Friends Journal
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Friends Journal
@friendsjournal.org
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Friends Publishing is a non-profit organization dedicated to communicating Quaker experience in order to connect & deepen spiritual lives. Friends Journal is our flagship publication, with a legacy that goes back to 1827.
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friendsjournal.org
Throughout history, people have tried to frighten the masses into believing the world will end, plunging us all into eternal torment. In Christian circles, this is often associated with "the Rapture."

Quakers (usually) don't get caught up in these panics—why not?

quaker.org/2025/11/24/y...
November 26, 2025 at 4:51 PM
friendsjournal.org
"I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, [and] I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall no longer fear or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:3-4)

quaker.org/2025/11/17/i...
An Asian woman in a purple frock with a yellow head wrap stands in the middle of a large flock of sheep, holding one against her body with her left arm while she lifts up a small branch in her right hand. Behind her shoulder the sun is rising.
November 19, 2025 at 7:11 PM
friendsjournal.org
As the Trump administration continues to fight with the federal courts about whether they need to provide SNAP benefits to millions of food-insecure American families, next Sunday's reading of 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 will likely make some churchgoers squirm in their pews.

quaker.org/2025/11/10/a...
Canned goods donated to a food bank.
November 10, 2025 at 4:19 PM
friendsjournal.org
When the Persians conquered Babylon, the Judeans that had been exiled from Jerusalem were allowed to return to the city. Rather than restore the high temple, they concentrated on their own fortunes—until Haggai showed up and asked how that was working out for them.

quaker.org/2025/11/03/m...
A painting of a young (or middle-aged) bearded man in a yellow tunic with a white headdress, sitting on a cloud. A large white scroll unfurls out of his hands, bearing a Latin verse from the Book of Haggai.
November 5, 2025 at 6:01 PM
friendsjournal.org
What did Dietrich Bonhoeffer have in common with the 17th-century Friend James Nayler? Neither man was willing to accommodate himself to the ruling forces of their time, and both paid dearly for their faithful discipleship.

And what will WE do to resist authoritarianism?

quaker.org/2025/10/27/i...
A black-and-white photograph of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
October 29, 2025 at 3:15 PM
friendsjournal.org
When Ron Hogan reads about the Pharisees and their strained relationship with Jesus, he mentally substitutes a certain variety of "weighty" Friend, "individuals who seem to take significant pride in Quaker identity but show little interest in living out Quaker testimony."

quaker.org/2025/10/20/g...
Inside a cartouche of palm branches, we see the courtyard of a great temple. Up front, an old man in a fancy robe prays to God without humility. Standing well behind him, a younger man in a simple tunic looks down at the pavement.
October 22, 2025 at 4:17 PM
friendsjournal.org
Each of us has our own form of ministry. Each of us can proclaim the message in our own way. We cannot entirely save ourselves or others from suffering as we work to dismantle our modern Babylon, but we can offer one another comfort and support as we work together.

quaker.org/2025/10/13/p...
A portrait of 17th-century Scottish Friend Lilias Skene, preaching to a small group gathered around her. She is a woman with long blond hair, in a simple dress, with a tall pointed hat.
October 15, 2025 at 5:27 PM
friendsjournal.org
17th-century Quaker William Bennit was repeatedly "shut up in the prison-house, bound up with chains & fetters, in the low dungeon of darkness" by the English government, but his faith never wavered.

As authoritarians grow bolder, Friends do well to remember his courage.

quaker.org/2025/10/06/t...
In Gustav Doré's engraving, a bearded Paul sits in a Roman cell, manacled on his wrists and ankles. But he's totally calm, and writing a letter on a scroll that rests on the knees of his young assistant.
October 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
friendsjournal.org
Many of the men and women in the first generations of the Religious Society of Friends spent time imprisoned for challenging the intertwined religious and political power structures of England.

When you take on the world’s ruling powers, persecution comes with the job.

quaker.org/2025/09/29/s...
A portrait of John Perrot, a 17th-century Friend who was held in an insane asylum by the Vatican for several years after he tried to convince the pope to abandon Catholicism. (Since he spoke no Italian, and the pope spoke no English, the meeting went poorly.)
September 30, 2025 at 7:51 PM
friendsjournal.org
"Woe to those who are at ease in Zion..."

When you read the prophet Amos, you can understand why oligarchs fear the prospect of class struggle—he DOES make it sound very personal. No wonder they want to discourage people from even dreaming of upending their status quo.

quaker.org/2025/09/22/w...
A fresco of a Roman couple enjoying themselves at a banquet. He's drinking from a horn-shaped cup, and she's reaching out to a servant girl who brings her a box (jewels, perhaps?).
September 24, 2025 at 5:01 PM
friendsjournal.org
"Who can understand why men steeped in a gun-fetishizing environment lash out against their communities so violently?" Ron Hogan asks rhetorically. "Authorities and commentators alike throw up their hands in willful confusion and continue searching for an easy scapegoat."

quaker.org/2025/09/15/i...
In this black and white photograph, a person holds their fingers to the temples of their forehead, as if in sorrow; their facial features are blurred.
September 17, 2025 at 3:51 PM
friendsjournal.org
“The scoundrel has said in his heart, ‘There is no God,'" is how Robert Alter translates the opening of Psalm 14.

