Part 1 : Resource Material

Karen Tibbles
Instructor

Quakerism schisms May 2026

Quakerism went into what is called a Quietist period from 1700 to 1850. According to

Brinton (page. 81) “Quietism is the doctrine that every self-centered trait or activity must

be suppressed or quieted in order that the divine may find unopposed entrance to the

soul.”

Previously, there had been a theological belief that the Inward Light would lead to

continuing revelation, and this was the second coming of Christ. This was a heretical

thought and there was lots of push back on this idea. How can you deal with a conflict

between individual revelation and biblical understanding? This came to a head with the

James Naylor scandal.

James Nayler (or Naylor; 1618–1660) was an English Quaker leader. He was

among the members of the Valiant Sixty, a group of early Quaker preachers and

missionaries. In 1656, Nayler achieved national notoriety when he re-

enacted Christ's Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem by entering Bristol on

a horse. He was imprisoned and charged with blasphemy. Wikipedia

There was an ongoing tension between the mystical beliefs and the evangelical beliefs.

The elders who were evangelicals wanted to control what others thought and did. This

conflict came to a head in 1827 in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, when they disinvited

Elias Hicks from speaking at PYM Yearly Meeting. This spread to New York Yearly

Meeting and Baltimore Yearly Meeting.

The conservative branch of Quakerism split several more times, as there were more

attempts to control what people thought. Britian Yearly Meeting aligned itself with the

Conservative branch of Quakerism.

Elias Hicks (March 19, 1748 – February 27, 1830) was a traveling Quaker minister

from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted doctrines deemed unorthodox

by many which led to lasting controversy, and caused the second major schism within

the Religious Society of Friends (the first caused by George Keith in 1691). Wikipedia

John Wilbur (July 17, 1774 – May 1, 1856) was a prominent American Quaker minister

and religious thinker who was at the forefront of a controversy that led to "the second

split" in the Religious Society of Friends in the United States. The main body of Friends

were called Orthodox because they had remained orthodox in terms of Christianity. But

now Wilbur believed that some Orthodox Friends, especially those in England, were so

alarmed about Hicks's perceived heterodoxy that they had gone too far in the other

direction. He saw that this group of Friends was abandoning the traditional Friends

practice of following God's immediate, inward guidance in favor of using their own

reason to interpret and follow the Bible. They were stressing a cold intellectual

acceptance of the Bible instead of a vital, direct experience of the Holy Spirit in one's

heart. Wikipedia

Joseph John Gurney (2 August 1788 – 4 January 1847) was a banker

in Norwich, England, and a member of the Gurney family of that city. He became an

evangelical minister of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), whose views and

actions led, ultimately, to a schism among American Quakers. Followers of his beliefs

were known as Gurneyites. Wikipedia

Another factor involved in schism was the post-Civil War revival across the US. Further,

Quaker meetinghouses may have been the only worship space in some areas, so it

drew attenders from all faith communities. The effect of these events was felt by the

Quakers and they started copying Protestant liturgy – hymns, sermons, etc. This led to

the Richmond Declaration (1887) and to the adoption of a professional clergy.

Declaration of Faith Issued by the Richmond Conference in 1887

It is under a deep sense of what we owe to Him who has loved us that we feel

called upon to offer a declaration of those fundamental doctrines of Christian

truth that have always been professed by our branch of the Church of Christ.

OF GOD

We believe in one holy, (Isa. 6:3, 58:15) almighty, (Gen. 17:1) all-wise, (Rom.

11:33, 16:27) and everlasting (Ps 90:1-2) God, the Father, (Matt 11:25-27) the

Creator (Gen 1:1) and Preserver (Job 7:20) of all things; and in Jesus Christ, His

only Son, our Lord, by whom all things were made, (John 1:30) and by whom all

things consist; (Col 1:17) and in one Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and

the Son, (John 15:26, 16:7) the Reprover (John 16:8) of the world, the Witness

for Christ, (John 15:26) and the Teacher, (John 14:26) Guide, (John 16:13) and

Sanctifier (2 Thess 2:13) of the people of God; and that these three are one in

the eternal Godhead; (Matt 28:19, John 10:30, 17:21) to whom be honor, praise,

and thanksgiving, now and forever. Amen.

Rufus Matthew Jones (January 25, 1863 – June 16, 1948) was an American religious

leader, writer, magazine editor, philosopher, and college professor. He was instrumental

in the establishment of the Haverford Emergency Unit (a precursor to the American

Friends Service Committee). One of the most influential Quakers of the 20th century, he

was a Quaker historian and theologian as well as a philosopher. ……. Jones worked

hard at soothing some of the hurt from the 19th century split among Friends and had

some success. Jones wrote extensively on the topic of mysticism, which is one of the

chief aspects of the Quaker faith. Wikipedia

“350 Years of the Society of Friends in North America: 1661-2011″

Reviewed by Chuck Fager

Want to see all US Quaker history in a single page? With attitude? Here it is. Well, one

very large page: thirty by forty inches. It’s actually a chart, meant to hang on your wall,

not nestle among the pamphlets on a bookshelf.

