The Quaker Doctrine of Inward Peace

by Howard H. Brinton

Overview

The Quaker way is so to order the inner life that outer pressures can be adequately met and dealt with. This is not the method of the ascetic who conquers his sensual desires by violence toward himself, nor of the hermit who avoids his fellow men, nor of the stoic who makes himself independent and indifferent to the world around him. It is rather an ordering of the inner life, so that there will be a proper balance of inner and outer, the inner holding first place. In one sense we become independent of outer tumults and conflicts, but in another sense we are not independent because we must seek to reproduce in the world around us the inner peace created within ourselves. If we do not seek to reproduce our inner peace it will become lifeless and static.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940148134121
Publisher:	Pendle Hill Publications
Publication date:	02/04/2014
Series:	Pendle Hill Pamphlets , #44
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	30
File size:	77 KB

About the Author

Howard Brinton (1884-1973) taught at several Quaker institutions, including Woodbrooke – a model for Pendle Hill. He served as co-director of Pendle Hill from 1936-1950, with his wife, Anna Cox Brinton.
In 1936, the Brintons faced the contingencies of a pioneer school-community. Howard Brinton was often seen on his way to negotiate the latest crisis, pursued by his rabbit Tibbar and the family dog Nuto. Gerald Heard, a staff member, watched this peaceable kingdom on the march with delight and saw in it a practical illustration of the philosophy of survival by reconciliation.
After retiring in 1952, Howard and Anna worked in Japan and Europe for the American Friends Service Committee. After Anna’s death in 1969, Howard married Yuki Takahashi, his Japanese secretary.
Howard Brinton wrote many Pendle Hill pamphlets and several books, including Friends for Three Hundred Years, a classic work of Quaker faith and history, republished as Friends for Three Hundred and Fifty Years with comments from the perspective of the Philadelphia Friends.