Tangled Roots: Engaging with the 2026 Swarthmore Lecture (Oxford)
11 July 2026, Oxford
In this year's Swarthmore Lecture, Stuart Masters focused on the faith and practice of the first Friends and explored how their complex legacy presents Quakers today with a range of challenging choices and dilemmas. During this day, we will explore the main lecture themes in more detail.
Together, we will consider how to balance:
1. the inward guidance received in the present with the beliefs and practices inherited from the past.
2. the need for a cohesive community and a clear identity with the need for a culture that values and encourages each individual member.
3. a quiet, inward, and contemplative spiritual practice with a powerfully active and embodied life within the world.
4. the desire to play a constructive role within wider society with the need to resist its violent, unjust, and destructive ways.
By grappling with these issues, we can develop a deeper appreciation of the roots of global Quaker diversity and become better able to navigate important choices and dilemmas as we encounter them in our communities today.
More information
For more information contact:
Woodbrooke
Telephone: 01217282360