“How Can They Hate Us So Much When We Are So Good?”

By John Fitch


George W Bush asked this question in his 911 address.  It is a question that I pondered much during my retreat in NY with my Franciscan Order and especially during the 911 memorial at ground zero in Manhattan on the 10th anniversary. The theme of this year’s gathering was the story of St. Francis and the Sultan. We looked at the lessons learned from history and St. Francis' take on what Jesus would want us to do instead of waging war on our neighbors. Our main text was the book The Saint and the Sultan by Paul Moses.

The gist of the story is that St. Francis traveled to stop the Fifth Crusade in 1217. The Crusaders' plan was to conquer all of Egypt which would capture the riches of the fertile Nile Valley and strategically defend against the Egyptian Navy by controlling the Nile. This would ultimately lead to safe passage to Jerusalem in the South. Francis first tried to reason with the crusaders camped on the opposite side of the Nile which came to no avail.

Francis tried to convince the Bishop in charge that war is not what  Jesus wants us to do to our neighbor but instead we are to love our neighbor. The Bishop in charge of the army was certain he could win and would hear nothing about peace and reconciliation.  Francis begged for permission to speak to the Sultan and permission was granted only that Francis was acting on his own as a missionary to convert the Sultan and did not have the authority to negotiate peace on behalf of the Church.

Francis then went with one other Friar to the Muslim camp and asked to speak to the Sultan. They were arrested and beaten but not killed because the commanders of the Sultan’s army believed they were sent by the other side to negotiate a peace settlement and hence were taken to the Sultan Malik al Kamil.  Al-Kamil was a learned man who knew of the Coptic Christians and had great respect for holy men. He was interested in finding a peaceful resolution and ready to offer the Christians control of Jerusalem in return for peace. Francis told the Sultan he did not have the authority to negotiate a truce but instead wanted to convert him to Christianity.

Francis was not successful in converting the Sultan, although the Sultan was impressed by Francis and granted him safe passage back to the other side. The battle went on as planned and all the Crusaders were slaughtered ending the 5th Crusade.  It does not seem to me that we have learned much about peace seven hundred and ninety five years later. We are still waging war at the tremendous cost of many lives and economic losses. Jesus' message of peace has not changed and I don’t believe he would say any of the wars have been justified.

On Sunday some of us traveled to Manhattan to attend the 911 Memorial. The mood was somber. I saw a lot of firemen and policemen who looked like they were reliving that tragic day 10 years ago. One fireman looked like he had been crying and he was carrying a photo of Fr. Mychal Judge the Franciscan Friar who was the much loved  Chaplain of the fire department and was killed when the building collapsed because when warned to leave he said, “I can’t leave. I have to stay with my men. "

911 was a tragic event and it came as a shock to most people because always before wars and acts of terrorism have happened somewhere else. Because we are an introverted society we don’t pay attention to wars and conflicts that in many cases we are involved in around the world.  “Why do they hate us so much when we so good” is the question we all need to seek answers to.

Most Americans believe our military interventions are justified and necessary for our defense but I suspect that the people on the receiving end of our bombs don’t see our actions as just and are responding to our violence with continued acts of terror.  We have been responding aggressively for ten years at a tremendous cost in both money and lives lost since 911 and we have not made any real progress toward peaceful resolutions of conflicts.

In his sermon preached at the Episcopal Church on Wall St. on the memorial Sunday the priest called on us “to never forget the power of love”.   Franciscans like Quakers have been especially aware of Jesus' message of loving our enemy. Our ecumenical Franciscan group has decided as our focus of study this year to learn more about Islam and the ongoing conflict to seek understanding so we can help find a peaceful means of solving our differences.


John Fitch is the founder of the Renaissance House community and is an alumnus of ESR. He is currently studying in the Doctor of Ministry program at Southern Methodist University, Perkins School of Theology and is participating in a one year internship with the monks of New Skete training dogs and learning about traditional monasticism. In his spare time he enjoys photography.

