Description:
In The Truth of Our Life, acclaimed Quaker scholar Rex Ambler argues that both traditional Christianity and modern secular culture have lost touch with the most important truth of all: authentic lives grow from the truth revealed through direct experience. The truth for each person is unique and untraceable, a wonder . . like the path of a sailing ship at sea.
Returning to the revolutionary insights of George Fox and the first Friends, Ambler shows how the Quaker experiment offers a challenging but practical path toward community, discernment, justice, and spiritual freedom. It invites readers not simply to learn about Quakerism but to undertake the experiment for themselves.
Review Quotes:
In The Truth of Our Life, one of the sharpest Quaker thinkers of the past half-century reflects on decades of study. In an overview that extends over two millennia and ranges from the Apostle Paul to Gandhi, Rex Ambler offers a compelling understanding of what Quakerism can and should be.
Thomas Hamm, emeritus Professor of History, Quaker Scholar in Residence at Earlham College
For anyone who has felt the pull of spiritual depth without the comfort of ready-made answers, The Truth of Our Life offers something rare: a rigorous, honest, and quietly luminous guide to what it might mean to dwell in truth.
Francisco J. Burgos, Executive Director of Pendle Hill
This recovery of the [Quaker] experiment anew for our fractured world calls us again to be provocateurs of love.
Windy Cooler, Convener, Friends Incubator for Public Ministry
How do we make sense of life? This exploration of Quakerism offers keen insight into that Reality.
Max Carter, Quaker Studies at Guilford College, retired
Ambler argues that post-truth societies create an illusion of hyper-individualism and separation. Quaker faith and practice are more urgently needed than ever before.
Barbara Birch, author of Lectio Divina: Revelation and Prophecy