Swarthmore Lecture

Swarthmore Lecture is one of a series of lectures, started in 1908, addressed to Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

2006 Swarthmore Lecture at Friends House, London

The preface to the very first lecture explains the purpose of the series.

“This book is the first of a series of public addresses to be known as the Swarthmore Lectures. The Lectureship was established by the Woodbrooke Extension Committee, at a meeting held December 9th, 1907. The Minute of the Committee provides for “an annual lecture on some subject relating to the Message and Work of the Society of Friends.” The name “Swarthmore” was chosen in memory of the home of Margaret Fox, which was always open to the earnest seeker after Truth, and from which loving words of sympathy and substantial material help were sent to fellow-workers.

“The Woodbrooke Extension Committee requested Rufus M. Jones, M.A., D.Litt., of Haverford College, Pennsylvania, to give the first lecture on the evening preceding the holding of the Friends’ Yearly Meeting of 1908. In accordance with this decision, the lecture was delivered in the Central Hall, Birmingham, on May 19th.

“The Swarthmore Lectureship has been founded with a two-fold purpose: firstly, to interpret further to the members of the Society of Friends their Message and Mission; and secondly, to bring before the public the spirit, the aims and the fundamental principles of the Friends. This first lecture presents Quakerism as a religion of experience and first-hand reality—a dynamic, practical religion of life.”

Transcripts and recording of some of the lectures are available from the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre website.

