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Author: Devon M Kurtz
Publisher: Producciones de La Hamaca
Hardcover: 104 pages
ISBN-10: 9768273453
ISBN-13: 978-9768273451

Thread of Life is a portrait of the twentieth century – its times of war and peace – seen through the lives of three generations of Jewish women. At its heart are Dora, a romantic and tragic figure, a concert pianist born in Riga, who lived in St Petersburg and was killed in the Riga Holocaust; her daughter, Genia, born in 1915 in St Petersburg, who lived in many places around the world before dying in England at the age of 102; and, in their different threads and versions of the truth, their legacy to author Jennifer Kavanagh, who shares her moments of discovery while addressing themes of Russia, Jewishness, motherhood, music, home, and language, as well as the vagaries of memory.

Author: Jennifer Kavanagh
Publisher: Liberalis
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1803418001
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-180341800

“What Canst We Say?” includes the texts of the various iterations and modifications of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Book of Discipline as it evolved between 1715 and 1755. It also includes an examination of the processes by which these developments occurred, including the texts of some Yearly Meeting minutes and publications produced during this time.
The Yearly Meeting was very conscious that it was seeking a document with which the community could develop a deep unity, but also that the attainment of such unity was a process, rather than a declaration of truth. There was full expectation that the contents of the Book of Discipline would be changed, and that asking questions of the current text was a part of the responsibility of the Yearly Meeting community. The documents issued at the completion of several of the sections of the Discipline included statements on how the text was to be used, as well as explanations of how the principles described in the text could be questioned, challenged, and evolved.
Life within the Yearly Meeting during these times involved many aspects which were not dealt with extensively in the Book of Discipline, but which were important to the development of the community and to the identity of the Society of Friends in the world. Three of these issues (the rules on marriage between relatives, the evolution of the Yearly Meeting on the issue of slavery, and the role of women in the development of the Discipline) are discussed in the Appendices.

Author: David R. Haines
Pleasant Green Books. 2025
176 pages. $20.00 / paperback
ISBN (paperback) 978-0-9979848-4-2

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Rules of Discipline from 1704

These documents came at a time of political turmoil in Pennsylvania, and interpersonal challenges within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Much of the business minuted in the years immediately before 1704 centered on disciplinary procedures for those Quakers whose behavior was considered to be outside of the norms of the Society of Friends.

The collection of these rules into discrete documents appears to be an attempt to define what the Society of Friends was, and perhaps more importantly, what the Society of Friends was not.

While much of the focus in these documents was on discipline and what was considered to be appropriate personal behaviors, there was also a deep focus on defining structures and processes through which relationships within the meeting could be nurtured.

Author: David R. Haines
Pleasant Green Books. 2024
70 pages. $16.00 / paperback
ISBN (paperback) 978-0-9979848-3-5

This is a fascinating record of a small community living out its distinctive religious witness in the everyday, navigating internal and external pressures in a rapidly changing context. We enter the world of late-seventeenth-century London Quakers at ground level, and sit with them as they persistently seek divine guidance in the decisions that shape ordinary life. Judith Roads has made available a wonderful treasure-trove for anyone interested in Quaker history or in early modern English life.’ RACHEL MUERS, Professor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh.

Author: Judith Roads
ISBN – 9781916570122

Explore the remarkable life of Charity Cook in this updated edition of Algie I. Newlin’s book, first published in 1981 and available once again after being out of print for many years. A backwoods country woman, Charity Cook rose in the 18th century to become one of the foremost traveling ministers holding the Society of Friends (Quakers) together in what was becoming a new nation. She traveled on horseback to minister to meetings and families from Carolina to Massachusetts.
Later, she did the same in England, traveling on a ship boarded by pirates, and in Ireland, where she nearly died from smallpox. Crossing the channel to France and Germany, she and her companions came close to being arrested as spies during the 100 Years War. Charity Cook was a courageous woman who had the faith, boldness, and family support necessary to be liberated, and freed, from the traditional married woman’s role more than 200 years ago.

