The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has played a significant, though often underestimated, role in American history, and in the history of the Western United States. Aptly called “quiet rebels,”2 Friends have been at the forefront of movements to abolish slavery, to advance the rights of women and minorities, and to promote social justice and peace.

Of the 100,000 Quakers currently residing in the United States, approximately 15,000 live in the western states. Of these, 3400 belong to the Pacific, North Pacific, and Intermountain Yearly Meetings (YMs)—the three independent Western Yearly Meetings that are the subject of this book; the rest belong to evangelical YMs. While membership in the Society of Friends has been declining steadily since the 1960s (as it has for most mainstream Protestant churches), the number of unprogrammed Western Friends has grown at a rate of nearly 25% each decade.3

Because 1999 marked the 70th anniversary of Friends Bulletin, the official publication of the three independent Western YMs, it seemed fitting to compile a collection of readings by and about the emergence of a yearly meeting that Howard Brinton described as “the most important event in modern Quaker history in America.”4

Quakerism began in seventeenth century England as a religious movement that “sought through direct inward experience to find again the life and power of early ianity.”5 Jessamyn West, author of The Friendly Persuasion, describes the founding of the Religious Society of Friends (as Quakers officially call themselves):

Though George Fox was the leader of those “persons called Quakers” (so named because some trembled or “quaked” when overflowing with the Spirit within), he cannot be said to have founded the Society of Friends. Rather it formed itself almost spontaneously as more and more people accepted the professions and practices of George Fox, having discovered in themselves the means by which they could bring their lives into closer accord with God.

Nor did George Fox himself have any idea of “founding” a church. A church, to his mind, was simply a group of people whose common purpose it was to relate themselves in love to God and with each other.6

Similarly, those who came to form Pacific YM were not interested in founding a conventional church, but rather in experiencing the enthusiastic and adventuresome spirit of the early Friends’ movement.

This book is about the “re-invention” of Quakerism in the Western United States.7 It is also about the ways in which the Spirit has moved among independent Western Quakers. For this reason, this book is not a narrative or analytic history, but rather a collection of “testimonies” or eyewitness accounts about how people in the Western United States have tried to apply Quaker principles to their lives.

The advantage of such a method is that it provides a vivid, first-hand record of significant people and events. The disadvantage of the first-person approach is that it cannot be comprehensive or objective. Some Friends who played important roles have been omitted or mentioned only in passing. We have attempted to remedy this defect by providing introductory and background information to fill in some of the gaps. Nonetheless, the results do not constitute an exhaustive or complete history of Western Quakers.

This book is intended to appeal both to Friends and to general readers unfamiliar with Quakerism (hence our footnotes and glossary explaining Quaker terms and references). This book has also been designed for use in Quaker adult study classes. For this reason, we have chosen writings that reflect what many Friends see as the essential “testimonies”8 of Quakerism: Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, and Equality. In recent years, many unprogrammed Western Friends have come to see “Earth care”—recognizing the sacredness and preserving the harmony/balance of all life forms on earth—as another essential testimony.

Finally, it should be noted that we used a collaborative process in creating this book. The editor, with the help of numerous Friends, selected material from past issues of Friends Bulletin and other sources. This material was then read and evaluated by readers from the three YMs. In keeping with Friends’ practice, editorial meetings were preceded by a time of silent reflection, and the selection process was carried out in the spirit of Quaker worship. It is therefore our hope that the readings reflect the Spirit of Love, Truth, and Light in the experience of independent Western Friends.

Friends Bulletin: “Building the Western Friends Community Since 1929”

Friends Bulletin was started in 1929 when Anna Brinton first “had the happy idea that a summary of the doings of the above meetings [Berkeley, Palo Alto, College Park/San Jose, and Los Gatos, California] might be prepared each quarter....The name Friends Bulletin was adopted as a temporary title.”9

This “temporary title” stuck; and for seventy years, Friends Bulletin has helped to create a sense of community among independent Western Friends separated by vast geographical distances.

This modest little publication has reported news, recorded minutes, circulated concerns, chronicled history, and explored spiritual insights. It has challenged, consoled, enlightened, delighted, and at times exasperated its far-flung readership. Many of the readings from this book originally appeared in Friends Bulletin.

Like the unprogrammed Western Friends community, Friends Bulletin has grown remarkably. “In the beginning the Bulletin looked more like a menu card than a newspaper,” recalled Peter Guldbrandsen, one of the first editors.10 “To save expense it was printed in a long strip of paper, and one or two of my poems appeared on the strips as ‘appetizers.’”11

During World War II, the Bulletin was sometimes mimeographed to cut costs. When Ed Sanders was editor in 1947, the circulation was 322. The current circulation is approximately 1700 paid subscribers.

The format has also changed dramatically. Until the 1970s, Friends Bulletin averaged 6-10 pages. It was unbound, and contained very few photos. Friends Bulletin now averages 20-28 pages in length, with numerous pictures and art work, and is also published through several web sites. But our goal remains the same: to link up Friends that are geographically dispersed and to address questions and concerns vital to independent Western Friends.

