The Society ofofEnglish English Studies l45 Vegetarianism among Quakers through History Tomoko YAMAGUCHI I) Introduction Thesc days many people are becoming concerned their health, and are getting interested in playing sports or reyiewing their life style, especially their way of eating. Because it involves one of our most basic bodily needs, eating could be said to be one of the most important and fundamentai matters in our daily life. One of the ways achieving a health life style, living only on vegetables, Vegetarianism, has been practiced for many years and continues today. Of course this practice contains several concerns such as health, peace, preservation of animals, religious matters, and so forth. Vegetarianism was also practiced by some Quakers in earlier days. Now they have a special pamphlet, the Friendly Vegetarian. It seems that interest in Vegetarianisrn has come to be more popular than bcfore among Quakers, I am interested in what QuakeTs think about their dieting life style, as a whole, religiously as well as spiritually. Their ways of thinking on their dieting life style is related to the idea of an ecological environment. In this I am to discusshow paper, going Quakers have advocated the natural way ef eating, and its connection with the histerical movement of vegetarianism. In addition, I invcstigated how Quakers, considering their health, have tried to continue eating well. II) The Historical Background of Quakers The rnovement of started Quakerism in 1652, yet the ideas were first preached by George Fox in 1647. His main philosophical ideas are described in one of the Quakers' "His cookbooks, Quaker Ftavors, A Cookbooh published by Williston Friends Meeting: `that `Light' `Christ centrar thought was of God', a oT within' every man; that the Divine Being epcrates directly upon the human life and the spiritual life begins when the individual becomes aware and sets himself to obey Him." In Quakerism, this concept is oftefi NII-Electronic Library Service The Society ofofEnglish English Studies t46 Tomoko YAMAGUCHI "faith" "truth". described as and To practice their faith or worship, they primaTily focused on their meetings, Their faith has been practiced in many ways for over 300 years. For cxample, John Weelman, a tailor in New Jersey, made an attempt to free his slaves before thc Civil War brokc out; Samuel Tuke founded the first lunatic asylum in York, showing a real concern for the mentally ill and Elizabeth Fry is known as a pioneer of renovating prisons in the beginning of 1800s. As is discussed in Friend for 300 1'ears by Howard H. Brinton, Quakerism has been "a unique because it is group mysticism," compaTed to othcr religiens. According to "Light Brinton, these practices are based on the within" linked with four concerns; community, equality, sirnplicity, and harmony, Focusing on these concerns, Quakcrs pursuc their faith and truth in practice. Brinton explains the meaning of group mysticism as "Light follows: from God streams down into the waiting group. This Light, if the way is opcn for it, produces these results: unity, knowledge and power, ... Because of the characteristics ef the Light of Christ, the resulting behavior can be described in a general way by the four words, Community, Harmony, Equality and Simplicity, , . These four types of behavior which are closely inlerrelated, being first generatcd in the intimate circle, became applied mere widely as its mernbers go out beyend its limits to the larger world" III) Vegetarianism Among in Ear]y Stage Quakers "cTeed" When I sludied the eating habits of Quakers, I found no for restrictions on eating, Nothing has been mentioned about vegetaTianisrn in thc Quakers' daily life, nor in their religious practice. D. Elton Trueblood discusscs two facts from this point of view: "Quakerism, having ne set creed, is paTticularly free to learn from any new thought as it emerges; and Quakerism rooted in certain basic cxperiences is able, at the same time, to resist the p, ressure of contemporary inte]lectual fashiQns," She points out that the Quakers' way of life is fairly flexible and might be improved if necessary. One possib]e explanation is that some Quakers adopted vegetarianisrn into their daily life, although they did not show "creed" signs of any in their testimony. Furthermore, ideas about vegetarianism have changed as time passes, Quakers did not start to practice vegetarianism in terms of its religious aspects. It weuld be necessary to go back to the very beginning ef Christianity and to examine whether or not the Bible says something about vegetarianism or restrictien on eating. Here again we can not find any statcments prohibiting the eating of fresh meat in the Bible, The centcr NII-Electronic Library Service The Society ofofEnglish English Studies Vegetarianism among Quakersthrough History 147 "Truth" piece of the Christian Bible, the Gospels, shows ideas about morality or through the "Are behavior or examples of Jesus. Dorothy T. Samuel examines this matter in her article, "In Vegetarians Following Jesus?," in the Friendly iiegetarian. She says: the Gospels, we find no specific words condemning the killing, eating or abuse of anirnals," many argurnents about whether ate or not, and the There have been Jesus fish statemcnts of Jesus seeking his followers net from among butchers but from among fishermen, However, whether Jesus ate fish or not, nor preferred fishermen to butchers is not the point, As I mentioned befere, Jesus did not show any specific testimonies of what we should do and what we should not do on this topic, yet gave examples of his phi}osophy through his behavior. So it could be said that vegetarianism arose from a point of yiew in which all the creatures must be treated equally and be regarded with respect. Samuel also "I says; think there is a harmony between Jesus' reverence for all that God has created and the practice of vegetarianism." The vegetarians' ways of thinking seem to refer to their own understanding of Christianity. As we see that no testimony could be found fer restriction of eating fresh meat, the vegetarian movement among Quakers started quite differently frorn the modern movement, In early times the Quakers' approach toward vegetarianism was related to feelings of consideration for animals, Many people discussed this matteT as early as the mid-seventeenth century, Hunting and hawking werc the first targets to be judged. These activities were condemned as too violent and against the spirit of the Quakers. Their leader, " GcoTge Fox, also rcjccted hunting and hawking by saying; . being not only accountable for our substances, but also for our time, ]et our IeisuTe be employed in seTving ouT neighbor and not in distressing the creatures of 6od for our amusement." His idea is based on a deep feeling ef consideration towards animals and he advocates that we should not abuse sacred God's creatures for the sake of human interest or convenience. "Quaker In her paper and Vegetarianism," Janet Stokes quotes another example from "I John Woolman. According to heT staternent, VVoolman says as fellows; believe where the ]ove of God is yerily perfected and the true spirit of goveTnment watchfully attached to, a tenderness toward all crcatuTes made subject to us will be experienced and a care felt in us that wc do not lesson that sweetness of life in the animal creation which the great Creator intends for thcm under our government." As another example, Howard Brinton describes "The this philosophy clcar]y by saying: Inward Light is primary and history shows that the Quaker type of religion is especially adapted to create sensitivity to all suffering ... A tender is open to sympathetic awareness of suffering whether of man or beast." These NII-Electronic Library Service The Society ofofEnglish English Studies 148 Tomoko YAMAGUCHI notions show tenderness towards animals, yet they take a yery vague position in terms of eating animals. It is interesting to note that Woolman and other Quakers who seemed to support protection of animals did not recommend temperance in consumption of meat. Some allow killing animals for eating if it is necessary, others even say that human beings are qualified to and, furthermore, need to kill animals for food in order to survive. Brinton describes thc " notions of early Quakers as follows; . , on the whole Friends have be]ieved that it is legitimate to kill animals for food if it is done as humanely as possible." As is clearly shown, the approach toward vegetarianism in early times was based on benevolence or sympathy towards animals, which was derived from testimonics of non-violence, rather than from notions of re]igious, health, or nutrition. Because of the lack of knowledge of nutritional science, vegetarianism was attacked, Sorne stated that the vegetarian diet could not maintain good health, since a diet only of vegetab]cs did not contain enough nutrition. Thus, although the vegetarian movement was rootcd in the early Quakers, their approach was not very widespread and it was not actively introduced for practice. Their approach was rather tentative and not comrnoniy adopted among Quakers, In sum, it was non-violence that led some people think of the vegetarian diet as connected with their benevolence and sympathy toward animals in the early days, IV) Vegetarianism from the Point of View of Health Consciousness In the nineteenth century, people were getting intercsted in their diet as a means of taking care of their health. The relationship between Christianity and diet is narrated by 's William W, Weayer, in the introduction to ri Quaker Woman Cookbook: 7:he Domestic Cookety ofEtizabeth Etlicott Lea. He clarifies the Quakers' conceTn for their dietary life as "During follows: the 1840s, Fricnds were only beginning to discover the science of diet as an extension of their larger religious concerns.