Re: Shaker- Quaker connection
-
In reply to:
Re: Shaker- Quaker connection
Eugene Stackhouse 5/09/01
Hi Gene
You wrote:
Quakerism still exists. There are many Quakers in the US.
I live in Germantown in Philadelphia and there are 2 Quaker Meetings withing walking distance.
Oh, no argument. I have a huge number of ancestors who were Quaker, stretching from the mid 1600s to the late 1800s, around eight generations on many lines. I am enormously proud of my Quaker heritage. See:
http://geocities.com/robbi01/quaker/http://geocities.com/robbi01/quaker/
You wrote:
I am desended from a whole bunch
There are many Quakers in Pennsylvania.
Most of us don't consider the Quakers "weird".
By today's standards?Good grief, by today's standards even Jehovah's Witnesses are considered weird. By today's standards Amish are considered weird (yet their dress was influenced by Quakers. By today's standards Jewish hassidim are considered weird. But I am telling you: the world would be a better place if we adopted some of the Quaker's "weirdness."
You wrote:
I disagree with their politics but they aren't weird.
I AGREE with their politics. I AGREE with their integrity. I AGREE with their emphasis on this world instead of pie-in-the-sky. I AGREE with their stress on morals and ethics over theology and dogma. And, I happen to agree with William James that they are a sect almost impossible to over-praise.
They were never a majority religion, except for a short time in Rhode Island, and for a short time in southeastern Pennsylvania.But the positive impact of their influence is enormous.
I notice you try to paint them as "mainstream" or "conformists." That is inaccurate. They were imprisoned as non-conformists in Britains Restoration years (1860-1888). They were persecuted by Massachusetts' Puritan establishment almost constantly from even earlier.
They were not yes-men for the status quo. They were hardly conformists, or mainstream establishmentarians. Instead, they were an affront and a challenge to the ruling powers of religion. Their voice was a prophetic one, a "radical" one, if by radical we mean to boldly rebuke the error and complacency they saw, risking persecution, even prosecution by the powers-of-their-day.
You wrote:
The Shakers (or Shaking Quakers) were an offshoot of early Quakerism.
The young man asked for some information.
Do you have any details?
More Replies:
-
Re: Shaker- Quaker connection
Eugene Stackhouse 5/10/01
-
Re: Shaker- Quaker connection
5/10/01
-
Re: Shaker- Quaker connection
Eugene Stackhouse 5/10/01
-
Re: Shaker- Quaker connection
-
Re: Shaker- Quaker connection