Friend in Residence: Christopher Sammond

By Valerie Hurwitz

This past week Chrisotopher Sammond, General Secretary of New York Yearly Meeting, visited ESR as our Friend-in-Residence. He spoke at many events, including our Common Meal, Peace Forum, joint worship on Friday, and a Friday afternoon workshop. When I sat down to write this post, I intended to focus on his Peace Forum presentation, but my thoughts ranged wider than that so I’ll comment on a number of the Friend-in-Residence activities I participated in. Christopher Sammond is widely knowledgeable; from the traditional seminary education he got at United Theological Seminary in Minnesota to his long history with Friends, and he had a lot to share with ESR this past week.

First, Indiana Yearly Meeting’s Representative Council meeting last Saturday is very much on our minds here. (You can read Margaret Fraser’s thoughts on the meeting here). While Indiana Yearly Meeting no longer appoints Earlham trustees and our formal relationship with them has changed significantly, West Richmond Friends is only a few blocks from ESR and has been (along with First Friends and Clear Creek meetings) a spiritual home for many residential students. Christopher Sammond, being part of dually affiliated FUM-FGC yearly meeting, has a particular vantage point being able to see trends within the liberal branches of Friends, as well as within FUM.

During a lunch with faculty on Wednesday, Christopher spoke both about trying to sustain liberal Friends and also about forming working relationships with other members of FUM. Christopher spoke about New York Yearly Meeting and the need for liberal Friends to reflect theologically. He drew a distinction between religious/spiritual experience (which he says NYYM does very well in its unprogrammed meetings) and being able to reflect communally on what is going on during these experiences and articulating one’s own theological beliefs. This does not necessarily lead to dogmatism about specific theological doctrines (although it certainly can). Christopher wants to encourage unprogrammed Friends to reflect on their experiences in meeting and develop their vocabulary of theological concepts in order to better do so.

Christopher has also worked with the FUM board, and the discussion turned to relationships among yearly meetings as they try to form a vision of FUM’s purpose and mission. Christopher could name many examples of having worked individually with superintendents and other representatives from less liberal yearly meetings, but noted that it often felt difficult to gain unity among the board as a whole. Christopher’s reflections on relationships within FUM came full circle during the West Richmond Friends meeting this past Sunday where a member stood and shared a joy. She had attend the FUM board meetings over the weekend and found an amazing feeling of Friendship and an absence of conflict. Let’s pray that FUM continues along those lines.

At Peace Forum on Thursday, Christopher spoke about being effective as Peace activists. He finds the practice of spending long hours during yearly meeting business sessions of crafting a minute of concern on a particular topic to be not effective in changing the world. (I laughed a little at this, having seen the process of laboring over each word on a minute a few times now. Not being Quaker, however, I can have a great deal of patience for a business practice that isn’t mine.) Christopher joked that, “the walls of every room in Congress could be papered with minutes of concern from Friends”, but acknowledged that sometimes this is part of an important process of clarifying identity and an outlet for anger and powerlessness.

Christopher instead believes in the power of individual action being contagious and encouraging. He mentioned the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting “Called to Action” program and the Quaker intentional village project occurring now in New York Yearly Meeting. Christopher and the attendees also discussed the Occupy Wall Street protests happening now, which have spread around the country. Christopher point is that we need ask ourselves “How have we acted to create the Kingdom?”, not defend, but create.

On Friday, Christopher spoke in joint worship on Luke 18, the story of the tax collector and the Pharisee praying in the temple. He encouraged us to be wary of our own sense of righteousness and see the ways in which we are the Pharisee, proclaiming how much better we are than others. After lunch, Christopher shared a workshop with us, focused on reading the parables of Jesus. It was a quiet sunny day and we sat in Quigg (the worship room), sharing the conclusions and connections we drew from specific parables. I was reminded of a theologian who commented that Jesus must have spoken in parables to avoid dogmatic certainty among his followers.

The name of the theologian escapes me, but the workshop was a reminder to read the Bible imaginatively and the joy of reading it communally. This post has come out a little scattered, as the week included many events. Christopher also carries a broad range of concerns that address many issues among Friends, from programmed to unprogrammed to larger structural issues within FUM and FGC. Hopefully this is good for thought for you and an update on how we’re doing at ESR!

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

Following the Call

By Diane Reynolds

For 18 years John Muhanji worked as a banker in Kenya, living a high-status life of material prosperity. In 2004, moved by the plight of survivors of the Rwandan genocide, he resigned from the bank to take a much lower-paying job with Friends United Meeting. “It was a moment of total change,” he said at last Thursday’s Peace Forum lunch at Earlham School of Religion.

