Blog posts of '2024' 'November'

We are pleased to announce the second Mark Russ book launch in our Library, followed by Q&A, signing, and meet-the-author at our bookshop. This time with the new book "The Spirit of Freedom".

The Spirit of Freedom offers accessible, useful, and life-affirming theology rooted in Quaker spirituality and Biblical wisdom. Collecting together short and inspiring essays on speaking of God, worshiping God, and being God’s witnesses in the world, this book offers a spacious and relevant Quaker theology from a Christian perspective. It is an excellent companion piece to Mark Russ's first book, Quaker Shaped Christianity.

Praise for The Spirit of Freedom

• "Mark Russ’s engaging and idiosyncratic blog has become a book, and it’s a delight to revisit these pieces again. They cohere perfectly into a Quaker handbook that has as much to offer newcomers as it has to seasoned Friends. Original, insightful, and beautifully written, this book has all the hallmarks of an instant classic." Geoffrey Durham, author of What Do Quakers Believe?, Being a Quaker and The Spirit of the Quakers
• "The Spirit of Freedom is a rich and stimulating book that expresses the best of the Quaker spirit: a listening spirit, open to difference and to change. In this book Mark Russ offers an extraordinarily wide-ranging exploration of key Quaker, Christian and human concepts. He brings fresh, and refreshing, insights to some of the much-loved Quaker Advices and Queries and talks of the need to ask better questions; of God as relationship; of the different kinds of silence; of evil. Wearing his learning lightly, Mark uses Biblical and historical references, but the strength of the book is its reliance on his own experience and insights. His very personal approach, as a gay Christian Quaker, invites and challenges each of us as unique human beings to allow the Light to shine on our own failings, find our own ministry, and express it in our worship and daily life." Jennifer Kavanagh, author of Practical Mystics, The World is our Cloister, A Little Book of Unknowing etc.

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