List of Swarthmore Lectures

Year	Author	Title	Notes
1908	Rufus M. Jones	Quakerism: a Religion of life[1]
1909	William Charles Braithwaite	Spiritual Guidance in the experience of the Society of Friends[2]
1910	Joan Mary Fry	The Communion of Life
1911	Thomas Hodgkin	Human Progress and the Inward Light[3]
1912	Terrot Reaveley Glover	The Nature and Purpose of a Christian Society[4]	For biographical information on the lecturer, see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article.[5]
1913	Joshua Rowntree	Social Service - its place in the Society of Friends
1914	Edward Grubb	The Historic and Inward Christ: a study in Quaker thought	For biographical information on the lecturer, see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article.[6]
1915	Silvanus P. Thompson	The Quest For Truth[7]
1916	Henry T. Hodgkin	The Missionary Spirit and the Present Opportunity
1917	William Littleboy	The Day of Our Visitation
1918	Lucy Fryer Morland	The New Social Outlook
1919	L.V. Hodgkin (later known as Lucy Violet Holdsworth)[8]	Silent Worship: The way of wonder[9]
May 1920	Herbert G. Wood	Quakerism and the Future of the Church[10]	For biographical information on the lecturer, see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article.[11]
August 1920	Rufus M. Jones	The Nature and Authority of Conscience[12]	In August 1920 there was an All Friends Conference held. Rufus M. Jones gave the second 1920 Swarthmore Lecture on the eve of this event.
1921	T. Edmund Harvey	The Long Pilgrimage: human progress in the light of the Christian hope
1922	Carl Heath	Religion and Public Life[13]
1923	Helen Maria Sturge	Personal Religion and the Service of Humanity
1924	Gerald Kenway Hibbert	The Inner Light and Modern Thought
1925	John William Graham	The Quaker ministry
1926	A. Neave Brayshaw	The Things that Are Before Us
1927	Henry Thomas Silcock	Christ and the World's Unrest
1928	John S. Hoyland	Light of Christ
1929	Arthur Stanley Eddington	Science and the Unseen world[14]	U.S. Macmillan, UK Allen & Unwin. 1980 Reprint Arden Library ISBN 0-8495-1426-6. 2004 U.S. reprint - Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publications: ISBN 1-4179-1728-8. 2007 UK reprint by Quaker Books, BYM, with a new foreword by George Ellis, Allen & Unwin ISBN 978-0-901689-81-8
1930	Gerhart von Schulze-Gaevernitz	Democracy and Religion: a study in Quakerism
1931	Howard Brinton	Creative Worship
1932	Francis E. Pollard	Education and the Spirit of Man
1933	Shipley N. Brayshaw	Unemployment and Plenty
1934	George Barker Jeffery	Christ, Yesterday And Today
1935	William Ernest Wilson	Our Response To God
1936	Howard E. Collier	Towards a New Manner of Living
1937	Caroline Cassandra Graveson	Religion and Culture
1938	A. Barratt Brown	Democratic Leadership
1939	David Elton Trueblood	The Trustworthiness of Religious Experience
1940	John Armstrong Hughes	The Light of Christ in a Pagan World
1941	Edgar Bradshaw Castle	The Undivided Mind
1942	Margaret M. Harvey	The Law of Liberty
1943	Leyton Richards	Planning for Freedom
1944	W. Russell Brain	Man, Society and Religion
1945	Wilfrid Allott	Worship And Social Progress
1946	Joseph Edward Hoare	The Warrant For Youth's Search
1947	John W. Harvey	The Salt and the Leaven
1948	There was no lecture this year[15]
1949	Roger C.Wilson	Authority, Leadership and Concern. A study in motive and administration in Quaker relief work	ISBN 0-85245-021-4
1950	Konrad Braun	Justice & the Law of Love
1951	Richard Duncan Fairn	Quakerism — a faith for ordinary men[16]
1952	Thomas Farrimond Green	Preparation for Worship	ISBN 0-85245-046-X
1953	Kathleen Lonsdale	Removing the Causes of War
1954	Wilhelm Aarek	From Loneliness To Fellowship: A study in psychology and Quakerism	Article on Wilhelm Aarek at Norwegian Wikipedia.
1955	Douglas V. Steere	Where Words Come From - an interpretation of the ground & practise of Quaker worship & ministry	ISBN 0-85245-067-2
1956	Edgar Grieve Dunstan	Quakers & the Religious Quest
1957	Henry J. Cadbury	Quakerism & Early Christianity
1958	Margaret B. Hobling	The Concrete & the Universal
1959	Harold Loukes	The Castle and the Field
1960	Kenneth C. Barnes	The Creative Imagination
1961	Richard Karl Ullmann	Tolerance and the Intolerable	Biographical article in German Wikipedia
1962	J. Duncan Wood	Building the Institutions of Peace
1963	L. Hugh Doncaster	God in Every Man
1964	Richenda C. Scott	Tradition and Experience
1965	John Macmurray	Search for Reality in Religion	ISBN 0-85245-001-X
1966	William E. Barton	The Moral Challenge of Communism: Some Ethical aspects of Marxist/Leninist Society
1967	Kathleen M. Slack	Constancy and Change in the Society of Friends
1968	William Homan Thorpe	Quakers and Humanists
1969	Maurice A. Creasey	Bearings, or, Friends and the new reformation
1970	Kenneth E. Boulding	Prospering of Truth
1971	Charles Frederick Carter	On having a sense of all conditions	For biographical information on the lecturer, see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.[17]
1972	Richard S. Peters	Reason, Morality and Religion	ISBN 0-7100-7651-7
1973	George H. Gorman	Amazing Fact of Quaker Worship	ISBN 0-85245-100-8
1974	Wolf Mendl[18]	Prophets and Reconcilers, Reflections on the Quaker Peace Testimony	ISBN 0-85245-115-6
1975	Ralph Hetherington	The Sense of Glory - A psychological study of peak-experiences	ISBN 0-85245-117-2
1976	W. Grigor McClelland	And a new earth: Making tomorrow's society better than today's	ISBN 0-85245-122-9
1977	Damaris Parker-Rhodes	Truth - a Path & not a Possession: A Quaker woman's journey	ISBN 0-85245-124-5
1978	John Ormerod Greenwood	Signs of Life: Art and Religious Experience	ISBN 0-85245-131-8
1979	John Reader	Of Schools and Schoolmasters. Some thoughts on the Quaker contribution to Education	ISBN 0-85245-140-7
