Channeling Quaker Roots
As I told you last week, I grew up as a part of the Quaker faith at Springfield Friends Meeting in High Point, North Carolina. My mom was a member there. So was her mother and father. So were their mothers and fathers. So were their mothers and fathers. And so were their mothers and fathers. If you trace my family roots back six generations, my family, newly converted Quakers, boarded a boat from the southwest area of England, adjusted to colonial life in Massachusetts, and then made their way to the piedmont of North Carolina and formed Springfield Friends Meeting.
Springfield, as I told you last week, has a plain worship space. No stained glass, no crosses, and no art. However, if you make your way to the library and to the “Museum of Old Domestic Life” you will find three paintings:
The first is The Presence in the Midst by J. Doyle Penrose. In 1916, Penrose painted this piece as World War I raged. This illustrates the Quaker ideal of worship – Friends gathered in silence listening and waiting for the presence of Christ. I loved gazing into this painting, and as I did, I could feel a connection with those that sat in the same pews before me. I fondly remember attending Quakerism, or confirmation classes, where we learned the history of Quakers, the principle of the Inner Light of Jesus within everyone, and how communion occurs when the worshiper communes with God and with those who are gathered in the Lord’s name. As Thomas Kelly wrote in The Eternal Promise, “The Quaker discovery and message has always been that God still lives and moves and guides, in vivid immediacy, within the hearts of all people.” The Presence in the Midst exemplified those beliefs and illustrated to me this belief on canvas.
The second is None Shall Make Them Afraid by J. Doyle Penrose. In 1918, before the conclusion of the Great War, Penrose painted this scene, which represents a dramatic moment in American Quaker history. An aggressive tribe of Native Americans entered a Meeting House in rural New York while Friends were worshiping. Though the group was frightened and nervous, they remained calm and silent. The Native Americans, seeing the Quakers had no intention of fighting, set down their weapons and sat silently. Afterwards, the group leaders met with the Chief, and the Native Americans left peacefully. (To read this entire amazing story, visit http://beaconoftruth.net/providential_workings/none_afraid.html)
The peace testimony is a foundation of Quakerism. History books tell of the great work William Penn and the Quakers in Pennsylvania did to live in and promote peace with the Native Americans. This painting is a depiction of just that act. It tells the story, and as Morgan presented, by gazing into this image, I am allowed to engage with others and in the past.[1] I can feel the anxiety and the tension, yet after studying further, a sense of calm overcomes and prevails.
The third is familiar to each of us, especially after reading Sacred Gaze – Warner Sallman’s Head of Christ. Upon seeing Head of Christ every Sunday for the better part of sixteen years, it came as quite a shock to me that Jesus may, in fact, not actually look like this man! Because of this painting, I imagined Jesus as a soft, gentle, shepherd-like man, who never raised a finger or his voice. He provides peace to the weary and love to the hurting. I felt vindicated in this thought when I read Morgan’s conclusion, “Christians regard the Head of Christ as a mass-produced icon, a ‘true portrait’ of the incarnate God.”[2]
Every single Quaker Meeting House I have visited in my lifetime displays at least two out of three, if not all three, of these paintings. Along with the man on the oatmeal box, these are my visual representations of Quakerism. In a sense, they were icons of our denomination. “Icons” may be an exaggeration, but upon seeing these paintings every Sunday for the better part of my life, I see them as permanent representations of Quakerism. When reading David Morgan’s The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice, these three paintings constantly crept to the fore-front of my mind. Though I have not been in a Quaker Meeting House, nor have I personally seen these paintings in years, the power of the images is clear in my heart and head. Without even looking up the paintings and their stories, I was able to recall the meaning and the history that went with the art. Though I may have scoffed at the concept before, visual art has the ability to frighten, seduce, deceive, influence, and inspire[3], and now I am a converted believer!
[1] David Morgan, The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005), 2-3.
[2] Ibid., 260.
[3] Ibid., 258.
About the Author
Ashley Goad
Ashley is the Global Missions Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. She's a UNC fanatic, Haiti Enthusiast, Clean Water Activist, Solar Power Supporter... www.firstserves.org www.solarunderthesun.org www.livingwatersfortheworld.org9 responses to “Channeling Quaker Roots”
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Great pictures those Quakers have with such a rich history. Amen! Truly a artistic representation of a great people. It is so interesting to me that images have such power the “ability to frighten, seduce, deceive, influence, and inspire.” Having the opportunity offered to me to study art in a way of a scholarship I often wonder what and where I would have ended up had I chosen to follow that path. You have a wonderful pedigree Ashley Goad, may you continue the tradition of your fathers as a worshiper of Jesus through all the means offered to you during your time. May those that come after you find you as faithful as those who went before you.
I’m so glad that you included that last picture, Ashley, because that about covers the extent of my understanding of Quakers (I grew up eating that oatmeal regularly) until now. What a treasure to be able to look back through your family’s heritage and find faithfulness to the Lord! You mention the “Head of Christ” portrait and how much it a regular part of your faith journey. How hard has it been ( or is it) to re-picture Jesus, as you engage with different cultures?
Deve! Those Quakers, they do love their oatmeal! 🙂 To answer your question, I don’t think it’s been “hard” to re-picture Jesus. It has happened naturally, as I have been exposed to more people, more places and more things. By listening, by experiencing, by seeing…my perception of Jesus has evolved. Jesus has become more real to me. He’s jumped out of the picture frame!
This is beautiful Ashley!
I was left with the same question Deve had… how hard is to re-picture Jesus, as you engage with different cultures? I know you’ve pretty much been all over the world. 🙂
How has the face of Christ changed for you?
Oh… How He has changed in my mind! First, it came as a shock to me that Jesus is NOT WHITE! From what I can tell, being born in a middle eastern country, He would certainly have had a deeper, darker skin tone and very dark hair. Second, having seeing so many images and depictions of Christ now, I cannot help but see Him as Jim Caviezel from Passion of the Christ or as Akiane’s painting “Prince of Peace.” (Look that one up, if you haven’t seen it.) Both are still mediums of art, and both impact my imagination greatly. But now, having traveled around the globe, I see the face of Christ in everyone…in the smallest of children in Africa to the oldest of women in Ecuador to the poorest of men in Haiti to the wealthiest of those in USA. The face of Christ is everywhere… We just have to be looking with the right gaze…
Ashley, you mentioned, “without even looking up the paintings and their stories, I was able to recall the meaning and the history that went with the art. Though I may have scoffed at the concept before, visual art has the ability to frighten, seduce, deceive, influence, and inspire”…your post clearly reflects that you have been influenced and inspire by the visual arts of your Quaker roots. I appreciated how you shared and took us on your Quaker spiritual journey through the gazing of these images. Did you know that the “Quaker” name for Quaker oats was selected as a symbol of good quality and honest value? Thanks, Ashley!
Miriam! Yes! Integrity is one of the values Quakerism was built upon. Agreement in the form of a handshake, my word meaning my word. How interesting that “commercialism” capitalized on this integrity!
Thanks for this post, Ashley!
Love it.
I would just add Edward Hicks as a Quaker painter fairly ubiquitously known and frequently displayed. One can often find a form of his Peaceable Kingdom (usually a version depicting Penn’s Treaty) hanging about somewhere in a local meeting.
Oh! Good call, Clint! I had almost forgotten about Hicks’ piece. I remember seeing it in our children’s classrooms, and always equated it to the Noah’s Ark story! 🙂