SOURCES OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY

IN THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS)

First generation Quakers were sure that there is only one Truth (The Word, The Divine, God, Brahman, Christ).  They also knew from experience that it is possible to have direct access to the Truth.  That is, our human perceptions of the Truth are only partial because of our human limitations.  Paul in First Corinthians 13:12 says, “For now we see in a mirror (glass) dimly…. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know.” (MKJV)

In Religious Philosophy/Theology there are three recognized ways to test our perception of the Truth:

1.      directly by our experience of the Divine Spirit (seed, Light of Christ, Inward Teacher)

2.      through Scriptures and sacred texts.

3.      within our Faith Community/tradition (worship, reading, conversation, clearness)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Inter-Varsity fellowship, 1966) describes the conflict about whether the Bible or the Spirit is the primary authority in this way, “the conflict became so acute among Puritans in the 17^th century” that they “divided into two main groups.  The Society of Friends (Quakers) asserted that nothing mattered except the authority of the Spirit (Inner Light, inner experience, inner witness, and inner power).  A minority of early Quakers even said that the Scriptures were not necessary.  This attitude provoked a reaction from the other group of Puritans who felt that authority was exclusively that of the Scriptures.”  So from the earliest days of Quakerism the authority of scripture was not given precedence as a source of authority

Until the last half of the 19^th century Quakers did not call the Bible “The Word.”  The Bible was sometimes referred to as the “words of god” but never “The Word.”  Early in Quakerism the Word was the eternal Christ (Logos) as described in John 1, not the scriptures themselves.  George Fox, Robert Barclay, and even J. J. Gurney were clear that the words in the Bible were not the Word of God but transcripts and translations of God’s language.  George Fox claimed that even the earliest manuscripts of the Bible were translations from God’s language, which was no longer in common use on earth after the Tower of Babel (Gen 11: 6-9).  Early Quakers felt that their inner experience of the Light was the primary source of authority, but the authenticity of their individual leading/openings should be tested against Scripture.

As members of the Society of Friends, early Quakers were a part of a “Faith Community”, which they would have called the Church.  The members and leaders began to recognize that their faith community was also a good test for individual leadings and openings.  The term “rightly ordered” was used to speak of proper group behavior.  Individuals could have leadings and openings that were outside the norms of the “Faith Community.”  This was usually because an individual’s perception of the Inner Experience could be clouded by his or her own social and psychological milieu.

When my father, a Quaker pastor, taught Bible study, he emphasized that we must not assume that our perception of any of the three authorities, the Spirit, the Scripture, or our Faith Community/Tradition is infallible and takes precedent over the others, which has created schisms and conflicts in Quaker communities, past and present.