Friendly Adult Book Groups

PREPARED BY MICHAEL GIBSON

Book groups have become quite popular in Friends adult religious education.What is perhaps most attractive about this approach is that it can provide numerous opportunities for deep personal sharing. It should be noted, however, that not every book discussion is Quaker just because it takes place in a meetinghouse. This brief pamphlet will explore adult book groups in a specifically Quaker context.

When using any book for a Friends adult forum or class, it is particularly Friendly to keep the focus, in questions and in sharing, on the experience of the participants. Book reports, one-sided debates with the authors, and intellectual discussions have their place, but are better suited to a secular book discussion group. Asking what one thinks about a passage may invite opinions and discussion but may not get to the heart. Questions such as these may lead to richer sharing.

• How does the text speak to your condition?
• In what ways does the author challenge you, open you up, or invite you to deeper living and loving?
• Where is God in what you are reading, and how is the Spirit working in you as you engage (or resist!) the text?
• Does the passage under study make you more tender toward others and toward yourself? Explain.
• What rises up in you as you read the text—a strong emotion, an old memory, an image, a sense of the Divine Presence?
• If the text “makes a difference” or touches us deeply, how then shall we live?
• What practical action might you be led to as a result of your reflections on the text?
• How might you rephrase key passages to make them your own, informed by your experience of the holy?

These are some of the types of questions which I believe keep Quaker adult book groups Quaker!

Not every text is appropriate for a Friendly adult book group. Look for texts that invite deep reflection and sharing. Memoirs, journals, biographies, essays on some aspect of Quaker faith or practice, and explorations of any of the testimonies are some of the many possibilities. It is often helpful for the group itself to play a large part in the selection of the texts. Sharing is usually most rich when those in the group have read the passage under study in advance and have allowed time for the words to roll over in their minds and play in their hearts. It helps for the passages to be short enough to be read in one sitting. Responding off the cuff to material heard for the first time often leads more to shallow reacting than seasoned reflection. There may be times when it is not possible for a group to read in advance. At such times, the passages read together should be brief enough for all participants to comfortably digest; following the reading with a period of silence and a second reading is often helpful. In all cases, the facilitator serves the group best when she or he reads the passage well in advance and gives the material prayerful consideration, taking it to that secret inner place. Queries and discussion questions are richest when they come from a heart illumined by the Light.

Speaking from the heart with openness to the Spirit and to each other inevitably involves elements of vulnerability.There are always the possibilities of being misunderstood, of not feeling fully heard, or of offending someone, even when speaking and listening with love.There are, however, boundaries and guidelines one can lay out at the beginning of the sessions to minimize harm and provide a maximum level of emotional safety. Such guidelines serve to diminish behavior or attitudes that can make vulnerability painful; they help to create optimal conditions for rich sharing where each person feels free to share without fear of attack or of being shamed or blamed. Some suggested guidelines are:

1. Use “I” statements that indicate your own experience, rather than to generalize or assume what others experience.
2. Lovingly accept each person’s contributions as reflecting her or his experience, whether or not the experience is your own or is common to others.
3. Self-monitor the frequency of your contributions to avoid dominating or excluding others. If you tend to speak readily, slowly count to ten before speaking; there may be someone in the group who needs more “time space” than you to feel comfortable or safe speaking up.
4. Take time and care to listen fully and consistently to the contributions of others.
5. Pay attention to the power dynamics of the group. Has any one group (of age, race, gender, etc.) “hogged” the time or determined the shape and flow of the sharing, thus compromising safety, respect or mutuality?
6. Keep worship sharing and other intimate sharing within the group unless given permission from the speaker to share it with others.

A good facilitator will respond to any crossed boundaries with calmness and grace, and call for a period of centering silence when voices become agitated or grow louder. A gifted leader can steer the group back when it veers off course into dangerous waters.

The ideal environment for a Friendly book group is one where the participants love and respect one another and listen to each moment of sharing with tender care and compassion. When an individual shares vulnerably in an optimal setting, each of the other participants listens with the same vulnerability and humility. Because each participant both speaks and listens from the heart, no one is judged. In reality, participants will not always love one another, and we know that love cannot be mandated. It is essential that all participants listen with respect even to those whom they find difficult to love. In time, as the sharing and listening continue, love may grow between members of the group and the sharing become deeper.

Adult book groups can be a vital part of any monthly meeting’s religious education program when the sharing is experiential, touches the heart, respectfully honors the whole person, and is conducted within a framework of clear and healthy boundaries.As each participant’s experience of the numinous is expressed uniquely, the discussion of a text that invites deep reflection can provide a rich forum for enriching relationships and for coming to know one another in that which is eternal. May the Light shine in all our Quaker religious education work!

