Rufus Matthew Jones (1863–1948)

This is two essays by Rufus Jones, written with his classic clarity and elegance, as well as his deep knowledge of Quaker history and spiritual experience. He reviews the experience of George Fox and early Friends to show the nature of the vitality and power of their religious movement, and calls Friends to return to this vital contact with divine life and to confidence in the living God. He also writes of the basic traits of the Quaker Way: integrity, spiritual nurture of each other and the show more young, a faith in the sacredness of human life that leads to refusal to use violence and commitment to humanitarian endeavors, and the constant return to the sources of love and truth in silent worship.
This is classic Rufus Jones, a wonderful concise formulation, both informative and inspiring. One of the gems here: "To be 'saved' for these early Quakers did not mean escaping the forces of Hell and gaining an entrance through the pearly gates into a peaceful Heaven. It meant an inward transformation of spirit and a way of life. It was the birth of a new love, and new passion for holy living, a hate of sin both within and without."
The title seems to refer not to new Quaker ideas but to returning to the earlier Quaker Way from the practices and faith of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that he regarded as fallen away. show less

I picked this up because it had been influential to Howard Thurman. I'm glad I did. Very readable and entertaining story of Rufus Jones's life. Inspiring for Quakers like myself.

Rufus Jones (1863-1948) was an educator, a philosopher, a fine writer, and "lighted many candles" as one of his students once said. This collection of short pieces and extracts from larger works is arranged as answers to common questions among spiritual seekers: Where Is God? How Does God Reveal Himself? What Is Man? How Explain Conscience? What Is Vital Religion? Is Science Enough? What Is True Mysticism? What Does Prayer Mean? What Is the Matter with the Church? What Is the Christian Way show more of Life? How Deal with Dark Days? Who Are the Quakers? Why Believe in Immortality?

My first acquaintance with Jones's writing was his Pathways to the Reality of God (1931), which I found on a library shelf in 2008. When I came across the section where he chastised any religion that demands that you ignore good science, I was prepared to open my mind to anything else he had to say. At the time, I was trying to make sense of my own mystical experiences. Well known as one of American's most famous mystics, in one volume of his autobiography series, he stated, "The essential characteristic of [mysticism] is the attainment of a personal conviction by an individual that the human spirit and the divine Spirit have met, have found each other, and are in mutual and reciprocal correspondence as spirit with Spirit."

I aspire to read everything he wrote, from the first in 1899 to the last in 1948. (The first three are available online in the "Quaker Digital Collection.") Many of his books are currently available as paperback reprints.

While this collection is a nice "taster" of Jones's writing, I far prefer his full-length books for development of his ideas that are good fodder for the ruminations of the spiritual seeker. show less

The author addresses the attacks by psychologists on the validity of mysticism as a religious experience. In so far as the mystical experience is taken as sheer, bare experience sacred in its own right, uninterpreted and unrelated to moral spiritual effects on life and character, the criticism carries weight. However the author maintains that there is no good ground or sound basis for limiting mystical experience to any such contracted field.