The Quakers, 1656–1723

The Evolution of an Alternative Community

Richard C. Allen, Rosemary Moore

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780271081205
• eBook ISBN: 9780271085746
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: British History

This landmark volume is the first in a century to examine the "Second Period" of Quakerism, a time when the Religious Society of Friends experienced upheavals in theology, authority and institutional structures, and political trajectories as a result of the persecution Quakers faced in the first decades of the movement's existence.

The authors and special contributors explore the early growth of Quakerism, assess important developments in Quaker faith and practice, and show how Friends coped with the challenges posed by external and internal threats in the final years of the Stuart age—not only in Europe and North America but also in locations such as the Caribbean. This groundbreaking collection sheds new light on a range of subjects, including the often tense relations between Quakers and the authorities, the role of female Friends during the Second Period, the effect of major industrial development on Quakerism, and comparisons between founder George Fox and the younger generation of Quakers, such as Robert Barclay, George Keith, and William Penn.

Accessible, well-researched, and seamlessly comprehensive, The Quakers, 1656–1723 promises to reinvigorate a conversation largely ignored by scholarship over the last century and to become the definitive work on this important era in Quaker history.

In addition to the authors, the contributors are Erin Bell, Raymond Brown, J. William Frost, Emma Lapsansky-Werner, Robynne Rogers Healey, Alan P. F. Sell, and George Southcombe.

Table of contents

• COVER front
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Early Development of Quakerism
• Chapter 2: Quakerism Beyond England to 1666
• Chapter 3: Gospel Order: The Development of Quaker Organization
• Chapter 4: Living as a Quaker During the Second Period
• Chapter 5: Beyond Britain: The Quakers in the European Continent and the Americas, 1666–1682
• Chapter 6: Quakers and Dissenters in Dispute
• Chapter 7: Quaker Expressions of Belief in the Lifetime of George Fox
• Chapter 8: The Quakers and Politics, 1660–1689
• Chapter 9: Adjusting to New Conditions in Britain and America, 1690–1700
• Chapter 10: Quaker Life and Communities at the Turn of the Century
• Chapter 11: The Friends and Business in the Second Period
• Chapter 12: The Quakers and the Law
• Chapter 13: Into the Eighteenth Century
• Appendix
• Selected Bibliography
• Contributors
• Index