In To Be Broken and Tender, Margery Abbott weaves together a brave
and beautiful personal narrative with Quaker history and theological reflection in response to questions and struggles about belief, language, social issues and other deeply-felt concerns that unsettle and divide our meetings and the wider Religious Society of Friends. Research underpins each chapter with a rich and wide range of classic and contemporary Quaker writers; her analysis is both original and evocative. She asks difficult questions such as: how do Friends answer that of God in light of the heinous acts that daily erupt in our world? What strength might a liberal Friend draw from the experience and meaning of the cross to make sense of our lives? Abbott shows us what is possible when we are willing to enter conversation without expectations about where our conversations might lead. Our willingness to listen, to risk being tender and broken, allows the Light within to move us to places we could not have imagined.

"This is a book Friends of all persuasions have been waiting for." -Barbarajene Williams, elder for the Way of Ministry program

"Marge Abbott has given us a deeper look at how she bridges the divides between activism and mysticism, between evangelicals and liberals, between 17th century and postmodern Friends, between crippling fear and faithful courage."
-Robin Mohr, author of the convergent Quaker blog What Canst Thou Say?

"Abbott allows her `intellect to grapple with concepts in ways which free [the] heart.'...This book will help Friends explore some of the spiritual depths of our tradition by going past resistance we may have to theological terms we have rejected. Both Christian and non-Christian Friends willing to wrestle with early Quaker theology will be blessed by this account of how Margery Post Abbott has grappled with it and found deep spiritual meaning and divine transforming power."
-Marcelle Martin, core teacher at Pendle Hill