I’m reading a history of Baptists in Alabama, and it’s tough going. After several days, I’m only as far as 1850. Yet the book is well-written, the story often absorbing; so what’s the trouble? This: almost every paragraph evokes parallels to current events in North Carolina Yearly Meeting of pastoral Quakers.
All-One Faith! All-One Soap! Here’s the man behind it all, live from Escondido. By Chuck Fager – Summer 1976 On March 9, 1945, a man named Fred Walcher got himself crucified. In Chicago, on the framework under an el station, after dark. When the cops found him and pulled him down, bleeding and semi-conscious, he … Continue reading Dr. Bronner, Magic Soap & Me
Be honest: Could you say “No” to “the war to end wars”? Turns out that president Woodrow Wilson didn’t coin that phrase, and reportedly only used it in public once. But it doesn’t matter. The phrase, along with one that Wilson did use, “to make the world safe for democracy,” became key pieces of a … Continue reading Progressive & Liberal American Quakers Face World War One
While reading about and “living with” Progressive Friends, I was inspired by several of the memorable personalities I walked with. I admired and learned from all of them, as well as others who interacted with them. But there’s one Friend I identified with especially: Samuel M. Janney. This was something of a surprise. Janney … Continue reading Progressive Friends & That Haunting Face In The Mirror: Hoping History Won’t Repeat — Or Rhyme Too Much
Researching and writing about Progressive Friends took up most of my time from the autumn of 2013 through the spring of 2014. Often this was a paradoxical experience: from one angle, it was a very solitary effort: from another, very crowded. I did this research at Pendle Hill in Pennsylvania, as the Cadbury research scholar … Continue reading Dog Days Diversions: Alone Together: Living With & Writing About Progressive Friends