John Wilhelm Rowntree, 1868-1905, and the Beginnings of Modern Quakerism (review)

156Quaker History Several times Worrall emphasizes the tenet "that of God in each man and woman" as the basic Quaker belief. He describes as "psychic oversensitivity" the harsh judgment meted out to all other sects by George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement. Worrall's tendency to superimpose 20th century post-modem Quaker liberal thought over early Friends' theological positions is irritating, although it assumes a very small portion of the text. His assertion that Friends reveredthe Bible while convinced it was notthe Word ofGod is misleading (p. 52). A quick study of early Quaker thought clearly defines Friends as radical yet orthodox Christians, with the humanity, divinity, and resurrection ofJesus and the authority of scripture centerpieces of the faith. For instance, Robert Barclay's Quaker Faith (1673), equipped with enthusiastic endorsements from both George Fox and William Penn, was subtitled "A Catechism and Confession ofFaith," and is permeated with New Testament references to prove each Christological position . Worrall spent 30 years collecting data for this history. Events leading up to the dissolvement of Virginia Yearly Meeting and the difficult years preceding and following the Civil Warare meticulously detailed. The latter chapters chronicle the entry ofthe remaining Virginia Quakers into the 20th century. Creative responses to the never-ending problems ofracism, social and economic injustices and crosscultural conflicts reflect the stalwart spiritual commitment Friends maintain despite reduced numbers. End notes, a large bibliography and index complete the text. High Point, N.C.Linda B. Selleck John Wilhelm Rowntree, 1868-1905, and the Beginnings ofModern Quakerism. By Stephen Allott. York, Eng.: Sessions, 1994. xiv + 138 pp. Illustrations, appendixes, and index. Paper, £7.90. An author undertaking a serious study ofthe life and thought ofJohn Wilhelm Rowntree faces a daunting prospect with regard to sources. For while there are important and revealing letters in John Wilhelm's correspondence with Rufus Jones, most family and private papers have been lost. Stephen Allott attempts to compensate for this limitation by quoting extensively from John Wilhelm's essays and letters. This approach has advantages, but the sometimes stilted and awkward language of these texts tends to convey a somewhat dour, stiff and pious picture ofa man who by all accounts was brimming with good humor and devilish pranks. Allott's sense of frustration over the dilemma of capturing this human side of JWR's personality may be revealed in a final paragraph when he cites Constance Rowntree's disapproval of the tendency to turn her late husband into St. John Wilhelm; he was, she knew, "more complex, more human and more fun than that." Still, it is an occupational hazard for biographers to see their subjects as larger in death than in life. Allott rightly gives JWR enormous credit for helping to bring about fundamental changes in London Yearly Meeting, but he may be stretching the point when he speaks of"the new freedom which John Wilhelm had won" for British Friends leading to "the form ofQuakerism which we know today___" (xiv) Indeed, in discussing the process by which JWR moved from a youthful trial of doubt and near-despair to a position of spiritual leadership, Allott takes note of Book Reviews157 many others who assisted in the process oftransforming British Quakerism. Leapfrogging over the rise ofthe "modernist" movement, Allott pauses long enough to give Edward Worsdell and 77ie Gospel of Divine Help something like their unaccustomed due, which, because of Worsdell's physical and intellectual proximity to JWR, is as it should be. One way in which John Wilhelm and Edward Worsdell were close was in their collaboration in founding Acomb Adult School. JWR's involvement in Adult School led him to conclude that teachers needed more specialized training,just as his experiences in meeting for worship had convinced him the ministry needed to be thoroughly revitalized so as to put Quakerism's spiritual leadership in touch with modem thought and modem methods for conveying that thought. Therein lay the seed ofhis plans for developing both the Summer Schools and Woodbrooke, although Allott's foreshortened discussion ofthe founding ofWoodbrooke fails to make clear the connection between those two enterprises. JWR believed change was essential to the survival and success of Quakerism, buthe also...