1.3 Quaker Inwardness: Relevant previous scholarship (Academic) Introduction
1.3.3 The purpose of knowledge gained in and through Inwardness
Consideration of the purpose of knowledge gained in and through Inwardness relates both to what Quakers term the ‘right ordering’ of behaviour; and also, in a very specific manner, to the unity of spiritual experience, which has the potential to transform life and living.
One term, above others, is used most often among scholars in describing the main purpose of knowledge gained in Inwardness: this is ‘transformational growth’.116 For many of the scholars discussed, the notion of growth, that is definitively transforming, either embraces or leads to other aspects of what spiritual development entails. Notions of
‘purification’ or ‘cleansing’ arise directly and tangentially; in turn ‘regeneration’, relates closely to suggestions of ‘redemption’ and ‘perfection’ involving ‘salvation’,
‘illumination’ and ‘enlightenment’. Specifically, relation to the Quaker understanding of
115 In his ‘Rethinking Quakerism’ Maurice Creasey reminds readers of the need to recognise changes in belief and the need to rethink ‘things about which we may have deep and responsible questions’ in the twentieth century’, Essays, pp. 396–399.
116 Referenced as ‘moral transformation’ in the move towards ‘perfectionism’ in King, The Light Within, p. 70, Creasey, ibid, “Inward” and “Outward”, Section 2, pp. 323-356, Bailey, New Light, in the sense that the ‘glorified soul was divinized’(chapter 7 on Transformation), but later as the Society itself was transformed, its observations about Fox, according to Bailey, resulted in a de-divinization of the inner light.
(p. 251). See also Hinds, George Fox, p. 38. King, The Light Within, p. 89, Finding the Light Within, ‘it will bring him [any individual] to do the will of God and bring him into quietness, peace, unity with God and the saints and eternal life ...’ this is purification, and Hinds, ibid, pp. 26–27, links ‘going naked’ and casting off filthy clothing with reference to Farnworth’s, Pure Language and the Spirit of Truth, (London: Calvert, 1655), her concern with purification is tangential, and implied rather than explicit, but offers a relevant area of consideration.
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growth of the individual is to do with transformation toward ‘unity’ not only within the self, but also with others and with God.
King emphasises that ‘cleansing’ from sin is the means to living in the light.117 In turn this facilitates finding unity in the light; a moral transformation is the result.118 Now
‘man can turn to the divine within him and all will be well with him’.119 In her explanation of the cleansing function of the light, King makes connections between cleansing, living in the light, and realising that which is unchanging. This, she maintains, is the salvation wrought through Inwardness which brings Quakers ‘into unity with God and with men’. For King, practices and processes of Inwardness are important for the movement to Unity.120
Creasey writes of deep transformation, as an experiential fact, that is a matter of the internalised Christ working within the individual as a living reality.121 He accepts that doctrinally the early Friends tended to prioritise the mystical Christ, the Christ of
Inwardness, over the historical Christ but he questions the wisdom of doing so. Creasey, agreeing with Edward Grubb, does not make this inward reality something distinct from the fact of the historic Christ.122 He quotes Grubb who suggests that ‘[t]he greatest of the
117 King. The Light Within, p. 70 i.e. cleansing rather than forgiveness or pardon, see also 1.4.2 on purification.
118 King. ibid, p. 70.
119 King. ibid, p. 71.
120 See Table 1 for a diagrammatic representation and explanation of Quaker Worship. This Table is the main reference in this thesis for describing the practice of Quaker worship and the possibility of
development towards spiritual maturity. See also Figures 2-3 in chapter 2 and further figures in chapters 5 and 6. Table 6, in particular, identifies the knowledge gained in Unity.
121 See also King, section 1.3 above.
122 See Grubb, E. ‘The Historic and the Inward Christ’, Swarthmore lecture, (London: Headley Brothers, 1914).
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problems that confronts the Society of Friends today … is the reunion ... of the historic and inward Christ’.123
Quoting Isaac Penington, Creasey clarifies his position regarding Christ as the Quaker
‘saviour’: He writes ‘We do indeed expect to be saved … by the revelation and operation of the Life of Christ within us; yet not without relation to what he did without us…’: for Creasey the experiential component of Quaker Inwardness is complemented by full appreciation of the historic Christ.124 The fully transformed life is that which follows the pattern of Jesus.125 Bailey, on the other hand, expresses his understanding of
transformation more extremely, and controversially. He explains, as indicated above, that Fox understands ‘celestial inhabitation’ as essential to full inward knowing: the core of Fox’s message, the indwelling Christ, once accepted and fully enjoined within people, is transforming.
