Les Quakers et l’Exil en Amerique du Nord au XVII e siecle

Friends and exile in North America in the 17th century. Quakers (or Friends) like to consider Adam’s fall as an exile from divine nature towards animal nature, and the quest for “ Inner Light” as a reverse exile, a return to divine nature. Their “theologian”, Robert Barclay, explained this in a very clear way in his Apology of the true Christian divinity, as the fame is held forth, and preached, by the people called, in scorn, Quakers, published in 1675. The missionary zeal of Friends at the beginning of their movement, led them to announce the good news of redemption in North America as soon as 1656, which brought persecution on them during three decades. Banishment, and even death penalty, were the kind of exile imposed upon Friends by Boston Puritans and by other settlers on the North American coast. Pennsylvania’s Holy Experiment launched by William Penn offered for several decades a space for creativity for the voluntary exile of Quakers and Mennonites who left Europe in quest of a spiritual New World. Officially ended in 1756, the Holy Experiment of Pennsylvania goes through an apparent exile from this date. But we can find its values in other places, at other times. Redemption belongs to a world which is not invisible, but unseen because of many people’s blindness

Art · Divinity · Idolatry · Persecution · Political science · Politics · Theology · Canadian Identity and History · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · Religious studies

• The Quaker Sanctuary Tradition

  Open Access•Linda Rabben•Religions•2018

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