Other authors have shown that Quaker beliefs generally have changed significantly since the foundation of the movement in the 1650s,53 and generalisations that pool or extrapolate from evidence of different periods may be misleading. One of the
purposes of the present study is to investigate changes over time, and the primary division of the material is therefore by historical period. Dandelion has recognised the following distinct theological phases in the history of Quakers up to the 1820s: the first Friends 1647-1666; Restoration Quakers 1667-1689; and Quietism 1690-1820s.54 The boundaries of these phases have been modified here in order to reflect
discontinuities in the particular data under study, as follows:
• The First Friends 1647-1665
• Restoration Quakers 1666-1715
• Quietism 1716-1830
These boundaries closely follow those adopted by Dandelion, except for that between the second and third periods. Evidence from 1690 to 1715 has affinities with that from the second period: however, since relatively little evidence was found relating to the second and third decades of the 18th century, the boundary of 1715 should be regarded as provisional. The end of the period of study is also marked by the increasing influence of Christian Evangelicalism, which was to dominate British Quakerism until the end of the 19th century.
53 See, for example, Dandelion, Sociological Analysis of Quakers, 6-14; Martin Davie, British Quaker Theology Since 1895 (Lampeter, UK: Edwin Mellen, 1997), 9-51.
54 Dandelion, Introduction to Quakerism, vii/13.
1.4.2 Thematic Divisions
The second level of data organisation is thematic. In view of the changes that have taken place since the early 19th century in the general understanding of the scope of religion and science and the relationship between them, it was decided not to impose a structure on the evidence that reflected modern thinking on this issue. Instead, a structure based on four general themes that have grown from a consideration of the contemporary data themselves has been developed. In themselves, the themes are descriptive, not interpretive, so that the evidence is presented in a way that does not involve prior judgements about its meaning or significance. The themes are as follows:
• Nature and Status of Creation
This category comprises statements of belief or intellectual ideas about the intrinsic nature and status of the outward creation. They include biblical
quotations and paraphrase; discussion of the theological reality and status of the outward creation in its protological, present or eschatological states; and other philosophical, metaphysical, and scientific ideas about the general nature of the created world and the relationship between God and his creation.
• The Creation Dialectic
The ‘creation dialectic’ is the term used in this study to refer to the personal experience of a dynamic relationship between knowledge of God and knowledge of creation.55 Relevant material describes one or both of the following types of
55 I am grateful to Douglas Gwyn for suggesting this term.
experience: either God reveals the nature of creation personally to human beings, or alternatively, the nature of creation leads the observer to God, or a greater knowledge of God. Material on the relationship between these two kinds of experience and on the relative merits of revealed theology and natural theology is also included here, as are statements about God’s providence being revealed through the creation.
• Epistemology of the Creation
This theme presents evidence of Quaker attitudes to different sources of knowledge about the created world, and their relative epistemological value.
Sources include scripture; the ‘inward light’; human reason; the physical creation itself; education; printed books and illustrations. References to the nature of Quaker involvement in the pursuit and transmission of knowledge of the natural word are included.
• Living in God’s Creation
This includes material on mindful living in the created world, and the proper place and use of God’s material providence to humanity. It includes beliefs about
responsibilities to wider human society and towards animals. Often didactic in tone, much of this evidence concerns actions and behaviour, and their practical consequences.
1.4.3 Contextualization
George Fox and other early Quakers claimed originality for their insights into God’s purposes and the true nature of things, and emphasis on the primary authority of personal experience was an enduring characteristic of Quakers (see 2.1.2). Whilst
they agreed that true spiritual enlightenment reflected biblical truths, early Friends were often disparaging about human sources of knowledge. Throughout the period, Quakers sought to distance themselves and their families from what were perceived to be worldly influences. Whilst early Friends were clearly affected by the outside world, most obviously perhaps in terms of persecution and discrimination, any public discussion of intellectual ideas is rare (but may not have been privately: see 2.1.2) until the second period of Quakerism (chapter 3). Nevertheless, aspects of the wider religious, social, economic, political and intellectual environments in which
Quakerism originated in Britain in the 1650s and developed throughout the period of study, have been widely discussed by recent authors. Douglas Gwyn’s trilogy is particularly helpful on the religious, social and political contexts in which Quakerism originated and developed in the 17th century,56 whilst Rosemary Moore has
systematically charted in detail the development of the early Quaker movement.57 Older works, by non-Quaker authors, include those by Nuttall,58 Hill59 and Webster.60 Modern scholars have devoted less attention to the development of Quakerism in the late 17th century or the 18th century, although studies by Walvin,61 Vann,62 and Barbour and Frost63 are useful. General histories of Quakerism by Pink Dandelion64
56 Douglas Gwyn, Seekers Found: Atonement in Early Quaker Experience, (Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 2000); Gwyn, Apocalypse of the Word; Gwyn, Covenant Crucified.
57 Rosemary Moore, The Light in Their Consciences: Early Quakers in Britain 1646-1666 (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000).
58 Nuttall, Holy Spirit.
59 For example, Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1975). See also Barry Reay, The Quakers and the English Revolution (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985).
60 Charles Webster, The Great Instauration: Science, Medicine and Reform1626-1660 (London:
Duckworth, 1975).
61 James Walvin, The Quakers: Money and Morals (London: John Murray, 1997).
62 Richard T. Vann, The Social Development of English Quakerism, 1655-1755 (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1969.
63 Hugh Barbour and William J. Frost, The Quakers (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1988).
64 Dandelion, Introduction to Quakerism.
and Punshon65 give some contextual background for each of the periods covered in the present study.
Some of the external factors that are likely to have influenced Quaker
experiences and views on the natural world, and the ways in which they wrote about them, are briefly reviewed in the introductory sections to chapters 2, 3 and 4. The possible influences on the first Quakers of earlier religious and philosophical ideas inside and beyond the Christian tradition are considered in 2.1.2 and appendix 1.