal of information from their web site, but I asked three supplemental questions: 1) How long has New Thought been in existence in McMinnville?; 2) How many attendees do you normally have during the week (Sundays and during your Silent Meditations)?;  and 3) Would you consider yourselves part of the New Age Movement or do you consider yourselves another facet of religion?  

In the final email, which included the members’ exchanges about my request, one person had written, “Seems harmless.  You might want to reply to this guy.” Apparently, there was some question as to my motivation by the group; perhaps they had others try to trick them into giving up information used later to hurt them somehow.

A cautionary disposition was evident in the responses; it made arranging the interviews and surveys that much more difficult.  Being such a small segment of society, it makes sense that they would feel “ganged up on” or self-preservative.  Many of the beliefs of the holistic milieu practitioners are still considered taboo in traditional churches.  If knowledge about their beliefs made it back to their home churches, they could risk exclusion or embarrassment.  

The Future of the Holistic Milieu in McMinnville

According to the 2007 McMinnville Project data, what is happening with the holistic milieu in the Pacific Northwest at most falls more along the lines of Steve Bruce’s morbid conclusion than Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead’s spiritually-expansive future. Yes, there are some people in the traditional congregations engaging in alternative spirituality practices, but they are doing them more out of fashion or personal curiosity than religious fulfillment (based on their survey responses that indicate no religious association). There is a minor percentage of people in McMinnville active in various holistic milieu groups who are very serious about their spirituality, but their numbers are small considering the overall state population size; however, the largest oak tree began as a small acorn, so time will only tell what becomes of the holistic milieu in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

ELTON TRUEBLOOD: HERALD—OR HARBINGER—BRINGING NEWS OF GREAT . . .

In his 1949 comparative mythology book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, American writer and professor of literature Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) discusses the archetype of the herald, stating, “The crisis of his appearance is the ‘call to adventure.’ The herald’s summons may be to live, as in the present instance, or, at a later moment of the biography, to die. It may sound the call to some high historical undertaking. Or it may mark the dawn of religious illumination.”[1] Synonymously, the term, “harbinger,” is often used in the same vein, although typically with more ominous overtones of delivery.

Thus, in the gospel of Luke, Gabriel and an unnamed angel of the Lord (both acting as heralds) brought “good news of great joy” to Mary, the shepherds, and the world (Luke 2:30–30, 10, NASB), but in the book of Daniel (acting as a harbinger), the prophet warns, “But the court will convene for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever” (Dan 7:26, NASB). Biblically (and historically), the herald or harbinger often come bearing significant “news” from the king (or God)—and whether it is news of great joy or of great sorrow depends much upon the audience’s reception of the future prediction, their willingness to own their sins or to accept the consequences of their past actions or attitudes, and/or the particular potential promises of recovery, release, and recovery offered to them in the future.

Such is the pivotal plight in modernity observed and cautioned about in American professor of philosophy Elton Trueblood’s The Predicament of Modern Man,[2] which was “directed principally at theologians, philosophers, and other academics.”[3] In this critique of modernity’s social advancement, Trueblood focuses on four particularly detrimental aspects of modern society: 1. The sickness of civilization, 2. The failure of power culture, 3. The impotence of ethics, and 4. The insufficiency of individual religion. In his fifth and final chapter (5), Trueblood discusses the necessity of a redemptive society, and “a consciously contrived fellowship of work and worship.”[4]

In chapter one, “The Sickness of Civilization,” Trueblood discusses the decay of modern Western society (much like Rome’s), stating, “We have now a counterpart of the ancient situation.”[5] In fact, according to Trueblood, “The recognition that something has gone wrong with our civilization is now so widespread as to be almost universal”[6]—and it is wrong in so many ways.

Humanism/atheism has replaced theism, but cynicism and skepticism remain, unchecked. Moreover, while humanity has advanced in artificial contraptions and conveniences, it has simultaneously lost its soul and sympathy for its members. Not just a philosophical consequence, technology has also dehumanized humanity and is progressing faster than can be comprehended or corralled by its “masters”—leading to abuses and neglect. Sadly, Trueblood notes, “This is the predicament of Western man. He has built up a complex civilization, but he may lose it because, in his proud hour of achievement, he has so largely lost or never developed the inner resources that are needed to keep a possible boon from becoming a calamity.”[7]

Ultimately, Trueblood writes,

Unless the spiritual problem is solved, civilization will fail; indeed, we already have a foretaste of that failure in many parts of the world. Man’s sinful nature is such that he will use instruments of power for evil ends unless there is something to instruct him in their beneficent uses. Without the conscious and intelligent buttressing of what has been demonstrated as precious, human society goes down.[8]

Trueblood continues his critique in chapter two, “The Failure of Power Culture,” proclaiming, “What is so amazing in our day is not the rejection of Western civilization in practice, for that has always occurred, but the rejection of Western civilization in theory.”[9] Furthermore, this rejection of Western civilization has also removed the stabilizing and restraining Christian social ethic (and conscience) that accompanied it for centuries. What is left in modern society is superficial at best, tyrannical at worst.

Trueblood writes, “The essential notion of power culture is the effort to organize human life independent of moral inhibitions. It is the non-ethical creed.”[10] This creed also brings several dangerous new doctrines into modern society such as an emphasis on obtaining/retaining “sheer power,”[11] maintaining the presumption that good leaders are superior—“physically, intellectually, morally, or culturally,”[12] and promoting the ideal of expert authority so that people “are set free from freedom,”[13] This is a dangerous phenomenon for as Trueblood notes, “That individualism is incompatible with the proposed creed is easy to see. The notion that each person is a separate object of infinite worth because he is a child of God made in God’s image must be rooted out if sheer authoritarianism is to flourish.”[14]

Making this paradoxically worse (though better in comforts and general knowledge) is the continuing advancement of science, but science without integrity can easily become Frankenstein’s monster.[15] One can easily see terrifying comparisons to COVID-19 era’s Big Pharma/Big Brother abuses when Trueblood asserts,

Science in the Western world is based is the sacredness of truth. It is incompatible with a system that breeds a disregard for objective truth or undermines the standard of personal honesty that requires a man to submit unfavorable as well as favorable evidence when he is testing a hypothesis. Science is possible because there are men engaged in it who will not sell out to the political boss, who will not falsify reports to support a preconceived notion, who will stay on the job even when the ordinary rewards are denied. Science, then, depends on ethical foundations, the chief of which is the unmercenary love of truth. 

Yet, not even democracy, education, socialism, or infrastructures can save humanity (as history abundantly attests).

