{"id":4885,"date":"2023-07-22T22:38:16","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T21:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/?page_id=4885"},"modified":"2023-07-22T22:38:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T21:38:16","slug":"august-11th-workshop-exploring-quaker-christianity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/august-2023\/august-11th-workshop-exploring-quaker-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"August 11th Workshop \u2013 Exploring Quaker Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Rosen<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 11 August, there will be a Friday with Friends workshop on \u2018Exploring Quaker Christianity\u2019. This will be an evening to consider what Christianity meant for earlier generations of Friends and what it might mean for us today. Friends are invited to bring their questions, doubts, and uncertainties along with their faith and assurance. There will be plenty of space for all of it. The workshop will take place in the meeting house, 19:00 \u00a0for 19:30pm. It will also be possible to join via the meeting for worship Zoom link. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, matt.rosen@new.ox.ac.uk<\/strong><\/a>. See below for a further description.<\/p>\n

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Photo by J Henderson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

British Friends sometimes talk about Quakerism\u2019s \u2018Christian roots\u2019. This may accurately capture the feeling of some of our meetings, yet it risks obscuring the particularity of Quaker understandings of Christianity and the ways in which they are still alive for us today. Most Quakers around the world are Christian, and Quaker Christianity differs in numerous ways from other forms of Christianity: for example, in its understandings of baptism, Christ\u2019s saving work, the nature of sacraments, the place of the Bible, spiritual authority, pacifism, and worship. George Fox, one of the key founders of the Society of Friends, rarely spoke of \u2018that of God in everyone\u2019. More than anything else, he told people that \u2018Christ has come to teach his people himself\u2019.<\/p>\n

Basically, everything distinctive about Quakerism \u2013 from our modes of worship and decision-making to our understandings of the authority of scripture, baptism, spiritual nurture, community, ministry, and communion \u2013 stems from early Friends\u2019 sense that the risen Christ was present among them as their living Teacher, gathering them together.<\/p>\n

This evening workshop will explore Quaker Christianity \u2013 what it meant for earlier generations of Friends, and what it might mean for us today. We will discuss the person and work of Jesus, the origins of Quaker practices and vocabulary, the beliefs that led early Friends to suffer greatly in prisons across Britain, and the state of Quaker Christianity around the world. There will also be time to reflect on what Christ means for us (if anything), how the Spirit is at work in our lives, and how this colours the ways we walk through the world as Friends.<\/p>\n

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This Month’s Forty-Three Newsletter Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n