Walking in the way of peace : Quaker pacifism in the seventeenth century / Meredith Baldwin Weddle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weddle, Meredith Baldwin, 1939-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Quakers--New England--History--17th century.

Quakers.

Quakers--England--History--17th century.

King Philip's War, 1675-1676--Religious aspects--Society of Friends.

King Philip's War, 1675-1676.

New England--Church history--17th century.

New England.

England--Church history--17th century.

England.

Physical Description:

xiv, 348 p. : ill., maps.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.

Summary:

This book investigates the historical context, meaning, and expression of early Quaker pacifism in England and its colonies. Weddle focuses primarily on one historical moment--King Philip's War, which confronted the New England Quakers with the practical need to define the parameters of their peace testimony. Weddle has uncovered records of many Quakers engaged in or abetting acts of violence, thus debunking the traditional historiography of Quakers as saintly pacifists. Weddle shows that Quaker pacifism existed as a doctrinal position before the 1660 crackdown on religious sectarians, but that it was a radical theological position rather than a pragmatic strategy. She thus convincingly refutes the Marxist argument that Quakers acted from economic and political, and not religious motives. She examines in detail how the Quakers' theology worked--how, for example, their interpretation of certain biblical passages affected their politics--and traces the evolution of the concept of pacifism from a doctrine that was essentially about protecting the state of one's own soul to one concerned with the consequences of violence to other human beings.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Methods and Terms

Introduction

PART I: THE PEACE TESTIMONY

Prologue

1. "And the Shout of a King Is amongst Us

2. "A Killinge Instrument We May neither Forme, nor Beare": The Peace Testimony

3. "Fire at the Mast": The Practice of Peace

PART II: NEW ENGLAND

4. "Bold Boyes and Blasphemers": Quakers in Early New England

5. "The Habitation of the Hunted-Christ": Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

6. "Times of Motion and Danger": Reacting to Fear of War, 1667-1673

7. "Fighting against the Minde of God": The 1673 Exemption

8. "Sin and Flesh": The New England Tribes: Englishmen and Indians

PART III: WAR

9. "Midnight Shrieks and Soul-Amazing Moanes": The Rhode Island Government and King Philip's War

10. "A Bulit out of Everi Bush": War, Continued

11. "To Looke to Our Selefs": Ascribing Motives to a Quaker Government in Wartime

12. "Witnesses to the Life of Innocency": A Testimony from Rhode Island Quakers

13. "Run the Hazard": The Individual Quaker in King Philip's War

14. "The Rectification of the Heart": Around the Periphery of War

15. "All Things Have Their Beginnings

Appendix 1. The 1660 Declaration

Appendix 2. The 1673 Exemption

Appendix 3. The Rhode Island Testimony

Appendix 4. "The Taste of the World in Our Own Mouths": Problems of Historical Interpretation

Notes

Bibliography

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 309-339) and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780198030096

0198030096

0-19-983483-0

1-280-47271-5

0-19-538363-X

1-4237-2649-9

9786610472710

0-19-803009-6

OCLC:

191935254