A Near Sympathy: The Timeless Quaker Wisdom of John Woolman

Today's world cries out for lives of integrity, for Christian models that integrate "the inward life of devotion and the outward life of the activist for justice and peace." We can find no better example than eighteenth-century Quaker, John Woolman. Birkel writes of the profound impact Woolman has had on his own life. He invites readers to become acquainted with the spiritual disciplines and resources that nurtered Woolman's empathy with the stranger and empowered him to engage the world as a witness on behalf of the disenfranchised. Includes a group discussion guide.

Michael L. Birkel is Professor of Religion at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, where he teaches courses that range from Introduction to Bible and Historical Christianity to The Medieval Allegorical Imagination in the Monastic WEst, Scripture and Liberation in Latin America, and Iberian Mysticism. With graduate degrees from Earlham School of Religion and Harvard University, he has written widely about John Woolman in religious periodicals and contributed to collections of essays on Woolman. He is a frequent speaker and workshop leader on John Woolman and on Quaker approaches to the Bible. Michael lives in Richmond, Indiana.