            In the end, Trueblood concludes,

The chief weakness of modern Western man is weakness of the head rather than weakness of the heart. He is sympathetic and full of good aspirations; he is mild and kind; and he hates war. His strange delusion is the notion that the kind of world he seeks can be supported in mid-air, without a foundation . . . Modern man is, therefore, a pathetic creature—pathetic in his hope.[16] 

There can be no healthy or benevolent civilization with a strong ethical foundation. Trueblood concludes, “A mere power culture will eventually cease to be a culture at all.”[17]

In chapter three, “The Impotence of Ethics,” Trueblood continues his ethical analysis and discourse, focusing on the futility of modern ethics. Speaking of the commonly accepted “love thy neighbor” maxim, he remarks, “We take our creed for granted; we have little interest in how it came to be; and we assume uncritically that it will naturally survive. This is the pathetic faith of Western man in the middle of the twentieth century, a faith utterly unjustified by experience.”[18] While there might be universal acceptance, it is more about reducing stress levels, emptiness, or loneliness than truly and actively embracing the Greatest Commandment as a conviction of the heart. Trueblood notes, “We have inherited precious ethical convictions that seem to us to be profound, central, and essential. But they have a curious inefficacy. They are noble, but they are impotent.”[19]

The most serious problem though, in Trueblood’s mind, is modern man’s lack of faith in God. He laments, “The fearful aspect of the present situation is that those who have inherited the major tradition of the West now have an ethic without a religion, whereas they are challenged by millions who have a religion without an ethic.”[20] Even worse, he confesses, “We are now trying the utterly precarious experiment, in which the odds are against us, of attempting to maintain our culture by loyalty to the Christian ethic without a corresponding faith in the Christian religion that produced it.”[21]

Trueblood’s final solution to the disconnected, apathetic humanist culture poisoning and gutting Western civilization is probably as triggering in modern, individualistic society as it is diagnostically spot on, spiritually. He declares,

What men need, if they are to overcome their lethargy and weakness, is some contact with the real world in which moral values are centered in the nature of things. This is the love of God, for which men have long shown themselves willing to live or to die. The only sure way in which we can transcend our human relativities is by obedience to the absolute and eternal God.[22] 

This reality, though, must be grounded in true faith and not some abstract or watered-down system of pseudo-religion appealing to the masses stuck in modernity’s maze of malaise. Instead, Trueblood reflects, “We must not forget that, in the Roman Empire, Christ won and won against tremendous odds. He won because the faith in Christ really changed the lives of countless weak men and made them bold as lions. He has taken poor creatures who could not even understand the language of moral philosophy and shaken the world through them.”[23]

Such a spiritual victory is still available in modernity (and postmodernity), but it is dependent (as it always has been) upon the peace found in “the love of God who, as the Source of goodness, makes us know that, even at best, we are not really good. This is the peace that passes understanding, though it is not a peace that negates the understanding.”[24]This form of “genuine conversion”[25] is required for true social betterment to be achieved; however, it rests upon the belief that God is God, and we are not—an antithetical proposition for the typical humanist, atheist, or modernist devoted to the self.

Speaking of which, in chapter four, “The Insufficiency of Individual Religion,” Trueblood pushes back against the tide of slippery, half-hearted, self-serving neo-Christianity flooding the West. He warns, “Twentieth century man, if pressed for an answer, admits that he believes in a moral order, that he believes in religion, and that he believes in the Christian religion, but there he stops.”[26] Most Westerners might have some cursory knowledge of Christianity, but it remains “a vague and tenuous residuum of Christian piety, devoid of any intention of doing anything about it.”[27] Of course, this does them no good and they are in great danger of being eternally rejected by God for their lukewarm sentiments (Rev 3:6).

Exacerbating the problem, True blood notes that too many compromised or counterfeit churches only offer the hurting and searching “some ugly stained-glass windows and a holy tone and a collection plate full of dimes.”[28] Most current studies of religiosity point to an ever-growing rejection of institutional Christianity and an embrace of radical religious individualism.[29]

Also adding to the problem, the same limitation holds true for parents who fail to raise their children in the faith “once entrusted to the Saints” (Jude 3:3, NASB). Trueblood explains, “Parents are amazed at the moral bankruptcy of their children. They cannot see why their children fail to have the same standards as their own, but in truth they have denied their children any practical contact with the ongoing tradition that is chiefly concerned with keeping these alive in our culture.”[30]

Faith begins and grows in fellowship, which was (and still is) “central to the gospel.”[31] Participation, personal involvement, and investment are all cornerstones of a vibrant, genuine relationship with God. Intellectual acknowledgement (and isolation) does not suffice. Churches may not be perfect, but they can still assist in evangelization and discipleship through their egalitarian witness, their testimony for peace, their brotherhood of all humanity, and their renunciation of living according to the flesh. They can show that God is worth any worldly sacrifices because His love is what they truly need in life.[32]

Finally, in Trueblood’s final chapter, he shows that he is just as much a herald of God’s great news than merely a harbinger of doom. Despite previously pointing to the numerous failings, compromises, and dangers promulgated by the post-Christian New World Order, Trueblood proclaims loudly and succinctly his hope for healing a broken and sick world devoid of faith and Spirit:

We need a world-shaking movement to offset the planetary dangers that a peculiar combination of factors has now produced. What is required to save us from the destruction of which world wars constitute a foretaste is a new spirit. We need this far more desperately than we need any new machine or anything else.[33]

People need real relationships with real believers to cultivate a real faith in a real God. More than just being voices crying alone in the wilderness, Trueblood recommends trying something new in modernity—actually developing closer bonds with other Christians, despite denominational differences[34]—so that people can see what true unity can be like for God’s community of believers centered within the loving perichoresis of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He writes, “Real fellowship is so rare and so precious that it is like dynamite in any human situation.”[35] People do not need or want the smoke of moral therapeutic deism; they need the warm BOOM! of a relationship with God and His adopted children in Jesus Christ.

Throughout the entirety of The Predicament of Modern Man, Trueblood has continually “called for the reinvigoration of religious faith as the essential force necessary to sustain the ethical, moral, and social principles on which a humane and livable world order could be built.”[36] Even more so, “[Trueblood] warned against what he called ‘churchianity’ and ‘vague religiosity,’ but he also cautioned against the overly optimistic expectations of secular social-reformism.”[37] As the apostle Peter exhorted, Christ’s followers are to live in purity and love (1 Pet 1:22–23). As the apostle Jude admonished, believers (in all ages) are to contend for the faith (Jude 3:3). As the apostle Paul acknowledged, we might be pressed down but we are not crushed (2 Cor 4:8), and as the apostle John affirmed, whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them (1 John 4:16).

Likewise, Trueblood’s last words in the chapter how this heraldic heart of hope and trust in God (and His people). He declares, “We have to strive to keep our faith, but we are keeping it. We are perplexed, but not unto despair. We believe that we can survive a civilization gone rotten and that the essential faith of Western man can be restored to this end.”[38] Eighty years later, Trueblood’s words are still an inspiring and provocative call for greater renewal and reformation movements in an even more detached world full of darkness.  

Bibliography

Bolling, Laundrum. “D. Elton Trueblood.” Earlhamite (Winter 1995). Available at https://www.waynet.org/people/biography/trueblood.htm. 

Campbell, Joseph, and David Kudler. The Hero with a Thousand Faces: Vol. 30th Anniversary Special edition. E-Book: Joseph Campbell Foundation, 2020. 

Knox, John S. “Sacro-Egoism and the Shifting Paradigm of Religiosity.” Implicit Religion 11, no. 2 (2008): 153–172. doi:10.1558/imre.v11i2.153 

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus. New York:  Penguin, 1983. 

Trueblood, Elton. The Predicament of Modern Man. New York City: Harper & Brothers, 1944. Available at https://www.religion-online.org/book/the-predicament-of-modern-man/.

Endnotes

[1] Joseph Campbell and David Kudler, The Hero with a Thousand Faces: Vol. 30th Anniversary Special edition (E-book: Joseph Campbell Foundation, 2020).

[2] Elton Trueblood, The Predicament of Modern Man (New York City: Harper & Brothers, 1944); available at https://www.religion-online.org/book/the-predicament-of-modern-man/.

[3] Laundrum Bolling, “D. Elton Trueblood,” Earlhamite (Winter 1995); available at https://www.waynet.org/people/biography/trueblood.htm.

[4] Trueblood, “The Necessity of a Redemptive Society,” in The Predicament, 10.

[5] Trueblood, “The Sickness of Civilization,” in The Predicament, 10.

[6] Trueblood, “The Sickness of Civilization,” in The Predicament, 3.

