Images and Silence: The Future of Quaker Ministry

What is the Quaker understanding of 'ministry'? The 1992 Swarthmore lecturers believe that Meeting for Worship is the soul of Quakerism, that the soul's health determines quality of life, and that from the life flows ministry, wherever it is offered. Drawing from their own experience, and with reference to other religious traditions and the arts, they analyse some difficulties and deficiencies, celebrate gifts, and explore possible ways of enriching, empowering and extending ministry. 'Images and Silence' reflects the two main approaches to God which appear in traditional theology. Brenda has written about the relationship between images, religious experience and worship, and Chris about the imageless aspect of God described by some mystics. These are two sides of the same coin, or two views of the same mountain. A choice between them is impossible, as both operate in different ways at different times in our lives.