The Growth and Development of Quaker Testimony, 1652-1661 and 1960-1994: Conflict, Non-Violence, and Conciliation (review)

Book Reviews73 Israel's in volume three, resisted the exodus and, to the disgust of Israel, revered Benjamin Franklin and his politics. There was tension within the Pemberton clan. John Brown (1725-1802) typifies the maddening Friends in public office who exhibited no sympathy with Quaker reforms like antislavery. The Pembertons were exiled in Virginia by the revolutionary regime in Pennsylvania, whereas the Quaker tyro ofPennsylvania politics, Joseph Galloway, fled to England with other Loyalists. Galloway died in England, whereas Loyalist Joseph Shoemaker, after being pardoned, returnedto Pennsylvania and diedthere. The Society swiftly disowned Joseph Fox, onetime Speaker of the House, because he collaborated with the declaration of war against the Delaware Indians and the scalping ofthem. But come the Revolution, he behaved in a manner—allegedly Loyalist— that many stalwart Friends followed: for example, boycotting Continental paper currency, an advanced Quaker religious scruple. He was included among suspect Friends detained by the revolutionary regime (although he was not exiled to Virginia). On the other hand, he swore allegiance to the new regime, which no Friend in good standing could do. He ended his life buried among Friends in the Philadelphia Quaker cemetery. We wonder what Friends made ofhis quizzical course of life? These biographies treat notjust public life. We learn, for example, ofthe misery that Israel Pemberton suffered from the conduct of his stepson, Joseph Jordan, who murdered the innocent Thomas Kirkbride. Thus, whether one needs to find the laws for emitting paper currency in Pennsylvania , or wishes to read about intimate matters, he will find the dictionary rewarding indeed. Priced at only $60, it is the greatestbargain in American historical writing. Jack D. MariettaUniversity of Arizona The Growth andDevelopmentofQuaker Testimony, 1652-1661 and 19601994 : Conflict, Non-Violence, andConciliation.ByGerardGuiton. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 2005. 483 pp. Illustrations, tables, appendices, notes, bibliography, and index. Guiton's book discusses three subjects that he sees as linked, but that readers can easily consider separately. The first 1 14 pages is a studyofearly Quakerism with an emphasis upon the development ofthe peace testimony, based upon a careful reading of the works of prominent Friends. Against scholars who argue that the peace testimony was not really developed until 1661 or later, Guitón asserts that from their beginnings Quakers espoused aculture ofpeaceusingmediation-conciliationwithauthorities, care forand 74Quaker History mutual support ofmembers in prison, and prophetic witness. He claims that the passages which historians including Cole, Hill, Reay, and Weddle cite showing Quakers advocating military force are metaphoric, not actual calls to arms. Instead, thepeace testimony grew out ofaunique "life-apocalyptic" vision ofFriends very different from Puritan or Calvinist eschatology. The famous 1661 declaration was not a pessimistic response to defeat but the result ofaQuakerpentecostal experience that continuedmerging a spiritual/ political radicalism through the Restoration. The language used by early Quakers is often opaque and the difficulties are not eased by Guitón's style, but he does provide helpful charts to show the variegated elements that make up the Quaker vision. Also, I found it necessary to read the 56 pages offootnotes that contain important information . I wish the author had published the first sections of the book as a separate monograph. Guitón's idealistic perspective on English Friends before 1 66 1 makes me wonder either why the Quakers in Rhode Island in King Philip's War and in the early Delaware River Valley degenerated so quickly or ifhis religious insights led to a slighting ofhistorical nuance. The last two-thirds of the book is very different in tone and is best described as sociology or contemporary history with a moral/reformist twist. One chapter relies on interviews with British Quaker peace workers who describe their tactics and perspectives and also the difficulties and advantages of combining the Quaker business methods with bureaucracy, particularly when doing field work and reporting to a central organization. The last chapter assesses the difference between Quaker and non-Quaker approaches to non-violence and evaluates the contributions ofAdam Curie. A final, and to this reviewer most important, section contains an analysis based on interviews and archival research into the South African Quakers' response to the apartheid regime. These Quakers, only 174, living geographically dispersed, and...