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Swarthmore Lecture is one of a series of lectures, started in 1908, addressed to Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

The preface to the very first lecture explains the purpose of the series.

“This book is the first of a series of public addresses to be known as the Swarthmore Lectures. The Lectureship was established by the Woodbrooke Extension Committee, at a meeting held December 9th, 1907. The Minute of the Committee provides for “an annual lecture on some subject relating to the Message and Work of the Society of Friends.” The name “Swarthmore” was chosen in memory of the home of Margaret Fox, which was always open to the earnest seeker after Truth, and from which loving words of sympathy and substantial material help were sent to fellow-workers.

“The Woodbrooke Extension Committee requested Rufus M. Jones, M.A., D.Litt., of Haverford College, Pennsylvania, to give the first lecture on the evening preceding the holding of the Friends’ Yearly Meeting of 1908. In accordance with this decision, the lecture was delivered in the Central Hall, Birmingham, on May 19th.

“The Swarthmore Lectureship has been founded with a two-fold purpose: firstly, to interpret further to the members of the Society of Friends their Message and Mission; and secondly, to bring before the public the spirit, the aims and the fundamental principles of the Friends. This first lecture presents Quakerism as a religion of experience and first-hand reality—a dynamic, practical religion of life.”

Transcripts and recording of some of the lectures are available from the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre website.

List of Swarthmore Lectures

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For further details see the list of lectures at the Woodbrooke Centre.

See also

• Backhouse Lecture: Friends lecture series in Australia

References

1. The text of Rufus Jones' 1908 Swarthmore Lecture is available online at the Internet Archive
2. The text of W. C. Braithwaite's 1909 Swarthmore Lecture is available online at the Internet Archive
3. The full text of Thomas Hodgkin's 1911 Swarthmore Lecture is available online at the Internet Archive
4. The full text of T. R. Glover's 1912 Swarthmore Lecture is available on line at the Internet Archive
5. Huxley, Herbert H. "Glover, Terrot Reaveley (1869–1943)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33427. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
6. Kennedy, Thomas C. "Grubb, Edward (1854–1939)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71530. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
7. Online text of the 1915 Lecture by Sylvanus P Thompson on the Internet Archive
8. The lecture was published under the author's maiden name: L.V. Hodgkin
9. The text of L.V.Holdsworth's 1919 Swarthmore Lecture is available online at the Internet Archive
10. Online text of the May 1920 Lecture by H. G. Wood on the Internet Archive
11. Kennedy, Thomas C. "Wood, Herbert George (1879–1963)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/65076. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
12. Online text of the August 1920 Lecture by Rufus M. Jones on the Internet Archive
13. Carl Heath's 1922 Swarthmore lecture is available online at the Internet Archive
14. The text of the 1929 Swarthmore Lecture by Stanley Eddington is available online at the Internet Archive
15. The 1948 lecture was cancelled as some Friends objected that the speaker was "too Liberal" see Anthony Manousos "Howard Brinton and the World Council of Churches:The Theological Impact of Ecumenism on Friends" in Quaker theology issue 17 (Summer 2010). Brinton spoke at Yearly Meeting in favour of Liberal theology.
16. Duncan Fairn's 1951 Swarthmore Lecture is available online at the Internet Archive
17. Middleton, Roger. "Carter, Sir Charles Frederick". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/77032. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
18. Paskins, Barrie (9 December 1999). "Guardian Obituary - Wolf Mendl". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
19. Portrait of J L Scully, with comments on UK Government policy on disability benefits (2012)
20. Christine A M Davis, the 2008 lecturer, currently has an entry in Who's who (July 2011). Her obituary in The Scotsman" 2 March 2015 by Rowena Loverance, with portrait photograph
21. 2009 Swarthmore lecture: Preview by John Fitzgerald in The Friend 6 March 2009, page 9
22. "Quaker Centre Bookshop - The unequal world we inhabit - Swarthmore Lecture 2010". Retrieved 16 June 2010.
23. Pam Lunn, the 2011 lecturer is a tutor at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Birmingham, who blogs at woodbrookegoodlives.blogspot.com.
24. Review of 2011 Lecture by Jez Smith
25. Woodbrooke announcement of 2014 lecturer and topic.
26. Swarthmore Lecture 2014 audio recording.
27. "Swarthmore Lecture 2018: 'Changing ourselves, changing the world' | | Woodbrooke".
28. The Friend 2018-11-16 pp.10-11. Interview - Eden Grace interviewed by Oliver Robertson

External links

• Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre
  • Recordings of some of the lectures
• Nayler.org has reviews of some of the lectures

• British lecture series
• Christian theological lectures
• Quakerism in the United Kingdom
• Religious education in the United Kingdom
• 1908 establishments in the United Kingdom
• Recurring events established in 1908
• Annual events in London