"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another."
Thomas Merton
Stuart Masters
@stuartkmasters.bsky.social
858 followers 724 following 887 posts
Teacher, speaker, & writer on Quaker history, theology & spirituality. Author of 'Tangled Roots: Navigating the Complex Legacy of Early Quakers' (Woodbrooke, 2026), & 'The Quaker Faith: Friends of Love and Truth' (T&T Clark, 2025). 2026 Swarthmore Lecturer
![The image includes the quotation below, along with a picture of the "Tangled Roots" book cover:
[Early] Friends experienced a strong sense of being bound together in the eternal power of God, who was actively present within them and among them. In describing this, early Quakers drew on three important New Testament metaphors for the gathering of the Church: fish caught in a net; a temple of living stones; and a body of many parts.
Tangled Roots, p.33.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kjhbn74264gl4hsar7n7imbs/bafkreigp4u4gfe3cgvr6zfuwwsa7jrfqp542molirnyd3iwtxv7og3ffvq)
![The image includes the quotation below along with a picture of "The Quaker Faith" book cover:
[Early] Friends seem to have experienced a great sense of joy, fearlessness, and spiritual energy, revealed in physical shaking, ecstatic prophesying, dramatic signs, healings, and public preaching. Such a strongly embodied witness, particularly when enacted by women, transgressed accepted norms of human conduct and outraged polite society.
The Quaker Faith: Friends of Love and Truth, p.29](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kjhbn74264gl4hsar7n7imbs/bafkreidk4ewttoqfrfx2674rqvvcrx3mppfae5f3faiq5qolkayuqnpgya)