1980	Janet Scott	What Canst Thou Say? Towards a Quaker theology	ISBN 0-85245-151-2
1981	Adam Curle	True Justice, Quaker peace makers and peace making	ISBN 0-85245-156-3
1982	Gerald Priestland	Reasonable Uncertainty: a Quaker approach to doctrine	ISBN 0-85245-161-X
1983	Michael Rutter	A Measure of Our Values: goals & dilemmas in the upbringing of children	ISBN 0-85245-170-9
1984	Laurence Lerner	Two Cinnas: Quakerism, Revolution and Poetry. A dialogue	ISBN 0-85245-182-2
1985	Christopher Holdsworth	Steps in a Large Room: a Quaker explores the monastic tradition	ISBN 0-85245-188-1
1986	Quaker Women's Group	Bringing the Invisible into the Light. Some Quaker Feminists speak of their experience	ISBN 0-85245-199-7 (Lecture performed at the University of Exeter)
1987	John Lampen	Mending Hurts	ISBN 0-85245-206-3
1988	Harvey Gillman	A Minority of One	ISBN 0-85245-207-1
1989	S. Jocelyn Burnell	Broken for Life	ISBN 0-85245-222-5, given at the University of Aberdeen 2010/2011 reprint is planned by Quaker Books, BYM.
1990	John Punshon	Testimony and Tradition: some aspects of Quaker spirituality	ISBN 0-85245-231-4
1991	Geoffrey Hubbard	Patterns and Examples. Quaker Attitudes and European Opportunities	ISBN 0-85245-236-5
1992	Brenda Clifft Heales & Chris Cook	Images and Silence: Future of Quaker Ministry	ISBN 0-85245-242-X
1993	Sydney D. Bailey	Peace is a Process	ISBN 0-85245-249-7
1994	Margaret Heathfield	Being together: our corporate life in the Religious Society of Friends	ISBN 0-85245-254-3
1995	Anne Thomas	Only Fellow-Voyagers. Creation stories as guides for the journey	ISBN 0-85245-272-1
1996	Jonathan Dale	Beyond the Spirit of the Age	ISBN 0-85245-282-9
1997	Christine Trevett	Previous Convictions and end of the millennium Quakerism	ISBN 0-85245-290-X
1998	Young Friends General Meeting	Who do we think we are? Young Friends' Commitment and Belonging	ISBN 0-85245-299-3
1999	Alex Wildwood	A faith to call our own. Quaker tradition in the light of contemporary movements of the Spirit	ISBN 0-85245-312-4
2000	Tim Newell	Forgiving Justice. A Quaker vision for criminal justice	Original: ISBN 0-85245-321-3 2007 reprint: ISBN 978-0-901689-51-1
2001	Tony Stoller	Wrestling with the Angel	ISBN 0-85245-326-4
2002	Jackie Leach Scully[19]	Playing in the Presence: genetics, ethics and spirituality	ISBN 0-85245-337-X
2003	Eleanor Nesbitt	Interfaith Pilgrims: living truths and truthful living	ISBN 0-85245-347-7
2004	Simon Fisher	Spirited living: waging conflict, building peace	ISBN 0-85245-357-4
2005	Helen Steven	No Extraordinary Power: Prayer, Stillness and Activism	ISBN 0-85245-379-5
2006	Roger and Susan Sawtell	Reflections from a Long Marriage	ISBN 0-85245-394-9
2007	Beth Allen	Ground and Spring: the foundation of Quaker Discipleship	ISBN 978-0-901689-67-2, BYM Press Release
2008	Christine A. M. Davis[20]	Minding the Future	ISBN 0-901689-88-2 ISBN 978-0-901689-88-7
2009	Peter Eccles	The presence in the midst: reflections on discernment	ISBN 978-1-907123-03-0, the 2009 Swarthmore Lecture was given during Yearly Meeting Gathering at University of York on Tuesday 28 July.[21]
2010	Paul Lacey	The unequal world we inhabit	ISBN 978-1-907123-12-2, the 2010 Swarthmore Lecture was given during Yearly Meeting in London on Saturday 29 May 2010.[22]
2011	Pam Lunn[23][24]	Costing not less than everything: Sustainability and spirituality in challenging times	The 2011 Swarthmore Lecture was given at Yearly Meeting Gathering in Canterbury on Monday 1 August 2011. ISBN 978-1-907123-21-4
2012	Rachel Brett	Snakes and Ladders: A personal exploration of Quaker work on human rights at the United Nations	The 2012 Swarthmore Lecture was given at Yearly Meeting in London, on 26 May 2012. It was published by Quaker Books. A free MP3 audio is available from the Woodbrooke website.
2013	Gerald Hewitson	Journey Into Life: Inheriting the story of early Friends	The 2013 Swarthmore Lecture was given at Yearly Meeting in London, on 25 May 2013. ISBN 978-1-907123-47-4. Available online as an Audio recording .MP3, Text (Word document) and Text (PDF) at the Woodbrooke website
2014	Ben Pink Dandelion[25]	Open for Transformation: being Quaker	The 2014 Swarthmore Lecture was given during Yearly Meeting Gathering at the University of Bath on Sunday 3 August 2014. ISBN 9781907123689. An online audio recording is available.[26]
2015	Diana Francis	Faith, power and peace	The 2015 Swarthmore Lecture was given during Britain Yearly Meeting at Friends House, London on Saturday 2 May 2015
2016	Esther Mombo and Cécile Nyiramana	Mending broken hearts; rebuilding shattered lives - Quaker peace building in eastern Africa	The 2016 Swarthmore Lecture was given during Britain Yearly Meeting at Friends House, London, May 2016
2017	Catherine West MP and Cllr Andy Hull	Faith in politics?	The Swarthmore Lecture 2017: Faith in politics? A testimony to equality was given by Catherine West on Monday 31 July 2017 as part of Yearly Meeting Gathering at Warwick University. ISBN 9 781999 726904
2018	Chris Alton	Changing ourselves, changing the world	The 2018 Swarthmore Lecture was given during Britain Yearly meeting at Friends House, London on 5 May.[27]
2019	Eden Grace	On Earth as it is in Heaven; The Kingdom of God and the yearning of Creation	The 2019 Swarthmore Lecture was given during Britain Yearly meeting at Friends House, London in May.[28]
2020	Tom Shakespeare	Openings to the Infinite Ocean: A Friendly Offering of Hope
2021	Thomas Penny	Kinder Ground: Creating Space for Truth
2022	Helen Minnis	Perceiving the Temperature of the Water

For further details see the list of lectures at the Woodbrooke Centre.

See also

• Backhouse Lecture: Friends lecture series in Australia