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Concluding Remarks
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163 Q Concluding Remarks Having traced the life of Margaret Fell within the broader portrait of the early Society of Friends and drawing her contributions more carefully out of the shadow of neglect and obscurity, it becomes clear just why her enigmatic historical persona is both intriguing and worthy of close study. Early on this particular exercise looked to the life of Margaret Askew Fell Fox (1614–1702) as a way of creating context for interpreting her contributions to the Quaker movement. Evidence of her significance and the worthiness of scholarly efforts directed toward her was apparent from the start. The attempt to grasp something of Margaret Fell has taken place on two levels. Placing her more carefully in her own social, political, and religious contexts led to a close look at her own writings to fully underscore the fact that she did, in truth, have an articulated theology that she owned and taught. The purpose of this first tack was to allow the subtle shifts in her writings to move us closer to her own charted course. Given her belief that religious truth flows from the experience of the divine life in human life, it is only right to consider the ways in which her human situation may have shaped her presentation of divine revelation. Fell was not simply an author of texts, but wrote her works in the ebb and flow of exciting times in English history and religion. This makes it worthwhile to see her theological work in the larger context of her life. Toward this end a portion of this study is an overview of her life and ministry. We discovered that Margaret was central to the organizational, social, and financial structure of the early Quaker movement. She was rightly understood to be the “nursing mother” of Friends, and her home at Swarthmoor Hall was an important base of operations. These conclusions are not based on affection 164 Margaret Fell and the End of Time for Mother Fell per se, but by a desire to use all the tools available to understand her as an author and religious thinker. Another portion of this investigation focused upon her published writings, especially her main tracts and pamphlets. These writings are in many ways as removed from our time as we are from the author herself. The time in which she wrote, and the urgency she felt for proclamation , show that she would have identified more with the Apostle Paul or St. Francis than with contemporary authors. Margaret Fell’s commitment to the message of Christ’s return was steadfast and energetic. It even can be argued that when using the word “convincement” to refer to Margaret’s own experience, one is tempted to write it in capital letters. Another key point is the centrality of eschatology and millennialism for English religion in general during Fell’s lifetime, and chapter 2 explored briefly the development of these ideas from the time of Henry VIII to the period of the civil war. Sampling a number of sects and movements displayed the effect this had on political and theological thought in the aftermath of the war and the establishment of Cromwell’s Protectorate. This places the Society of Friends in the context of a larger number of religious movements that drew powerful religious inspiration from their apocalyptic expectations. Fox and the early Quakers were distinguished by the spiritual and realized nature of their eschatological faith. In keeping with the basic principles of Fox, it was in this theological context that Fell’s own theology developed. The scholarly significance of this piece is such that an exposition of Margaret Fell’s theology is possible when an emphasis is made upon her social context. The idea was to keep the chapter structure as unadorned as feasible and to articulate her theology in her own words where possible . Approaching Mother Fell as a theologian in her own right is the heart of this study. Underlying this is the reality that while others may disagree with a particular reading of Fell’s religious works, there is little argument that she herself authored them and stood ready to defend them. Therefore, in summary form we set forth the basic shape of her theology, with special attention to her eschatology. Her theology is broadly Christian and held many of the same key terms and themes one would find in Puritan or Independent authors of her time. Yet there were distinctive elements. Like the other Quakers of her...