Quaker customs

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As Quäkerbrauchtum is called customs of the Quakers , represented the "stranger" in particular for outsiders a number of behaviors. In the English-speaking world, these earned them the name “peculiar people” (strange people).

Original behavior

The Quakers refused to salute socially "highly placed" people, they talked all people with you (Engl. Thou ) that they rejected the use of titles , and other honors. It is believed that the handshake in its current form goes back to the Quakers as an expression of equality.

The Quakers practiced a simple way of life and turned against luxury in clothing (gray uniforms), architecture and furnishings in the houses, etc. They used simple and direct language and refused to take oaths .

“Worldly pleasures” were rejected or at least viewed very critically. For example, during one of his prison stays, George Fox wrote to his tormentors (c. 1656):

The word of the Lord goes to you, you vain idlers who are so devoted to games, to amusement and to such simple-minded exercises that you should consider what you are doing. Is that the purpose of your being? Did God make everything for your pleasure and use? Didn't God make all things that he might be honored in them in fear and worship, in spirit and in truth, in righteousness and holiness? How can you serve God while you are indulging your pleasure? You cannot serve God and worldly pleasures, bowling, hunting and drinking and the like; if your heart is like that, God does not want your lips, ask yourself whether it is not true.

The names of the days and months were replaced by simple names such as "first day, second month" for February 1st. The consumption of intoxicants (including tobacco ) as well as participation in gambling or cultural diversions such as theater , dance and hunting etc. was also rejected. The reasons given for these behaviors were the rejection of an “unrestrained way of life” and reference to biblical guidelines. For example, William Penn writes . B .:

If you really had the spirit of true Christianity, how could you spend your precious and short time with so many unnecessary visits, games and pastimes, with compliments and flatteries? How could you concern yourself with telling fictional stories, carrying around useless news, and many other vain things that are only there for that purpose, and which you only use to tear yourself apart; so as not to think about your true condition and to numb yourself in total oblivion of God.

In contrast, work was religiously transfigured as a common field of revelation. To enforce the necessary discipline and maintain, there was the office of "overseer" (English. Overseer ). He also had the task of convincing people of the impeccable lifestyle in the home environment.

Religious custom

In baptism and communion service was completely omitted. The funeral was devoid of any liturgy, special clothing, covering, chanting or measured pace of the procession. Just like the Quaker worship itself. This then led to ridicule and malice as here in a contemporary description:

The porters walk with this corpse like a dog that has stolen a ham that the other dogs are following on the street, and they run after the one who carries the ham. These Quakers do the same with their dead, they run very quickly to bury them without wanting to put towels over the stretcher [...], and the other Quakers follow the corpse, each [...] dressed as whether they were at work; [...] and they are followed by a large bunch of screaming and mocking street boys who sometimes throw dirt.

reasons

Part of this eye-catching and behaviors listed here are the so-called four products ( testimony of integrity , peace witness , testimony of simplicity and testimony of equality ) Act. They are practically the intersection of all Quaker characteristics, wings and currents.

present

The image and way of life of the Quakers has changed dramatically over the past 150 years. Especially the liberal branch and the evangelical Quakers have given up many customs. But even conservative Quakers have ditched many of these or consider them optional. This particularly applies to clothing. No annual meeting today still has the old “Quaker uniforms”. Many consciously wear simple clothes, but there is no longer a strict dress code . Some members of the German annual meeting can also observe the wearing of sometimes valuable or eye-catching jewelry, which is obviously no longer a stumbling block within the community.

In other customs such as singing and music, there are basically no longer any differences between Evangelical Quakers and other Christian denominations. Singing is also part of the worship service. Also in the liberal wing, which still cultivates the silent - unprogrammed - devotion, singing outside of the service has found its place. So has z. B. the German annual meeting in Julian Clarke and Renate Buchmann two choir directors who look after the Quaker choir. With Hanna Jordan († 2014), the German annual meeting even had a well-known stage and costume designer. She provided entertainment for many years in Quaker magazine with the Quaker House Mouse cartoon series.

