. . . I grew up in a large, mildly liberal pastoral Friends meeting in Indianapolis. Amiable but tepid, it gave me little to rebel against, but not much to inspire or motivate me either. I did not attend any church or meeting during my college years. But I had a spiritual sense that gravitated … Continue reading “Passing The Torch”, Author Doug Gwyn: “I received a distinct calling . . .”
Quakers are often very interesting people. And generations come and go. These are the modest theses behind the new book, Passing the Torch. In fifty-plus years among The Religious Society of Friends (our rather pompous official name), its members, attenders, hangers-on and even antagonists, I have kept bumping into and hearing about interesting people. And … Continue reading Why “Passing the Torch”? And Why Now?
Helena Cobban I was born into a very traditional (Church of England, Conservative-voting) family of the British upper middle class. I was 14 when the Israeli-Arab war of 1967 broke out. As I recall it, just about all the news coverage on our grainy black-and-white television and in the two newspapers my father took, the … Continue reading “Passing The Torch” Authors Speak #3: “I utterly and humiliatingly lost my nerve. . . .”
Carter Nash is one of the authors of the new book by and about American Quaker elders, Passing The Torch: I’m a 65-year-old gay man of African descent. I was born in Huntington, West Virginia at a time when Jim Crow laws were still in effect. The hospital I was born in was segregated and … Continue reading “Passing the Torch” – “I did a year in prison for that . . .” “Passing The Torch” Authors Speak #2
I went looking for interesting Quakers with interesting lives and stories for the new book Passing the Torch, which is now out. Barbara Bernsten certainly qualifies. She has lived in Norway for many years. But she’s American born, and I first heard of and from her more than ten years ago, in an email to … Continue reading “Passing The Torch” – “Pray for Segregation!” The Authors Speak (First in a series)