Friends Journal Author Chat with Chuck Fager on Progressive Friends

RantWoman has the two books mentioned here on her mean-to-read list. RantWoman wishes this meant that she has also noted the titles, but no. RantWoman will just have to listen to the video to refresh her memory.

Points from the interview that stick in RantWoman's mind:
--Read the Bible. It shapes lots of people's thinking. There are powerful stories there. Knowing the stories is useful when talking to / laboring with others.

--RantWoman digression: RantWoman gets annoyed with Quakers, even wise and weighty Quakers like Fager talk as if history and theology began in the 1600's with George Fox. RantWoman still means to read the book but needs to whine and sit with this problem anyway.

--"You want to be a Quaker elder? Just keep breathing." Fager is openly skeptical of anything that smacks ofcorrupting power structure but at least recognizes the value of informal circles of accountability as long as the titles are not enshrined in some mantle of untouchability. RantWoman particularly notes a different conception of elder that definitely encourages the involvement of younger people and attention to process, holding work in prayer, listening to things a minister might not hear. But RantWoman again digresses. Sigh.

Fager notes that the most progressive and reformist Quakers have often been minorities within their own Meetings. RantWoman is relieved actually to recognize this. As the band of Quakers in her Meetng have meandered through John Woolman's journal, RantWoman herself has been channeling two contradictory streams of thought. On one hand, RantWoman keeps saying she would like to read journals by Friends who write things like "We had another visit from that tiresome scold John Woolman." On the other hand, RantWoman's spiritual center really does seem to reside in seeing beyond the edges of current reality. And no, HOPEFULLY that is not just the natural fuzz in RantWoan's eyeballs.

RantWoman is sobered by reminders that part of the point actually of Quaker community is that people understand the call of the Divine and movements of Spirit differently.  And RantWoman does mean to read the books!




For people who like to scream through text with a screen reader rather than listen at reasonably human speeds there is a Friends Journal page with the text of the conversation. If RantWoman finds it easily it will show up here; if not readers can use their search engines as well as RantWoman can.

Further digression about interacting with the text. RantWoman thinks closed captioning is cool. Ferrener Husband learned a whole lot of English from closed captioning. But RantWoman is impatient and uncentering and sometimes just scream through text with a screen reader. This might or might not mean RantWoman finds what she is looking for, particularly if she does not have a specific search string. But it gives RantWoman the illusion of speed. Sigh.