The authors discussed emphasise differently both the manner in which transforming growth occurs and also how it leads to changed priorities. Even when the Christian model is used, for some writers the concern is with the importance of the ‘inner teacher’ rather than the significance of the person and work i.e. changed behaviours. For Gwyn the purpose of Fox’s prophetic preaching, was ‘to bring people to their inward teacher and leave them there’.126
Thus, according to Gwyn:
Inward knowledge ... is that which is revealed directly to the heart by the Spirit of Christ; it is knowledge of certainty, never changing. It surpasses and judges the
123 Creasey, M., ‘The Christ of History and Experience’ in Collected Essays, pp. 125-128. Grubb, E. The Historic and the Inward Christ, p. 71. However, Creasey questions Grubb’s formulation of the discussion in what he (Creasey) sees to be unhelpful seventeenth century terms i.e. dualistic.
124 Creasey, M. ibid, pp. 331-335.
125 See below on moral guidance.
126 Gwyn, Apocalypse, p. 148.
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human mind. It gives true knowledge of history and the power of God’s will to live in true godliness.127
Gwyn claims that Fox fully understood and taught the implications of the New Covenant, professing a radical theology framed in the promises expressed in Isaiah and Jeremiah. The Lord’s teaching, written in the very hearts of humankind, provides an inward inspiration that animates human beings afresh. Here is one significant purpose of knowledge gained in inwardness. It is, however, of equal importance for many of the scholars, that inward knowing should have practical or outward consequences.
Endy acknowledges the significance of Quakerism as a spiritual religion with Christian foundations. He accepts the radical nature of Quakerism in terms of Fox’s statement that ‘God’s Spirit’ is pouring forth ‘from within’ and, in turn, he maintains that the Light is that which illuminates Inwardness to affect ‘religious consciousness’. Endy’s primary contribution to an understanding of Quaker Inwardness is, in agreement with King, on ‘intuitive moral discernment’.128 Endy, however, relates this to the significance of the Spirit or light’ as ‘an agent of the whole process of regeneration’ by which ‘the
“Light” brings the ability to discern … the voice of God in one’s thoughts and readings and the hand of God in his experiences’.129 The outcome of moral guidance and discernment is then, ultimately, for the betterment of the community.
The very nature of Inwardness as preached by Fox is to do with the incarnation of Christ, as full embodiment of the Light, but also with the incarnation in humankind of the gospel that brings knowledge which exceeds the law. Within inward knowing is the promise of transformation that has the potential not only to fulfil personal life but also to fulfil a social community to live in the Spirit. This is the purpose of knowledge gained in Inwardness.
127 Gwyn, Apocalypse, p. 98.
128 King, Light Within, p. 116.
129 Endy, William Penn, pp. 157-8.
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As Gwyn explains, ‘The new covenant is entered as the provisions of the old covenant are left behind in pure, inward worship’.130 The revelation of the ‘new thing’ that is being born on earth is, for Fox, as explained by Gwyn, to do with receiving and preaching the word of God. However, ‘preaching’ is not merely the speaking of words, it is rather a life lived to enact the new knowledge, it is a preaching by deeds that witness to God in all things; this is the origin of the notion of Quaker Testimony, in which all life is Testimony to God.131 Quakers, for Fox, were to be living examples, ‘epistles’, urged ‘to walk
cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one; whereby in them ye may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you’.132 In the last part of this quotation, in which Fox speaks of the ‘witness of God’ in others blessing ‘you’, is the notion of a special unity, it is not merely a fellowship but a level of a spiritual encounter, inward meeting inward, in which spiritual consciousness is mutually known and shared.133
The fact that Inwardness is considered to have practical consequences for Quakers relates to the notion of ‘right ordering’ in which ‘the accumulated experience and insights of the Society support communities of Quakers in ‘gospel living’ [g].134 Initial
interpretation of this way of life concerns agreements, behaviours and, in general,
concord. However, a more significant understanding relates to the reality of Unity. King formulates a view of Fox’s concern with the unchanging reality of God as embracing his interest in unity.135 She suggests that, for Fox:
130 Gwyn, Apocalypse, p. 113.
131 Muers, R.,discussing Bonhoeffer on ‘truth telling’, writes of Testimony as a ‘collective, learned and ‘storied’ process of ‘doing the truth’ Testimony: Quakerism and Theological Ethics, (London: SCM Press, 2015), p. 63.