We’ve seen our fair share of such scoundrels in recent years, haven’t we? But Friends can confront their corruption with the voice of prophetic imagination.

quaker.org/2025/09/08/f...
A handmade protest sign reading "WAKE UP & SMELL THE CORRUPTION."
September 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM
friendsjournal.org
Friends Journal is delighted to welcome Addi Schwieterman, who will be serving on our editorial team for the next year as a Quaker Voluntary Service fellow. Addi grew up Quaker, attending Fort Collins Meeting and graduated last year from nearby Colorado College.
Addi Schwieterman, a young woman with long dark hair.
September 4, 2025 at 9:01 PM
friendsjournal.org
Some look at the Beloved Community as an idealized society in which everybody will treat everybody well because it makes the most sense to live that way.

Others see God’s hand in its creation. For them, the Beloved Community already exists. We just need to choose life.

quaker.org/2025/09/01/l...
A Friend at a march for criminal justice reform carries a handmade sign that reads "Quakers say Black Lives Matter."
September 3, 2025 at 4:41 PM
friendsjournal.org
"Are not these the choicest of thy worthies who are now in power?" James Nayler asked. “Hath it not been the top of thy desires and labors to see it in their hands?"

He was writing about England in 1653, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it sounds like the U.S. in 2025.

quaker.org/2025/08/25/t...
Stockbrokers plying their trade on the floor of the NY Stock Exchange in the early 1960s. They are a very uniform bunch, of a White, male, middle-aged type.
August 27, 2025 at 4:14 PM
friendsjournal.org
In one of his many considerations of the prophet’s life, the theologian Walter Brueggemann says that “Jeremiah must do truth-telling not because he is a scold but because he knows, as deeply as anyone can know anything, that this is a community on its way to death.”

quaker.org/2025/08/18/y...
A woodcut depicting the Lord calling out to the prophet Jeremiah, who watches sorrowfully as a pair of women make sacrifices on the altar of a false god. Behind him, an invading foe approaches.
August 20, 2025 at 4:45 PM
friendsjournal.org
Quakers should confront the current state of affairs with the directness of Edward Burrough when he cried out to England that “the men that have sitten on thy Throne… have left thee groaning under great Oppressions, wounded with the Spirit of Tyranny yet un-cast out.”

quaker.org/2025/08/11/s...
A picture of Jeremiah, pointing sternly at a king who sits glumly upon his throne, his head tilted downward, unable to meet the prophet's gaze.
August 13, 2025 at 4:45 PM
friendsjournal.org
Abraham looked forward to the city God would build upon the foundation of his faith. Likewise, for nearly four centuries, Friends have striven to give themselves over to the same mind that was in Jesus, so that God might build a blessed community upon their testimony.

quaker.org/2025/08/04/a...
A print of Abraham, down on one knee in the middle of a field, harking to the voice of God, representing by a beam of light on which is written "Get thee out of thy country &c."
August 6, 2025 at 4:14 PM
friendsjournal.org
Perhaps you’ve seen the stories of billionaires who pour money into health regimens & medications & technologies to extend their bodies’ lifespans... even, in some cases, counting on digital replicas of their consciousness to grant them, in effect, eternal life.

quaker.org/2025/07/28/m...
A wealthy couple dines at their table, being entertained by musicians. A security guard waves his baton at a poor beggar sitting on the couple's step, with dogs sniffing at his legs. A caption reads, "The rich man dines splendidly, while the beggar Lazarus lies at the door."
July 31, 2025 at 3:30 PM
friendsjournal.org
What did Paul mean when he told the Colossians that Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them"? (2:15)

As Paul saw it, Christ didn’t just offer some new ideas, he rendered all other philosophies of life powerless.

quaker.org/2025/07/21/h...
Andrea Mantegna's The Triumphs of Caesar III: bearers of trophies and bullion, c. 1484-92.
July 23, 2025 at 6:18 PM
friendsjournal.org
“Since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.... if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:11-12)

Any message that gives us permission to not love someone else or to treat them unjustly does not come from God.

quaker.org/2025/07/14/t...
A photograph of people in blurred motion on a busy city street.
July 16, 2025 at 6:28 PM
friendsjournal.org
Amos spoke of God’s disappointment in a society whose members “have rejected the instruction of the LORD and have not kept his statutes… led astray by the same lies after which their ancestors walked.” The earliest Quakers saw THEIR world reflected in his prophecies.

quaker.org/2025/07/07/a...
Gustave Doré, The Prophet Amos (detail).
July 9, 2025 at 4:14 PM
friendsjournal.org
When the leader of one nation launches an attack on another nation and announces, “We love you, God, and we love our great military,” we can’t help but turn to the original Quaker peace testimony and its unequivocal rejection of violence.

quaker.org/2025/06/30/y...
A group of people stand in and alongside the road leading to the U.S. military facility at Pine Gap, Australia. Some of them hold aloft a banner that says "Quakers Are For Peace & Justice."
July 4, 2025 at 5:57 PM
friendsjournal.org
The late Walter Brueggeman describes gospel faith as “subversive, revolutionary, and anticipatory.” As an expression of gospel faith, the prophetic imagination shares in those qualities—helping us tune out the gods of this world and stay focused on the Beloved Community.

quaker.org/2025/06/23/t...
A man stands on a grassy hillside, in front of a rising sun, such that he can only be seen in shadow. He appears to be facing the camera.
June 25, 2025 at 4:43 PM
friendsjournal.org
Jesus set out to break the great fear in the Gerasenes by leaving the man he'd just cured of demons behind to become a positive presence in his community. He'd tell his story, but ultimately his LIFE would become his testimony. You don’t get much more Quakerly than that.

quaker.org/2025/06/16/d...
A black-and-white photograph; the upper portion of which is dominated by the clear space of a large body of water, with a treeline reflected at the very top. Along the bottom of the photo, a man sits with another man and a woman, gesturing with his hand as he talks to them.
June 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM