by | January 5, 2022 · 12:37 pm

Klamath Falls Friends Church Seeks Pastor

Klamath Falls Friends Church, an open and affirming semi-programmed Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers), in beautiful southern Oregon, is currently seeking a part- to full-time interim pastor to guide us along our journey. KFFC is a Christ-centered and seeker-friendly Meeting. We are a small but diverse group, with a wide array of spiritual paths. Our desired pastor will be able to hold that diversity, plan and present messages/meditations to guide our Meetings for Worship, be available for pastoral care, and provide the structure and guidance necessary to help us discern our long-term way forward.

Please send your resume, NLT January 31, 2022, to: KFFC Pastor Search Committee, klamathfallsfriendschurch@gmail.com

For more information about us please visit: klamathfallsfriendschurch.org

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by | December 19, 2021 · 12:21 pm

ESR: Quaker Professional Scholarship

Excellent news for Quaker professionals and organizations.

Earlham School of Religion has upgraded the Quaker Professional Scholarship, from 50% tuition to 100% tuition coverage, for up to 5 years of part-time (2+ courses/semester), distance, degree-seeking study.

Degree options include the Master of Divinity, the Master of Arts in Religion, and the Master of Arts: Theopoetics & Writing. The MDiv and MA require 4 residential courses that can be completed during 2-week intensives.

To learn more about our programs and scholarships, visit esr.earlham.edu/admissions. Or email admissions@esr.earlham.edu.

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by | November 24, 2021 · 5:00 pm

QLHE: Freedom from Harm: Resisting Incarceration for All

Friends Association for Higher Education’s Quaker Leadings in Higher Education series presented our November event:

Freedom from Harm: Resisting Incarceration for All
Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Panelists:
Nekeisha Alayna Alexis, Liberationist
Intercultural Competence and Undoing Racism (ICUR) coordinator
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Johnny Perez
Director of U.S. Prisons Program
National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Moderator:
Ursula C. McTaggart
Professor of English
Wilmington College

Here is a link to a recording of this event plus other materials.

2021.11.23 Resisting Incarceration Poster_Download

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by | November 2, 2021 · 9:24 pm

QLHE Returns! The Promise of Liberatory Reading/Teaching/Research

Friends Association for Higher Education is very excited to bring back the Quaker Leadings in Higher Education (QLHE) series for the 2021-22 academic year.

Our first event of the year was:

Rethinking the Canon:
The Promise of Liberatory Reading/Teaching/Research

Tuesday, October 26, 2021
 
Panelists:
Ada Jaarsma,
Professor of Philosophy
Mount Royal University

Sarah Willie LeBreton,
Provost and Dean of the Faculty
Professor of Sociology
Swarthmore College

Namrata Mitra,
Associate Professor of English
Iona College

Moderator:
David R. Ross
Research Professor
Department of Economics
Bryn Mawr College

Here is a link to the video and other materials for this event.

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by | October 15, 2021 · 6:23 pm

Faculty Positions at Earlham School of Religion

We occasionally post announcements of potential interest to our members. Here are faculty position openings at the Earlham School of Religion.

EARLHAM SCHOOL OF RELIGION

Assistant Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible
Full-Time Faculty of Peace & Justice Studies (Open Rank)

Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, Indiana, a seminary in the Quaker tradition, is hiring two full-time faculty positions: an Assistant Professor of Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and an open rank position in Peace and Justice Studies, both to start July 1, 2022. The full descriptions may be found here: https://bit.ly/2WnLjOu

These scholars in Old Testament and Peace and Justice Studies will also contribute to other parts of the curriculum, such as theopoetics, theology and culture, spirituality, ethics, writing, and interfaith dialogue.

Review of applications will begin Nov. 15, 2021, with on campus interviews scheduled in February, 2022. No applications will be accepted after Dec. 31, 2021. Send application letter, CV, writing sample, sample course syllabus, statement of diversity, and names of four professional references to: ESROldTestamentSearch@gmail.com or ESRPeaceandJusticeSearch@gmail.com.

Applicants must be committed to working within a Quaker ethos that values integrity, consensus decision-making, equality, justice, and peacemaking.

ESR is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer. We encourage applications from people of color, people who identify as women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and other underrepresented groups

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by | June 15, 2021 · 12:02 pm

FAHE 2021 Conference Epistle

To Friends and colleagues everywhere:

After a one-year hiatus resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, Friends Association for Higher Education held its 41st conference June 7-11, 2021 over Zoom on “Peacemaking in the Liberal Arts.” We have been invigorated by plenary sessions with George Lakey (author of How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning and Facilitating Group Learning: Strategies for Success with Diverse Learners) and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge (whose leadership has included terms as Deputy Minister of Defense and of Health for South Africa), 23 workshops, worship and other opportunities for community and emboldened with better understanding of the foundations and history of the Friends Peace Testimony and renewed commitment to supporting our student activists as campaigners for the loving community we seek.

