First among Friends: George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism [Paperback]

H. Larry Ingle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 1996

In First Among Friends, the first scholarly biography of George Fox (1624-91), H. Larry Ingle examines the fascinating life of the reformation leader and founding organizer of the Religious Society of Friends, more popularly known today as the Quakers.
Ingle places Fox within the upheavals of the English Civil Wars, Revolution, and Restoration, showing him and his band of "rude" disciples challenging the status quo, particularly during the Cromwellian Interregnum. Unlike leaders of similar groups, Fox responded to the conservatism of the Stuart restoration by facing down challenges from internal dissidents, and leading his followers to persevere until the 1689 Act of Toleration. It was this same sense of perseverance that helped the Quakers to survive and remain the only religious sect of the era still existing today.
This insightful study uses broad research in contemporary manuscripts and pamphlets, many never examined systematically before. Firmly grounded in primary sources and enriched with gripping detail, this well-written and original study reveals unknown sides of one who was clearly "First Among Friends."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The last three decades have seen a remarkable development in Quaker historiography...Larry Ingle's extraordinary biography of George Fox is not only a fitting contribution to this corpus, but the essential starting place for the next generation of scholars."--Albion

"Ingle tells his story sensibly and responsibly, making careful use of Fox's Journal and the other (happily plentiful) Quaker sources...Valuable in reminding us of the most important dimension of the history of the seventeenth century, which was the searing intensity of its religious beliefs."--New Republic

"A valuable book that fills a long-felt need...A biography of Fox that is respectful and thorough but not overly reverential or hagiographical."--Sixteenth Century Journal

"Larry Ingle's First Among Friends is a landmark work of Quaker history. Anyone who seeks to understand the origins and essence of the Society of Friends could do no better than to read it. Certainly every Friends' meeting should own it, and every Friend should read it. The book's scholarship is pioneering, its style solicitous, and its insights into the tumultuous, history-making life of George Fox are numerous and eye-opening. This benchmark work secures Larry Ingle's stature as the leading American historian of Quakerism."--Charles Fager, Quaker author and editor of "A Friendly Letter

"This book is, quite rightly, far from being hostile. But in it a historian who seems to be a Quaker himself takes a fresh look at all surviving evidence, provides a comprehensive assembly of scholarly research and discussion, and offers conclusions which are objective."--Church Times

About the Author

H. Larry Ingle is at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 4, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195101170
• ISBN-13: 978-0195101171
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,205,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A provocative look at a controversial character, October 27, 2001

By 

Kirk Wattles (Philadelphia, Penna.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First among Friends: George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism (Paperback)

Friends today often disregard the historical setting into which the Quaker movement first erupted -- a period of civil war and religious upheaval, when the King of England had been executed on orders of Parliament and the established Church of England was crumbling. And yet this was the formative period of Quakerism, and many characteristics of today's Religious Society of Friends can be traced to positions taken in the early days. Larry Ingle is a Friend and professional historian who enjoys sharing his story of George Fox in the broader historical context.

The title itself, First Among Friends, refers to a lively controversy about whether Fox may be regarded as the "founder" of Quakerism, or as "first among equals" in a movement that rejected religious hierarchy. By focussing on Fox as the central figure, Larry Ingle brings to light several tensions relevant to Friends today. For example, Fox in his early years had preached the freedom of each person to follow his or her own divine leading. Later, when the movement faced heavy persecution and Fox himself faced open dissent, Fox condemned others for expressing leadings other than what he himself had determined. Another example: the movement had begun at the grassroots in the North of England, but as it consolidated it was increasingly dominated by a group of wealthy and relatively privileged men based in London, with Fox as figurehead -- active, insightful and articulate as always but hardly in control.

From our own modern perspective, there is another ironic twist: Fox strongly enunciated the rights of women to have a say within the organization, as ministers and in business deliberations at the local level. Men who sought to marginalize women then found themselves marginalized and silenced, largely at Fox's behest. Friends in the centuries since -- men and women -- have benefitted from the proceeds of that unseemly struggle, and Ingle examines with evident relish the traces of the fight.

Each of these and other aspects are considered in the course of this biography of Fox. It's a useful companion work for anyone reading Fox's Journal, or studying the early Quaker movement (or the broader nonconformist movement, for that matter). Readers should be aware that in some circles of Friends, there are some who scoff at Ingle's work. It is not finely woven, and Ingle's pleasure at disentagling the threads of long-ago controversies is sometimes plain. One Friend the reviewer knows, on a trip to England looked at an old loom to find the place where a candle might have stood, and not finding it now challenges the book as shoddy because it describes a young Fox as reading by candlelight while working at his loom! (This detail apparently was drawn from another biography written decades earlier.) Such quibbling aside, Ingle's work pulls together a wide range of relevant history, and adds to it a biographical narrative, giving a composite picture of early Friends and of Friend Fox in particular.