Independent Quakerism

Since Friends Bulletin was started as the magazine of “independent” Western Friends, the term “independent” in this context needs to be clarified.12 It is customary for new Yearly Meetings to start under the auspices of another Yearly Meeting, just as Monthly Meetings usually form as a worship group under the care of another Monthly Meeting. For various historical reasons that will be discussed later, many Western Monthly Meetings arose more or less spontaneously, as Friends migrating west gathered together in informal worship groups. Pacific YM “emerged” from the College Park/Pacific Coast Association, which was not under the care of any established Yearly Meeting.13

“Independent” also implies “free from dogma and tradition.” Glancing over the early issues of Friends Bulletin, one has inklings of how exciting and liberating Friends’ gatherings must have been in the 1920s and 1930s.

Consider, for example, this glowing account of “independent Meetings” written by William Allen of Denver, Colorado:

Independent Meetings are of great value to Friends who desire to maintain a simple, near apostolic, form of worship. Those who come to them can discover a rich, spiritual baptism and a holy, spiritual communion….Independent Meetings are generally composed of Friends, and their neighbors, who are isolated from larger groups of Friends. Being new, they naturally have little dead wood to carry. The constituency of such meetings [is] mostly made up of individuals whose contacts with the world have tended to give them broader sympathies than if they lived and worshiped in more sectarian environments. Under these circumstances their members should possess a winning message for every creed, tongue, and race…14

This “winning message” of spiritual independence has been conveyed by Friends Bulletin from its earliest days to the present.

To understand the origin of the independent Western Quaker movement, we need to step back to the 19th century and review the Western migration of Friends.

The Western Migration of Friends

Friends migrated westward for a variety of reasons. The first Quakers came to Northern California during the Gold Rush, seeking economic opportunities.15 Others came west for religious motives. Robert and Sarah Lindsey, British evangelical Friends, came to the Northwest in 1859 and held Quaker gatherings in Salem, Oregon.16 Not long afterwards, Jesse and David Hobson held meetings for worship at their home in San Jose, California. In 1873, San Jose became the first Western Monthly Meeting to be recognized by Honey Creek Quarterly Meeting of Iowa YM.17 During this period, Rebecca Clawson began holding “appointed” meetings for worship in Salem, Oregon, including at the State Penitentiary. In 1878, Chehalem (later called Newberg) Monthly Meeting was recognized by Honey Creek Quarterly Meeting, thereby becoming the first Monthly Meeting in the Northwest.18

When thousands migrated westward on the railroads, lured by cheap fares and the land boom, Monthly Meetings began springing up throughout California and Oregon, largely inspired by the 19th century revival movement.19 In 1893, Oregon YM was established,20 to be followed by California YM in 1895.21 During this period, Friends were also moving into Colorado where they started meetings in Denver and Paolia. These became part of Nebraska YM when it was established in 1908. By the turn of the century, there were several thousand pastoral Quakers in the West.

These pastoral Meetings were quite different from traditional Quaker Meetings in which worshippers sit in silence and wait on the Spirit. Influenced by the evangelical revival, these Western pastoral Meetings were part of a movement among Friends who had begun hiring pastors, establishing a set order of worship, and requiring specific allegiance to and the . They subscribed to the Richmond Declaration of Faith (1887) and became part of Five Years Meeting (later Friends United Meeting) at its birth in 1902.

The seeds of the Western independent YMs were sown in the 1880s when Hannah and Joel Bean arrived in California and started the first unprogrammed Quaker meeting in San Jose.

The Beans’ journey to San Jose came about as the result of theological schisms among Friends that began in the East during the 1820s and intensified as Friends migrated West. As North Pacific YM’s Faith and Practice notes, “a struggle developed between Friends who emphasized the outward historical events recorded in Scripture (called Orthodox) and those who emphasized inward mystical experience (called Hicksite, after Elias Hicks).”22 These differences led to a separation in 1827 in Philadelphia YM and in 1828 in New York YM. The split was not purely doctrinal, however, but also reflected tensions between Friends who lived mainly in the cities and those who lived in rural areas. Both groups continued as unprogrammed meetings.

Throughout the nineteenth century, further schisms developed between Friends who were influenced by evangelicalism and those whose faith was based upon the Inner Light. Joseph John Gurney, a charismatic British Friend traveling in the United States in the 1840s, won many adherents with his evangelistic approach and his emphasis on the . He was opposed by John Wilbur, a birthright Friend from New England, who stressed the importance of the Inward Light and frowned on such innovations as societies and missions. This led to a “Wilburite-Gurneyite” separation in 1845 in New England YM.

