diff but_a_way.html @ 137:8165eac02745

links added, one quote for social justice added
author ht
date Mon, 10 Dec 2018 17:53:22 -0500
parents c6b0fe9dda75
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-     </style><title>Not a notion but a way</title></head><body style="font-family: DejaVu Sans, Arial; background: rgb(254,250,246)"><div style="text-align: center" class="head"><hr/><h1>Not a notion but a way</h1><div class="byline">Henry S. Thompson</div><div class="byline">9 January 2017</div><div class="copyright">Copyright &#xa9; 2017 <a href="http://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/~ht/">Henry S. Thompson</a>&#160;<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en">CC-BY-SA</a></div></div><div class="body"><div><h2>1.  Introduction</h2><p><i>God, words and us</i> is a good thing to have done,
+       .note {width: 20%; float: right; clear: right; margin-left: .5em}
+     .bib p {clear: right; float: right; width: 75%; margin-top: 0pt}
+         .bib name {display: inline-block}
+         .bib div {clear: both}</style><title>Not a notion but a way</title></head><body style="font-family: DejaVu Sans, Arial; background: rgb(254,250,246)"><div style="text-align: center" class="head"><h1>Not a notion but a way</h1><hr/><div class="byline">Henry S. Thompson</div><div class="byline">9 January 2017</div><div class="copyright">Copyright &#xa9; 2018 <a href="http://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/~ht/">Henry S. Thompson</a>&#160;<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en">CC-BY-SA</a></div></div><div class="body"><div><h2>1.  Introduction</h2><p><i>God, words and us</i> <a href="#hr">[Rowlands 2017]</a> is a good thing to have done,
 thoughtful, worth reading but, for me, ultimately disappointing, an opportunity
 missed.  Maybe focussing on the language that divides us was necessary, and the
 light this book shines on the nature of that division, what is and isn't
@@ -92,11 +95,10 @@
 importantly, we're not the only religion that isn't best understood in terms of
 belief.  Acknowledging this points us towards a better way to distinguish
 ourselves, by shifting the focus from belief to practice, from
-ortho<i>doxy</i> to ortho<i>praxy</i>.</p><p>I don't claim originality in suggesting this:  John Punshon pretty much writes exactly this in 
-QF&amp;P 20.18, and I think it's at the heart
-of what Ben Pink Dandelion has been writing and saying for some time.</p></div><div><h2>2.  We already know this</h2><p>Some well-known phrases illustrate the point:</p><div style="width: 20%; float: right; clear: right; margin-left: .5em"><small><i>[Still need a quote for equality/justice testimony]</i></small></div><ul class="naked nolabel  "><li>Let your life speak</li><li>Be patterns, be examples</li><li>A testimony to the grace of God as shown in the life of ...</li><li>A humble learner in the school of Christ</li><li>[For Quakers] Christianity is not a notion, but a way</li><li>As Friends we commit ourselves to a way of worship</li><li>Come regularly to meeting for worship</li><li>... in the manner of Friends</li><li>Swear not at all</li><li>Live simply</li><li>[L]ive in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars</li></ul><p>And an old family story:</p><dl class=" "><dt><b><a name="visitor">visitor</a></b></dt><dd>Are you a Christian?</dd><dt><b><a name="host">host</a></b></dt><dd>[pause] You'll have to ask my neighbour</dd></dl><p>This emphasis on what we <i>do</i> as Quakers puts us, according to
+ortho<i>doxy</i> to ortho<i>praxy</i>.</p><p>I don't claim originality in suggesting this:  John Punshon <a href="#jp">[Punshon 1987]</a> pretty much writes exactly this, and I think it's at the heart
+of what Ben Pink Dandelion has been writing and saying for some time.</p></div><div><h2>2.  We already know this</h2><p>Some well-known phrases illustrate the point:</p><ul class="naked nolabel  "><li>Let your life speak</li><li>Be patterns, be examples</li><li>A testimony to the grace of God as shown in the life of ...</li><li>A humble learner in the school of Christ</li><li>[For Quakers] Christianity is not a notion, but a way</li><li>As Friends we commit ourselves to a way of worship</li><li>Come regularly to meeting for worship</li><li>... in the manner of Friends</li><li>Swear not at all</li><li>Live simply</li><li>[A]lleviate suffering and seek positive social change</li><li>[L]ive in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars</li></ul><p>And an old family story:</p><dl class=" "><dt><b><a name="visitor">visitor</a></b></dt><dd>Are you a Christian?</dd><dt><b><a name="host">host</a></b></dt><dd>[pause] You'll have to ask my neighbour</dd></dl><p>This emphasis on what we <i>do</i> as Quakers puts us, according to
 Karen Armstrong, in line with the origins of the great monotheist religions:</p><blockquote class="vanilla"><div><p>"Religion as defined by the great sages of India, China, and the Middle East was not a notional activity but a practical one; it did not require belief in a set of doctrines but rather hard, disciplined work..."</p>
-   <p><i>The Case for God</i>, 2000</p></div></blockquote><p>Armstrong suggests that contemporary Judaism and Islam have retained
+   <p><a href="#ka">[Armstrong 2000]</a></p></div></blockquote><p>Armstrong suggests that contemporary Judaism and Islam have retained
 their original self-definitions centred on orthopraxy ("uniformity of religious
 practice"), whereas Christian denominations in the
 main have shifted much more towards defining themselves in terms of orthodoxy ("correct belief").</p><p>It's not surprising that, surrounded as we are by churches for whom
@@ -145,4 +147,11 @@
 it.  If we restricted ourselves to only doing things if we understood why they
 worked, we'd have very little left.  And, as the previous section tried to
 explain, we know that what we do <i>does</i> work for us.  So sure, keep trying
-to figure out why.  But meantime, keep cheerfully practicing.</p></div></div></body></html>
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+to figure out why.  But meantime, keep cheerfully practicing.</p></div><div class="bib"><h2>5.  References</h2><div><b>[Armstrong 2000]</b><p id="ka"> Armstrong, Karen, <i>The Case for
+God</i>.  Knopf, New York, 2000.</p></div><div><b>[Punshon 1987]</b><p id="jp"> Punshon, John, <i>Encounters with silence: reflections
+from the Quaker tradition</i>, pp. 44&#x2013;45.  Quaker Home Service,
+London, 1987.  Also Friends United Press,
+Richmond Indiana, 2006.  As quoted in <i>Quaker
+Faith and Practice</i>, The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of
+Friends (Quakers) in Britain, 1995.  Available online at <a href="https://qfp.quaker.org.uk/passage/20-18/">QF&amp;P 20.18</a></p></div><div><b>[Rowlands 2017]</b><p id="hr"> Rowlands, Helen ed. <i>God, words and
+us</i>.  Quaker Books, London, 2017.</p></div></div></div></body></html>
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