Author: Algie I. Newlin
ISBN: 978-0-942585-21-6
Pages: 232

When a young woman moves her family to the North Carolina wilderness, she depends on her spiritual fortitude and loving compassion to become the leader her Quaker community desperately needs. After Mary Jackson undertakes the perilous journey of moving to the North Carolina wilderness with her family, she answers the call to lead the women in her Quaker meeting, a role she struggles to fulfill with sensitive insight and loving care.

Too soon, their peaceful community is shattered when farmers rise in rebellion, demanding an end to local government corruption. Despite her efforts, the women of the meeting can only watch as the rebels become increasingly violent. Negotiations for a peaceful resolution are unsuccessful. The rebellion fails in a bloody battle. As the drumbeats of the American Revolution reach the Piedmont, the future of the Quaker community rests on Mary’s shoulders. Only the strength of her spiritual reserves will ensure her small Quaker meeting survives.

Author: Nancy Learned Haines
Publisher: Pleasant Green Books(2024)
ISBN:  978-0997984811
Paperback, 262 pages

Hearing the Light begins with the foundations of Quaker theology, which is based in the Quaker method of unprogrammed, silent worship. This act of gathering as a community to wait and listen to God is at the heart of Quakerism and essential to understanding Quaker theology, which is embedded in the practice as well as explained by it. Rhiannon Grant shows how Central Quaker theological claims, such as that everyone has that of God within them, that God offers support and guidance to all who choose to listen, and that Quakers as a community are led by God to treat everyone equally, resist war, and live simply, can be understood through a consideration of this distinctive worship practice. Rhiannon Grant also explores what it means to say that this form of theology is liberal – although many Quakers are politically liberal, they have also been called “conservative radicals” (Kenneth Boulding), and the liberalism involved is not mainly political but an attitude towards diversity of thought, opinion, and especially religious belief. While united by the practice of unprogrammed worship, Quakers have no written creed and no specific beliefs are required of members. Instead, there is a prevailing attitude of continued searching, an acceptance that new evidence may appear, and a willingness to learn from others, including members of other faith communities. At a time of great religious and political division, this radical approach to faith and learning that Grant sheds light upon, has never been more prescient.

Author: Rhiannon Grant
Publisher: Christian Alternative (2021)
ISBN: 9781789045048
Paperback, 80 pages

Part of the Quaker Quicks series. This series of short paperbacks is very useful for outreach and for religious education.

Finding Purpose in Troubled Times

Quakers have made the cultivation of the guided life the focus of their spirituality for over three centuries. Generations of Quakers have developed practices for nurturing their connection to an inward source of guidance, meaning and purpose. This Inward Guide is present in all people, cultures and traditions. It goes by many names and is understood in many ways, but it is equally available to everyone who is willing to listen and respond. The Guided Life shares some of the spiritual practices that the Quaker tradition has developed to discover purpose and direction in daily life. These practices may be of use to anyone who is wrestling with the complex challenges and dilemmas of the modern world.

Author: Craig Barnett
Publisher: Christian Alternative, November 2019
ISBN: 9781785358968
Paperback, 80 pages

Part of the Quaker Quicks series. This series of short paperbacks is very useful for outreach and for religious education.

Telling the truth about God without excluding anyone is a challenge to the Quaker community. Drawing on the author’s academic research into Quaker uses of religious language and her teaching to Quaker and academic groups, Rhiannon Grant aims to make accessible some key theological and philosophical insights. She explains that Quakers might sound vague but are actually making clear and creative theological claims. Theology isn’t just for wordy people or intellectuals, it’s for everyone. And that’s important because our religious language is related to, not separate from, our religious experience. It also becomes clear that denying other people’s claims often leads to making your own and that even apparently negative positions can also be making positive statements. How do Quakers tell the truth about God? This book explores this key theological process through fourteen short chapters. As Quakers, we say that we know some things, but not very much, about God, and that we are in a constant process of trying to improve our ways of saying what we do know.

Author: Rhiannon Grant
Publisher: Christian Alternative, April 2019
ISBN: 9781789040814
Paperback,  88 pages

Part of the Quaker Quicks series. This series of short paperbacks is very useful for outreach and for religious education.