What is Quakerism and what is its mission today? Theological Response

Most religious bodies define themselves by their theologies.  That is, they propose and accept a set of concepts for what they consider to be divine, construct verbal statements about those concepts, and then may form various kinds of ritual, song, or other communal activity using those verbal statements.  Generally, to become a member of one of these organizations, one conforms to the statements and activities that the group has constructed.   In this regard, unprogrammed Quakers are like other religious bodies.  

Our statements, however, are open-ended in nature.  Instead of defining or bounding a sense of divinity, we choose not to speak, encouraging each member to do that within themselves.  Instead of declaring a way of salvation, we ask members to struggle with Spirit.  

The statement that we do make is that people have “that of God” within, and that all have the capacity to access some form of divine guidance directly, given humility and stillness.  Beyond these simple concepts, stated in many different wordings, we do not require any other statement of belief.   We do not define the word “God,” so that “that of God” may mean different things to different people.  This is consistent with the writing and practice of early Quakers, and we believe that it is an honest appraisal of what we can know about the source of life.

We do not even require that one use the word “God” in their personal theological formulation.  “That of []” is fine with us, though it does require some more words to be intelligible to others.  Now, many of us do read and study the Bible, Christianity, and Judaism in order to understand early Quaker writings thoroughly.  We teach these to Young Friends, though not always consistently, in order that they be able to make their own choices, when the time comes, and, in order that they understand the majority society in which we live.

The Quaker testimonies (peace, simplicity, integrity, equality, honesty/plain speaking) embody our minimal theology.  They are a way to live in the world that recognizes the worth of all peoples, and they can be used as a path to God, for those so inclined.  We use questions, called queries, for the sake of historical continuity, to prod ourselves to consider where we may be missing the mark spiritually.  These are posed monthly to the Meeting as a whole, not as a form of coercion, but offered for each person’s consideration.  Members are free to take them to heart, or not, at the time, as their lives allow.

I believe that most unprogrammed Quakers would say that the “mission” of Quakerism is love.  This is not a quishy, fluffy “being nice” kind of love.  It is a radical love of fellow beings, the kind that causes internal struggle, even dislocation at times.  Most of us have not attained the security and balance required to actually see our fellow beings, much less to love them for themselves.  We do not know how to replenish our internal spiritual springs well enough, fast enough, easily enough to meet the great need in our external world and in others.  One way that we practice learning how to do this is in service to others.  Thus, we have active concerns in which we work outside the Meeting, for justice, for peace, for equality, learning how to do each.