Texts for a Friendly Adult Book Group...
COMPILED BY LUCY DUNCAN

Introductory

The Quakers In America - Paperback
BY THOMAS HAMM

An Introduction To Quakerism
BY BEN PINK-DANDELION

Listening To The Light
How To Bring Quaker Simplicity And Integrity Into Our Lives
BY JIM PYM

Silence And Witness
The Quaker Tradition
BY MICHAEL BIRKEL

History

The Journal Of George Fox - Nickalls Edition
EDITED BY JOHN NICKALLS

Friends For 350 Years
BY HOWARD BRINTON, HISTORICAL UPDATE BY MARGARET HOPE BACON

Truth Of The Heart
An Anthology Of George Fox
EDITED BY REX AMBLER

The Journal And Major Essays Of John Woolman
EDITED BY PHILLIPS MOULTON

Twenty-first Century Penn
Writings On The Faith And Practice Of The People Called Quakers, In Modern English
BY WILLIAM PENN, TRANSLATED BY PAUL BUCKLEY

Light Within And Selected Writings
BY ISAAC PENINGTON

Anthologies

Quaker Spirituality
Selected Writings
EDITED BY DOUGLAS STEERE

A Certain Kind Of Perfection
An Anthology Of Evangelical And Liberal Quaker Writers
BY MARGERY POST-ABBOTT

Plain Living
A Quaker Path To Simplicity
BY CATHERINE WHITMIRE

Practicing Peace
A Devotional Walk Through The Quaker Tradition
BY CATHERINE WHITMIRE

Quaker Practice

Beyond Majority Rule
Voteless Decision Making In The Religious Society Of Friends
BY MICHAEL SHEERAN

Listening Spirituality, Volume 1
Personal Spiritual Practices Among Friends
BY PATRICIA LORING

On Living With A Concern For Gospel Ministry
BY BRIAN DRAYTON

Resistance And Obedience To God
Memoirs Of David Ferris 1707-1779
EDITED BY MARTHA PAXSON-GRUNDY

Essays On The Quaker Vision Of Gospel Order
BY LLOYD LEE WILSON

Quaker Spirituality

A Testament Of Devotion
BY THOMAS KELLY

Let Your Life Speak
Listening For The Voice Of Vocation
BY PARKER PALMER

Consider The Blackbird
Reflections On Spirituality And Language
BY HARVEY GILLMAN

The Faith And Practice Of The Quakers
BY RUFUS JONES

Encounter With Silence
Reflections From The Quaker Tradition
BY JOHN PUNSHON

Holy Silence
The Gift Of Quaker Spirituality
BY BRENT BILL

Books by non-Quaker authors

Reading The Bible Again For The First Time
Taking The Bible Seriously But Not Literally
BY MARCUS BORG

Sins Of Scripture
Exposing The Bibles Texts Of Hate To Reveal The God Of Love
BY JOHN SHELBY SPONG

A History Of God
The 4,000-year Quest Of Judaism, Christianity And Islam
BY KAREN ARMSTRONG

Beyond Belief
The Secret Gospel Of Thomas
BY ELAINE PAGELS

The Great Transformation - Paper
The Beginning Of Our Religious Traditions
BY KAREN ARMSTRONG

Pamphlets

The Sanctuary Of The Soul
Selected Writings Of Thomas Kelly
EDITED BY KEITH BEASLEY-TOPLIFFE

The Testimony Of Integrity
In The Religious Society Of Friends - Php 296
BY WILMER COOPER

Gospel Order
A Quaker Understanding Of Faithful Church Community - Php 297
BY SANDRA CRONK

Spiritual Discernment
The Context And Goal Of Clearness Committees - Php 305
BY PATRICIA LORING

Four Doors To Meeting For Worship
Php 306
BY WILLIAM TABER

Beyond Consensus
Salvaging Sense Of The Meeting - Php 307
BY BARRY MORLEY

Tall Poppies
Supporting Gifts Of Ministr Y And Eldering In The Monthly Meeting - Php 347
BY MARTHA PAXSON-GRUNDY

Invitation To A Deeper Communion
Php 366
BY MARCELLE MARTIN

Members One Of Another
The Dynamics Of Membership In Quaker Meeting - Php 371
BY TOM GATES

Expectant Listening
Finding God's Thread Of Guidance - Php 388
BY MICHAEL WAJDA

Getting Rooted
Living In The Cross, A Path To Joy And Liberation - Php 391
BY BRIAN DRAYTON

Sarah Mapps Douglass, Faithful Attender Of Quaker Meeting
View From The Back Bench
BY MARGARET HOPE BACON, FOREWORD BY VANESSA JULYE

Inward Light
How Quakerism Unites Universalism And Christianity
BY SAMUEL CALDWELL

Equality
36th Annual J Barnard Walton Lecture 2nd Edition 2006
BY DEBORAH ANN SAUNDERS

A Plea For The Poor
BY JOHN WOOLMAN

Friends
A People Disciplined To Follow?
BY JANE ORION-SMITH

Mysticism And Activism
Learning From John Woolman
BY MICHAEL BIRKEL

Convinced Quakerism
2003 Walton Lecture
BY BEN PINK-DANDELION

Being Faithful As Friends
Individually And Corporately
BY DEBORAH FISCH

Posted by QuakerBooks on November 22, 2006 5:21 PM | Permalink