The Quaker Theater Company has been in the UK for a few years . With Ben Kingsley and Judi Dench there have even been two well-known actors in Hollywood who belong to the Quakers for several years .

The decision of the Quaker Social Action (QSA) to use lottery money for their work caused some controversy . For many members this meant a turning point in the previously existing tradition. The QSA argues that you do not encourage or promote gambling yourself, but only want to use the money from it for good causes. Such a decision would be difficult to imagine at the current German annual meeting. In the 39 tips & questions it says:

Consider which paths to happiness offered by society are truly fulfilling, and which are potentially pernicious and destructive. Be critical when choosing entertainment or information options. Resist the desire to acquire property or income through unethical investments, speculation, or gambling.
Quaker cemetery in Germany, Bad Pyrmont (2008)

Even today, funerals and memorials are not a high priority among Quakers. Dealing with death and dying is different to ambivalent. On the one hand, the (urn) cemetery of the Quaker House in Bad Pyrmont has several pages of cemetery regulations, on the other hand, at annual and district assemblies - if there is not enough space - football is sometimes played on it (based on Mark 12:27: It is not a god of the dead but of the living! ). There are also no special rituals for the dying process, such as B. the anointing of the sick in other churches.

glossary

For the technical terms used in the article, see also article Glossary Quakerism .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Pirscher: Church and School System of the United States of North America , Chapter 4: Sectarian system , Section b): Quakers . In: Ernst Zimmermann , Karl Zimmermann (Hrsg.): Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung. An archive for the latest history and statistics of the Christian Church , vol. 11 (1832), no. 92 from June 10, 1832, col. 747–752, here col. 749 ( digitized version ).
  2. ↑ The Great Knigge : Greeting by hand: Pressed, shaken or kissed? , accessed on July 3, 2020.
  3. ↑ George Fox - Notes and Letters of the First Quaker . Translated by Margrit Stähelin. JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1908, p. 120.
  4. ↑ William Penn: Without a cross there is no crown. A treatise on the quality and effect of the holy cross of Christ . Uslar, Bad Pyrmont 1825, p. 203.
  5. ^ Joseph Gurney Bevan: Outline of the History, Doctrine, and Breeding of Friends Called Quakers , London Annual Meeting 1792; Reprinted in: Claus Bernet (Hrsg.): Deutsche Quäkerschriften des 18. Century . Olms, Hildesheim 2007, ISBN 978-3-487-13408-6 , pp. 5–46, here p. 32.
  6. ↑ Cf. Beniamin Holme: Ernster Ruf , Chapter 5: Ueber das Abendmal , p. 48; Reprinted in: Claus Bernet (Hrsg.): Deutsche Quäkerschriften des 18. Century . Olms, Hildesheim 2007, pp. 159–238, here p. 206.
  7. ↑ Sünne Juterczenka: About God and the world. End time visions, reform debates and the European Quaker mission in the early modern period . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-35458-2 , p. 275.
  8. ↑ Zeitschrift Quäker , ISSN  1619-0394 , issue 4/2008, there p. 182 (middle picture), picture p. 187 and picture p. 191 (the two women in the middle); in issue 1/2008 p. 36 (lady in the middle); in issue 4/2007 (picture by Diana Lampen).
  9. ↑ Quäker magazine , vol. 83 (2009), No. 3, p. 156.
  10. ^ The Quaker Theater Company ( December 2, 2010 memento on the Internet Archive ) In: quakertheatrecompany.co.uk
  11. ↑ QSA drops bar to Lottery funds. In: thefriend.org. May 18, 2007, accessed February 18, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Advice and Questions , Translation of the British Annual Meeting's Advices & Queries, 1995, ISBN 978-3-929696-38-7 .
  13. ↑ The most important religions and world views. Handbook of the Rhenish Church, PDF , 2nd edition, November 2006, p. 70.