Joel Bean, a pioneer in the literal as well as spiritual sense, migrated from the East to Iowa in 1853; and Hannah Shipley, whom he married, came soon after. From 1860-77 Joel and Hannah travelled widely, spending time on the East Coast, London, and Hawai’i.23 Joel was made clerk of Iowa YM just before it acrimoniously split into those who supported the more traditional form of worship and those who were more evangelical. The main body of the Yearly Meeting was evangelical; and though Joel disagreed, he felt he should stay as clerk and try to reconcile Friends. He was finally led “to remove in 1882 to California and to retire if possible from the conflict.”24 In San Jose, the Beans formed a worship group which met without a pastor. They asked for recognition as a monthly meeting by Honey Creek Quarterly Meeting, but were refused. In 1885 they built a meetinghouse and in 1889 became incorporated as the College Park Association of Friends, independent of any quarterly or yearly meeting. 25 Finally, in 1891, Iowa YM withdrew its recognition of Joel as a recorded minister. In 1898, the entire Bean family, along with other San Jose Friends, was removed from membership by New Providence MM. This removal stirred international controversy among Friends. 26

The College Park Association became the Pacific Coast Association of Friends in 1931, which led to the formation of Pacific YM in 1947. Joel Bean’s granddaughter, Anna Cox Brinton, played a crucial role in these developments. In Le Shana’s view, “Pacific YM…continues in the heritage of Joel Bean’s reaction against the ‘new measures’ and ‘new techniques’ of revivalism.”27

Although several important Western Meetings—e.g., Orange Grove and Villa Street Meetings in Pasadena, Santa Fe Monthly Meeting, and University Meeting in Seattle—developed under the care of eastern and midwestern YMs, most early unprogrammed monthly meetings in the West arose independently, i.e. without the support and approval that established Quaker meetings traditionally give to nascent meetings.

Nonetheless, the term “independent” is not one that all unprogrammed Western Friends feel comfortable with. Some (including Joel Bean himself) preferred terms like “unaffiliated” or “united” (“united” refers to the fact that independent meetings allow their members to unite or affiliate with other Friends’ groups of their choosing). While most unprogrammed Western Friends (particularly in the Southwest) do not see themselves as “Beanites, ”28 many are proud of the Bean legacy.

The Mission and Message of Western Independent Friends

It is common for independent Western Friends to profess little interest in theological “labels” or doctrinal statements. North Pacific YM Faith and Practice observes:

Even those who have been among Friends for a while may find it challenging to sort out our theology. The difficulty arises in part from the fact that the Society of Friends is not a single, homogeneous group but a large spiritual family with several branches that have evolved in different directions over the past three centuries. Another part of the challenge in understanding Quaker faith derives from our attitude towards creeds or other formal statements. Friends do not make a written statement the test of faith or the measure of suitability for membership.29

It is important to note, however, that this statement refers only to those belonging to the liberal, unprogrammed branch of Quakerism. The three evangelical Western YMs are very clear about what they believe. They have written statements of faith which affirm (among other doctrines) belief in Jesus Christ, both as the Word and as the Redeemer whose death and resurrection brings God’s forgiveness; the revelation of God as Creator, in and by the Spirit; and the place of Scripture as an unfailing source of truth when interpreted by the Holy Spirit. Their books of discipline include the Richmond Declaration (1887) and George Fox’s “Letter to the Governor of Barbados”(1671)—both of which uphold many traditional Christian beliefs.30 As we have seen, pastoral Friends do hold clear belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and expect both a profession of faith and evidence of a life lived in conformance to that faith as part of becoming a member or being recorded in the ministry.31

From the beginning, the faith statements of Western independent Friends have tended to be brief, inclusive, and vague. No doubt because of the Beans’ experience, the discipline of the College Park Association of Friends was kept deliberately simple, with an emphasis on service and the “social gospel” rather than on doctrine:

1) Doctrine: Friends believe in the continuing reality of the living Christ, available to all seeking souls.

2) Worship: The worship of God is in spirit and in truth and shall be held on a basis of the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

3) Ministry: All Members and Attenders are free to participate vocally in Meetings, under a sense of God’s presence.

4) Manner of Living: Friends are advised to conduct their private lives with simplicity and directness, ever sensitive to the world’s needs and eager to engage in service.

5) Relation to State: Friends are urged to feel their responsibility to the nation, and at the same time to recognize their oneness with humanity everywhere, regardless of race or nation, abstaining from all hatred.32

With a few exceptions, Western independent Friends have been wary of theologizing, seeing it as potentially divisive, prideful, and “notional.”33 Instead of theology, they have emphasized “group mysticism” (the experience of worship), openness to a variety of religious experiences (particularly those of the East, such as Buddhism), and putting one’s faith into practice (the social gospel). Faith-based activism is stressed in Pacific YM’s 1965 Discipline:

Men everywhere, of whatever race, nation, creed, or condition, are children of God and brothers to ourselves. We should have regard for the worth of each person we meet or think of, whether far away or near to us. We cannot be easy in our own lives when others suffer indignity, injustice, or want. In the Spirit of Christ, we must be ready to put ourselves at our brother’s side and share his burden. As we are true to the divine within us, we can answer to the divine in others.34

