The author explains have his own experience led him to become interested in the monastic tradition, and to spend much of his life in learning more about it. He is convinced that there are things here which may be useful for some Friends.

The author explains have his own experience led him to become interested in the monastic tradition, and to spend much of his life in learning more about it. He is convinced that there are things here which may be useful for some Friends.

This is a transcript of the 1985 Swarthmore lecture whose theme was to explore the relationship between monasticism and the Quaker Movement.
The introduction outlines the author’s own interest in the monasticism of the medieval period and how it led him to spend much of his life studying it. He then turns towards a consideration of those monastic disciplines such as stability, humility, obedience, the contemplative value of reading the bible and especially the psalms ,and the regular attendance at public worship that characterise the tradition before progressing towards an appreciation of the effect these externally observed disciplines have upon what the monastics call the interior heart or inner space and how they can be applied to--and enrich--our Quaker discipline.

Swarthmore Lectures 1985

1 copy Swarthmore lecture