Quaker history and biography

The seventeenth-century philosopher Spinoza was expelled from the Jewish community of Amsterdam at the age of twenty-four for 'horrendous heresies', and was eventually reviled by all religious authorities for claiming that human beings are parts of a

Quaker views on women have always been considered progressive in their own time (beginning in the 17th century), and in the late 19th century this tendency bore fruit in the prominence of Quaker women in the American women's rights movement.

Margaret Fell (1614-1702), one of the co-founders of the Society of Friends and a religious activist, was a prolific writer and distributor of Quaker pamphlets.

Henri Nouwen was one of the most prolific an d popular spiritual writers of recent times. His many books include The Wounded Healer and The Genesee Diary. This book offers a sympathetic view of Nouwen''s life. '