Over the past several decades, Meetings have attracted increasing numbers of attenders and members who see their spiritual heritage as other than Christian. As a consequence, Western independent Friends have had to struggle with theological questions. Ellie Foster describes the diversity of views found among today’s unprogrammed meetings:

As members of the Pacific YM Faith and Practice Revision Cornmittee visited monthly meetings to determine Friends feelings about the “core of our faith,” they heard a variety of words, a diversity of beliefs. Some Friends spoke of their emulation of Jesus, the simple carpenter, “Oh Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild;” many had been deeply instructed by a study of the teachings of Jesus. For others the belief in a universal who enlightened all humankind through all ages bound them most closely to the experience of early Friends. Many Friends spoke of their discomfort with traditional words, such as “Lord” or “Kingdom,” hearing in them echoes of patriarchal dominance. Friends often spoke of finding a universal spirit in nature which moved them with a sense of spaciousness and reverence. Some found the image of “goddess” more satisfying than “god;” some used neither word. A number had come to Friends from their own spiritual searching unrelated to any traditional religious teachings. Others were nourished by Jewish or Buddhist teaching from their childhood or early searching.35

North Pacific YM’s Faith and Practice addresses this diversity by noting the need to find a balance between universalism and a Christ-centered faith:

One central area of belief which has received considerable attention over the years is the relationship of Quakerism to Christianity. Whether one interprets the Quaker movement as a strand within Protestantism or as third force distinct from both Protestantism and Catholicism, the movement, both in its origin and in the various branches which have evolved, is rooted in Christianity. However, from its inception it has offered both a critique of many accepted manifestations of Christianity and an empathy with people of faith beyond the bounds of Christianity. Some Friends have placed particular emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, while others have found more compelling a universal perspective emphasizing the Divine Light enlightening every person. One of the lessons of our own history as a religious movement is that an excessive reliance on one or the other of these perspectives, neglecting the essential connectedness between the two, has been needlessly divisive and has drawn us away from the vitality of the Quaker vision at its best.36

Over the years, unprogrammed and pastoral Friends have drifted increasingly further apart on matters of doctrine, worship style, and church governance. The theological gap widened recently when Friends Church Southwest YM (formerly California YM) severed its ties with Friends United Meeting (FUM) and joined Evangelical Friends International (EFI).37

Nonetheless, pastoral and unprogrammed Friends have found common ground and have at times worked together on projects relating to peace and social justice, as this book clearly shows. Many deep and long-standing friendships between Friends of different theological persuasions were forged in Civilian Public Service (CPS) and American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) work camps, on picket lines or through projects and causes sponsored by the AFSC or Friends Committee on Legislation (FCL) of California.38

The last chapter of this book explores some recent attempts to build bridges between programmed and pastoral Friends through the Western Gathering of Friends, FWCC (Friends World Committee for Consultation), and the Quaker Women’s Theological Conferences. Dialogue among Friends of different theological persuasions has not always been easy; but as Marge Abbott notes, liberal and evangelical Friends “are united in their conviction that life must be centered on that dynamic Spirit which is vital and among us today, and that faith must be lived day to day, permeating all we do.”39

Since much of the writing in this book emphasizes the active rather the theological or mystical side of the Western Quaker experience, it should be noted that authentic Quaker activism is religiously conceived and motivated. As North Pacific YM’s Faith and Practice notes, “these outward testimonies flow from our faith and are in a sense fruits of the spirit…. The inseparability of faith and practice is a truth which pervades both our past and our present.”40

Towards a New Millennium

A central theme of this book is how the independent Western Quaker movement started, how it evolved, and how it transformed peoples’ lives over the past 70 years. This story of “continuing revelation” is far from complete, or finished.

One Gospel writer said of Jesus’ life, “If it all were to be recorded in detail, I suppose the whole world could not hold the books that would be written” (John 21: 25). Material relating to Western Friends could fill, if not the whole world, at least a moderate-sized library.

While compiling this history, we gathered far more information about unprogrammed Western Friends than could possibly be included in one book. This material is stored in an archive at Whittier College in Whittier, California. We hope that a future historian will avail him or herself of this archive to write a comprehensive history of Western unprogrammed Friends. We also hope to see a “Who’s Who of Western Friends” and a history of individual Meetings (subjects omitted from this volume due to space limitations).

For those of you who want to read rather than write books, we have included a bibliography. For those who are confused by Quaker terminology, there is a glossary. For all readers, there are the stories of courage and achievement and of personal and corporate spiritual growth to help us on our way as we enter the new millennium. May we all grow together in the Spirit and in the Light.

Notes

1 Friends Journal October 1961: 401. Besides being a Quaker educator and author of numerous books on Quakerism, Howard Brinton also played an extremely influential role in the founding of Pacific Yearly Meeting and was one of the first editors of Friends Bulletin.

