Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Book Review: Living the Quaker Way by Philip Gulley

I was very intrigued to read this book as I had encounter a Quaker gathering place near one of my very first clinical locations in nursing school in 2004. I had wondered what they believed and had heard that Quakers gather to sit in silence during meetings.

The book answered many questions for me about the Quaker's but also caused many more questions than it answered.
I found the insights into living life with simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and equality as very good qualities. I was very confused, however, on the marketing being aimed at Protestants and bringing "God's Kingdom to Earth". I agree that this should be the goal of Christians, to live like Jesus now, not waiting to get to Heaven. However, early on in the book, Gulley described that Quaker's come from all walks of life, including athiest. I have not been able to reconcile this detail in my mind. To me "living the Quaker way" does not equate to following Jesus and bringing His kingdom to Earth, despite the similarities.

Overall an interesting read and definitely good qualities to live life in, but I would not classify this as a Christian book.

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Disclosure: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.