[7] Trueblood, “The Sickness of Civilization,” in The Predicament, 10.

[8] Trueblood, “The Sickness of Civilization,” in The Predicament, 11.

[9] Trueblood, “The Failure of Power Culture,” in The Predicament, 2.

[10] Trueblood, “The Failure of Power Culture,” in The Predicament, 3.

[11] Trueblood, “The Failure of Power Culture,” in The Predicament, 4.

[12] Trueblood, “The Failure of Power Culture,” in The Predicament, 5.

[13] Trueblood, “The Failure of Power Culture,” in The Predicament, 5.

[14] Trueblood, “The Failure of Power Culture,” in The Predicament, 5.

[15] Mary Shelley, Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (New York: Penguin, 1983).

[16] Trueblood, “The Failure of Power Culture,” in The Predicament, 6.

[17] Trueblood, “The Failure of Power Culture,” in The Predicament, 11.

[18] Trueblood, “The Impotence of Ethics,” in The Predicament, 3.

[19] Trueblood, “The Impotence of Ethics,” in The Predicament, 4.

[20] Trueblood, “The Impotence of Ethics,” in The Predicament, 4.

[21] Trueblood, “The Impotence of Ethics,” in The Predicament, 5.

[22] Trueblood, “The Impotence of Ethics,” in The Predicament, 9.

[23] Trueblood, “The Impotence of Ethics,” in The Predicament, 10.

[24] Trueblood, “The Impotence of Ethics,” in The Predicament, 11.

[25] Trueblood, “The Impotence of Ethics,” in The Predicament, 12.

[26] Trueblood, “The Insufficiency of Individual Religion,” in The Predicament, 2.

[27] Trueblood, “The Insufficiency of Individual Religion,” in The Predicament, 2.

[28] Trueblood, “The Insufficiency of Individual Religion,” in The Predicament, 4.

[29] See John S. Knox, “Sacro-Egoism and the Shifting Paradigm of Religiosity,” Implicit Religion 11, no. 2 (2008): 153–172. doi:10.1558/imre.v11i2.153

[30] Trueblood, “The Insufficiency of Individual Religion,” in The Predicament, 5.

[31] Trueblood, “The Insufficiency of Individual Religion,” in The Predicament, 6.

[32] Trueblood, “The Insufficiency of Individual Religion,” in The Predicament, 7–9.

[33] Trueblood, “The Necessity of a Redemptive Society,” in The Predicament, 5.

[34] Trueblood, “The Necessity of a Redemptive Society,” in The Predicament, 7.

[35] Trueblood, “The Necessity of a Redemptive Society,” in The Predicament, 8.

[36] Bolling, “D. Elton Trueblood.”

[37] Bolling, “D. Elton Trueblood.”

[38] Trueblood, “The Necessity of a Redemptive Society,” in The Predicament, 5.

The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus (written around the 2nd Century)

Introduction

 The following interesting and eloquent Epistle is anonymous, and we have no clue whatever as to its author. For a considerable period after its publication in 1592, it was generally ascribed to Justin Martyr. In recent times Otto has inserted it among the works of that writer, but Semisch and others contend that it cannot possibly be his. In dealing with this question, we depend entirely upon the internal evidence, no statement as to the authorship of the Epistle having descended to us from antiquity. And it can scarcely be denied that the whole tone of the Epistle, as well as special passages which it contains, points to some other writer than Justin.  

Accordingly, critics are now for the most part agreed that it is not his, and that it must be ascribed to one who lived at a still earlier date in the history of the Church. Several internal arguments have been brought forward in favour of this opinion. Supposing chap. xi. to be genuine, it has been supported by the fact that the writer there styles himself "a disciple of the apostles." But there is great suspicion that the two concluding chapters are spurious; and even though admitted to be genuine, the expression quoted evidently admits of a different explanation from that which implies the writer's personal acquaintance with the apostles: it might, indeed, be adopted by one even at the present day. More weight is to be attached to those passages in which the writer speaks of Christianity as still being a new thing in the world. Expressions to this effect occur in several places (chap. i., ii., ix.), and seem to imply that the author lived very little, if at all, after the apostolic age. There is certainly nothing in the Epistle which is inconsistent with this opinion; and we may therefore believe, that in this beautiful composition we possess a genuine production of some apostolic man who lived not later than the beginning of the second century.

The names of Clement of Rome and of Apollos have both been suggested as those of the probable author. Such opinions, however, are pure fancies, which it is perhaps impossible to refute, but which rest on nothing more than conjecture. Nor can a single word be said as to the person named Diognetus, to whom the letter is addressed. We must be content to leave both points in hopeless obscurity, and simply accept the Epistle as written by an earnest and intelligent Christian to a sincere inquirer among the Gentiles, towards the close of the apostolic age. 

Chapter I. — Occasion of the epistle.

Since I see thee, most excellent Diognetus, exceedingly desirous to learn the mode of worshipping God prevalent among the Christians, and inquiring very carefully and earnestly concerning them, what God they trust in, and what form of religion they observe, [264] so as all to look down upon the world itself, and despise death, while they neither esteem those to be gods that are reckoned such by the Greeks, nor hold to the superstition of the Jews; and what is the affection which they cherish among themselves; and why, in fine, this new kind or practice [of piety] has only now entered into the world, [265] and not long ago; I cordially welcome this thy desire, and I implore God, who enables us both to speak and to hear, to grant to me so to speak, that, above all, I may hear you have been edified, [266] and to you so to hear, that I who speak may have no cause of regret for having done so.

Chapter II. — The vanity of idols.

Come, then, after you have freed [267] yourself from all prejudices possessing your mind, and laid aside what you have been accustomed to, as something apt to deceive [268] you, and being made, as if from the beginning, a new man, inasmuch as, according to your own confession, you are to be the hearer of a new [system of] doctrine; come and contemplate, not with your eyes only, but with your understanding, the substance and the form [269] of those whom ye declare and deem to be gods. Is not one of them a stone similar to that on which we tread? Is [270] not a second brass, in no way superior to those vessels which are constructed for our ordinary use? Is not a third wood, and that already rotten? Is not a fourth silver, which needs a man to watch it, lest it be stolen? Is not a fifth iron, consumed by rust? Is not a sixth earthenware, in no degree more valuable than that which is formed for the humblest purposes? Are not all these of corruptible matter? Are they not fabricated by means of iron and fire? Did not the sculptor fashion one of them, the brazier a second, the silversmith a third, and the potter a fourth? Was not every one of them, before they were formed by the arts of these [workmen] into the shape of these [gods], each in its [271] own way subject to change? Would not those things which are now vessels, formed of the same materials, become like to such, if they met with the same artificers? Might not these, which are now worshipped by you, again be made by men vessels similar to others? Are they not all deaf? Are they not blind? Are they not without life? Are they not destitute of feeling? Are they not incapable of motion? Are they not all liable to rot? Are they not all corruptible? These things ye call gods; these ye serve; these ye worship; and ye become altogether like to them. For this reason ye hate the Christians, because they do not deem these to be gods. But do not ye yourselves, who now think and suppose [such to be gods], much more cast contempt upon them than they [the Christians do]? Do ye not much more mock and insult them, when ye worship those that are made of stone and earthenware, without appointing any persons to guard them; but those made of silver and gold ye shut up by night, and appoint watchers to look after them by day, lest they be stolen? And by those gifts which ye mean to present to them, do ye not, if they are possessed of sense, rather punish [than honour] them? But if, on the other hand, they are destitute of sense, ye convict them of this fact, while ye worship them with blood and the smoke of sacrifices. Let any one of you suffer such indignities! [272]  

Let any one of you endure to have such things done to himself! But not a single human being will, unless compelled to it, endure such treatment, since he is endowed with sense and reason. A stone, however, readily bears it, seeing it is insensible. Certainly you do not show [by your [273] conduct] that he [your God] is possessed of sense. And as to the fact that Christians are not accustomed to serve such gods, I might easily find many other things to say; but if even what has been said does not seem to any one sufficient, I deem it idle to say anything further.

