Tangled Roots: Engaging with the 2026 Swarthmore Lecture
Saturday 4 July 2026
10:00-16:30 (UK time)
Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House
Stuart Masters
In this year’s Swarthmore Lecture, Stuart Masters focused on the faith and practice of the first Friends and explored how their complex legacy presents Quakers today with a range of challenging choices and dilemmas.
During this day at Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House, we will explore the main lecture themes in more detail.
Together, we will consider how to balance:
- the inward guidance received in the present with the beliefs and practices inherited from the past.
- the need for a cohesive community and a clear identity with the need for a culture that values and encourages each individual member.
- a quiet, inward, and contemplative spiritual practice with a powerfully active and embodied life within the world.
- the desire to play a constructive role within wider society with the need to resist its violent, unjust, and destructive ways.
By grappling with these issues, we can develop a deeper appreciation of the roots of global Quaker diversity and become better able to navigate important choices and dilemmas as we encounter them in our communities today.
Refreshments will be provided but please bring a packed lunch.
This course will involve:
Discussion, Speaker, Workshop, Written and visual
Accessibility info:
Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House is located at 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL. The spaces we are using are wheelchair accessible with accessible toilets. The meeting room has a hearing loop.
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