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Neo-Evangelical Identity with American Religious Society of Friends (Quakers): Oregon Yearly Meeting, 1919-1947

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Neo-Evangelical Identity with American Religious Society of Friends (Quakers): Oregon Yearly Meeting, 1919-1947 Neo-Evangelical Identity within American Religious Society of Friends (Quakers): Oregon Yearly Meeting, 1919 - 1947. BY TIMOTHY JAMES BURDICK A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham 4 January 2013 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis is an historical case-study using archival written data to analyse the formation of a neo-evangelical identity within Oregon Yearly Meeting (OYM) of the Religious Society of Friends, with emphasis on the years 1919-1947. The argument of this thesis is that by 1919 there were fundamentalist thinking patterns developing within the corporate religious identity of the Yearly Meeting (YM) marked by ecumenical separatism, world-rejecting views, biblical literalism and decreasing social action. The values of this fundamentalist identity became dominant by 1926, pervading the mindset of the YM until the late 1940s when it was replaced with a more socially-concerned, world-engaging expression of evangelicalism. This neo-evangelicalism attempted to highlight positive Christianity, while maintaining the supernatural orthodox theology of its fundamentalist predecessors. The pattern that unfolded in OYM shares similarities with a larger pattern taking place throughout Protestant Christianity in America over the same period. This research makes original contributions to scholarship in three ways. Firstly, it analyses a particularly influential group among evangelical American Quakers during the twentieth-century. Secondly, it starts to redress the dearth of scholarship specific to evangelical Quakerism, and, thirdly it adds to the scholarship on twentieth-century American Protestantism by focusing on an understudied region and denomination. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, thank you to my wife Heather and daughter Sierra. The countless hours you allowed me to escape and commit to this project made the task a shared sacrifice. I only hope that now I can give back some of those hours to you. Thank you to the many archivists and librarians who entrusted me with their cherished resources: Zoie Clark at George Fox University, Thomas Hamm at Earlham College, Adrienne Meier at Seattle Pacific University, Don Davis at the American Friends Service Committee, Scott Daniels at the Oregon Historical Society and Ian Jackson at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. Thank you also to Colin Saxton, past Superintendent of Northwest Yearly Meeting, for opening the door to the Yearly Meeting community to me as a researcher. Clifford Geertz in his 1973 work, The Interpretation of Cultures, suggests that while we may start our efforts at interpreting social/cultural phenomena from a „state of general bewilderment as to what the devil is going on‟, we do not start completely „intellectually empty handed‟.1 For that, I am eternally grateful to those who have gone before me in my specific area of study. Most noteworthy is the historical narrative work Ralph Beebe conducted on Quakers in Oregon Yearly Meeting and published in 1968. Ralph and I chatted about this project a few times over the course of my writing and Ralph‟s friendly countenance was a constant source of inspiration. Before his health worsened, he was scheduled to read through the finished draft, but sadly that was not to be. This work is lessened without Ralph‟s final thoughts on the matter, but it is to him 1 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York, NY: Basic Books, Inc. Publishers, 1973), 27. that I give credit for laying the intellectual foundation to understanding Oregon Yearly Meeting. Several scholars took time away from busy academic loads to read through this work and for that I am genuinely thankful. Thomas Hamm, Stephan Angell and Mark Ankeny all provided feedback that was both astute and tender. That you would read through a 400 page dissertation while yet working full-time yourselves is beyond words of gratitude. Your comments and follow up emails made this work so much better in the end. Arthur Roberts, long retired from a wonderful academic career, was amazing in his deep insight into this era of Quaker history. Your comments helped me see the work in the larger scope and to make sure my analysis was credible to someone who experienced first-hand many of changes studied herein. Fellow student Jon Kershner sacrificially gave time away from writing his own dissertation and