John Lampen

“The Taoist speak of the quality of ‘rightness’ as something inherent in the world. Jesus taught that it is an active principle to which we can relate in the most intimately personal way. Reviewing my experience and that of my friend, I find HE/She/It is sometimes experienced personally, as a parent, companion, or guide, and sometimes impersonally, as an unlimited, indefinable reality. I get slightly depressed when I hear someone whose limitation of god have been confined to one of show more these modes devalui9ng the alternative experience – whether it be evangelical Christian insisting on the ‘personal encounter with Jesus’’, or the pantheist implying that the personal experience is naïve wish-fulfilment. But I do believe that God’s wisdom (and, dare I say, humour?) is likely at some time to shatter the pantheist’s claim with unmistakeable experience of personal closeness, and dispel any cosiness in the evangelical’s position by the awesome of the divine ‘otherness’.” show less

I reluctantly opened this Pendle Hill Pamphlet. One more Quaker paean to peace at the expense of Spirit, I thought. But John Lampen and his wife Diana lived their talk by moving to Londonderry, Ireland to *work* for peace. The courage they exihibited in moving their children and walking between the Protestants and the Catholics who had been warring for so long was inspiring. Often using Woolman as his guide, Lampen urges like-minding followers to first see what love can do. He does not show more advocate mindless, senseless, bullishness. He does not walk in where Angels fear to tread. But he let his life speak in ways that in turn spoke to both sides of the conflict. Learning to listen to both sides is the first step in helping them to listen to each other. show less

Wonderful, wonderful. I'm not a devoted Christian nor an educated reader of poetry, yet this pamphlet spoke deeply to me about mystic searching and finding, illuminating to me how Christian theology and poetry can help me understand, and feel less lonely in spiritual life.

What was Jesus really like? For John Lampen, the conventional portrayals he was introduced to in childhood lacked vitality, so he returned to the records to find for himself a likeness of Jesus, whom he describes as "an extraordinary man who was very different from what I expected." In addition to offering a vivid description of "a man who was intensely alive," John Lampen discusses how he created this portrait by sifting through varied and sometimes contradictory evidence to determine what show more is most likely to be true. Readers who are interested in Jesus as an historical figure, as well as those who follow his teachings, will find much to think about in this portrayal. Discussion questions included. show less