The main graphic on the chart resembles a cross between a tree that went seriously

awry, and a giant’s surrealistic dinner fork emerging from a plate of spaghetti, or maybe

a huge can of worms. And if the image is not weirdly intriguing enough, its various

twists, turns, clusterings and re-clusterings are accompanied or surrounded by columns

and boxes of text, plus mini-charts adding more data and offering Kaiser’s sharp, often

acerbic interpretations of the history thus visualized. If the current format is not

confusing enough, he declares that “After the next set of schisms (which he fully

expects), it might take a hologram to chart the results.”

    Kaiser says his guiding theological perspective is that of a strict fan of Robert Barclay

and his 1676 classic Apology for the True Christian Divinity. He is especially devoted to

the section of Barclay’s tome which deals with the nature of the “true (or small “c”

catholic) church, and who can be part of it.

As Kaiser puts it in one of his text boxes:

Barclay’s Apology has 15 propositions, which outline: how the Inward Light works and

what it’s been doing since “the foundation of the world.” It was the theological

centerpiece (Orthodoxy) for all of Quakerism up until the 1800’s. It is often the un-

noticed underpinnings for that wing of Friends who did not adopt 19th century

evangelicalism.

The Apology’s uniqueness is that it is about the Light and how it works within people

everywhere – whether they know it or not . . . . People can and have come to very

different conclusions about its Christology, but about the universality of the Light, there

can be no question. Barclay is quite clear about this.

Kaiser expands on this theme in another text box:

Exactly how much is necessary for an individual to believe of what is usually understood

to be basic Christianity in order to be a “real Christian” is a major bone of contention

among pastoral Friends. Barclay says, none of it: “the mere outward declaration of the

gospel is sometimes considered to be the gospel.” The gospel is the inward power “that

has been preached to every creature under heaven. . . . There may be members of this

catholic [universal true] Church not only among the several sorts of Christians, but also

pagans, Turks, and Jews. The Church invisible has existed in all generations, and has

never lacked faithful witnesses.” Read: Barclay’s Apology, Props 2, 3, 5 and 6. Is it any

wonder traditional Quakerism and 19th century Evangelicalism collided so disastrously?

    Although Barclay affirms his own belief in the divinity of Jesus, etc., he points out that

the scriptures say Jesus died for “all people in all times,” whether they knew about him

or not. When once asked by a Presbyterian if that meant the true church also included

cannibals, Barclay is said to have answered, “And some Presbyterians too.” What ever

branch of “Friends”(sic.) you belong to, it may be a spiritual challenge to be as liberal as

Barclay, and include members of the other branch.

    As radical then as it is now, Barclayan Quakerism gives us a description of how the

Universal Light works and how it changes us when we engage it favorably in our lives

whether we believe it or not. Early Quakerism – like Humpty Dumpty – sat on the wall

between orthodox Christianity and universalism. It was shattered in the 19th century.

Like Humpty, it doesn’t appear likely anyone will put it back together again.

But as the chart shows, the tensions among Friends go much deeper than the

controversies of the moment. Despite his advocacy of same sex marriage, Kaiser

derides the idea that this issue is the root of current conflicts: “Gimme a break. Anyone

who really believes it’s the issue of marriage equality needs to take a closer look.”

A closer look, that is, at his chart. You just about have to lean into it if you’re going to

examine it at all, to follow the thin lines representing yearly meetings, or read the many

boxed sections of text on topics ranging from “A Quaker Police State,” to “Cleveland

MM disowned . . .” The timeline runs from lower to higher: at the bottom, the roots and

trunk represent the beginnings of Quakerism in England, and the nearly two centuries of

relative organizational calm that followed in the so-called Quietist era. The sketch here

is relatively straightforward.

But several inches up, one comes to the fateful year of 1827, and it all goes haywire.

Kaiser also notes that once the “trunk” splits into the Orthodox- evolving-into-evangelical

wing vs. the Hicksite-evolving-into-Liberal wing, a very distinct group character

difference emerges: the Hicksite Liberals hardly have any further splits, while among the

Orthodox and Evangelicals, he notes on the chart, there have now been “over 40”

schisms among their various groups and subgroups. Indeed, he speaks directly of the

“Quaker 100 years war,” which has erupted in open conflict and schism in every

generation since 1827, with precursors even earlier.

https://quakertheology.org/350-years-of-the-society-of-friends-in-north-america-1661-

2011/