It is natural, Lakey explained, to fear and be repelled by the rising polarization around us. Polarization is an inevitable consequence of the extreme economic inequality and racial injustice of our society. Just as a forge makes metal malleable, so polarization provides the heat that drives societal transformation — for good (as with the Nordic countries in the early 20th century) or ill (Nazi Germany and fascist Italy in the same era). Since today’s polarization is inevitable, we must prepare to engage with it.

Lakey’s plenary and other sessions — by providing us with a better understanding of historical peacemaking that emerges from close study of Quaker origins in the 17th century, case studies of Friends service committees in the 19th and 20th centuries, the 1960s Civil Rights campaign, and the dismantling of Apartheid in South Africa — gave us reasons for optimism.

Oppression and injustice cry out for forceful action and offend a loving God. But, the slave master’s tools cannot break the master’s chains. Successful transformation depends on vision (prophetic witness), inspired strategy and the health of the change community. It may well be that the key gift to us from early Friends is less the reality of our unmediated access to continuing revelation than the acknowledgement of the inner struggle to be faithful to the seed of God within.

Madlala-Routledge reminded us that the “search for Peace is always a collective effort. It starts with truth-telling, incorporates justice tinged with Mercy…and a lot of meeting with other fully-as-flawed human beings.” She gave us a careful accounting of the successes and continuing challenges of South Africa’s experience with Truth and Reconciliation.

We learned in this and other sessions that true dialogue requires the voice, attention to and acknowledgement of the other. Carefully tended dialogue transforms conflict, leading to reconciliation and forgiveness. There was even the suggestion that dialogue paradigms might be the key to ensuring that machine-based artificial-intelligence technologies serve humane needs rather than stunting what it means to be human.

When those administering or benefiting from oppression decline dialogue, we are called to other forms of nonviolent activism. George Lakey and others charged us as educators to support students in their growth as activists and politically engaged citizens. We learned that there is a place for many skills and roles in social movements: helpers, organizers, advocates and rebels. We learned of the ethical foundations and resulting efficacy of protest, noncooperation and nonviolent intervention in confronting injustice. We shared experiences and plans for specific programs on our campuses to promote global understanding, explore activist identities and promote Quaker leadership.

This year’s conference hosted a Campus Executives Panel with the highest participation yet of any of our conferences with six colleges represented. The discussion addressed stresses and challenges in a time of pandemic, with a valuable sharing of perspectives and experiences by all participating. We talked about the challenges of using Quaker decision-making processes on campuses where most of the community members are not from the Religious Society of Friends. Other topics included finding a balance of collaboration opened up by Zoom while people also experience Zoom fatigue; exploring the possibility of deeper relationships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as with Native Americans; recruiting Quaker faculty to the Quaker campuses as well as recruiting Quaker students; the challenge of maintaining integrity and continuity of tradition while dealing with marketplace forces; and perspectives on philanthropy. Because we met virtually, the campus executives were not able to share the traditional conversation with each other over a meal, but we hope that is remedied when we can meet again in-person.

In leaving our conference, we stand ready to share with Friends and our colleagues in higher education a renewed sense of what Quaker education can contribute to transformational peacemaking. For that reason, the vitality of our Quaker colleges and study centers remains a central concern of FAHE.

During FAHE’s annual meeting for business we accepted the invitation of Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion to gather in person in June 2022. Come join us in the continuation of this good work.

With hope for our future work together,

Stephen Potthoff and Donn Weinholtz, Co-Clerks
Friends Association for Higher Education

Epistle committee draft adopted June 11, 2021
2021 Epistle Adopted 20210611.docxDownload

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by | June 11, 2021 · 5:32 pm

FAHE Conference Concluded

This year’s FAHE Conference, “Peacemaking and the Liberal Arts,” has now concluded. Many thanks to all who participated for such a wonderful and inspiring week! We have now posted the conference Epistle.

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by | June 2, 2021 · 11:17 am

FAHE Conference Schedule

Have you been thinking about signing up to attend the FAHE online conference, June 7-11, 2021, but wanted more information first? Now you can see the full schedule to help you decide! Some highlights include:

  • A plenary session on Tuesday night by George Lakey on Gandhi and Early Quakers, with a follow-up workshop on Wednesday
  • A plenary session Thursday morning by Nozizwe Routledge on lessons from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
  • Hearing Quaker college presidents and provosts talk about the challenges they have faced through the pandemic
  • A selection of presentations on Peacemaking and the Liberal Arts
  • Times to gather informally with other Quaker academics
  • Times for online Meetings for Worship, both programmed and unprogrammed

Please see the attached document for full details.

