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Theological Counsel in the Early Quaker Movement
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2022
Abstract
Early Quakers have not typically been noted for their espousal of political counsel. This article proposes that its cohort powerfully made the case for the ‘counsel of God’ in politics. This counsel was, perhaps paradoxically, both intensively inward, deriving from the light of God within, and universalistic and external, given that counsel could emanate from any individual. This was distinct from most contemporary applications of conciliar rhetoric, although some conceptual and practical similarities are considered. This article explores, finally, the diversity of seventeenth-century conceptions of theological and political counsel alongside that of the Quakers, suggesting further directions for research.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2022
Footnotes
The author expresses thanks to Justin Meggitt, Colin Kidd and Jacqueline Rose for their counsel regarding this article.
References
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