Theology from Listening: Finding the Core of Liberal Quaker Theological Thought

In Theology from Listening: Finding the Core of Liberal Quaker Theological Thought, Rhiannon Grant explores the changes and continuities in liberal Quaker theology over the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in multiple English-speaking Quaker communities around the world. The work involves a close analysis of material produced by Quaker meetings through formal, corporate methods; of material produced by individuals and small groups within Quaker communities; and of writing by individuals and small groups working primarily within academic or ecumenical theological settings. It concludes that although liberal Quaker theology is diverse and flexible, it also possesses a core coherence and can meaningfully be discussed as a single tradition. At the centre of liberal Quaker theology is the belief that direct, unmediated contact with the Divine is possible and results in useful guidance.

Rhiannon Grant, PhD (2014), University of Leeds, is Honorary Lecturer in Modern Quaker Thought at the University of Birmingham and part of the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies. Recent publications include Telling the Truth about God (Christian Alternative, 2019).