On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 23:41:49 -0700 "barbara starkey" <starkey@la-tierra.com> wrote: >i am sorry to sound as dumb as a box of rocks, but quakers have >MINISTERS???????? can anyone tell me where i can obtain 'beginners' >info >about the quaker guidelines/principles/clergy/administrations.......i >don't >know why, but i somehow got the idea that quakers had no >clergy....... > >thanx........ barbara starkey > Barbara, Quite right. Quakers have no clergy. Nevertheless, they did/do have ministers. God ordains, the Quakers record. (Some would argue that rather than having no clergy, Quakers have no laity.) I will list here a few WWW sites that have information on Quaker ministry. It will probably pay to read the whole list before you start clicking on links, as some of the first listed are some of the most difficult. Written in the 16th century, and still, I think, the best exposition of Quaker theology, is Robert Barclay's /Apology for the True Christian Divinity/, online at <http://www.qhpress.org/texts/barclay/apology/>. This is a full length book, so you may wish to skip to chapter 10, which is about ministry. Not easy reading, but full of substance. Another important resource for understand historical Quakerism in the old /Discipline/, at <http://www.qhpress.org/texts/obod/>. Again, you may want to start with the Ministry section. Many historical Quaker books are online at <http://dqc.esr.earlham.edu:8080/xmlmm/login.html>, including /A description of the qualifications necessary to a Gospel minister: containing advice to ministers and elders, how to conduct themselves in their conversations and various services, according to their gifts in the church of Christ/ by Samuel Bownas. From the page given above, click Browse Collection, then Browse Authors (on the left), then type Bownas and click Find Authors. If you find these book-length historical works daunting, you may wish to begin with some shorter modern essays: Here is an arichived discussion on Quaker ministry from the soc.religion.quaker newsgroup in 1997: <http://www.land-of-confusion.org/quaker_ministers.htm>. Here is Bill Samuel's page on Quaker worship, which touches on Quaker ministry, and describes how some Quaker meetings came to have paid pastors: <http://www.quakerinfo.com/quak_wor.shtml>. Here are reports from members of the present-day Friends General Conference (one branch of modern Quakerism) Traveling Ministries Committee members: <http://www.fgcquaker.org/library/ministry/>. I haven't read any of them, but I have met several of the authors and have sincere respect for them. Last, but definitely not least, is this essay by Bill Taber: <http://www.pendlehill.org/Lectures%20and%20Writings/taber.html>. Steeped in Quaker History, Bill examines modern Quaker ministry. This is more information than you asked for, I am sure. However far you get, I hope you will find you inquiry informative and edifying. -- Dan Treadway P. O. Box 72 Gilbert IA 50105 treadway@netins.net http://showcase.netins.net/web/treadway/