Chapter III. — Superstitions of the Jews.

And next, I imagine that you are most desirous of hearing something on this point, that the Christians do not observe the same forms of divine worship as do the Jews. The Jews, then, if they abstain from the kind of service above described, and deem it proper to worship one God as being Lord of all, [are right]; but if they offer Him worship in the way which we have described, they greatly err. For while the Gentiles, by offering such things to those that are destitute of sense and hearing, furnish an example of madness; they, on the other hand by thinking to offer these things to God as if He needed them, might justly reckon it rather an act of folly than of divine worship. For He that made heaven and earth, and all that is therein, and gives to us all the things of which we stand in need, certainly requires none of those things which He Himself bestows on such as think of furnishing them to Him. But those who imagine that, by means of blood, and the smoke of sacrifices and burnt-offerings, they offer sacrifices [acceptable] to Him, and that by such honours they show Him respect, — these, by [274] supposing that they can give anything to Him who stands in need of nothing, appear to me in no respect to differ from those who studiously confer the same honour on things destitute of sense, and which therefore are unable to enjoy such honours.

Chapter IV. — The other observances of the Jews.

But as to their scrupulosity concerning meats, and their superstition as respects the Sabbaths, and their boasting about circumcision, and their fancies about fasting and the new moons, which are utterly ridiculous and unworthy of notice, — I do not [275] think that you require to learn anything from me. For, to accept some of those things which have been formed by God for the use of men as properly formed, and to reject others as useless and redundant, — how can this be lawful? And to speak falsely of God, as if He forbade us to do what is good on the Sabbath-days, — how is not this impious? And to glory in the circumcision [276] of the flesh as a proof of election, and as if, on account of it, they were specially beloved by God, — how is it not a subject of ridicule? And as to their observing months and days, [277] as if waiting upon [278] the stars and the moon, and their distributing, [279] according to their own tendencies, the appointments of God, and the vicissitudes of the seasons, some for festivities, [280] and others for mourning, — who would deem this a part of divine worship, and not much rather a manifestation of folly? I suppose, then, you are sufficiently convinced that the Christians properly abstain from the vanity and error common [to both Jews and Gentiles], and from the busy-body spirit and vain boasting of the Jews; but you must not hope to learn the mystery of their peculiar mode of worshipping God from any mortal.

Chapter V. — The manners of the Christians.

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking [281] method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. [282] They have a common table, but not a common bed. [283] They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. [284] They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. [285] They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. [286] They are poor, yet make many rich; [287] they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; [288] they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

Chapter VI. — The relation of Christians to the world.

To sum up all in one word — what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. [289] The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, [290] though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves [291] that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers [292] of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling [293] in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. [294] God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.

Endnotes

[264] Literally, "trusting in what God, etc., they look down."

[265] Or, "life,"

[266] Some read, "that you by hearing may be edified."

[275] Otto, resting on ms. authority, omits the negative, but the sense seems to require its insertion.

[276] Literally, "lessening."

[277] Comp. Gal. iv. 10.

[278] This seems to refer to the practice of Jews in fixing the beginning of the day, and consequently of the Sabbath, from the rising of the stars. They used to say, that when three stars of moderate magnitude appeared, it was night; when two, it was twilight; and when only one, that day had not yet departed. It thus came to pass (according to their night-day (nuchthemeron) reckoning), that whosoever engaged in work on the evening of Friday, the beginning of the Sabbath, after three stars of moderate size were visible, was held to have sinned, and had to present a trespass-offering; and so on, according to the fanciful rule described.

[267] Or, "purified."

[268] Literally, "which is deceiving."

[269] Literally, "of what substance, or of what form."

[270] Some make this and the following clauses affirmative instead of interrogative.

[271] The text is here corrupt. Several attempts at emendation have been made, but without any marked success.

[272] Some read, "Who of you would tolerate these things?" etc.

[273] The text is here uncertain, and the sense obscure. The meaning seems to be, that by sprinkling their gods with blood, etc., they tended to prove that these were not possessed of sense.

[274] The text here is very doubtful. We have followed that adopted by most critics.

[279] Otto supplies the lacuna which here occurs in the mss. so as to read katadiairein.

[280] The great festivals of the Jews are here referred to on the one hand, and the day of atonement on the other.

[281] Literally, "paradoxical."

[282] Literally, "cast away foetuses."

[283] Otto omits "bed," which is an emendation, and gives the second "common" the sense of unclean.

[284] Comp. 2 Cor. x. 3.

[285] Comp. Phil. iii. 20.

[286] Comp. 2 Cor. vi. 9.

[287] Comp. 2 Cor. vi. 10.

[288] Comp. 2 Cor. iv. 12.

 [289] John xvii. 11, 14, 16.

[290] Comp. 1 Pet. ii. 11.

[291] Literally, "keeps together."

[292] Literally, "keeps together."

[293] Literally, "incorruption."

[294] Or, "though punished, increase in number daily."

THOMAS KELLY’S SUPERLATIVE EPISTLE OF DEVOTION AND DISCIPLESHIP

It has been said that “Spiritual formation is life.”[1] Dutch priest and writer Henry Nouwen also once proclaimed, “[Spiritual Formation] is about the movements from the mind to the heart through prayer in its many forms that reunite us with God, each other, and our truest selves.”[2] Additionally, American theologian Tim Tsohantardis explained, “The beatitudes, then, are nothing but the Lord's answer to that prayer of the human heart to regain its lost happiness. It was as if the Lord said that morning to that crowd and to all of us (I saw your life, I felt your pain, I heard your prayer, and lo and behold, if you want to regain your lost joy, take these keys and unlock the secret of happiness).”[3]

Faith is not just a medal to be worn around one’s neck, but rather a spiritual journey that one yearning to grow closer to God (in healthiness and intimacy) strives to undertake in obedience to Christ’s greatest commandment (Mark 12:30–31). Assuredly, these poignant truths have been affirmed and attested to by numerous authors across the ages, from the writers of the Bible—“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Psalm 51:10–12, NIV) to the sages of church history—“And every spiritual and moral virtue you possess is through divine grace,”[4] and into modernity.

Thus, it is not surprising that a Quaker mystic and educator like Thomas Kelly (1893–1941) endeavored putting to pen and future publication (posthumously) an epistle of devotion to ostensibly help others “learn the disciplines of His Grace.”[5] Afterall, he wrote, “Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking voice, to which we may continuously return.”[6] In total, he offered five essays in consideration and implored his readers, “Let us explore together the secret of a deeper devotion, a more subterranean sanctuary of the soul, where the Light Within never fades, but burns, a perpetual Flame, where the wells of living water of divine revelation rise up continuously, day by day and hour by hour, steady and transfiguring.”[7]

In his first essay, “The Light Within,” Kelly discusses the inner life of the soul, beseeching readers to acknowledge and accept the presence of God within them, who desperately and benevolently wants only to reconcile with his beloved creations, providing the ultimate divine source for their reclamation and restoration. Kelly writes, “But, more deeply, He who is within us urges, by secret persuasion, to such an amazing Inward Life with Him, so that, firmly cleaving to Him, we always look out upon all the world through the sheen of the Inward Light, and react toward men spontaneously and joyously from this Inward Center.”[8] He assures his readers that a reorientation toward the inward light is the wisest and most beneficial move that they can make in our brief lives.