This is a rare, but not unknown story—among others, John Woolman deliberately curtailed his tailoring business to free himself for ministry, George Fox chose a life involving years in jail, and Elizabeth Fry stepped into prison reform ministry. The call comes and some heed it.

The son of Quaker minister, Muhanji is participating in the rapid growth of Quakerism in both Kenya and Rwanda, a growth he attributes to the faith’s ability to provide a distinctive Christian voice. To continue to expand, Quakerism, he said, must maintain that distinctive edge and not become just another religious choice.

The Quaker distinctives Muhanji locate as important include the integrity and peace testimonies. As Kenyan Quakers stand for integrity, they not only talk about the faith but live in a way that shows the difference a Quaker version of Christianity can make in people’s lives. This, says Muhanji, is a powerful witness to Christianity as a force for good in the world. Most specifically, Quakers exemplify the connection between Christian faith and peace.

Quakers run 250 high schools in Kenya, Muhanji said, and these schools teach peace building and reconciliation skills, making them vitally important for changing the culture of government and police corruption that exists in Kenya. Students are hungry for this peace building knowledge. And creating a cadre of peacemakers, Muhanji said, is vital not only for Kenya, which in 2007 experienced an outbreak of unspeakable violence, but in the entire region of East Africa. Somalia is a special problem, Muhanji said, for terrorist training goes on here unchallenged, threatening the region.

Muhanji invited Quakers and others to come to Kenya to teach in the Quaker schools. Our knowledge and peace skills are needed there, he said. For those with the call, it seems that little could be more gratifying than entering a country where your life has the potential to make an immediate and a lasting difference.

I think often about Kenya because I have a friend who lived there for seven years: she and her family lived in a gated community with a private security guard, a maid, a driver, private schooling and all the privileges of the good life that American ex-patriots can enjoy. They also lived in a society in which they had to be on constant guard against theft, a country filled with desperately poor people, and with an infrastructure so overburdened that people without money were left to die on hospital emergency room floors.

When John talks about the hope of Quakerism, he is saying, I think, the same as Dorothy Day, who often spoke of building a world in which “it is easier to be good.” Nobody, I believe, wants to let a fellow human die on a hospital floor. Nobody wants to steal to stay alive.

The dialogue and partnership between U.S. and Kenyan Quakers is vital to both sides. Our society, as recent cheers for letting the uninsured die show, is threatened with hardness of heart. We need to share the vitality of Kenyan Quakers. What more can we do to promote the lived—not merely sentimental--tenderness that has long been a central tenet of our tradition? How can we rally more around our insight into Jesus Christ as a radical peacemaker rather than fight among ourselves?

Diane Reynolds is a student in Earlham School of Religion’s Master of Divinity program. She maintains a personal blog, Emerging Quaker.

A Paradigm Shift from “Just War” to “Just Peace” at the World Council of Churches

By Diane Reynolds

Is “Just War” theory—which attempts to limit when and how a nation wages war- obsolete? At a recent meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, 1,000 members of the World Council of Churches—including Bethany Seminary professor Scot Holland—moved beyond it to embrace a vision of “Just Peace.”

Speaking at last Thursday’s Peace Forum lunch, held at ESR, Holland explained the importance of a new, more creative, way of imagining a world without war.

The shift towards peace has been long coming, Holland said. Shortly after World War II, the WCC invited historic peace churches, including Quakers, Brethren and Mennonites to Geneva, where the WCC decided that “war is contrary to the will of God.” However, at the time, churches were not yet able to work out what that statement meant in political or pragmatic terms.

Fast forwarding to the last ten years—dubbed by the WCC the “decade to overcome violence”—“Just War” theory became highly questionable, Holland said.

“Just Peace,” Holland said, is preferable because it moves us from a military metaphysics to a “poetry of peace.” Because we are used to “the bad fiction” of a master narrative of war, we equate guns with security, and worry if we don’t have strong militaries. The move away from this mindset, Holland said, is pragmatic,
because military metaphysics “simply doesn’t work.” Instead, a new story approach finds power in the human longing for a peace narrative.

Thus, the poetic or creative basis of “Just Peace” encourages us to imagine not just avoiding war but peaceful modes of being in the world. These include embracing an embodied spirituality that names the human form as a temple. If the spiritual is found only beyond the body, Holland said, anything can be done to the body.