provided feedback on an early draft copy. Your keen insight was much appreciated. Rosemarie Kossov copy edited the final draft version for conventions of language, spelling and grammar. Thank you for your wonderful expertise. And last, but definitely not least, is the acknowledgement of the tireless efforts of my two academic advisors Ben Pink Dandelion and Edwina Newman. Although you two were each half-a-world away from me, the regular communications sent over the Atlantic pond kept the dialogue going without missing a beat. If not for both of you providing ongoing encouragement, my energies would have drained long before the finish; and if not for your commitments on high academic standards, the work would have suffered. Thanks to both of you for pushing me along when I needed a boost and thanks for pushing against the work when it needed improvement. LIST OF CONTENTS LIST OF CONTENTS 1 LIST OF TABLES 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 4 CHAPTER ONE - Introduction Introduction 6 Terminology and Historical Context 11 The Religious Society of Friends: A Brief History 49 History of Oregon Yearly Meeting 57 Relationship to Previous Scholarship 72 Methods and Sources 89 Thesis Outline 98 Chapter Summary 101 CHAPTER TWO – The Rise of Fundamentalist Friends Introduction 102 Five-Years Meeting: A Brief History 104 The Quaker Bible School Movement 117 Initial Conflict between Oregon Yearly Meeting and Five-Years Meeting 130 Similar Trends in Other Yearly Meetings 142 A Pause in the Acrimony 146 Edward Mott 148 Withdrawal of Oregon Yearly Meeting from Five-Years Meeting 160 Chapter Analysis 171 Chapter Summary 177 CHAPTER THREE – The Altered Ethos of Quaker Holiness Introduction 179 American Friends Service Committee: A Brief History 182 Social Service vs. Christian Service 192 Oregon Yearly Meeting Disbands its Service Committee 202 A Change in Christian Ethics 210 No Peace among Friends 227 Chapter Analysis 241 Chapter Summary 245 CHAPTER FOUR – The Establishment Neo-Evangelical Quakerism Introduction 246 The Beginning of the End for Portland Bible Institute 248 Scourging Modernism from Pacific College 252 The Renewal of World Engagement and Humanitarianism 270 1 Gathering Evangelical Friends Together 286 A Settled Division 298 Institutes of Evangelical Academia 306 Chapter Analysis 314 Chapter Summary 325 CHAPTER FIVE – Conclusions and Findings Introduction 327 Findings of Chapter Summaries 329 Similarities and Differences to Broader Protestantism 332 Original Contribution 356 Implications for Scholarship 357 Chapter Summary 361 APPENDIX – Formation of the Evangelical Friends Church International 362 GLOSSARY – Peculiar Terminology of the Religious Society of Friends 376 BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources – Unpublished Archives 383 Primary Sources – Published 394 Primary Sources – Published with no Author Noted 400 Websites Accessed 402 Secondary Sources 403 2 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1, The Process of Sanctification 19 Table 1.2, Differentiating Fundamentalism and Neo-Evangelicalism 47 Table 3.1, Comparing OYM 1893-1919 to OYM 1919-1940 244 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACC – American Council of Churches AEF – Association of Evangelical Friends AFMB – American Friends Mission Board AFSC – American Friends Service Committee CO – Conscientious Objector CPS – Civilian Public Service EFA – Evangelical Friends Alliance (currently Evangelical Friends Church International) EFCI – Evangelical Friends Church International (formerly EFA) FCC – Federal Council of Churches FM – Forward Movement FUM – Friends United Meeting (formerly FYM) FYM – Five-Years Meeting (currently Friends United Meeting) FWCC – Friend‟s World Committee for Consultation IWM – Interchurch World Movement MM – Monthly Meeting NAE – National Association of Evangelicals NCC – National Council of Churches NFSC – Northwest Friends Service Committee NPEI – North Pacific Evangelistic Institute OYM – Oregon Yearly Meeting (currently Northwest Yearly Meeting) PBI – Portland Bible Institute PC – Pacific College (currently George Fox University) 4 QM – Quarterly Meeting RDF – Richmond Declaration of Faith WWI – World War One or The Great War WWII – World War Two YM – Yearly Meeting 5 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Introduction This work is an historical case-study detailing the formation of neo-evangelical corporate religious identity within Oregon Yearly Meeting (OYM) of the American Religious Society of Friends[g]1, with particular emphasis on the years 1919 – 1947.2 From the inception of the Society[g] in the middle of the seventeenth-century
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