In Kelly’s second essay, “Holy Obedience,” he exhorts his readers to seek a deeper, more sincere relationship with God. He writes, “But when such a commitment comes in a human life, God breaks through, miracles are wrought, world-renewing divine forces are released, history changes.”[9] Moreover, “Here is an infinite fountain of lifting power, pressing within us, luring us by dazzling visions, and we can only say, the creative God comes into our souls. An increment of infinity is about us. Holy is imagination, the gateway of Reality into our hearts. The Hound of Heaven is on our track, the God of Love is wooing us to His Holy Life.”[10] Ultimately (according to Kelly), “The wholly obedient life is mastered and unified and simplified and gathered up into the love of God and it lives and walks among men in the perpetual flame of that radiant love. For the simplified man loves God with all his heart and mind and soul and strength and abides trustingly in that love. Then indeed do we love our neighbors”[11]—just like Jesus Christ did in the Gospels.

In Kelly’s third essay, “Blessed Community,” he discusses the bride of Christ—the church—and how our fellowship with like-minded and hearted believers only adds to the joy of our salvation. He explains, “Fellowship searches friendships, burning, dissolving, ennobling, transfiguring them in Heaven’s glowing fire.”[12] After all,

The early days of the Evangelical movement showed the same bondedness in love. The disclosure of God normally brings the disclosure of the Fellowship. We don’t create it deliberately; we find it and we find ourselves increasingly within it as we find ourselves increasingly within Him. It is the holy matrix of "the communion of the saints,” the body of Christ which is His church.[13]

In fellowship through Christ, social divisions are dissolved, destructive burdens are shared, prayers are intertwined, true unity is achieved, and believers become His body and His blood to each other (and for anyone in need). As Kelly puts it, “Holy is the Fellowship, wondrous is the Ministrant, marvelous is the Grail.”[14] Christ’s followers can experience a taste of the loving-accepting-comforting-supportive home that their hearts have always yearned for in this life.

In Kelly’s fourth essay, “The Eternal Now and Social Concern,” he discusses the collision, collusion, and confusion of some regarding which side of eternity matters the most. Kelly notes, “I submit that this is a lamentable reversal of the true order of dependence. Time is no judge of Eternity. It is the Eternal who is the judge and tester of time.”[15] Instead of being at peace, too many believers are anxious about their present and futures. Instead of walking as new creations, believers schlep all their former worldly concerns (really, chains) when they trudge through life, as if they were accoutrements of defense—just in case the God of the universe cannot get the job done, after all.

Instead, Kelly encourages readers, proclaiming, “Instead of anxiety lest our past, our past defects, our long-standing deficiencies blight our well-intentioned future efforts, all our past sense of weakness falls away and we stand erect, in this holy Now, joyous, serene, assured, unafraid. Between the relinquished past and the untrodden future stands this holy Now.” God not only has our back and pasts—He has our fronts, bottoms, and all-overs. We can let go of the old fears and frustrations for “Now is that of unspeakable and exquisite joy, peace, serene release.” God—Emmanuel—is with us now.

Finally, in “The Simplification of Life,” Kelly provides readers with the realities, rationale, and reassurance to prune back the business of our lives, to focus on the one true Person (and priority) who “speaks in us and through us to the world. We have all heard this holy Whisper at times.”[16] Unfortunately, for too many,

Our professional status, our social obligations, our membership in this or that very important organization, put claims upon us. And in frantic fidelity we try to meet at least the necessary minimum of calls upon us. But we’re weary and breathless. And we know and regret that our life is slipping away, with our having tasted so little of the peace and joy and serenity we are persuaded it should yield to a soul of wide caliber. The times for the deeps of the silences of the heart seem so few. And in guilty regret we must postpone till next week that deeper life of unshaken composure in the holy Presence, where we sincerely know our true home is, for this week is much too full.[17]

The cure is simple but costly in the world’s eyes. Kelly remarks, “But if we center down . . . and live in that holy Silence which is dearer than life and take our life program into the silent places of the heart, with complete openness, ready to do, ready to renounce according to His leading, then many of the things we are doing lose their vitality for us.”[18] Therefore, believers need to reconsider and reconnect with the God from truly whom all good things come. They need to exercise their complete and utter joy and delight in Him—“at every hour of the day and night.”[19]

Owen summarizes Thomas Kelly well when he states, “Now I see Kelly as a mystic whose life is one of commitment to the world, not escape from it. And he can be a resource for those of us searching for a worldly engaged spirituality.”[20] Such an appraisal makes great sense as Kelly ends this devotional with the loveliest, most amazing promise of what life can be for God’s children. He writes: “Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time. And it makes our life programs new and overcoming.”[21]

Kelly’s Testament of Devotion provides a trustworthy and inspiring path of fulfilling faith for believers struggling in this world. He concludes, “We need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done, we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well.[22] All we need do is embrace His presence in our hearts, submit to His holy and perfect ways, lean into the Spirit of Jesus in each other, remembering that the chaos and cuts of the world have died on the Cross with Christ, who beckons to us to come to Him, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30, NIV).

Bibliography

Chrysostom, John. On Living Simply: The Golden Voice of John Chrysostom. Liguori: Liguori/Triumph, 1996.

Galli, Mark. “A Life Formed in the Spirit.” Christianity Today (September 2008); https://www.christianitytoday.com/2008/09/life-formed-in-spirit/.

Kelly, Thomas. A Testament of Devotion. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1941. 

Owens, L. Roger. “A Mysticism for Our Time.” Friends Journal (September 2017); https://www.friendsjournal.org/thomas-kelly-mysticism/.

Nouwen, Henry. Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit. E-book: HarperCollins, 2010.

Tsohantaridis, Tim. “The Solid Rock: Healthy Spiritual Formation.” Sacroegoism.com (2016/17); https://www.sacroegoism.com/blog/2024/10/20/spiritual-formation.

Endnotes

[1] Mark Galli, “A Life Formed in the Spirit,” Christianity Today (September 2008); https://www.christianitytoday.com/2008/09/life-formed-in-spirit/.

[2] Henry Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit (E-book: HarperCollins, 2010), 11.

[3] Tim Tsohantaridis, “The Solid Rock: Healthy Spiritual Formation,” Sacroegoism.com

(2016/17); https://www.sacroegoism.com/blog/2024/10/20/spiritual-formation.

[4] John Chrysostom, On Living Simply: The Golden Voice of John Chrysostom (Liguori: Liguori/Triumph, 1996), 32.

[5] Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1941), 31.

[6] Kelly, A Testament, 29.

[7] Kelly, A Testament, 31.

[8] Kelly, A Testament, 32.

[9] Kelly, A Testament, 52.

[10] Kelly, A Testament, 60.

[11] Kelly, A Testament, 75.

[12] Kelly, A Testament, 78.

[13] Kelly, A Testament, 81.

[14] Kelly, A Testament, 87.

[15] Kelly, A Testament, 91.

[16] Kelly, A Testament, 116.

[17] Kelly, A Testament, 112.

[18] Kelly, A Testament, 118.

[19] Kelly, A Testament, 121.

[20] L. Roger Owens, “A Mysticism for Our Time,” Friends Journal (September 2017);

https://www.friendsjournal.org/thomas-kelly-mysticism/.

[21] Kelly, A Testament, 121.

[22] Kelly, A Testament, 124.

