British Quakerism, 1860-1920

"Professor Kennedy's book chronicles the metamorphosis of the British Society of Friends from a tiny, self-isolated body of peculiar people into a theologically liberal, spiritually vital association of activists. This transformation was, first and foremost, the product of a spiritual and intellectual struggle among Quaker factions - evangelical, conservative and liberal - seeking to delineate the future path of their religious Society. Inspired by the leadership of a remarkable band of intellectually acute, theologically progressive and spiritually committed men and women, London Yearly Meeting was both reformed and revitalized during the so-called Quaker Renaissance of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when Quakers assumed an importance in British society all out of proportion to their miniscule numbers. Simultaneously embracing advanced modern ideas and reiterating their attachment to traditional Quaker principles, especially the egalitarian concept of the Inner Light of Christ and a revived peace testimony, liberal Quakers prepared the ground for their Society's dramatic confrontation with the Warrior State after 1914"--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.