Explaining Continuity and Change

Abstract

Chapter 2 establishes the limitations of a purely socio-political account of the changes explored in Chapter 1. The Quakers were not altogether removed from social and political motivations. However, as this chapter systematically demonstrates, the notion that they were merely seeking political ‘respectability’ fails to explain the pace and scope of the changes affecting the Quaker movement during this period. Rather, the Quakers were seeking to bolster their ‘theological reputation’, through a concerted refinement of their theology as a means of strengthening their ecclesial claim to ‘true Christianity’. Unlike respectability narratives, the quest for theological reputation was not subordinated to the concerns of their opponents, but involved appeals both to Christian doctrine and the proactive assertion of Quaker values, as well as the interplay between the two. At the heart of this process was a concern to make sense of the Quakers’ experience of Christ within and amongst them