The Solid Rock: Healthy Spiritual Formation by Tim Tsohantaridis (2016–2017)

**I found these short essays that Tim had shared with me in one of my Dropbox folders for a spiritual formation book that never officially materialized, sadly. Reading over them, it is great to hear Tim’s wise, loving, beneficent, pastoral admonitions in my head again. I miss my friend and brother-in-Christ.**

The Strongest Foundation

Discipleship programs are foundational to church life today. They take many forms: small groups, intentional communities, cell groups, mid-week Bible studies, early morning men’s or women’s meeting at a popular coffee shop, house meetings, and so on. These opportunities for spiritual growth take a variety of approaches. Some use the teacher/student approach, others are discussions facilitated by a leader, and yet others are very informal where there is a honest openness to the sharing of ideas. All of these programs and others not listed here have a common goal. They are organized to promote spiritual growth, spiritual community, and help in the spiritual development of the people in these communities.

I propose that a very important subject for such groups to study is the development of the biblical foundation of each member’s life. It is not enough that we meet to share, study and pray. Every follower of Christ must posses a biblical foundation for his/her faith. Our philosophy of life (theology of life) must be built on a strong biblical foundation. In the following chapters, I will share the biblical basis for my life as an example. This I do as a lifelong follower of Christ. It was introduced to me during my seminary years at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, when I was asked, “What was the basis for your calling to ministry that led you to the seminary?”

The nourishing of my soul started in the Greek Evangelical Churches in Katerini and Thessaloniki Greece, and later in the Greek Evangelical Church (Boston, MA) under the teaching of Rev. Argos Zodhiates. In the Newton United Presbyterian Church (Newton Corner, MA), I began to practice the skills of my calling under the guidance of Rev. Burton Smith, and was further encouraged by the Rev. James Brantingham of the Evangelical Friends Church in Newport, RI. To these men, I want to publicly say, “Thank you for believing in me;” to their churches, I want to say, “Thank you loving me, nourishing my soul, and for trusting me to practice my faith.” To the many individuals in these communities, “Thank you for being a Christian witness.”

These communities developed in me the hunger and thirst for God, and the passion for a systematic, study of the Holy Scriptures so that I could with the Apostle Paul with confidence say (Philippians 4:8-9), that I trained my mind, and I am also willing to put my life out there as an example of a Christian on his journey with Jesus Christ and the Church.

My Biblical Theology of Life

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (Luke 2:52)

“Finally, brothers, what is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8,9)

“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:16)

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anyone.” (1 Thessalonians 4:11,12)

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1,2)

“….whom I love in the truth…all who know the truth, because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever.” (2 John 1,2:)

“For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8)

The Essence

The following great hymn of the church captures the essence of the foundation upon which a life should be built upon.  The strength and stability of such a foundations give the person the confidence to live life fully. It provides something or someone to lean on, be supported by, and fill one with hope and stay. Jesus had such a foundation and was able to grow in all areas of His life completely. Luke tells (Luke 2:52) of Jesus growing up in all area of His life. All aspects of His personality (spiritual, physical, emotional, social, and intellectual) are mentioned.

“The Solid Rock”

by Edward Mote, 1797–1874

1. My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

2. When darkness seems to hide his face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In ev'ry high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

3. His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

Here, we are given a glimpse of the healthy life built on a strong foundation. A quick observation around us would indicate that many over-emphasize an aspect of life, which they would like to develop.  All around us, we are encouraged to look good, to be healthy, to have the right job, the right home, the right car, to belong to the right group, etc. However, very little is pointing to a comprehensive growth. The hymn declares that one’s life will be built on nothing else.

The Eight Keys to Happiness

It was at a great turning point in his life that the Lord spoke these words to us, which today are known to us as "The Beatitudes." It was when he elected those twelve who would become his apostles, and thus assembled for himself the first nucleus of the body that would become his Church, that he addressed these words to the people. This is inferred from a combined study of Matthew and Luke. All night long he had taught her in prayer, and when the new day dawned, he called his disciples to him, and from them he elected twelve who would now become his apostles.

But the day had not progressed much, and crowds of people, Luke tells us, from all Judea and even from the shores of Tyre and Sidon flocked to the slopes of the mountain, where Christ was with his apostles, and brought their sick to him to heal. It was at some point on this day that Christ lifted his eyes and saw the multitudes of people who had surrounded him, and addressed to them this sermon, which begins with the Beatitudes.

From this sermon, we will take only its beautiful introduction, the Beatitudes, to make them, in a series of nine sermons, the subject of our special study. Today, we will not enter into the content of the Beatitudes, but will confine ourselves to a few general considerations. We will confine ourselves today to standing with that crowd on the mountainside, and to look at the Speaker and take a very general look at His speech.

Or rather, I would say that we will let Him gaze upon us, because that is how this sermon began, which had the Beatitudes as its introduction (and see the mobs), says Matthew (He opened His mouth and taught them). He saw the multitude of people, and there was something in that crowd of people that caused this speech. It was something the Lord saw beneath the surface of that crowd that invited Him, as it were, to address this speech to them. Many see the crowd, but do not see the people who make up the crowd.

But Christ, with the look He cast at that crowd, saw them one by one separately. His gaze embraced every special life represented in that crowd. And he bent down and watched this life carefully, and saw with how many unfulfilled desires this life was filled, and with how many hopes were dashed, and even how many disappointments and bitterness this life had experienced and how many tears it had shed.

That morning on that mountainside a conversation took place between the heart of that crowd and Him, who was the Maker of that heart. The heart said to its Maker, You created me to be an instrument of happiness, You created me to be a receiver of joy. You made me for laughter, for light, for music. But look at me how sin has descended me. Laughter withered on my lips, music faded from my life. And instead of joy, bitterness and pain and tears is my share of life. I have a great need, And that is to rediscover lost joy, to become an instrument of happiness again,

All this was said to Him by the heart of the crowd that morning, and He answered (open, says Matthew, his mouth), and told the crowd that it is possible to regain their lost happiness. This is the meaning of the Beatitudes. Blessed means happy. The beatitudes, then, are nothing but the Lord's answer to that prayer of the human heart to regain its lost happiness. It was as if the Lord said that morning to that crowd and to all of us (I saw your life, I felt your pain, I heard your prayer, and lo and behold, if you want to regain your lost joy, take these keys and unlock the secret of happiness).

That is why Christ came. This is the deeper reason for His coming into our world and into man's life. To give back to man the keys to happiness that he has lost. How misunderstood many people are about Christ's mission in the world. They say (Religion), they say (Gospel), they say (Faith) and in their minds immediately rises the cold and melancholy image of a monastery. People think that Christ came to steal the joy from their lives, that He came to make their lives poorer and uglier, when the reality is exactly the opposite. Christ came to make man's life richer and more beautiful and to give it back the joy it had lost because of sin.

Suffering Just Like Jesus

I just happened upon this email that I sent to a hurting student many years ago, but I think its truths might still be relevant to many people right now:

Dear _________

To say I am sorry to hear about your sufferings is an understatement, to say the least. Life is cruel, at times, and kind, sweet people like you too often bear the brunt of bad tidings and bad treatment. It would not be a sin for you to question God’s allowance of these sorrowful matters. You are human and in pain; you have experienced more abuse and anguish than most people encounter in our brief existence on this side of glory.

Just know, even at home, I am crying inside for you and wish I could just give you a big hug. You are hurting, but you are also loved and approved, broken and all. I hope you are talking to a counselor right now. Emotions can blind us to what hope can prove in time.

Still, life is not hopeless, even amongst sorrowful passages such as yours, right now. You have been hurt by others who should have protected you—just like Jesus. You have prayed to have the storm pass by, but it didn’t—just like Jesus. You are in the whirlwind and are struggling to see God, your Father—just like Jesus. You may feel abandoned by God, but you are not—just like Jesus.

