Today, after centuries of Christendom’s affirmations that “Jesus is the answer,” he is free at last to be the question again. After centuries in which Christian adherence served as a conformist cloak of social respectability for many, whatever their…
Friend Clem Gerdelmann, a member of Chester (PA ) Monthly Meeting and blogger on QuakerQuaker, has contributed numerous posts and comments to Quaker Universalist Conversations (see “Clem Gerdelmann”). This post offers Clem’s observations on two new books by…
In a comment responding to our April 27 th post, “On discernment,” guest blogger Clem Gerdelmann referred to French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Jacques Marie Émile Lacan. Here is Friend Clem’s further reflection on Lacan. In truth, Jacques…
Ever since I was diagnosed with a heart condition, I have rarely gone a month without attending to the needed remedy (for a benign condition). I try to get weekly outdoor exercise and shop for omega-3 foods. I also look to Friends to be just that—an accepting…
It is somewhat common for universalists to argue that, when it comes to the various religions of the world, “all roads up the mountain lead to the same summit.” … Yet, as Douglas V. Steere in Mutual Irradiation: A Quaker View of Ecumenism writes…
Friend Clem Gerdelmann gives us one more brief reflection on Buddhism and Quakerism. Visit his QuakerQuaker page for more of his contributions. Both Buddhism and Quakerism support the realization that “Happiness is an inside job.” … Perspective and attitude, like…
Both Buddhism and Quakerism embrace paradox. The ways that each of these spiritual paths takes to get to higher and nobler living involves going deeper into the human experience. Thus, the first of “The Four Noble Truths” of Buddhism is, oddly enough, “Pain…
Clem Gerdelmann had a final contribution to our “Judaism and Quakerism” conversation which we were not able to publish before the end of October. Here it is. The contemporary mystic Richard Rohr postulates that, for every century of human existence, humanity itself…
In early September, we published a Call for Authors on three monthly conversation subjects. October — Judaism and Quakerism … Regular readers have seen a rich range of posts during October. • Clem Gerdelmann shared three pieces pondering the similarities between two…
Here is a third contribution to our “Judaism and Quakerism” conversation from Clem Gerdelmann of Chester (PA) Monthly Meeting. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest religion of all?” … You, my Friends, would think that Quakerism, as Judaism…