The Creation of Modern Quaker Diversity, 1830–1937

The Creation of Modern Quaker Diversity, 1830-1937 utilizes a fresh approach to denominational history, eschewing excruciating theological minutia and partisan triumphalism. Edited by Stephen W. Angell, Pink Dandelion, and David Harrington Watt, the volume adroitly avoids these missteps by renouncing any single interpretive narrative. Instead, Watt extols these “differing perspectives” in his afterword as a “strength of the book” within which “fluid historiographies are far more interesting than frozen ones” (276-277, 280). This approach ensures that “programmed” Evangelical Quakers are not treated as poor step-sisters, especially since their numbers exceed those of “unprogrammed” Liberal Quakers (94, 279-280). All who call themselves Friends are included.

This book—the fourth in a five-volume series—covers a time span of constant upheaval, as Dandelion details in the book’s introduction:

Quakerism between 1830 and 1937 underwent a revolution. It split dramatically and severally and then partially gathered itself back together. It created new liturgical forms and became a global faith thanks to missionary efforts....It was a spreading out of the Quaker faith in many senses—a remapping of the Quaker world (12-13).

The schisms were often acrimonious and dramatic. The “Programmed” branches shed many long-held Quaker traditions by adding paid ministers, hymn singing, and revivals. Thomas Hamm notes that “few religious groups have ever been transformed so dramatically in so short a period of time” as American Gurneyite Quakers (93). This has world-wide implications, since Holiness-inspired Quakerism sponsored missionary enterprises.

The “gathering itself back together” raises questions about Quaker distinctiveness, skillfully addressed in Emma Jones Lapsansky‘s “The Loss of Peculiarity and the New Quaker Identity.” She notes how working alongside non-Quakers—whether in Abolition or Holiness revivals—led to the loosening of Quaker-specific restrictions (65). What unifies Quakers instead of visible markers like simple dress are:

Three foundational, unifying aspects of their faith: (1) tracing their origins, beliefs, and behaviors to the model and experiences of a few dozen seventeenth-century British Friends… (2) focusing energies on eradicating suffering and violence in themselves, their communities, and the world around them; and (3) mounting stiff resistance to what they see as corrupt government (72).

These shared values among Quakers inspired Lucretia Mott’s involvement in Abolition and women’s rights (40, 104), John Bright’s role in keeping Britain from supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War (236-237), organizations like the American Friends’ Service Committee (228-230, 180) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation (222), and Herbert Hoover’s massive administration of World War I relief efforts in Europe (241, 243).

Gender equality is addressed in every chapter. Prominent female Friends like Elizabeth Heyrick, Caroline Stephen, Emma Malone, Margaret Thorp—and even women that make one squirm, like Daisy Douglass Barr, a Ku Klux Klan leader (186)—illustrate the full incorporation of women in Quaker public life. Holiness Quaker missionaries “championed the interests of women, especially in their embrace of women’s ministry,” rendering spiritual equality a denominational feature that distinguished Quakers from other Protestant missionaries (197). 

Issues of race, class, and imperialism were more problematic. Missionizing necessarily cooperated with the imperial dominion of Britain and the United States. The first chapter pointedly asks if “Quaker ‘testimonies’ (such as their peace testimony) effectively challenged imperial powers . . . or, alternatively, supplied moral cover to imperial endeavours” (18). The answers reveal ambiguities (175, 186). Converts maintained their own agency, for example. And when Christian exclusivism proved culturally inimical, as it did in Japan (206), converts found in the Quaker concept of the “Inner Light” a degree of flexibility that Liberal Unprogrammed Quakers emphasized: “the Quaker version of the Christian gospel, centered on attention to the ‘light of Christ within,’ implicitly allowed inclusivist or pluralist appropriations of the Quaker message, with its ethical and spiritual claims open to coexistence alongside other religious systems” (211).

Richard Kent Evans’ chapter on “Quakers and ‘Religious Madness’” is a masterpiece of detective scholarship. He charts how Quakers moved from being seen as “dangerous” and emotionally unstable to being the paragon of spiritual stability. They performed this peculiar transformation via their mental health professionalism, by which Quakers redefined “religious madness.” This dovetailed with William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience, which assessed Quakerism as a religion of “healthy-mindedness”; in turn, James’ book received the enthusiastic endorsement of Quaker meetings (125).

The Creation of Modern Quaker Diversity is a remarkably unified collection of superb essays. The editorial team of Watt, Dandelion, and Angell imposed no interpretive agenda, but incorporated cross-referencing across the volume and a comprehensive index. Most chapters have strong concluding paragraphs that provide palpable touchstones. My only complaint is that the apparent vendetta against Rufus Jones as the “inventor” of Quaker history is misplaced. The Society could have done a lot worse than having Jones at the fount of its history, singling out Quakerism’s mystical bent (129-130) and emphasizing its self-corrective tendencies (274). The objection to Jones is really an objection to normative narratives—and this volume more than corrects that defect, especially since scholarship in Quaker history has burgeoned since the Rowntree Series that Jones edited (almost 20 percent of this volume is in citations).

This volume and series deserve to attract readers from inside and outside the denomination who will embrace this collection as an intrinsically diverse replacement for single-author magisterial histories. The book requires some patience from its readers, as the multi-pronged history of Quakerism gradually comes into focus. Ultimately, the essays reveal a common core across all denominational manifestations, encouraging self-examination, while cultivating action rooted in shared humanity. The Society has not realized its ideals perfectly; these authors are unafraid of mentioning contradictions and shortcomings. But the fact remains that key components of the modern human story—gender equality, the abolition of slavery, the alleviation of wartime suffering—cannot be told without the Quakers. Let us hope that the synoptic approach of The Creation of Modern Quaker Diversity attracts readers as insightful as the essays it holds.

Jennifer Rycenga is professor emerita of religious studies and interdisciplinary humanities at San José State University.

Jennifer Rycenga

Date Of Review:

April 17, 2024