The World Council of Churches enumerated four principles of Just Peacemaking:

o Building peace in our communities, including our spiritual communities, with an emphasis on our faith groups being “in the world, for the world.”

o Embracing eco-theological approaches to making peace with the planet.

o Promoting peace in the marketplace and acknowledging that economic injustice makes peace difficult.

o Focusing on peace between peoples by building “the peace of the city”—promoting outer peace in the world and trusting it to lead to inner peace. This form of peace was imagined by the prophet Jeremiah, who called for the Israelites to build houses and live in them, to plant gardens and eat of them, to marry and have children.

Personally, I love the idea of working together to build a just peace on earth, rather than merely sidestepping war until it becomes “inevitable.” However, many Quakers tend to believe that inner peace is a necessary first step to outer peace. What do you think of an external “peace of the city” leading to inner harmony?
Further, what do you think of “Just Peace?” Can a new paradigm lead to a more peaceful world?

More on “Just Peace” can be found at http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/general-secretary/speeches/just-peace-the-dream-that-comes-true.html

Diane Reynolds is a student in Earlham School of Religion’sMaster of Divinity program. She maintains a personal blog,Emerging Quaker.

Review of Jon Watt's New Album: "Clothe Yourself in Righteousness"

By Stephen Angell

Jon Watts is a post-modern George Fox, or Solomon Eccles. (Fox was the 17^th century founder of the Quakers, Eccles a Quaker and contemporary of Fox given to prophetic actions such as stripping himself naked and running through the streets with a basket of hot coals on his head.) Like them, he is both prophetic and radical. Also like them, he is well rooted, but not lost, in the past (Christian or Quaker tradition), and is firmly devoted to speaking challengingly to his times. His rap poetry is exquisite and well suited to the delivery of a radical Quaker message, with gorgeous chords in the background that do not overwhelm the spoken word. 

This album is a poignant combination of the social, spiritual, and personal, a paean to simplicity and a radical critique of consumerism. It includes both a lament of lost love and a reminder of the Inner Light that all possess – that means we are all loved. Youthful like Fox was when the Quaker movement had its Pentecost in the early 1650s, Watts ends with a moving tribute to his elders. You’ll want to listen many times, and let the music and message soak in.

Steve Angell is the Geraldine Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at Earlham School of Religion.

What is Quaker Spirituality? (Part 2)

George Fox (1624-1691), founder of the Quaker movement, had numerous mystical encounters that he called “openings” in which he was given revelations that brought new insights. He sometimes described such experiences as being “taken up into the love of God.” One such insight, that everyone was “enlightened by the divine Light of Christ,” became a key concept in Quaker spirituality. This Light, they claimed, was universal and “would work out the salvation of all, if not resisted.” Originally called the “inward light,” in later periods Friends divided over its interpretation, evangelically-oriented Friends preferring to call it the Holy Spirit, and mystically-oriented Friends, the “inner light.”

Quaker spirituality initially developed around the idea of holiness, which they called perfection or union with God, a spirituality of radical optimism. Perfection, always a work of grace, brought power to overcome sin, a new sense of spiritual freedom, and soul-joy even amidst suffering. Quaker theologian, Robert Barclay (1648-1690) called perfection the “holy birth…fully brought forth.” Quakers always described perfection in biblical terms such as “The life hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3), “Christ in you, the hope of Glory” (Col. 1:27), to “partake of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), and to be “one spirit” with the Lord (I Cor. 6:17).

Early Quakers had a thoroughly biblical worldview and considered the Bible authoritative. However, Fox felt he was primarily called “to direct people to the Spirit that gave forth the Scripture.” Quakers believed revelation was not closed, nor confined to Scripture, but Scripture was the touchstone of truth, and would confirm all direct, personal inspiration. The Bible and the practice of communal discernment became safeguards for self-deception.

Early Quakers, like many puritans in their time, initially anticipated the imminent second coming of Christ, but when it did not happen literally they recognized that Christ had come again spiritually, within each person. Quakers then began to proclaim a “kingdom now” theology, preaching that the Kingdom is within.

