Sample Syllabus Spring 2018 Haverford College Reinventing Quakerism: Rufus Jones, Henry Cadbury, and the Rise of Liberal Quakerism David Harrington Watt Mondays and Wednesdays 12:45-2:15 About the Topic. Quakerism isn t stable. It varies from generation to generation. The form of Quakerism that is mostly closely associated with Haverford College today is, for example, quite distinct from the sort of Quakerism that was connected to the college in 1970s. That variety was Quakerism was, in turn, quite distinct from the one that was connected to Haverford a century earlier. There is a real sense in which Quakerism was reinvented in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Background. Students in the course will examine some of the changes that Quakerism underwent between the 1870s and the 1970s by examining the writings of two Haverfordians: Rufus Jones (1863-1948) and Henry Cadbury (1883-1974). Both men came from famous Quaker families and both were strongly committed to reforming the Society of Friends. Jones graduated from Haverford College in 1885. Cadbury graduated from the college in 1903. Cadbury taught at Haverford as a young man, but was forced to resign from the faculty during World War I; Jones taught at Haverford for nearly all of his career. In 1917, Jones and Cadbury helped create the American Friends Service Committee. In 1947, when the AFSC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Cadbury was the Friend who flew to Oslo to accept it. Jones was a prolific author whose books won him international fame. Cadbury was probably the most learned Quaker of his generation. Both men tried to reconcile Quaker traditions with modern life and thought, but they did so in different ways. They reached markedly different conclusions about what Quakerism had been in the past and about what it should be in the future. Prerequisites. This seminar is open to first year students. Talking to the Instructor Outside of Class. The instructor s office is 315 Founders Hall. Most days of the week he spends several hours working there or in Magill Library. He s happy to answer questions about the course in either place. His formal office hours are on Mondays from 11:30-12:30 and Wednesdays from 2:30-4. His email address is dhwatt@haverford.edu. Pronouns and such. Students are encouraged to send the instructor a brief email before classes begin that says which pronouns they apply to themselves ( they, for example), how they d like to be addressed in class ( David, for example), and a pointer on how their name in pronounced ( Watt rhymes with jot, for example). Texts. Students will read a wide range of texts including letters, memoirs, and meeting minutes which are housed in Haverford s extraordinary Quaker Collection that shed light on Jones and Cadbury.
Obtaining the required texts. Students should purchase Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. All the others texts for the course will be posted online. Papers. Students will write one short paper about the way that Quakerism changed in the years between 1880 and 1972 and another on some aspect of the lives Jones and Cadbury led. Students will also write one slightly longer paper on the way that Jones and Cadbury grappled with issues connected the miraculous occurrences and mystical experiences and another on their understanding of the Quaker peace testimony. Paper proposals. Students will write four paper proposals in which they will summarize/adumbrate/sketch out the arguments that will made in papers themselves. Evaluation. The final grade will be based on: participation in seminar discussions (10% of the total grade); four one-page paper proposals, (20%); two four-page papers (30%), and two seven-page papers (40%).
SEMINAR SCHEDULE Unit I. Keywords JANUARY 22. The entries on class, close reading; ethnicity, gender, historicize; miracle; Quaker; religion, and Religious Society of Friends in the Oxford English Dictionary. JANUARY 24. The entries on Cadbury (Henry Joel), Fox, (George), Jones (Rufus Matthew), Liberal Friends; Mysticism; Orthodox Quakerism; and Peace Testimony in the Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers). Unit II. Historicizing Quaker Faith and Practice JANUARY 29. Selections from Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Eastern Parts of Maryland. JANUARY 31. Selections from Faith and Practice of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. FEBRUARY 5. Selections from Faith and Practice of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. FEBRUARY 7. First paper proposal due. FEBRUARY 12. Williams, Style, ix-16. FEBRUARY 14: First short paper due. III. Biographies and Memoirs FEBRUARY 19. Selections from Vining, Friend of Life and selections from Bacon, Let This Life Speak. FEBRUARY 21. Selections from Jones, A Boy s Religion from Memory, and selections from Jones, Eli and Sibyl Jones: Their Life and Work. FEBRUARY 26. Cadbury, The First Faculty Courtship and Cadbury, My Personal Religion. FEBRUARY 28. Second paper proposal due. MARCH 5. Williams, Style, 17-66. MARCH 7: Second short paper due. MARCH 12: SPRING BREAK
MARCH 14: SPRING BREAK IV. Miraculous Occurrences and Mystical Experiences MARCH 19. Watt, Philadelphia, Rufus Jones, and the Reinvention of Quakerism, Jones, Mysticism and its Exponents, and selections from Jones and Jones, Quakerism: A Spiritual Movement. MARCH 21. Cadbury, A Quakerism Adequate for Today and Cadbury, Introduction to George Fox s Book of Miracles, 1-18. MARCH 26. Cadbury, Introduction to George Fox s Book of Miracles, 19-62. MARCH 28. Third paper proposal due. APRIL 2. Williams, Style, 67-80 and 115-134. APRIL 4: First (slightly) longer paper due. V. The Peace Testimony APRIL 9. Selections from Jones, The Faith and Practice of the Quakers and Jones, Our Day in the German Gestapo. APRIL 11. Watt and Krippner, Henry Cadbury, AFSC, and Haverford College, Cadbury s letter to Comfort, Haverford College Board of Managers Minutes (October 22, 1918), Haverford College Board Minutes (November 1, 1918), and Haverford College Board Minutes (March 2, 1919). APRIL 16. Cadbury, The Strike as an Unethical Means of Conversion, and Cadbury, The Responsibility of the Christian Church for Jewish Persecution, to Protest Against It. APRIL 18. Cadbury, The Individual Christian and the State, Cadbury, The Validity of Religious Pacifism, and Cadbury, Quakers and Peace. APRIL 23 Fourth paper proposal due. APRIL 25 Williams, Style, 169-198 VI. Keywords Redux APRIL 30. The entries on class, close reading, ethnicity, gender, historicize; miracle; Quaker; religion, and Religious Society of Friends in the Oxford English Dictionary.
