Reviews Articles
-
Corridors of light
A while ago I heard someone on the radio use the expression ‘mental furniture’. She was referring to those comforting thoughts and ideas that come to the forefront at times of trouble, anxiety, illness or perhaps even danger. They are the thoughts that we turn to in order to give… -
Black Fire
The subtitle of Black Fire is African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights, though no definition of spirituality is given. I would offer: spirituality – a growing into relationship of self with deeper self; self with neighbour; self with cosmos; held together in an embrace of Spirit. What, then,…
-
Magical stories
The Tear Thief, The Greatest Gift and The Barefoot Book of Mother and Daughter Tales are three recent releases by Barefoot Books.
-
The story of carols
The carols we love to sing, like Christmas itself, owe much to pre-Christmas midwinter rejoicings at having reached the shortest day – with the prospect of new growth and abundance to come. The many references, for example, in ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ to evergreens refer to the need to…
-
Making change happen
I approached this book with caution. I have read many books about ‘making change happen’ and been disappointed. Some consist of tortuously convoluted theories that fall to dust as soon as an attempt is made to apply them to the messiness of real-life struggles. Tim Gee’s Counterpower: Making change happen… -
Where does money come from?
Spiralling inequality, chaos in the financial world and the Occupy protests force us to engage with economics. A Guide to the UK Monetary and Banking System is about money itself, a subject that has, surprisingly, received little attention and about which there is widespread misunderstanding. The book states: ‘Central banks…
-
Gerhard Richter: Panorama
Halfway round the Gerhard Richter exhibition at Tate Modern, I stop in my tracks and smile broadly at the wall. On it hang three massive paintings of an overcast sky, each flecked by a pale puff of cloud. Is this, I wonder, what the James Turrell skyscape in the refurbished…
-
Costing not less than everything
‘I want to see us living our testimony in such a way that other people think not just, “Quakers – peace” but also, “Quakers – peace – the environment”.’ Pam Lunn
-
Being a Quaker: a guide for newcomers
There is a difference between ‘narrow’ casting and ‘broad’ casting. In the first you are talking to the converted. In the second you assume little and communicate your message in an open, inclusive and engaging manner. If you can do so with humour, humility and a touch of irreverence then…
-
Radical Quakerism
Quakers must be not be afraid to take extreme positions and proclaim them to the world. That was the message from Simon Best, who delivered this year’s George Gorman Memorial Lecture in Canterbury on Sunday. Hundreds of Friends of varied ages displayed a range of reactions as Simon urged the…
Subscribe to The Friend
Many reasons to subscribe:
- Get The Friend first every week
- Become a part of the Quaker community
- Prices start from just £48 per year
- Get a FREE trial of the new website