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Permalink Reply by Chronicler on 9th mo. 2, 2009 at 9:50pm

Forrest - I am not entirely certain what types of books might interest thee. Ohio Yearly Meeting has been working on an updated list of the Approved Writings of Friends. The current list is here.

We had a longer list that was compiled in 1922, but many Friends don't have these books, and they can be difficult to find outside of eastern Ohio sometimes.

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Permalink Reply by Forrest Curo on 9th mo. 2, 2009 at 11:53pm

Okay, examples of what I would like more Friends to read:

Alan Lew, One God Clapping.
William Herzog, Teacher and Prophet
Jacques Ellul, Money and Power
Rodger Kamenetz, Stalking Elijah
Erich Schiffman, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness
Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi
William Stringfellow, An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land
Sarah Miles, Take This Bread
Marcus Borg,Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary

the point being that while there are some excellent writings by Friends, Our Friend has other friends who also write well and say things that Friends can benefit from. Dost have a list of Approved Writings of Friends of Friends?

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Permalink Reply by Chronicler on 9th mo. 3, 2009 at 9:05am

I am not aware of many works by non-Quaker authors being officially recommended by a yearly meeting. One that immediately comes to mind is Clarkson's Portraiture, which was re-published by Western Yearly Meeting around 1860.

Two other writers who have been cited on occasion by Friends are Francois Fenelon and Jeanne Guyon. Fenelon has the problem that he assisted in a Catholic movement to suppress Huguenots with military force. Both were French pietists who were contemporaries of George Fox.

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Permalink Reply by Forrest Curo on 9th mo. 3, 2009 at 9:51am

I hadn't known that about Fenelon; he had some wonderful things to say in a collection called The Royal Way of the Cross. I see I also forgot to include Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, much less problematical.

To me the issue is much less, "Has Christ rendered this author absolutely sinless and error-free?"--than "Has the author tuned in deeply enough that we can benefit from reading him?"
Jacques Ellul, for example, has a much different notion of the nature of Scripture than most Friends, but his use of it, when not absolutely muddy, is often nspired!

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Permalink Reply by Chronicler on 9th mo. 3, 2009 at 12:18pm

Well if we limited publications to those who are sinless and error-free, publishing houses would go out of business within a month around the world.

Fenelon's choice to participate in the French suppression of the Huguenots is problematic because it contradicts some of his earlier writings. His life has this parallel with Elisha Bates: their early, inspired texts continue to be helpful to later generations but are tarnished by later choices by the author.

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