2021 FAHE Conference Full Schedule Public VersionDownload

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by | May 18, 2021 · 10:11 am

QLHE: Pedagogy that Reconnects

Friends Association for Higher Education’s Quaker Leadings in Higher Education series presented:

Pedagogy that Reconnects:
Students and the more than human world

Tuesday, May 25, 2021
7-8:30 pm, eastern
 
To reconnect with the more than human world, we need to change our pedagogies. We need pedagogies that reconnect.  Craig, Stephen, and Sara Jolena will each share a number of specific strategies and practices so you can walk away with both expanded understanding of what this entails and a greater awareness of tools and techniques of what is possible in your own teaching.
 
Panelists:

Craig Goodworth
Installation Artist and Poet

Stephen Potthoff
Professor of Religion, Philosophy, and Peace Studies
Wilmington College

Sara Jolena Wolcott
Educator and Founding Director
Sequoia Samanvaya LLC

Moderator:

David R. Ross
Research Professor
Department of Economics
Bryn Mawr College
 
Craig Goodworth is an Oregon-based artist working in installation and poetry. His practice encompasses drawing, object-making, research, teaching and farm labor. He has received fellowships in art and writing including a Fulbright to the Slovak Republic (2015). Along with exhibiting his artworks nationally and internationally, he’s engaged in various collaborations and residencies relating art to science and religion. Goodworth holds Master’s Degrees in fine art and sustainable communities. Originally from Arizona, his interests include land, place, mysticism and folk traditions.

Stephen Potthoff teaches as a professor of religion, philosophy and peace studies at Wilmington College (Ohio USA).  His academic background is in archaeology and the history of religion, and his principle research interests include indigenous religious traditions, ecospirituality, and the psychology of dream and visionary experience.  As co-editor, along with Cherice Bock, of Quakers, Creation Care, and Sustainability, his publications also include The Afterlife in Early Christian Carthage:  Near-Death Experience, Ancestor Cult and the Archaeology of Paradise (Routledge 2016).  A birthright Friend who grew up in New Garden Friends Meeting in Greensboro, NC, Stephen worships at the Wilmington College Campus Friends Meeting.

Sara Jolena Wolcott teaches at the independent international learning community she founded, Sequoia Samanvaya.   Her work re-membering the origin stories of climate change into the histories of colonization developed while she was a student at Union Theological Seminary.  She works with faith leaders, cultural change initiators, and others keen on the spiritual and cultural dimensions of creating a regenerative, just society.   She holds a degree in Anthropology from Haverford College, and followed her leadings around the need for cultural change as part of responding to climate change into international sustainable development for nearly a decade prior to starting her own initiative. A birthright Friend who grew up in Strawberry Creek Monthly Meeting, in California, she sits on the board of Quaker Institute for the Future. She currently lives in the historic homeland of the Mohigan peoples, in the Hudson Valley.

Here is a video of this event.

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by | May 3, 2021 · 9:30 am

QLHE: Quaker Academics

Friends Association for Higher Education’s Quaker Leadings in Higher Education series presented:

Quaker Academics: Walking in the Light on Campus and Beyond

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Cara and Sa’ed explore the intersections of their Quaker and scholarly identities.

Your voluntary contribution in support of FAHE and this lecture series is greatly appreciated.

Panelists:

Sa’ed Atshan, PhD
Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology  
Visiting Scholar in Middle Eastern Studies
University of California, Berkeley

Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies
Swarthmore College

Cara Curtis, MDiv
PhD Candidate
Graduate Division of Religion
Emory University

Managing Editor
Practical Matters Journal

Moderator:
David R. Ross
Research Professor
Department of Economics
Bryn Mawr College

Cara Curtis is a doctoral candidate in the social ethics at Emory University. Her dissertation, tentatively titled “Fragmented Flourishing: Maternal Perspectives on the Good Life in an Unequal Social Landscape,” investigates maternal conceptions of “flourishing” in the context of U.S. inequality. Drawing on ethnographic research in a theological studies program for incarcerated women and in mothers’ groups at nearby affluent churches, the project argues that flourishing is “fragmented” within social inequality, but that opportunities for intervention can be found in women’s everyday lives. Cara is a lifelong Quaker who grew up in Baltimore Yearly Meeting and now lives in Atlanta.

Sa’ed Atshan is Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College, where he is also Coordinator of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. He previously served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. He earned a Joint PhD in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies (2013) and MA in Social Anthropology (2010) from Harvard University, Master in Public Policy (MPP) degree (2008) from the Harvard Kennedy School, and BA (2006) from Swarthmore. He is the author of two books: Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique (Stanford University Press, 2020) and The Moral Triangle: Germans, Israelis, Palestinians (Duke University Press, 2020). His forthcoming book, Paradoxes of Humanitarianism: The Social Life of Aid in the Palestinian Territories , is under contract with Stanford University Press.

FAHE – April 21 – Quaker AcademicsDownload

Here is more information about this event, including a video of the session.

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