God will rescue and restore you in the end because He is the great Healer. No wound is too deep that he cannot mend it with His unending love. No matter how black the darkness is around you, God’s light of love shines brighter.

God has allowed these things to happen, but like Job in the Old Testament, I don’t think it is because you are a bad person and deserve them. It is more likely because you are a strong person whom He knows can take painful experiences and turn them into inspiration and help for others in the future. I hear your story and I am blown away by your bravery and resilience.

So, be strong and hold on to God even tighter. Anchor yourself to Him. The stronger the wind, the closer you should move into the shelter of His arms. This storm will pass, eventually, and God will not let go of your hand. I promise.

I will be praying for you and want to hear how you are doing, regularly.

God bless.

Love, Knox

MEETING GOD FOR THE FIRST TIME: HANNAH WHITALL SMITH’S PRACTICAL THEOLOGY

A cursory search on the Internet[1] for the question, “Who is God?” provides a plethora of choices from experts in theology, philosophy, and metaphysics speaking on God’s “summary definition,” “15 Attributes,” “Infinite Nature,” and so on. Many (if not all) of these sites provide robust and thorough descriptions about God but lack any interpersonal introductions between the Divine One and mortal beings. They are more informational and observable rather than personal and relational.

In fact, the Bible itself provides one of the best examples of the latter in Exodus 3, when Moses first encounters God in the Burning Bush and God introduces Himself stating, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Eventually, when asked by Moses how to introduce God to the sons of Israel, God’s response is simply perfect and personal—Man: “Who is God?” God: “I AM.”

The Bible also famously laments, “My [God’s] people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos 4:6, NASB) and nothing could be closer to the truth as every good thing comes solely from God and not humanity (Jas 1:17, NASB). Thus, without or apart from Him, we are lost; with Him, “Nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37, NASB).

This reality was not lost on Quaker author and suffragette Hannah Whitall Smith (1832–1911) who powerfully proclaimed, “Comfort and peace never come from anything we know about ourselves, but only and always from what we know about Him.” Therefore, it is no wonder that Smith explicitly wrote her book, The God of All Comfort, “To show what God is, not theologically, nor doctrinally, but simply what He is in actual, practical reality, as the God and Father of each one of us.”[2] As between the Patriarch Abraham and God (Isa 41:8, NASB), Smith yearned to help people in her era (and their churches) build better relationships with God.

In other words, she sought to introduce her readers (many of whom who were suffering from a dysfunctional relationship with their Maker) to the true God of the Bible and the universe, utilizing (perhaps unknowingly) a practical theology approach. As Stephen Pattison notes, “Relationality is as fundamental to practical theology as it is to life itself. Within conversation lies otherness, difference, in-betweenness, togetherness and ultimately friendship and exploration of relationships of all kinds.”[3]

One can definitely sense this sentiment in Smith’s writing, when she explains:

It is our ignorance of God that does it all. Because we do not know Him, we naturally get all sorts of wrong ideas about Him. We think He is an angry Judge who is on the watch for our slightest faults, or a harsh Taskmaster determined to exact from us the uttermost service, or a self-absorbed Deity demanding His full measure of honor and glory, or a far-off Sovereign concerned only with His own affairs and indifferent to our welfare.[4] 

Moreover, according to Smith,

We may spend our days in what we call our religious duties, and we may fill our devotions with fervor, and still may be miserable. Nothing can set our hearts at rest but a real acquaintance with God; for, after all, everything in our salvation must depend upon Him in the last instance; and, according as He is worthy or not of our confidence, so must necessarily be our comfort.[5] 

Smith spends the next two chapters of The God of All Comforts striving to bridge the rift between people and God—through Jesus Christ, so that “[their] religious lives ought to be full of joy, and peace, and comfort, and that, if we become better acquainted with God, they will be.”[6] This aligns well with Bebbington’s understanding of an evangelical practical theology,[7] which exhibits four distinctive characteristics:

         1. Biblicism: through history, evangelicals have used a mix of tradition, experience, and reason. However, the Bible is always seen to have ultimate authority in all aspects of faith and practice.

         2. Crucicentrism: the death of Christ on the cross, and his resurrection from the grave, are held as centrally important by evangelicals.

         3. Conversionism: evangelicals believe that there needs to be a definite turning away from a sinful life to living in the way of Jesus Christ.

         4. Activism: evangelical faith moves its adherents to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. 

         Demonstrating this, Smith takes great pains to be sure her readers comprehend the quintessential intersections between God, Jesus, and humanity. She writes, “If we would know then the length, and breadth, and height, and depth of what God meant when He gave to Moses that apparently unfinished name of ‘I am,’ we shall find it revealed in Christ.”[8] Ultimately, “Only in Christ do we see God as He is; for Christ is declared to be the ‘express image’ of God.”[9]Moreover, “Christ revealed God by what He was, by what He did, and by what He said.”[10]

Dangerously, in Smith’s estimation,

If, in short, we have imagined [God] in any way other than that which has been revealed to us in “the face of Jesus Christ, we must go back in all simplicity of heart to the records of that lovely life, lived in human guise among men, and must bring our conceptions of God into perfect accord with the character and ways of Him who declares that He came to manifest the name of God to men.[11] 

Instead, she recommends, “It becomes, not only our privilege, but our bounded duty to cast out of our conception of God every element that could in any way conflict with the blessed life and character and teaching of Christ.”[12] This is how God can truly become “the God of all comforts”[13] for His followers rather than letting them remain distrustful doubters who “Spread gloom and discomfort around them wherever they go.”[14]

Smith concludes her chapter with a practical appraisal of the right way and the wrong way to exercise one’s faith. She writes: “Christ comforts, man scolds. Christ’s Gospel is always good news, and never bad news. Man’s gospel is generally a mixture of a little good news and a great deal of bad news; and even where it tries to be good news, it is so hampered with ‘ifs’ and ‘buts,’ and with all sorts of man-made conditions, that it utterly fails to bring any lasting joy or comfort.”[15] Christ died to being humanity joy, not downheartedness or defeat.

Fortunately for all her readers, Smith provides a welcome remedy to this malady:

If we want to be comforted, we must make up our minds to believe every single solitary word of comfort God has ever spoken; and we must refuse utterly to listen to any words of discomfort spoken by our own hearts, or by our circumstances. We must set our faces like a flint to believe, under each and every sorrow and trial, in the divine Comforter, and to accept and rejoice in His all-embracing comfort.[16] 

In a secularized, humanist, postmodern world that craves reasons to abandon God and to fall into the darkness of cynicism and distrust, Jesus’s words in John 6:67–70 and Peter’s immediate response to Him still ring true today: “So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to leave also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’” Likewise, Jesus’s followers are not to fear nor be weary for we have the gift of personally knowing our loving Savior and God who died for us to comfort us, eternally (Ps 147:3).

Bibliography

Bebbington, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s. London: Unwin Hyman, 1989.

Pattison, Stephen. “Conversations in Practical Theology.” Practical Theology 13, no. 1–2 (2020): 87–94. doi:10.1080/1756073X.2020.1722345.

Smith, Hannah Whitall. The God of All Comfort. E-book: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2024.

Endnotes

[1] “Who is God;” https://www.google.com/?client=safari. Accessed 09/28/2024.

[2] Hannah Whitall Smith, The God of All Comfort (E-book: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2024), 10.

[3] Stephen Pattison, “Conversations in Practical Theology,” Practical Theology 13, no. 1–2 (2020): 92. doi:10.1080/1756073X.2020.1722345.

[4] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 7.

[5] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 11.

[6] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 12.

