Towards Tragedy/Reclaiming Hope: Literature, Theology and Sociology in Conversation

The 'death of tragedy' in the modern era has been proposed and debated in recent years, largely in terms of literature and western culture in general. Today, any catastrophe or misadventure is likely to be labeled a 'tragedy', without any inference of a larger, transcendent horizon or providential design that the word once conveyed. This book offers new perspectives on the idea of the 'death of tragedy', taking England and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in particular as a case study. Chapters focus on the origins of tragedy in ancient Greece, gospel and tragedy, the beginnings of the Quaker movement in seventeenth-century England, apocalyptic versus secularized experiences of time, Edwardian Quaker triumphalism, the search for English identity in postcolonial Britain, liberal Quakerism at the end of the twentieth century, and the promise and dilemma of postmodernity. The different disciplinary perspectives of the contributing authors bring literature, history, theology and sociology into a creative and revealing conversation. A Foreword by Richard Fenn introduces the book with an original and provocative meditation on tragedy and time.

Phillips, Brian

Dandelion, Pink

Gwyn, Douglas

Muers, Rachel

Reference

Routledge

Doug Gwyn has researched and written extensively on early Quakers in 17th-century England. His other books include Apocalypse of the Word, and Seekers Found. He has taught at the Pendle Hill Quaker Study Center near Philadelphia, and at Woodbrooke in Birmingham, England. Doug has also worked with the American Friends Service Committee, and is Pastor of First Friends Church, Richmond, Indiana. The Covenant Crucified combines the scholarly and prophetic to compare "covenant", uniting people under the care of a transcendent God, and "contract", uniting them primarily through secular visions of self-interest. "This book, part of Doug Gwyn's trilogy on early Quaker history, is critical to our understanding of early Friends and how the movement changed in the first decades. Gwyn outlines the highly distinctive nature of the Quaker covenant of light, and how that was transformed within a generation into a more worldly contractual understanding. It is also a call to Quakers today to recover a sense of covenant for the journey ahead." - Ben Pink Dandelion, Quaker Studies tutor, University of Birmingham/Woodbrooke

The Covenant Crucified

History

World

Quaker Press

The Covenant Crucified combines the scholarly and prophetic to compare "covenant," uniting people under the care of a transcendent God, and "contract," uniting them primarily through secular visions of self-interest. "This book, part of Doug Gwyn's trilogy on early Quaker history, is critical to our understanding of early Friends and how the movement changed in the first decades. Gwyn outlines the highly distinctive nature of the Quaker covenant of light, and how that was transformed within a generation into a more worldly contractual understanding. It is also a call to Quakers today to recover a sense of covenant for the journey ahead." - Ben Pink Dandelion, Quaker Studies tutor, University of Birmingham/Woodbrooke. Doug Gwyn has researched and written extensively on early Quakers in 17th-century England. His other books include Apocalypse of the Word, and Seekers Found. He has taught at the Pendle Hill Quaker Study Center near Philadelphia, and at Woodbrooke in Birmingham, England. Doug has also worked with the American Friends Service Committee, and is Pastor of First Friends Church, Richmond, Indiana.

The Covenant Crucified: Quakers and the Rise of Capitalism

Pendle Hill Publications

Seekers Found: Atonement in Early Quaker Experience

Many people today respect the search for a spiritually grounded life. By studying the formation of early Friends' experience of transformation, Douglas Gywn offers an understanding of the doctrine of atonement that offers depth and hope to those with a hunger for truth.

Religion & Spirituality

UNKNO

Many people today respect the search for a spiritually grounded life. By studying the formation of early Friends' experience of transformation, Douglas Gywn offers an understanding of the doctrine of atonement that offers depth and hope to those with a hunger for truth.

Pendle Hill Pubns

"A balanced, thorough account of a seventeenth-century figure, who has amazing relevance for our time. Gwyn's analysis shows in a convincing manner that George Fox's type of apocalyptic spiritualism forms a healthy antidote to the apocalyptic chilasm of our day." j. Christiaan Beker, Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary

Apocalypse of the Word: The Life and Message of George Fox (1624-1691)

Friends United Pr

What are the idols serve today which keep our hearts and minds imprisoned? How do we recognize the form of Christ emerging in human experience? How does Christ break down our idols? Douglas Gwyn, author of the popular Apocalypse of the Word. helps identify our creative role in finding the answers to these questions and recognizing God's abiding presence anew.

Unmasking the Idols: A Journey Among Friends

Apocalypse of the Word is a highly informative and smoothly readable exposition of the message of George Fox,life and historical context. Doug Gwyn shows that the radical message that came from the Light within through George Fox has the promise to be spiritually transforming to those who see and listen to him, even now.

Apocalypse of the Word: The Life and Message of George Fox

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Friends United Press

"This book is a collection of short pieces, most of which have appeared in print elsewhere.....All the pieces in this collection attempt to place current Quaker struggles within a larger context...." (from the Introduction, p 1)

Words in Time

Kimo Press

This book advocates a renewal of the traditional Quaker peace testimony, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The liberal Quaker renewal of a century ago fostered a pacifist ideology that diverged from the existential faith-commitment to peace manifested by earlier Friends. But the optimism that world powers could be persuaded to adopt peace faltered as military-industrial interests grew more entrenched during the 20th century. Today’s darkening human prospect forces Friends to reclaim their identity as a people of God that resists the dominant culture and wages an “anti-war,” a militant inversion of empire’s militarist imperatives. Two inverse perspectives are required to reframe the issues. “Peace Finds the Purpose of a Peculiar People” begins with a close reading of 1 Peter 2:4-17. It then describes how the peace testimony developed among early Friends in the 17th century. The essay concludes by applying the framework of peculiar peoplehood, derived from 1 Peter and early Friends, to the current state of the Religious Society of Friends. The other essay of this book, “Militant Peacemaking in the Manner of Friends,” examines the issues inversely. It begins with the Book of Revelation, seen as an apocalyptic unmasking of the Roman Empire’s demonic structure and a call for Christian resistance. Then it examines the early Quaker Lamb’s War as a nonviolent social revolution inspired in part by a socially engaged reading of Revelation. The essay concludes with fresh perspective on the Quaker social testimonies as an “anti-war” that inverts and subverts today’s imperial militarism.

The Anti-War: Peace Finds the Purpose of a Peculiar People; Militant Peacemaking in the Manner of Friends

Inner Light Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gwyn, Douglas. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gwyn, Douglas

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gwyn, Douglas. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Towards Tragedy/Reclaiming Hope: Literature, Theology and Sociology in Conversation

The Covenant Crucified

The Covenant Crucified: Quakers and the Rise of Capitalism

Seekers Found: Atonement in Early Quaker Experience

Seekers Found: Atonement in Early Quaker Experience

Apocalypse of the Word: The Life and Message of George Fox (1624-1691)

Unmasking the Idols: A Journey Among Friends

Apocalypse of the Word: The Life and Message of George Fox

Words in Time

The Anti-War: Peace Finds the Purpose of a Peculiar People; Militant Peacemaking in the Manner of Friends