A Critique of Quaker Accountability

A Critique of Quaker Accountability Wilmer A. Cooper 0 0 Thi s Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Quaker Religious Thou ght by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University - Article 2 A Critique of Quaker Accountability WILMER A. COOPER The purpose of this paper is to deal with the question of accountability in the light of our need to be answerable to one another in the community of faith, which for us means the Friends Meeting. The term accountability will be addressed in two ways: First, the question of how we exercise and balance freedom and discipline in our life together within the Meeting. Secondly, the question of whether in our faith and practice we are in historical continuity with the original Quaker vision. Thus the objective will be to assess accountability in these two respects from the early period to the present, and in the light of our performance to indicate some signs of warning as well as signs of hope for the future of the Society of Friends. THE CURRENT CRISIS IN LIGHT OF THE EARLY QUAKER NORM Although Friends have been in almost perpetual crisis since their beginning in the middle of the 17th C, certain conditions now prevail which make the situation different in degree, if not in kind. Furthermore, the crisis is accompanied by a sense of forboding when one thinks of what is at stake for Friends now, as well as in the future. T o evaluate the current situation it may be helpful to recall how early Friends defined their community of faith, the role accountability played in it, and some of the departures from this understanding which have taken place through the years. If we define and articulate "the early Quaker norm" we will have something against which we can assess where we are and where we are going. I n defining their community of faith, early Friends used mainly Biblical images such as "the Body of Christ," "the People of God," "Children of the Light," and "Publishers of Truth." They functioned organizationally under what George Fox called "the Gospel Order." Thus we are immediately involved in a Quaker theology of the church and a doctrine of ecclessiology. Descriptively speaking, Friends came together out of a sense of being gathered in the Spirit of Christ which united them as the "People of God." T o be so gathered by Christ as the head of the Church provided a structured community of faith out of which fessor of English at Friends Unitersity in 1947, where she has taught ever since, becoming Professor Emeritus in 1980. She was made a full professor in 1949, served two terms as head of department totalling 27 years, and two terms as Acadamic Dean. She also served nine years on the Board of Advisors of the Earlham School of Religion. Along the way, she earned a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, and Friends University conferred an honorary Litt.D. in 1980. Her articles have appeared in Quaker Life, The Evangelical Friend, Fruit of the Vine, and Upper Room Disciplines. She shares her home with her 95-year-old father, Gurney T. Hadley. Four months in the Philippines during the past year have done much to shape Perry Yoder's outlook and current work on a biblical theology built around the concept of shalom as brought about through liberation and justice. Recently appointed an Associate Professor of Old Testament at Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, IN, his teaching since 1968 has been at such Mennonite institutions as Bluffton College and Bethel College in the U.S. and visiting professorships at Conrad Grebe1 College and Waterloo Lutheran Seminary both in Ontario. A n Oregonian by birth (Portland 1940) and a Midwesterner by vocation he was an honors graduate of Goshen College, has a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies (University of Pennsylvania), and has also studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and participated in a French Archeological Mission in Israel. Bible study is the focus of four of his books ranging from hermeneutics to an adult study guide, and New MenlNew Roles (a biblical guide to male liberation). The latter is balanced, we hasten to add, by "Women's Place in the Creation Accounts" contributed to a volume on Women in the Bibk and Early Anubaptism. His "A-B Pairs and Oral Composition in Hebrew Poetry" was published by Vetus ~ e s t a h e n t u m 21 (1971).:470489. "Biblical Hebrew" appears in Versification: Major Language Types, ed. by W. K. Winsatt (NYU Press, 1972). He and his wife Elizabeth have two children named (guess what?) Joshua and Joel. Weeklong back-packing in the Rockies and weeklong bicycling tours are favorite recreations. Larry ,"a pacifist by birth and a Christian since age 10," felt a need for a community embodying Christ's peacable Kingdom. I n 1972 he became a cwfounder of Publishers of Truth (now Friends of Truth), a discipleship community on the early Quaker model. Subse Contributors Although th (...truncated)