It's been a busy month here at Barclay Press, as we prepare for Northwest Yearly Meeting annual sessions at George Fox University. We'll be releasing two new titles during Yearly Meeting and now have them both available for pre-order.
Face to Face: Early Quaker Encounters with the Bible is the first of three volumes from T. Vail Palmer offering what C. Wess Daniels has called "the most comprehensive Quaker theology ever written." This first volume offers a "systematic look at Quakers' understanding and theology of the Bible." The second volume is scheduled for release in mid-2017.
In Close to the Ground: A Collection of Poems, Nancy Thomas explores "the grace of God hidden in the ordinariness of life." The first section, “Playing with Words,” celebrates language. In the second section, “Family Album,” Nancy celebrates memory, one of the ancient traditions of the Christian faith. The third section, “The Absurdity of Prayer,” focuses on the human side of our relationship with God. It notices the klutziness of being the church. It celebrates spirituality with dirt on its face and saints with sullied reputations. The final section, “Longing for Home,” affirms the hope of resurrection and new life.
I've spent a lot of time with both of these books over the last few months, and I'm convinced of the importance of both titles. Nancy's collection challenges me to think more creatively and to interact more playfully in my prayerful noticings of God with me. Vail's work offers perspective I wish I'd had years ago about what the Bible was for early Quakers and how their readings might offer life to us today. Please feel free to write me about your own experience with either title. I'd love to hear from you.
Eric Muhr
Reading the Bible with empathy
In his book set for release later this month, T. Vail Palmer, Jr., writes that "through most of our history, Friends have taken the Bible seriously and have looked to it for guidance. Friends have been leaders in testifying against war and working for peace, in recognizing the equality of women and men in Christian ministry, in working against slavery and advocating for social justice."
Yet he notes that we find in the Bible, passages that instruct women to be silent in the churches (1 Corinthians 14:34), that call for the destruction of entire people groups (1 Samuel 15:2-3), that suggest poverty is intractable (Matthew 26:11), that require the submission of slaves (Titus 2:9).
"The earliest Friends constantly quoted the Bible," Palmer writes, "and it is clear that their pioneering positions on matters such as war, women’s ministry, and justice derive from their understanding of the Bible."
"How can this be?" he asks.
This question is vital. It's why I'm convinced that Palmer's book, Face to Face: Early Quaker Encounters with the Bible, is important. It sometimes seems—in the presence of cultural change—that the Bible is more hindrance than help. But Palmer's study of how early Quakers used scripture offers some old approaches to the Bible that just might breathe new life into our contemporary contexts.
Here's one of Palmer's noticings: "The writings of George Fox, Edward Burrough, and Margaret Fell demonstrate that at least these three, first-generation Friends, were reading the Bible with empathy. For them the heart of the Bible lay in its personal narratives. Out of this empathetic reading emerged not only some of their strange behaviors . . . but also their innovative understanding of the Christian way of life."
And there is more.
Here at Barclay Press, we're working to have the first run done by Monday, July 25. I hope you'll get a copy. I think you'll find Palmer's work as helpful as I have.
Eric Muhr
Culture only takes us so far
I once heard someone define culture as a kind of collection of answers to everyday problems. Not necessarily the best answers. Just good enough for us to function without having to analyze every decision. This morning, I put on clothes, ate breakfast, drove on the right side of the road, placed my order at the coffee shop in ounces and with English words. I didn't have to think very hard about any of it.
That's culture. But culture only takes us so far.
Sometimes we find ourselves in new places. Sometimes we don't know the answer (or even the language). Sometimes this not knowing is fun and creative—a welcome challenge. Sometimes it's not.
Yesterday's study in Illuminate considers Paul's discussion of eating food sacrificed to idols (1 Corinthians 8). It's a question that used to have a clear answer for the Corinthians but that—as a result of freedom found in Christ—no longer does. They had to figure out what to do, and they didn't all just agree, probably at least in part because many of the believers came from different sub-cultures (a discussion for another time).
Kara Wenger suggests the tension was between license and legalism. As if we could blame the problem on those disrespectful kids who just want to get away with stuff and don't care about the rules. As if we could blame the problem on those stodgy, old traditionalists who are stuck in the past.
When it comes to real people, it's never quite that cut and dried. Unfortunately.
The benefit of culture is that it saves us time, makes it easier to function in a world where other people can't be avoided. It helps us to get along. The problem is that culture keeps moving. It is dynamic and fluid, subject to change without notice.
Kind of like people.
So what do we do?
Kara suggests we approach the question, whatever it is, through love—love of God and love for each other: "The church's goal should be to love." And she challenges us to remember that "how [we] treat one another through life's ups and downs . . . building each other up in love" is ultimately the only answer to whatever cultural question we face.
So what questions are you facing today? And in the face of those questions, how are you doing at loving one another?
Eric Muhr