[7] David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989), 2–17.

[8] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 20.

[9] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 19.

[10] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 19.

[11] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 23.

[12] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 24–25.

[13] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 29.

[14] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 29.

[15] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 45.

[16] Smith, The God of All Comfort, 43.

JOHN WOOLMAN: APPLIED CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIAL HEALING

In 1959, American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) provocatively wrote, “The basic difficulty of the church is that it is not facing the central moral problems of our era . . . It embroiders life with its little amenities, but it does not change the pattern.”[1] Sadly (but perhaps not unexpectedly), this diagnosis is ubiquitous in the historical annals of the church. One can easily find other concerned critiques (throughout the centuries) of the church lapsing into cold-hearted apathy or rationalized abuses in the works and writings of St. Paul, Ambrose of Milan, Berno of Cluny, Teresa of Avila, Jan Hus, Martin Luther, George Whitefield, and so on. In eighteenth-century America, many in Christian society also lamented that the church had once again slid into sinfulness and dysfunctionality, with numerous heralds (from all denominations) calling out for sincere reflection, repentance, and restoration of proper Christian morality in the lives of God’s chosen people.

One such harbinger was Quaker preacher and activist John Woolman (1720–1772), who tirelessly shared his Christian cultural convictions with many congregations and communities along his journey through the colonies and into the borderlands of the American frontier. In his journal, Woolman wrote, “While I was on this journey, my heart was much affected with a sense of the state of the churches in our southern provinces; and believing the Lord was calling me to some further labor among them, I was bowed in reverence before him, with fervent desires that I might find strength to resign myself to his heavenly will.”[2] He felt called by God to apply his Christian convictions in all areas of social existence and injustices that violated his sacred Quaker beliefs.

For Woolman, far too many colonists had adopted an unacceptable way of life and ungodly attitudes for those calling themselves, “Christian.” He bemoaned, “but for lack of steadily regarding this principle of Divine love, a selfish spirit takes place in the minds of people, which is attended with darkness and manifold confusions in the world.”[3]Instead, Woolman sought to share his inward sense of God’s loving, holy direction for himself and his brothers and sisters in Christ. He testified, “Words were spoken to my inward ear, which filled my whole inward man: they were not the effect of thought, nor any conclusion in relation to the appearance, but as the language of the Holy One spoken in my mind; the words were: Certain Evidence of Divine Truth.”[4]

In particular, Woolman addressed the problems that he personally observed in American colonial life—specifically regarding the overall hostility of his countrymen, the evils of the slave trade, exploitative taxation, and unreasonable conscriptions. Woolman noted in his journal,

It appeared to me, that through the prevailing of the spirit of this world, the minds of many were brought to inward desolation; and instead of the spirit of meekness, gentleness and heavenly wisdom, which are the necessary companions of the true sheep of Christ, a spirit of fierceness and the love of dominion, too generally prevailed.[5] 

This fierceness was no better perceived than in the mistreatments, oppression, and apathetic Christian acceptance of the African slave trade in America. Woolman wrote, “Conduct is more convincing than language; and where people, by their actions, manifest that the slave-trade is not so disagreeable to their principles but that it may be encouraged, there is not a sound uniting with some Friends who visit them.” Moreover, Woolman added, “If the white people retain a resolution to prefer their outward prospects of gain to all other considerations, and do not act conscientiously toward them [the slaves] as fellow creatures, I believe that burden will grow heavier and heavier, until times change in a way disagreeable to us.”[6] Woolman’s prediction was remarkably-yet-regrettably found to be true as evidenced by the American Civil war, nearly a hundred years later.

Regarding the taxation imposed upon the colonists by the British Empire for their hegemonic pursuits, Woolman confessed, “A few years past, money being made current in our province for carrying on wars, and to be called in again by taxes laid on the inhabitants, my mind was often affected with the thoughts of paying such taxes; and I believe it right for me to preserve a memorandum concerning it.”[7] Being a Quaker, Woolman found the prospect of his taxes funding any warfare vexatious to his religious scruples. Although he had no outward desire to rebel against the British government, “To refuse the active payment of a tax which our Society generally paid, was exceedingly disagreeable; but to do a thing contrary to my conscience, appeared yet more dreadful.”[8]

Taking it even one step further, Woolman thereafter advocated the more noble, godly path of pacifism, explaining, “It requires great self-denial and resignation of ourselves to God, to attain that state wherein we can freely cease from fighting when wrongfully invaded, if by our fighting, there was a probability of overcoming the invaders.”[9] According to Woolman (and many others), “They could not bear arms for conscience-sake; nor could they hire any to go in their places, being resigned as to the event of it.”[10] Thus, as for conscriptions, Woolman confessed, “I was fully convinced that the proceedings in wars are inconsistent with the purity of the Christian religion; and to be hired to entertain men, who were then under pay as soldiers, was a difficulty with me.”[11] He knew this would not sit well with the British military, but he was more concerned with first pleasing God.

In all these important social affairs, Woolman demonstrated his heartfelt beliefs that in the business of life, by embracing “a sympathizing tenderness with the sheep of Christ”—and by obeying the dictates of our Heavenly Lord over the demands of our earthly lords (regardless of the social difficulties brought about because of one’s convictions)—“True unity may still be preserved among us.”[12] Ultimately, Woolman’s final admonition in chapter six of his journal offers a divinely beneficent and accomplishable path toward healing and holiness in American society—mainly because it depends more upon God’s power and wisdom than our own.

Woolman concludes:

If we humbly meditate on his perfections, consider that he is perfect wisdom and goodness, and that to afflict his creatures to no purpose, would be utterly averse to his nature, we shall hear and understand his language, both in his gentle and more heavy chastisements; and take heed that we do not, in the wisdom of this world, endeavor to escape his hand by means too powerful for us.[13] 

Woolman’s understanding of Christianity (and the world) was true in the darkness of his own culturally chaotic era and, some two hundred and fifty years later, it still stands true today.

Regarding the “operations of divine love,”[14] Woolman’s applied apologetic can perhaps be best summed up by the chorus in Gene MacLellan’s song, “Put Your Hand in the Hand,” composed in 1970 and sung by Canadian vocal artist Anne Murray:[15]

Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water,
Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea,
Take a look at yourself and you can look at others differently,
By putting your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee.

As so often espoused by John Woolman, God’s way for His people is the only way for true peace and harmony because it was, is, and will always be the best, holiest way. Any other mortal recourse can only lead to increased “judgment, oppression, discord, envy and confusions.”[16]

Bibliography

MacLellan, Gene. “Put Your Hand in the Hand.” In Honey, Wheat and Laughter (LP). Toronto: Capitol, 1970.

Niebuhr, Reinhold. “The Weakness of the Modern Church.” In Essays in Applied Christianity: The Church and the New World. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1959. 

Woolman, John. The Journal and Writings of John Woolman. Ebook: Friends Library Publishing, 2024.

[1] Reinhold Niebuhr, “The Weakness of the Modern Church,” in Essays in Applied Christianity: The Church and the New World (Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1959), 69–70.

[2] John Woolman, The Journal and Writings of John Woolman (Ebook: Friends Library Publishing, 2023), 54.

[3] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 57.

[4] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 61.

[5] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 70.

[6] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 67.

[7] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 76–77.

[8] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 78.

[9] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 81.

[10] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 84.

[11] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 85.

[12] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 95.

[13] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 96.

[14] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 14.

[15] Gene MacLellan, “Put Your Hand in the Hand,” in Honey, Wheat and Laughter (LP) (Toronto: Capitol, 1970), Track A1.

[16] Woolman, The Journal and Writings, 97.