My Review of Living the Quaker Way

Living the Quaker Way:  Timeless Wisdom for a Better Life Today is a modern classic, with lots of spiritual depth, by Quaker pastor Philip Gulley.  I've read his What If Grace is True and What If God Is Love before, and both have been a genuine inspiration in my life.  Now, with Living the Quaker Way, Gulley takes us on a spiritual journey through the essential Quaker testimonies which are easily remembered by the acronym of SPICE -- simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and equality.

The central focus, as Gulley points out, for Quaker life isn't growth in numbers; there are few, if any, outreach programs in Quaker fellowships across the country.  Instead, the focus is on the inner life.  That inner life, according to Living the Quaker Way, is "an antidote to the complexities and challenges of modern life".

And he's right!

I found the first chapter to be an refreshing foray into the very heart of what it means to be a Quaker.  While certain features of Quaker life have always been unsettling to me -- like "unprogrammed" services -- Gulley cuts through those features to give a very succinct description of what this book aims to do:  "My interest is not in growing the Quaker denomination. My passion is in growing a world in which peace, love, and justice reign. In the end, I am not inviting you to a church, but to a life".

That is, this book is for seekers.

The chapter on simplicity was perhaps the most impressive.  It provides a description of an alternative to the American emphasis on success and the idea that a winner is someone who has accumulated possessions and wealth.  This chapter alone is perhaps one of the best criticisms of that modern American spiritual phenomenon that is spiritually destructive -- the "prosperity gospel" preaching of Joel Oseteen.  In this chapter, Gulley discusses the hallmarks of the simple life:  Awareness, generosity, patience, persistence, and focus.  The best line of it?  True wealth comes not only from "learning to live with less but also learning to want less".

His chapter on peace, though, was the most personally challenging.  Gulley suggests that we view violence and war as diseases which we must develop cures for as soon as possible.  And I find that idea a challenge, but it poses some interesting possibilities, I think, for America, particularly in light of the recent violence that we've seen in places like Ferguson, Missouri.

He also suggests -- quite rightly, I think -- that the continued manufacture of weapons of mass destruction be considered as crimes against humanity. 

But it's the thirty-day challenge at the end of the book that make this a classic.  As I read through those questions, and answered them honestly, I found myself looking in a spiritual mirror, devoid of all the pretense.  That challenge alone makes this book a must-have.

I received this book free, from the Blogging for Books program, in exchange for my honest review.