2 Margaret Bacon, The Quiet Rebels. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1985.

3 Kenneth Ives, “Friends and Membership,” Friends Journal July 1992: 18. According to the latest Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) records (1999), Western YMs affiliated with Evangelical Friends International (EFI) have 11,925 members: Rocky Mountain YM—1,170, Northwest YM—6,887; and Friends Church Southwest YM—3,868. A Yearly Meeting is “a group of Friends’ monthly meetings in a designated geographical area which meets annually for worship and business” (see glossary).

4 Brinton, Seventy-Five Years of Quakerism, 1885-1960: 21.

5 Faith and Practice of Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1985: 1. Faith and Practice, sometimes called a Discipline, is a book used by a YM as a guide to its religious practices and beliefs (see glossary, p. 333).

6 The Quaker Reader, Wallingford: Pendle Hill, 1992: 1. (Orig. pub. 1962).

7 Elizabeth Cazden uses the term “modernist reinvention of Quakerism” to describe the development of independent Quakerism from the 1920s to the present. See The Modernist Reinvention of Quakerism: The Independent Meetings in New England, 1920-1950. MA thesis, Andover Newton Theological School, 1997.

8 “A public statement or witness based on the beliefs of the Society of Friends which gives direction to our lives,” according to Faith and Practice of Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1985: 98.

9 Friends Bulletin January 1929: 1.

10 Arthur Heeb and Peter Guldbrandsen edited the Bulletin when it was started in 1929 as the official publication of the College Park Association. Howard Brinton was the first editor of the Bulletin when it was reconstituted in 1934 as the official publication of the newly founded Pacific Coast Association of Friends.

11 Friends Bulletin January 1953: 4.

12 Not all Western Friends liked the term “independent.” Some preferred to speak of “unaffiliated” or “united” meetings. In 1931, there were 31 unaffiliated or independent Monthly Meetings in the United States and Canada. Eight of them were on the West Coast.

13 Independent meetings were not an exclusively Western phenomenon. In her unpublished paper “‘Wicked Hard to Herd Up’: Independent Meetings and the Friends Fellowship Council,” Elizabeth Cazden describes how independent Friends’ meetings sprung up all over the country in the 1920s and 1930s, with the blessing of Rufus Jones and Tom Kelley, as well as of Western Friends such as Augustus Murray and Howard Brinton. Howard Brinton became a member of the Friends Fellowship Council, a Philadelphia-based group that “took on responsibility for recognizing or establishing monthly meetings that were not affiliated with any existing yearly meeting” (p. 7).

14 Friends Bulletin January 1, 1930: 2.

15 David Le Shana, Quakers in California: The Effects of 19th Century Revivalism on Western Quakerism (Newberg, OR: Barclay Press, 1969) 65-66.

16 Errol Elliott, Quakers on the American Frontier: a History of the Westward Migrations, Settlements, and Developments of Friends on the American Continent (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1969) 164.

17 Le Shana, 80.

18 Elliott, 166-67.

19 Le Shana, 29-45.

20 Elliott, 170.

21 Elliott, 183-4.

22 North Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, 5-6.

23 “Joel and Hannah came to Hawai’i as missionaries in 1862 and worked on Maui until 1863. In 1898 their daughter Catherine Cox and her husband Isacc M. Cox came to live and teach in Hawai’i.” From A History of the First Five Decades of Honolulu Friends Meeting (1987) by Sam Lindley. Joel died in Hawai’i in 1914. Descendants of the Beans played a vital role in the formation of Honolulu Monthly Meeting, which was established in 1937.

24 A letter from Joel Bean cited in Le Shana, 61.

25 Le Shana, 105. According to Le Shana (92), Iowa YM required that Joel and Hannah respond in writing to a series of doctrinal queries. When Iowa YM deemed their responses to be unsound, Honey Creek Quarterly Meeting recommended that Joel and Hannah no longer be recognized as ministers. The Beans harbored no bitterness towards Iowa YM for their action. I have since learned from Ben Richmond (editor of Quaker Life) that when he was being considered as a recorded [officially recognized] minister in Iowa Yearly Meeting, he was required to answer the same set of queries. When he responded to the disputed queries with the same answers that Joel Bean gave, “no eyebrows were raised.” However, he moved from the area before a decision was made about recording his ministry, and was recorded as a Quaker pastor elsewhere.

26According to Thomas Hamm, this action was not intended as a disownment: “New Providence, apparently tired of the controversy, reversed itself. It restored the Beans’ membership, and then gave them letters stating that they were members of the society in good standing…” The Transformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends 1800-1907 (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1988) 146.

27 Le Shana, 157.

28 See Intermountain YM Minutes, June 12-14, 1974: “Concern was expressed that labels be avoided; these include evangelical, orthodox, conservative, liberal, etc.”

29 Faith and Practice: North Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Corvallis, Oregon, 1993: 11. This Faith and Practice was adopted by Intermountain Yearly Meeting until it can develop one of its own. Pacific Yearly Meeting is in the final stages of revising its Faith and Practice as this book goes to the press.

