The Authority of Our Meetings is in the Power of God

by Paul A. Lacey

Overview

The point of this extended discussion of gospel order and Quaker process is not to beat one set of principles and practices with the other. It is to show that Quakerism is, as usual, at a crossroads in dealing with issues of authority and power in church governance; to point out the directions Quakers have taken and seem to be taking; and to offer some assessment of the costs of traveling one way or another.

Quakerism has always struggled to find the right balance between affirming the autonomy of the individual following his or her own conscience, and affirming the authority of the group to determine what a true leading of the Spirit is. �The authority of our meetings is the power of God,� asserted that the autonomy of the individual had to yield to the authority of the believing fellowship. The assertion did not end the debate; liberal Quakerism is still reacting to the trauma (more imagined than experienced by contemporary Quakers) of nineteenth-century separations and wholesale disownments.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940150421042
Publisher:	Pendle Hill Publications
Publication date:	08/13/2014
Series:	Pendle Hill Pamphlets , #365
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	30
File size:	110 KB

About the Author

Paul A. Lacey was born in Philadelphia in 1934. He is married to Margaret Smith Lacey and they have three adult children. He joined Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1953, having first met Quakers through weekend workcamps. He has been active in civil liberties, civil rights, peace and East-West concerns with Friends, but his profession is teaching literature. He is the author of The Inner War: Forms and Themes in Recent America Poetry (Fortress Press, 1972). He is Professor of English Literature Emeritus from Earlham College where he has also served as Provost and Acting President and as Faculty Consultant on Teaching and Learning. From 1979-82 he was consultant and director of a program of Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellowships, sponsored by Lilly Endowment, Inc., at a number of major American universities. In 1983 he edited Revitalizing Teaching Through Faculty Development (Jossey-Bass) and has published a number of articles on teaching, literary criticism, and faculty development. His book, Growing Into Goodness: Essays on Quaker Education, was published by Pendle Hill in 1999. At present, Paul serves as literary executor for Denise Levertov, Anglo-American poet and social activist. He has recently edited Denise Levertov: Selected Poems (New Directions, 2002). He is also serving as the Clerk of the Board of the American Friends Service Committee.