MAY 2. The entries on Cadbury (Henry Joel), Fox, (George), Jones (Rufus Matthew), Liberal Friends; Mysticism; Orthodox Quakerism; and Peace Testimony in the Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers). MAY 5-8 READING PERIOD MAY 17 Second (Slightly) Longer Paper Due.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Abbott, Margery Post, et al. Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers). Second edition. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2012. Bacon, Margaret Hope. Let This Life Speak: The Legacy of Henry Joel Cadbury. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987. Brians, Paul. Common Errors in English Usage. 2013. This book is recommended, but not required. Booth, Wayne, and others. The Craft of Research. 4 th Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016. Cadbury, Henry J. The First Faculty Courtship. Westonian 54, no. 2 (1948): 5-6. Cadbury, Henry J. The Individual Christian and the State. Friends Intelligencer 94 (September 25, 1937): 654. Cadbury, Henry J. Introduction, to George Fox's Book of Miracles, by George Fox and Henry J. Cadbury. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1948. Cadbury, Henry. Letter to William Wistar Comfort, October 16, 1918. Henry J. Cadbury Papers. Quaker Collection. Haverford College. Haverford, PA. Cadbury, Henry J. My Personal Religion [1936]. Henry J. Cadbury Papers. Quaker Collection. Haverford College. Haverford, PA. Cadbury, Henry J. A Quakerism Adequate for Today. Pendle Hill Tenth Anniversary Lecture. Pamphlet. Wallingford, PA.: Pendle Hill Publications, 1940. Cadbury, Henry J. Quakers and Peace. In Nobel Lectures, 1926-1950 edited by Frederick W. Haberman. Vol. 2, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1972. Cadbury, Henry J. The Responsibility of the Christian Church for Jewish Persecution, to Protest Against It. [1934]. Henry J. Cadbury Papers. Quaker Collection. Haverford College. Haverford, PA. Cadbury, Henry J. The Validity of Religious Pacifism. Christian Century 60 (December 29, 1943): 1534-35. Haverford College Board Minutes (November 1, 1918). College Archives. Haverford College. Haverford, PA. Haverford College Board Minutes (March 2, 1919). College Archives. Haverford College. Haverford, PA. Haverford College Board of Managers Minutes (October 22, 1918). College Archives. Haverford College. Haverford, PA. Jones, Rufus M. A Boy's Religion from Memory. Philadelphia: Ferris & Leach, 1913. Jones, Rufus M. Eli and Sibyl Jones: Their Life and Work. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1889. Jones, Rufus M. The Faith and Practice of the Quakers. London: Methuen & Co, 1927. Jones, Rufus M. Mysticism and its Exponents. [1885]. Rufus M. Jones Papers. Haverford College. Haverford, PA. Jones, Rufus M. Our Day in the German Gestapo. N.p.: n.p. 1947. Jones, Rufus M., and Mary Hoxie Jones. Quakerism: A Spiritual Movement: Six Essays. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Yearly Meetings of Friends, 1963. Oxford University Press. Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2002. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends (Orthodox: 1827-1955). Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Eastern Parts of Maryland. Philadelphia: For Sale at Friends' Book Store, 1880.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Faith and Practice of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends: A Book of Christian Discipline. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1972. Turabian. Kate. L. A Manual for Writers. 8 th Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013. This book is recommended, but not required. Vining, Elizabeth Gray. Friend of Life: The Biography of Rufus M. Jones. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1958. Watt, David Harrington. Philadelphia, Rufus Jones, and the Reinvention of Quakerism, in Religion in Philadelphia, edited by Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2016. Watt, David Harrington and James Krippner. Henry Cadbury, Haverford College and the Founding of the American Friends Service Committee: The Perils of Pacifist Dissent During World War I. Friends Journal 63 (April 2017): 19-22. Williams, Joseph M. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.