Quakers were evangelistic and prophetic, preaching good news to the poor and denouncing oppression--religious, social and political. They became a missionary-oriented movement on a grand scale, adopting an itinerant, apostolic style of preaching. A concern for freedom of conscience, equality of all persons, and social justice were corollaries of their evangelism.

Early Quakers could arguably be called a grass-roots Pentecostal movement. The experience of being "in the power," which meant being Spirit-filled and led, is one of the most recurring phrases in George Fox’s Journal. Early Friends often used the term "poured down" to refer to whole meetings that were “in the power.”

The first generation of Quakers were often harshly persecuted for their beliefs, and thus identified themselves as belonging to the long line of martyrs for God’s truth. Their experience of suffering was viewed positively as identification with Christ, and brought redemptive meaning and purpose. The cross as a daily enacting of the suffering of Christ, became a central symbol of Quaker spirituality. William Penn wrote, “The bearing of thy daily Cross is the only true testimony.”

Quaker christology emphasized the inward Christ (the inward Light) and the cosmic Christ (the universal Light) more than the historical Jesus. Quakers proclaimed that Christ must be awakened and experienced inwardly, not simply believed in as an historic figure or event. Quaker preacher, James Nayler, testified to this Christology which is the basis of incarnational holiness, “None can witness redemption further than Christ is thus revealed in them, to set them free from sin: which Christ I witness to be revealed in me in measure. ”

A twentieth century Quaker spiritual writer echoes this Christology in his classic text, A Testament of Devotion, “Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking voice….Here is the Slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe in earthly form and action. And He is within us all.” The biblical phrase “in Christ“ for Quakers did not mean simply being “in the church” or being “saved,” but signified a mystical relationship of divine indwelling and a complete transformation of being, a knowing God in oneself, and knowing oneself in God.

Carole Spencer serves as Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality at Earlham School of Religion. She is a recorded minister in Northwest Yearly Meeting.


This text is excerpted from the Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, Ed. Glen G. Scorgie.

Peace Forum, September 15, 2011 - Living Out Your Faith

By Valerie Hurwitz


Joshua Abel, Executive Director of the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, came to speak to a group of ESR, Bethany, and Earlham students at Peace Forum.  ESR MDiv student Erin Hougland did her Americorps work at the NCLC, and now works as their volunteer coordinator.  The NCLC began in 1991 when a Presbyterian pastor used his sermon to discuss the need for free legal assistance in the impoverished community surrounding the church building.  Six attorneys in the congregation decided to create a legal clinic that provided pro-bono legal services to low income neighborhood residents.  NCLC has from a volunteer organization to a not-for-profit corporation with 30 employees, including an Executive Director and 10 attorneys on staff.  They offer legal services free of charge to those at 125% of the poverty line or lower.  Areas of expertise include landlord/tenant law, foreclosures, child custody and visitation, immigration, bankruptcy, taxes, and wills.

A few things of note here: this is the first legal clinic that came out of a church setting, at least as far as the American Bar Association is aware.  Second, the clinic does its work as a way of demonstrating the love of Christ.  They do not evangelize in the sense that we think of evangelizing in the 21^st century.  One could argue that they are evangelists in the sense that they bring “good news”; much-needed assistance to the poor and needy.  I am reminded of John 1: 46 where Nathaniel asks if anything good can come out of Nazareth and Philip answers “Come and see.”  Evangelism may simply be letting your work in the world and what you advocate be a reflection of your faith.

The Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic is always looking for partners; non-profits who can refer clients, attorneys willing to volunteer on cases, donations, churches willing to serve as intake sites, etc.  There was talk at ESR on Thursday of where a good intake site in Richmond would be.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see one soon.

On a more personal note, I have dealt with legal bureaucracy two memorable times in my life.  One was because the IRS made a mistake on my taxes and insisted that I owed money, while the other occurred because a landlord was (amazingly, suspiciously) slow in returning a security deposit.  I muddled through both situations, but remembered thinking that this would be extremely difficult if I did not have the ability to take time during business hours to handle this, and if I did not feel equipped to research tax law and landlord-tenant law and argue based on that research.  I mentioned these two examples to Erin Hougland, and she affirmed that these were not unusual issues for the legal clinic to deal with.  For people who feel as though “the system” is stacked against them, having someone to affirm what their legal rights and assist them in navigating it is good news indeed.

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.