Join me for the online launch of my new book
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
3w ago
My new book 'The Spirit of Freedom: Quaker-shaped Christian Theology' will be published on 26 November 2024, available in paperback and as an e-book. To celebrate, please join me for an online book launch hosted by Woodbrooke on Tuesday 26 November 2024, 19:30-20:30 (UK time ..read more
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Thicc places: a Quaker on pilgrimage
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
1M ago
On the Pembrokeshire coast is the holy well of St Gwyndaf, nestled in a ferny grove on the route to St David’s Cathedral. It’s listed in Guy Hayward and Nick Mayhew-Smith’s Britain’s Pilgrim Places (2020), and I was on holiday in the area trying to see as many sacred sites as possible. On my visit to St Gwyndaf’s, I found a collection of seashells surrounding the well opening with an invitation to take one. After pocketing the shell, I felt a bit of a fraud. I was a tourist, not a pilgrim. Despite spending a week in such a beautiful corner of Wales filled with wells, churches and standing ston ..read more
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Presenting Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
1M ago
I had the privilege of presenting a “Pause for Thought” on BBC Radio 2. It was broadcast at 2.30am on the morning of Wednesday 2nd October. If you have access to BBC Sounds where you are, you can listen to it here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jtybx2 ..read more
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Quaker approaches to hope
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
2M ago
Ask a room of Quakers what hope means to them and you’ll get a variety of answers. Ask these same Friends to describe the shared Quaker hope and it might take a while. You won’t find a section on hope in Quaker faith & practice. The most recent collective statement on hope made by Quakers in Britain, to my knowledge, is from 2009 in the context of climate change: ‘our faith in common humanity gives hope; love, rather than fear, can still lead us through this crisis.’[1] What does it mean to have faith in common humanity? Isn’t common humanity why we’re in this mess? Hope is something that ..read more
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Reflections on Britain Yearly Meeting 2024
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
3M ago
Should I keep my membership of the Religious Society of Friends? This was the question I anticipated bringing with me to Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) at Friends House in London on a sunny July weekend. I stopped attending a local Quaker Meeting 18 months ago, and I no longer give financially to my Area Meeting. What does this mean for my status as a member? If membership means being part of the ship’s crew instead of a passenger (Qf&p 10.34) what am I now? It turns out I didn’t have to wait until BYM for an answer ..read more
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Dirty Religion
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
3M ago
For the last two years I’ve been experimenting with a hybrid spirituality. I’ve taken the Quakerism that has formed me so strongly over the past two decades and added in some new-monasticism, “Celtic Christianity” and neo-Druidry. I’ve called this a “patchwork” and “queer” approach to faith. Now, having read Adrian Thatcher’s Vile Bodies (2023), I’m wondering if “dirty” is another appropriate word ..read more
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Interview on The God Cast
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
4M ago
I've been interviewed on The God Cast with Fr Alex Frost. We talked about Quakerism, Quaker theology, my spiritual journey, and my new book "The Spirit of Freedom ..read more
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Book Review published in Modern Believing 65.3
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
5M ago
I’m pleased to announce that my review of R. Melvin Keiser’s Seeds of Silence: Essays in Quaker Spirituality and Philosophical Theology has been published in the journal Modern Believing, volume 65, issue 3. Sadly, the journal isn’t open access, so is only available if you or your institution have a subscription. The review can be ..read more
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The good news of sin
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
7M ago
I want to talk about sin. Depending on what type of Quaker you are, this may seem a very un-Quakerly thing to do. The Quakers I know in Britain hardly talk about sin at all, and the first Quakers of 17th century England were very wary of anyone putting too much emphasis on sin, like the Puritans. Quakers accused Puritan ministers of “preaching up sin,” weighing people down rather than directing them to the liberating Light of Christ. I’m not a Puritan, but in this post I write about sin, and about how deeply it dwells in our flesh, so deep that escape in this life is very unlikely. I hope my Q ..read more
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God doesn’t require suffering: a message for St Patrick’s Day
Jolly Quaker
by Mark Russ
8M ago
I believe that God can bring good out of evil. God can take the worst things and grow something good from that soil. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us finding meaning and hope in our suffering. But that’s a different thing entirely to saying that God requires evil and suffering in order to bring about good. That isn’t the God I worship. The God of Jesus Christ wants us to have abundant life and wipe away every tear from our eyes. This God doesn’t hurt us and tell us it’s for our own good ..read more
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