Lots on the use of titles this week & I think Quakers’ continued rejection of them is naïve. It just allows those with the most privilege (e.g. white/male/middle class) to function as normal, while preventing others from challenging prejudiced assumptions about their credibility.
— Madeleine Pennington (@mlmpennington) December 15, 2020
Early Quakers knew this & decided to scrap the hierarchical system altogether, based on their interpretation of Jesus’ words to that effect.
So, are we saying they were wrong?
— Lamb’s Harbinger (@LambsHarbinger) December 15, 2020
You are correct, of course, that early Quakers had a less nuanced understanding of how privilege & social inequality connect. They most often held to complementarian “gender roles,” at home & at meeting, despite having rejected titles for religious purposes.
— Lamb’s Harbinger (@LambsHarbinger) December 15, 2020
Faith community must somehow be distinguishable from society around it. I am not talking about “holiness” or “purity.” That Puritanism leads to cults. I *am* talking about anti-institutionalism in faith community. Titles are needed to function in society, not in faith community.
— Lamb’s Harbinger (@LambsHarbinger) December 15, 2020
I don’t disagree with that last statement 😉
— Madeleine Pennington (@mlmpennington) December 15, 2020
I identify with the 1683 Quakers from Krefeld, Germany, who—10 years after arriving in PA—decided they wanted no minister, because they rejected hierarchy & its inevitable result of institutional abuses, namely assumption of power by clergy in meeting & in society via clericalism
— Lamb’s Harbinger (@LambsHarbinger) December 15, 2020
To answer your reference to Mary’s Song. She knew that she would be the mother of the liberator, & that, the very patriarchal religious & imperial system oppressing her was about to be smashed. If it’s a choice of being titled or being liberated, the choice is clear.
— Lamb’s Harbinger (@LambsHarbinger) December 16, 2020
OTHER RESOURCES:
Reforming the Professional Ministry Paradigm
Authentic Christianity is NOT a Religion; Jesus Abolished the 7 Pillars of Institutional Religion
