Jesus, Jefferson, and the Tasks of Friends

by Newton Garver

Overview

My topic is the work of Friends in the world. My theme is that this work must be in the world but not of the world. Let me elaborate a bit. Friends are concerned to realize the kingdom of heaven of which Jesus spoke. We hold that that kingdom is in the world — maybe not entirely within this world, but assuredly there are and can be bits of it in the world, and it is those bits we mean to make manifest through our work. The kingdom is a special sort of community of souls. It differs from a worldly community in that within it there are no conflicting interests at all. That is why I am inclined to speak of souls rather than persons: as persons we all carry a great baggage of material interests that must be left at the door when we enter the kingdom.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940148270812
Publisher:	Pendle Hill Publications
Publication date:	02/19/2014
Series:	Pendle Hill Pamphlets , #250
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	30
File size:	104 KB

About the Author

Newton Garver was born in Buffalo in 1928. He burned his draft card in San Francisco in 1947, while living among Friends. A year later, when a student at Swarthmore College, he refused to register for the new military draft and was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison. In 1956 he joined Ithaca Monthly Meeting, and has been a member of Buffalo Meeting for the past twenty-two years. During that time he clerked both the Peace and Social Action Program of New York Yearly Meeting and the Oakwood School Board. Since 1961 he has taught philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The main theme of the present essay has matured over many years partly through Quaker activities (especially in collaboration with Ross Flanagan), partly in Quaker ministry and university lectures. Two companion attempts at clarifying our faith are “What Violence Is” (The Nation, June 1968) and “To Build a Just Society?” (Friends Journal, February 1983). The original version of this essay was a lecture given at Oakwood School on April 17, 1982, under the joint auspices of Purchase Quarter and Representative Meeting of New York Yearly Meeting. Comments and encouragement of many Friends led to its present form.