Customer Reviews

Apocalypse of the Word: The Life and Message of George Fox (1624-1691)

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George Fox is certainly the most significant of the religious radicals of the English Seventeenth century having been instrumental in consolidating disparate religious tendencies and forming into a united movements of Quakers that have lasted through to the 21st century, the only group that was formed in the English Commonwealth period to do so (although the Baptists who formed earlier in the century have also persisted to the present).

I have seen Gwyn's Apocalypse of the Word referenced quite often by Quakers and, on occasion, this book has been cited as a reason for first exploring Quakerism. What is interesting about such testimonies is the implication that contemporary Quakerism and its earlier manifestations while certainly in tension are consistent and in continuity with each other. Elsewhere in the world that may not be a particularly startling implication but in a UK context when Quakerism seems has been moving in an increasingly post-Christian direction the assumption is intriguing since it seems clear that whatever else he was Fox was clearly working in an avowedly Christian context and placed Christ at the centre of his work. Certainly a few years ago I would have doubted such a continuity and would have asserted that Quaker practice had departed from its forebears to its detriment (and as someone who appreciates the more spiritualistic wing of Anabaptism that was to my significant regret). That many contemporary Quakers have turned away from Foxian Christianity seems a tenet of the New Foundation Fellowhip. Such a response is of course not new; quite early on The Keithian Baptist movement among the Friends struck similar chords. All this is by way of preface to the comment that while I would still be sympathetic to the view Apocalypse of the Word, if an accurate statement of Fox's thought, leads me to think a great deal more circumspection should apply to such views. The reason being, quite simply, that Fox's theology was a lot more radical than I expected.

I can see why this book has played an important part in some person's spiritual journey; it is a well written and theologically provocative book.

The subtitle promotes this as being a book on both the life and message and George Fox, although both are present the former is limited and I suspect those seeking a more strictly historical view will find better sources elsewhere.

The central thesis of the book, which began as Gwyn's Phd thesis is that attempts to of scholars to locate early Quakerism as a mystical (Rufus Jones) or Puritan (Geoffrey Nuttall) movement are wide of the mark. Quakerism, as seen through the thought of George Fox was centred on a radical christology in which Christ revealed himself to those convinced of the Quaker message to literally be the harbinger of God's kingdom. Christology then is less the doctrine of Christ but the continuing experience of Christ, who is the Light, and incorporation into the everlasting gospel.

Overall, this is an excellent book that has really opened up the vitality of early Quaker thought for me and helped me to understand the course of its later developments.