Continuing Revelation—Tradition as Discernment Touchstone
July 23, 2022 § 1 Comment
As a touchstone for Quaker discernment, historical tradition has some things in common with scripture. First, it’s not just useful, it’s necessary. We cannot afford to cut the tree of Quakerism from its roots. Notwithstanding its continuing evolution, the first Friends gave us truths that remain essential to our present faith and practice and our future as a religious movement.
That said, the tradition has been evolving over the centuries. Just ten years after George Fox convinced the Seekers at Firbank Fall in 1652, he inaugurated changes that completely reshaped the movement in “gospel order”. Within a generation, the movement had abandoned the Lamb’s War and cut the deal with the “establishment” as recounted in Douglas Gwyn’s The Covenant Crucified. We transformed from a radical militant movement believing itself the second coming of Christ to a withdrawn, self-contained, essentially quietist sect of dissenters. And that was only the beginning; we’ve been changing, sometimes radically, ever since.
And here we are today with four branches of the movement, each of which adheres to different aspects of the original truth, not to mention the sometimes significant differences within these branches. And we also variously reject some aspects of tradition in our distinctivenesses. We are picking and choosing our historical tradition’s various truths, just as we pick and choose from the Bible, while we either claim that we’re not doing that, or at least, that our choices are the right ones.
Which aspects of our tradition do we choose to touch as we test a new leading? What guides our choices for a touchstone, and what guides our choices for ignoring other parts of our tradition? Do we even ask ourselves these questions while we’re trying to discern the spirit of a new leading?
Furthermore, as we do with the Bible, we apply the touchstone of tradition in the context of the community’s power dynamics; ecclesiastical authority—and its relative lack—often trump tradition in our practice of discernment. Even in the branches that do not exercise the hierarchical ecclesiastical authority of the yearly meeting over monthly meetings, the subtle “political” dynamics of the community often shoulder out the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Like the Bible, tradition is an important, yet somewhat unreliable touchstone for testing new leadings.
Through the Flaming Sword 
Thank you for this. Sadly, in the last year (perhaps due to the use of zoom which enables us to communicate more often and to a wider NYYM) I have become aware of changes to our similar to those you write about. To hear one say they are not comfortable using “gospel order” because of a so called “power differential” is sad, painful, and it surely chops away at a huge part of our roots. I believe I am in mourning. MaryPags