My World Gathering
Quaker discourses . . .
Right, just to make up for months of ignoring my blog, here are a few more thoughts . . .
I've been wondering since YF camp about the ways in which we talk about Friends and Quakerism. Social constructionists claim that we socially construct our understandings of the world through language, so that the discourses we have about things have real effects in the real world. It's not just talk. In the light of this, I've been considering the following question:
What is a 'good' quaker like?
Now obviously there's not going to be a single answer, and I'm mostly interested in the variation. What kind of values/beliefs/actions get emphasised by different people? What, for that matter, is a 'good person' like? I suspect that one of the reasons YFs often don't go on to become members (not to imply that they should, because that's not my position at all, this is just one of many implications of the ways we talk about ourselves) is that they are not comfortable with some constructions of the 'good quaker'. For example, I think some people would talk about regular attendence at Meeting as being an important part of quakerism. Perhaps believing in God is another aspect of the quaker ideal to some Friends. Any thoughts?