132 Fox, Journal, p. 263.
133 See 2.5, on U/unity.
134 See Grubb, E. Authority and the Light Within, (London: James Clarke and Co, 1909). Grubb, E.
‘The Historic and Inward Christ’, Swarthmore lecture, (1914) and Grubb, E. The Religion of Experience (London: Headley Brothers, 1918).
135 A point of note, however, is that King apparently links ‘that which shows man evil’ and ‘that in which is unity’. This raises for discussion the issue of simultaneous, rather than sequential, changes in the process of transformation.
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‘Unity [is] something that affords man permanent security from the evils of disunity and change’,136
‘Unity … involve[es] intuitive moral discernment’.137
In combination, the most profound understanding of the manner of this moral imperative goes beyond mere shared behaviours to a lived unity where there is, as
discussed in 2.4, on Fox, ‘the hidden unity in the Eternal Being’.138 Fox wrote, ‘All they that are in the light are in unity; for the light is but one’.139 Further in the same Epistle he wrote of living ‘in love’ and ‘abiding inwardly in the light, [which] will let you see one another, and unity with one another’.140 Such Unity in the Light is a matter of
consciousness that, for Fox, is informed by the ‘Word of Wisdom’, which renews or reforms knowledge in which God’s Word has the power to enlighten every one. Living together in this Wisdom is what King interprets as living in Unity that is ‘beyond human natures’. For Hinds, it is that the indwelling light (of Christ) is universally present and universally accessible, and what is necessary is that Quakers bear witness to the presence, by turning to this ‘single spiritual condition’.141 It is a habitation of ‘unbounded and unified unity’.142 Although the universal immanence of the light within is asserted, it is to be illuminated in the lived experience of individuals and ‘shared-in-common-in-unity’
(community).
136 King Light Within, p. 114.
137 King ibid, p. 115.
138 Fox, Journal, p. 28.
139 Fox, Works 4, Doctrinals, p. 43.
140 Fox, Works 4, ibid, p. 43. In terms of a worshipping experience see Quaker Quest pamphlet Twelve Quakers and Worship (London: Quaker Quest, 2004), p. 26, ‘As each of us finds a tranquil centre within, so the stillness of each person meets the stillness of the others.’
141 Hinds, George Fox, p. 148.
142 Hinds, ibid, p. 148.
34 1.3.4. Conclusion to 1.3
Three areas of concern have been introduced in 1.3: these pertain to an understanding of the focus, nature and purpose of Inwardness. 1) The focus of Inwardness has been identified to include issues explaining the inward and outward dimension of life and knowledge, and their interpretation. 2) The nature of Inwardness has been considered as concerning mystical and revelatory knowing that is inspirational, usually interpreted within a generally Christian framework. 3) The purpose of Inwardness has been indicated as culminating in transformational growth, which leads to Unity that is both personally experiential and practical within community.
Earlier scholarship has provided avenues of thinking which, in combination, give direction to the detailed analysis of Inwardness undertaken in this thesis. In summary, it is the focus, nature and purpose of knowledge gained in and through the experience of Inwardness that leads to a schema for discussing not only the practice of Inwardness as process, but also its developmental characteristics. Comprehension of an ultimate stage of interior knowing emerges from recognition that spiritual development, gained through regular involvement in Quaker spiritual practice, is consistent within the framework identified as discussed above. Earlier academic research is thus useful for provision of guidelines but insufficiently complete in its arguments to indicate answers to all the questions that this thesis advances regarding Inwardness in the theology of British
Quakerism. Examination of both the process of and development through Quaker spiritual practice, as undertaken here, provides a new perspective within Quaker studies of the twenty-first century.
There is asymmetry between discursively expressed academic discussion about faith development and the considerations of spiritual growth in 1.4, in that the latter often focus on devotional concerns rather than being conceptually rigorous in their mode of
expression. The need to include analysis of different descriptions of spiritual progress relates to the significance of experience (as against belief and/or faith) in the Religious Society of Friends.
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