Jonathan Plummer and Hicksite Quaker Participation in the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893

Jonathan Plummer and Hicksite Quaker Participation in the World's Parliament ofReligions, Chicago, 1893 Roger Hansen* "An occasion like this has been unknown heretofore in the religious history of the world. A new day is dawning. A day of clearer vision in which we can see that all human beings, wherever living, and holding whatever religious vision they may, are children of the same spiritual Father, however differently we may name Him."1 So said Jonathan Plummer at the opening address for the Hicksite Quaker presentation to the World's Parliament ofReligions in Chicago in 1893. His excitement about the potential ofthis Parliament was echoed by many other participants, for it was indeed a novel and vast undertaking. Plummer and his committee of Hicksite Quakers, a small religious denomination among major world religions, believed they had a significant message to convey. This occasion represented a serendipitous convergence of a major world's fair, an unprecedented interfaith religious congress , and a nineteenth century Hicksite Quakerism emerging from a period of relative complacency, illustrated by Plummer and his group of Quakers in Chicago.2 Participation in the Parliament provided these Friends a unique opportunity to share their vision ofthe spiritual nature of all human beings with a diverse group ofreligious people, while at the same time to further their own self-understanding of their message through their own denominational meetings. They found that their basic message had broad appeal, while certain particularities of their faith and practice had more limited appeal to the religious mainstream. We will explore this impact further when we consider Friends' presentations at the Parliament. First we will review the context of the Fair and of Hicksite Friends. The World's Fair The Columbian Exposition or World's Fair of 1 893, held in commemoration ofthe four hundredth anniversary ofColumbus' coming to America, combined a showcase of the technological wonders of the nineteenth century with a stunning White City of neoclassical design. Advances in technology in this era fed for most Americans an optimistic faith in evolutionary progress. The neoclassical architecture represented a differ- *Roger Hansen holds a doctorate in history from the University of Cincinnati. He currently works as a bereavement counselor and is a member of Evanston Friends Meeting. His research interests include oral history and twentieth century Quakerism. Quakers at the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893 35 ent kind of faith, that harmony, order, and beauty could emerge from this explosive change. The Fair, as a showcase ofthe urbanization and industrialization of the United States, was held in the city that symbolized this transformation. Chicago, a mere village in the 1840s, leapt to over a million by 1890.3 Although vast in scope in itself, the Fair did not stand alone. An ambitious World's Congress Auxiliary, a series of meetings intended to display human progress to complement the technological progress of the Fair, was held from May to October of 1893. Sessions were held on women's progress, medicine and surgery, temperance, moral and social reform, commerce and finance, government, science and philosophy, music , literature, and labor. Chicago judge Charles C. Bonney first proposed this auxiliary in 1889, and its organizing committee eventually grew to include twenty departments and 225 general divisions. Its announcement of intention proclaimed: "The crowning glory ofthe World's Fair of 1892 should not be the exhibit ... of the material triumphs, industrial achievements , and mechanical victories ofman, however magnificent that display may be. Something still higher and nobler is demanded by the enlightened and progressive spirit ofthe present age."4 The World's Parliament of Religions The World's Parliament ofReligions was "the longest, most ambitious, most visited, most admired ofthe many congresses; and it evoked the most extensive comments in books, newspapers, and magazines." It is difficult to underestimate the significance ofthe Parliament for its participants. One speaker, Alfred W. Momerie, of London, England, called it "the greatest event so far in the history of the world," and many others said that the Parliament was the most important event since the birth ofJesus. 5 The organizing committee for the Parliament, headed by John Henry Barrows, the liberal pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, included sixteen...