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Legacy of Light: Quakers in America
| Article
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23246 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 2003 |
3,435 Words |
| Author
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Helen Mondloch
Helen Mondloch is a freelance writer. |
In both England and colonial America, Quakers suffered harsh persecution for their defiance of the established order. They also endured hurts inflicted by fanaticism within their own ranks, an Inner Light that occasionally burned out of control. Nevertheless, Quaker influence flourished, reaching a pinnacle in William Penn's Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania, an enterprise still celebrated as this country's fountainhead of religious tolerance. Moreover, despite a period of intense internal division, Quakers played a pivotal role in the abolition of slavery, the rise of women's rights, and the modern peace movement.
In The People Called Quakers, D. Elton Trueblood describes the first forty years of the Quaker movement (1650--1690) as something resembling a "cultural and religious storm," driven by a force of "terrific gusto." Trueblood quotes historian George Bancroft, who once averred that "the rise of people called Quakers is one of the memorable events in the history of man."
Trueblood contends that the dynamism of the early Quakers is evidenced by the names they assigned themselves. One was Children of the Light, a term adopted from several passages of the New Testament. Similarly, the title Friends derives from John 15:15, in which Jesus tells his disciples, "I have called you friends. ..." The term quaker was originally intended as an insult by the group's detractors, who mocked them for appearing to shake and tremble when professing their faith. The nickname became an "unintended compliment," according to Trueblood, affirming the extreme vitality of a movement that could not be suppressed.
Movement of bold
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