History ... books ...
Here is a short selection of
books on Quaker history, with details
following below:
William Braithwaite:
The Beginnings
Of Quakerism To 1660 (1912, 2nd ed
1955)
The Second Period Of Quakerism
(1919, 2nd ed 1961)
John Punshon:
Portrait in Grey (1984, 2nd ed 2006)
H
Larry
Ingle: First
Among Friends: George Fox & the
Creation of Quakerism (1994)
Pink Dandelion:
An
Introduction
to
Quakerism (2007)
The
Quakers:
A
Very
Short
Introduction (2008)
and from more of a North American perspective:
Howard Brinton:
Friends for
300 Years (1952)
reissued
in
2002
as
Friends for 350
Years.
Details of the above books with covers
The standard history of the early days of the Quaker
movement, based largely on the writings of the first Friends by William
Braithwaite (President of the Woodbrooke Settlement,
Birmingham UK) with an introduction by Rufus M. Jones, Professor of
Philosophy, Haverford College USA
The Second Period Of Quakerism
is a sequel to The Beginnings of
Quakerism and
covers the years 1660 to 1725.
From the beginning of Chapter 2: Religious
movements develop with the help of a favouring environment, but they
spring out of great personal experiences. The fresh truth roots itself
in life before it can be uttered in a message. This is certainly the
case with the Quaker movement of the seventeenth century. It sprang
directly from the vital and vitalizing experience of its founder,
George Fox, whose purity and sincerity of nature gave his witness
extraordinary force.
The text of The Beginnings of
Quakerism can be found online here.
John
Punshon was Quaker Studies Tutor at Woodbroke and Professor at Earlham
Schol of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
He has written
perhaps the standard British short history of the Quakers.
From the Foreword: The Quakers
are an interesting if not a puzzling phenomenon. They worship in
silence but publish a continuous stream of books and pamphlets largely
about themselves. They proclaim a great message, yet do it in
curiously muted tones. They much prefer to travel hopefully than to
arrive. To outsiders they are frequently annoying.
First
edition
Second edition
Find this at Friends House bookshop
H Larry Ingle is Professor of History at the University
of Tennessee-Chattanooga and was president of the Friends' Historical
Society in Britain for 1997.
George Fox and the Creation of
Quakerism
From the back cover: This
book has - a strong interest and empathy for its subject, and
meticulous scholarship with intellectual honesty - the best Quaker
biographical study to date... This is anything but a dry historical
tome. Chapters have 17th century English proverbs for titles -
not only "Lads will be men" and "No time like the present" but also
"When the fox preaches then beware your geese" and "The fox runs as
long as he has feet".
Published by Oxford University Press
(Ben) Pink Dandelion directs the work of the Centre for
Postgraduate Studies at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre.
An
Introduction to Quakerism
(left) is the first comprehensive introduction to Quakerism which
balances a history of the theology of the Quakers or Friends with an
overview of present day practice. It
charts the growth of the
Quaker
movement through the 1650s and 1660s, its different theological
emphasis in the eighteenth century, and the schisms of the nineteenth
century which resulted in the range of Quaker traditions found around
the world today ... The second half of the book uses extracts from
Quaker texts to highlight differences in belief and approach between
the different traditions and analyses their future prospects.
The Quakers -
A Very Short
Introduction (right) charts the history of Quakerism and its
present-day
diversity, and outlines its approach to worship, belief, theology,
language and ecumenism.
Copies of some pages (and more details) of An Introduction to Quakerism can be
seen here,
and
of
A
Very
Short Introduction here.
Friends for
350 years is
the updated edition of Brinton's classic overview of basic
Quaker understandings, practices, and history. Topics covered include
the Light within, meeting for worship, vocal ministry, reaching
decisions, the meeting community, the meeting and the world and the
four periods of Quaker history (now updated by Margaret Hope Bacon to
include the last 50
years).