30 According to Joe Gerick, current superintendent of Northwest YM, NWYM Friends “do not have any credal [sic] statements that our pastors have to ascribe to [sic]. They do have to be in agreement with Faith and Practice, however.” Their F & P contains George Fox’s letter to the Governor of Barbados in which he explains the beliefs of Friends by virtually reciting the Nicene creed: “We [Quakers] own and believe in Jesus , His beloved and only begotten Son, in whom He is well pleased; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary; in whom we have redemption through His blood,” etc. The Richmond Declaration of Faith was issued by a conference of 95 delegates appointed by 12 Friends yearly meetings representing the Orthodox branch of Friends across the world. This group met in Richmond, Indiana, in September, 1887, and issued a Declaration that was not intended as a creed, but was perceived as such by many Friends. Its section on begins: “It is with reverence and thanksgiving that we profess our unwavering allegiance to our Lord and Savior, Jesus .” It also contains clear statements about oaths, sacraments, the resurrection, final judgment, etc. The Richmond Declaration was and remains a highly controversial document. It is widely accepted among evangelical Friends, particularly in the West.

31 It should also be noted that within this ian framework, there is a considerable variety of theological as well as political and social beliefs and attitudes among evangelical Friends. For a sensitive exploration of these views, see Marge Abbott’s A Certain Kind of Perfection: An Anthology of Evangelical and Liberal Quaker Writers (Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 1997) 21-29.

32 This statement is printed in the 1985 edition of Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice, iii.

33 “Notional” is a word used by George Fox to mean “excessively intellectual.” See Madge Seaver, “Friends and Theology,” Friends Bulletin February 1959: 1.

34 Discipline of the Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Palo Alto, CA: Pacific Yearly Meeting, 1965) 37. Nowadays, of course, Friends avoid the use of non-inclusive language such as “men” and “brothers.”

35 Friends Bulletin April 1994: 115.

36 NPYM Faith and Practice: 12.

37 Although EFI and FUM are both -centered and evangelical in outlook, EFI Friends tend to identify more with evangelicalism than with Quakerism.

38 See glossary for explanations of Quaker “alphabet soup”: FWCC, AFSC, FCL, etc.

39 Abbott, 24. She refers specifically to evangelical and liberal Friends in the Pacific Northwest, but her words can and should be applied more broadly.

40 NPYM Faith and Practice: 13.

The Making of A Western Quaker Reader: An Interview with Anthony Manousos

by Kenneth Sutton and Robert Dockhorn

(Due to appear in Friends Journal in April, 2001.)

In 2000, A Western Quaker Reader: Writings by and about Independent Quakers in the Western United States, 1929-1999 was published by Friends Bulletin, the official publication of the three "independent" Western yearly meetings. This anthology contains articles, interviews, memoirs, and commentary by and about Western Quakers.

We interviewed the editor of this book, Anthony Manousos, who is also the editor of Friends Bulletin. Anthony became a Friend in 1984 when he joined Princeton (N.J.) Meeting. In 1989 he moved to California to marry Kathleen Ross, a Methodist pastor whom he met while sojourning at Pendle Hill. He is currently a dual member of both Whitleaf and Whittier First Friends Meetings. In 1992 he authored a Pendle Hill pamphlet, Spiritual Linkage with Russians: The Story of a Leading. In 1993 he helped to start a youth service program jointly sponsored by American Friends Service Committee and Southern California Quarterly Meeting. He is a frequent contributor to Friends Journal and Quaker Life.

What led you to work on this book?

The immediate reason was to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Friends Bulletin, which was founded in 1929 by Anna and Howard Brinton as the official publication of the College Park and Pacific Coast Association. As I became more involved with this project, however, I began to realize that there was a practical as well as spiritual need for this book. The two major studies about Quakerism in the Western United States-David Le Shana's Quakers in California (1969) and Errol Elliott's Quakers on the American Frontier (1969)-were written from a pastoral Friends' perspective. What was missing, and sorely needed, was a book conveying the adventuresome spirit of independent Quakerism.

So you distinguish the two kinds of Western Friends as "pastoral" and "independent"?

Yes, I do, as do most Western Friends. "Pastoral" refers to Friends United Meeting (FUM) and Evangelical Friends International (EFI). David Le Shana is a member of Northwest Yearly Meeting and part of EFI, and Errol Elliot was commissioned by FUM to write a history of the western migration. Both of these Friends belonged to Friends churches, not to unprogrammed meetings. "Independent" refers to those meetings that eventually became associated with College Park/Pacific Coast Association, whose original founder was Joel Bean. Some of these independent meetings were spinoffs of Friends churches, one (Orange Grove) was founded by Hicksite Philadelphians, but most of these early meetings sprang up more or less spontaneously. This is in sharp distinction to the vast majority of meetings/churches that were founded by pastoral Friends from Iowa and the Midwest and formed California, Oregon, and Rocky Mountain yearly meetings. These Meetings/churches were generally started under the care of an established yearly or quarterly meeting.

