The SPICES are often described as “Quaker testimonies,” sometimes even “the Quaker testimonies.” Quaker historian Paul Buckley was curious about how that came about.
In this video, Paul explains how a catchy acronym intended as a mnemonic for children about some Quaker values became an easy template for Friends to explain their overall belief system to newcomers. But that emphasis, Paul says, comes with a risk: “All testimonies are fruits of the Spirit,” he explains. “But by using SPICES so frequently, we lose that sense of them being the products of our relationship with God and begin thinking about them as the roots.”
Transcript and Discussion Questions Available Here
Produced by Christopher Cuthrell
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