Customer Reviews

The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

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3 star:		(1)
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The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

I bought the book with the hope of clarifing & focusing my answers when I am asked about the Friends. It is a great help, easy to read, concise, and to the point. I would recommend it to newcomers, who are begining to gather information, as a starting point.

THE QUAKERS: A Very Short Introduction by Pink Dandelion is a pretty substantial presentation of Quaker life and belief in 160 pages. Dandelion divides the book into the chapters History, Worship, Belief, Theology and language, Ecumenism and finally The future of Quakerism.

I grew up in a Philadelphia suburb founded by Quakers, but I could never really get a handle on what the religion was all about. Dandelion delineates three clear strains of Quakerism today, from the Evangelicals who have structured services to the Conservatives who balance Scripture and the "inner light" and finally the Liberal Quakers who are not longer explicitly Christian and don't necessary acknowledge the existance of a God. In the final chapter, the author speaks of the probable developments in Quaker demographics, with the first two denominations surviving in the Global South, and the third declining just like other postmodern Christian denominations.

The author notes that Quakers are most visible in protests against war or injustice. The only failing of the book I see is that she does not talk more about the organizations involved and how they are viewed by various Quaker denominations, or how they respond to Cold War allegations that they are Communist fronts. That for me would have made this a perfect introduction.

This books contains all the basic information that I was after: history, denominations, belief and the possible future of this religion are here presented clearly and thoroughly enough for a small book.
I found the scheme on denominational differences (page 108-109) particularly interesting to really understand the peculiarities within the various Quaker groups.
Recommended.

I cannot recommend this book. It is as dry as dust--no life in it at all! If you wish to learn about Quakers, please read writings by Howard Brinton or Rufus Jones or Thomas Kelly or George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends. Sorry, but for me, this negative review is the truth.

The subject is, to me, fascinating. The Quakers started as a group in 1652 - by 1947 it has won a Nobel Prize in Peace and by now it has 340,000 members worldwide. Their use of silence in gaining spiritual insights and of consensus in making decisions are both famous and distinct.

In the past three centuries, it has evolved. The perennial issues the affect Christianity as a whole also affect the Quakers. These issues are:
- How much emphasis should be put on spiritual experience, and how much on scripture?
- How traditional doctrines should remain? Is progressivism true?
- How congregational should the organization be? Should worship be programmed?
- Can one have a "Christian" stance on controversial subjects like abortion and sexuality?

Like other forms of Christianity, its membership is still burgeoning, particularly so in Africa. Likewise, the spirit of ecumenism is also flourishing, to a certain degree.

This introduction is brief and succinct; and highly readable. Four stars.

Succinct and outstanding as a work for anyone curious or interested in the Quakers. Pink-Dandelion does exactly what one expects from the title of this book: introduces the reader to Quakerism. History, essential differences, historical figures and their significance, changes over time, and modern day Quaker aspects are all included. What really puts this particular book into a class by itself for me is the author's writing. Easy to read, right to the point, and not an ounce of fat. If I were to select one book for someone wanting to quickly get a handle on who the Quakers are, this might well be the one.