Another reason for my undertaking this project at this time was that many of those who were involved in the events described in this book are now quite elderly. In order to draw from the memory banks of these elders, we needed to consult them while they are still with us.

Finally, our book has a spiritual purpose: "building the (independent) Western Quaker community" and helping it to feel part of the wider fellowship of Friends. The three Western independent yearly meetings are the most widely dispersed group of Friends in the world, covering millions of square miles from Montana to Hawaii and from Washington State to Mexico City and Guatemala. Many meetings and Friends in the West are quite isolated. This book-and just about everything I do as editor of Friends Bulletin-is intended to help foster a sense of community among these widely scattered Western Friends and also to share our work with "Friends everywhere."

How did you go about putting this book together?

We used Quaker process as much as possible so that the book would reflect the concerns of a broad cross section of Western independent Quakers. This meant assembling an editorial board consisting of half a dozen seasoned Friends from each of the three independent Western yearly meetings to peruse and select material. The final selection committee consisted of a representative from each yearly meeting: Vickie Adrich (Intermountain), Nancy Andreasen (Pacific), and Rose Lewis (North Pacific). In keeping with Friends practice, editorial meetings were preceded with a time of silent reflection, and the selection process was carried out in the spirit of Quaker worship. During the final stages of our work, however, there were some moments of heat as well as Light as we struggled with what (and whom) to include and exclude.

As you gathered the material, what were your most unexpected "finds"?

What fascinated me most were the individual life stories of Friends who have put their Quaker faith into practice. I came to know and appreciate more deeply some of the significant personalities who helped to shape the history of Western Friends-people like Josephine Duveneck, Floyd Schmoe, Gordon Hirabayashi, Franklin Zahn, Emmett Gulley, Juan Pascoe, Steve Thiermann, Bill Durland, Leanore Goodenow, Earle Reynolds, Elise Boulding, Bob Vogel, Ann Stever, Marshall Massey, Gene Hoffman, Jim Corbett, and many more. Reading their stories told in their own words was often an eye-opening experience.

Friends who migrated West tended to be adventuresome. The word "adventure" was used by Howard Brinton in an article that appeared in Friends Journal in 1961. He was giving his impression of Pacific Yearly Meeting at that time and described it as "different from the older, more conventional yearly meetings. It is, perhaps, closer to the spirit of the early Friends in its enthusiasm, its spirit of adventure and exploration, and the predominance of strongly convinced Friends." So the spirit of adventure was something that Brinton perceived among Western Friends in the 1960s. I still perceive it today!

And Friends who migrated West often tended to be somewhat quirky, in ways that I find very appealing. They were constantly reinventing themselves, and Quakerism, taking risks, and challenging institutional structures. Elise Boulding describes them as "activist mystics."

I had originally wanted to call this book "Quaker mavericks" (mavericks are cattle without a brand), but my committee felt this title was a bit too colorful. We settled for a title (A Western Quaker Reader) that evokes a similar work by a Western Quaker, Jessamyn West.

How do the origins of the three independent Western yearly meetings (Pacific, North Pacific, and Intermountain) fit into the long history of separation and reunification of Friends in North America?

Quakerism changed radically when Friends moved westward and became influenced by the evangelical revival that swept across the West after the Civil War. Revivalism dramatically changed the way that Quakerism was practiced, eventually leading to the pastoral system among Friends. Two weighty Eastern Friends, Joel Bean from New England and his wife Hannah from Philadelphia, migrated to Iowa and were living there when the evangelical movement arrived and divided Friends into fiercely opposing camps. Joel, a highly respected and internationally known Friend, tried to be a mediator, but eventually "retired" to San Jose, California, where he started an unprogrammed meeting. Honey Creek Quarterly Meeting of Iowa Yearly Meeting sent him a series of questions to determine his theological "soundness." When his answers did not meet their evangelical litmus test, he was denied permission to start a new meeting and his recorded minister status was taken away from him. Eventually he and his whole family were dropped from the membership rolls of Iowa Yearly Meeting. His case stirred up international controversy among Friends. Eventually the Beans were led to start a nonprofit corporation called the College Park Association, which became the forerunner of independent monthly meetings and eventually of Pacific Yearly Meeting and its offshoots, North Pacific and Intermountain.

As this independent Quaker movement slowly grew, pastoral Friends formed yearly meetings in California, Oregon, and Rocky Mountain that were at first part of Five Years Meeting (the predecessor of FUM). These Western yearly meetings started the Association of Evangelical Friends in Denver, Colorado, in 1953 and eventually broke away from FUM to form Evangelical Friends International. Today there are approximately 12,000 Evangelical Friends and 3,200 Independent Friends in the Western United States.

What is the relationship of the three independent yearly meetings to the three evangelical yearly meetings in the West (Rocky Mountain, Northwest, and Southwest)?

