Time Journeys in Quakerism: Itinerance and the Spiritual Search

This chapter charts two time-journeys within Quakerism that at first appear to be distinct, but which on closer examination can be seen to be congruent. The first Quakers moved around a lot geographically and itinerance was a hallmark of the movement. All places were considered equally sacramental and the outward world became reconfigured as a God-infused theoscape. Modernist or Liberal Quakers in the twentieth century shed the theological certainties and dogmatism of their forbears and adopted the metaphor of journey to describe the spiritual quest. These modern Quakers are always on the move in the way the first Quakers were but conceptually rather than physically. However, the spirituality of both groups rests on a sense of direct encounter and guidance from the Spirit accompanied by personal change. In this way, both groups are about a personal and collective time journey through a personal and outward theoscape characterised by Spirit-given transformation.