From: valenza@bigq.enet.dec.com (Michael K. Valenza)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.quaker
Subject: Re: Inner Light
Date: 12 Jan 93 11:47:50 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

In article <1993Jan12.060638.4351@athena.mit.edu>, redingtn@athena.mit.edu (Norman H Redington) writes...
>Christianity and Quakerism, which ultimately are the same thing,
>are not supposed to be religions, living or otherwise. Valenza
>perceives this, but he wrongly supposes that Christianity is a
>system of fixed creeds, appeals to authority, etc. Creeds, and the
>Bible itself, were not given to be objects of idolatrous worship
>(as the early Friends so courageously testified). They were,
>however, given, to be antidotes to human overconfidence. It is
>not easy to distinguish the promptings of the Holy Ghost from
>the _created_ and therefore fallen "light" which we all have as
>well: the case of Naylor illustrates this.  I see the Scriptures,
>as do the early Friends and the Orthodox Teachers, as vectors pointing
>to the truth. How does a vector become outmoded?

>Christianity and Quakerism, which ultimately are the same thing,
>are not supposed to be religions, living or otherwise. Valenza
>perceives this, but he wrongly supposes that Christianity is a
>system of fixed creeds, appeals to authority, etc. Creeds, and the
>Bible itself, were not given to be objects of idolatrous worship
>(as the early Friends so courageously testified). They were,
>however, given, to be antidotes to human overconfidence. It is
>not easy to distinguish the promptings of the Holy Ghost from
>the _created_ and therefore fallen "light" which we all have as
>well: the case of Naylor illustrates this.  I see the Scriptures,
>as do the early Friends and the Orthodox Teachers, as vectors pointing
>to the truth. How does a vector become outmoded?
> 

I think I have not made my position clear.  I am not suggesting that
Christianity is a fixed system of creeds or appeals to authority.  I am
suggesting, on the other hand, that Christianity should not be institutionally
enforced by Quakerism through the imposition of creeds or appeals to authority. 
I recognize and respect Christianity as a living faith, and I was not seeking to
debate or discuss the value of the Christian faith.  My interest was
specifically in institutional role that Christianity plays or should play
within Quakerism.

I also agree that the perceived promptings of the Light should never be taken
simply at face value.  Quakerism is not an individualist religion, nor should it
be, as the Nayler incident shows.  The Bible, as a record of a people's attempts
at understanding God, can be valuable and instructive in that way--just as our
faith community can also be valuable and instructive as we struggle with
continuing revelation.  This was a point that I was attempting to make in an
earlier posting, in which I said

    Quakerism is a living faith, but it also is important to realize that it
    is not an individualistic one.  Quakers form a community of people,
    sharing in their experiences of divine revelation.  We attain value, we
    attain reality checks, we attain spiritual nourishment from others in
    the faith community, just as we provide those things for others.  It is
    a mutual process of give and take, as we struggle with the process of
    continuing revelation.  Turning to any single authority as the final
    source would convert this process from being mutual to being unilateral.

I think that the Bible, despite its flaws, can be instructive, just as the rest
of our faith community can be instructive, despite the human flaws of our fellow
Friends.  From a Quaker perspective, the biblical assertion that God ordered
massacres or endorsed the Holy War thesis of the book of Joshua does not make
the Bible worthless; such ancient expressions of theology reflect the best that 
human authors of that work could do  as they struggled to understand God--just
as we also struggle to understand God.  Friend Gracia Fay Ellwood, in a Pendle
Hill pamphlet "Batter My Heart" published a few years ago, discussed the 

thought the Bible itself is flawed, as any Quaker must surely conclude when
faced with the biblical claim that God ordered the massacres at Jericho and Ai,
or in general with the Holy War concept expressed in the book of Joshua.
evaluated in the light of other considerations.