The public is invited to the Medford Friends Meeting to hear a special guest speaker, Quaker scholar Jeffrey Dudiak, whose topic “Radicalizing Spirit: Christianity and the Contemporary Society of Friends”, will offer answers to many questions about the faith community.
Dudiak, a Canadian native lifelong Friend, was raised in the evangelical Friends tradition. He is a 2014–15 Cadbury Scholar at Pendle Hill, the Quaker education center in Pennsylvania, where he is working on understanding the diversity of Quaker understandings of God. He is an associate professor of philosophy at The King’s University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and is a member of Edmonton Monthly Meeting.
Dudiak is interested in “facilitating meaningful interactions among Quakers of all branches.” In his lectures, he addresses the often-perplexing relationship between Quakerism and Christianity in the contemporary Society of Friends.
“Especially as that relationship is variously understood by Friends of highly diverse theological, sociological, and political sensibilities, often to the point of mutual alienation,” Dudiak said.
His talk will also help non-Quakers to understand the religious aspects of the group that settled all of West Jersey (present day South Jersey) in the late 1600s.
Members of the public are welcome to attend 10 a.m. Quaker worship in the “unprogrammed” tradition as well as Dudiak’s interactive talk and a simple luncheon on March 8. Worship is at 10 a.m., Dudiak’s talk and discussion are at 11:30 a.m. and a luncheon follows at 1 p.m.
All are welcome. RSVPs are appreciated. Call (609) 953–8914 for more information and to RSVP.