There have been a lot of ups and downs in the relationship between independent and evangelical Friends. Although they have always had profound theological differences, independent Friends often worked with pastoral Friends on common projects relating to Quaker testimonies on peace and justice. For example, Orange Grove Meeting in Pasadena (the only Western meeting started by Hicksite Friends from Philadelphia) worked with First Friends Church in Whittier to found the Southern California office of AFSC and Friends Committee on Legislation of California. Unprogrammed and pastoral Friends often worked side by side in workcamps or Civilian Public Service Camps and formed deep and lasting friendships despite theological disagreements.

Since the 1960s these common projects have mostly disappeared, and independent and evangelical Friends in the West have drifted farther and farther apart. Independent Friends have become less focused on Christianity and more universalist in outlook. Politically and socially, they tend to be far more progressive than evangelicals. For example, not only did two Western yearly meetings approve minutes in support of same-sex marriage in the 1990s, North Pacific Yearly Meeting also appointed two clerks who had same-sex marriages. This would have been unthinkable among evangelical Friends.

On the other hand, there have been efforts to build bridges between these two branches of Quakerism. One such effort was the Western Association of Friends, which convened at Lewis and Clark College in Portland in 1992. Though over 250 showed up for this gathering of evangelical and independent Friends, many felt that it was a mixed success. The vast majority of participants were unprogrammed Friends. There were many expressions of goodwill and good feeling, but little or no follow-up.

A much more sustained effort at bridge-building was undertaken by Marge Abbott and the Women's Theological Conference. Marge is a birthright Philadelphia Friend who had a transformative spiritual experience in midlife when she and others from her unprogrammed meeting in Portland began having informal discussions about spirituality with women from a nearby evangelical Friends church. These conversations led Marge to write a Pendle Hill pamphlet called An Experiment in Faith: Quaker Women Transcending Differences (1995) as well as an anthology of liberal and evangelical writings called A Certain Kind of Perfection (1997). These works are, in my view, two of the most important contributions to Quaker spirituality by Western Quakers to appear in the last decade. The Women's Theological Conferences have also had a profound impact, bringing together small groups of women from the liberal and evangelical traditions for a weekend of spiritual sharing. These gatherings have helped liberal Friends to understand more deeply the Christian foundations of Quakerism, and they have helped evangelical Friends to appreciate the spiritual basis of liberal Quakerism.

What are the most important things that Eastern Friends in North America DON'T know about Western Friends?

My experience is probably typical of Eastern Friends-I knew absolutely nothing about the Beans and the spiritual pioneers of Western Quakerism when I first came from Philadelphia to California. I also knew nothing about evangelical Friends and their role in the development of Quakerism.

And what don't Western Friends know about Eastern Friends?

Many Westerners are convinced Friends who are eager to learn more about Quaker traditions and practices from seasoned Friends in the East. I hope that this book will encourage better-informed intervisitation.

How do the interests and concerns of Western Friends contrast with those of the Midwest?

The main connection that Western Friends had with Midwestern Friends was through Friends Church Southwest (formerly California Yearly Meeting) and FUM, but this tie was severed a few years ago when Friends Church Southwest decided to "realign" and become part of EFI.

First Friends Church of Whittier was one of the few Western Friends' churches to stick with FUM. In order to do so, First Friends had to start its own mini-yearly meeting called the Western Association of Friends. Some Pacific Yearly Meeting Friends joined this group since Whittier First Friends has always had cordial ties with unprogrammed Friends, and it was taking a risk by siding with FUM rather than EFI (thereby expressing its support for the AFSC, FCNL, FCL of California, etc.). When I moved to Whittier, I decided to follow the example of Helen O'Brien, the clerk of my unprogrammed meeting, and become a dual member of both Whitleaf and of Whittier First Friends. I therefore have the distinction of being the first editor of Friends Bulletin to belong to both Pacific Yearly Meeting and FUM. I think that Joel Bean would have been very pleased!

Overall, the influence of FUM has not been much felt among Western Friends, except when we get together for FWCC gatherings. However, recent efforts by the Earlham School of Religion (ESR) to reach to Friends across the theological and geographical spectrum are beginning to have an impact among Western Friends. Several Western Friends are currently enrolled in ESR and are excited by the opportunity to be exposed to its theological diversity. ESR is planning to conduct an extension program in Southern California. If this program is successful-and I hope it will be-- it could open up a very important channel of communication between Western and Midwestern Friends involved with ESR and FUM.

How do you see Western Friends influencing Quakerism as it evolves into the future?

This is a big topic, and could be the subject of another book! I see Western Friends as a kind of spiritual laboratory for experimenting with new ideas and new developments in Quakerism. Our book deals with some of the growing-edge trends of the 1990s-same-sex marriage, dialogue among different branches of Quakerism, renewed interest in mysticism and Quaker service-but where Western Friends will be led next, only the Spirit knows.

For more information about Friends Bulletin and A Western Quaker Reader, see www.quaker.org/fb or write the editor at 5238 Andalucia Court, Whittier CA 90601.

Kenneth Sutton is the senior editor and Robert Dockhorn the assistant editor of Friends Journal.