As we review the most widely read features on the Friends Journal website this last year, we also want to give a shout out to full-time staff writer Sharlee DiMenichi. Her arrival has enabled us to cover events that affect Quaker communities, like the closing of Woodbrooke Study Centre in the UK or the split between Indiana Yearly Meeting and Friends United Meeting, in a more timely fashion than ever before.
5. Three Common Fallacies of Quaker Leadership
“We need to talk about leadership,” Andy Stanton-Henry insisted in June. “It’s essential to the health of our current leaders, the vitality of our meetings, and the future of the Society of Friends.” Andy walked readers through the misleading notions that Quakers don’t even have leaders, that they are too “chill” to take charge and act decisively in difficult situations, and that empathy requires them to stand by and do nothing while others take advantage of the power vacuum.
4. Speaking Up for Palestinian Rights Now
“The horrific events and war crimes in southern Israel and Gaza committed since October 7 by both Hamas and the State of Israel have sent shock waves of anguish and grief around the world,” Steve Chase reflected in November. But the question of Israel and Palestine is one that he’d been thinking about for some time, as he explains in this account of a fact-finding journey through the West Bank, Galilee, and Jerusalem earlier this year.
3. A Visit to the Hector Meetinghouse
“There are few things as rewarding for me as driving down a country road and finding an old building, secluded among the trees,” Chester Freeman declared in June. The Hector Meetinghouse, outside of Ithaca, N.Y., is one such place that he’s come to appreciate. “When I entered the door in silence, it felt as though I was walking into a sacred space—a space where I can open my heart, mind, and soul to receive whatever message may be given to me.”
2. From Atheist to Friends
“Until recently, my spiritual history could fit on the back of a postcard,” John Marsh revealed in February. Then an encounter with the life and work of Walt Whitman got him thinking about divine matters… and led him to the Religious Society of Friends and meetings for worship. “Mostly I listen, by which I mean I remain open to whatever God or the Divine or the Light Within may have to communicate to me.”
1. Young Adults Want What Early Friends Had
“Over the past 14 years, I have seen my faith shift and transform many times over within the Religious Society of Friends,” Olivia Chalkley wrote for our September issue. “These days, I’m not so sure where I fit in as a young adult and Christ-centered Friend who finds herself in Quaker spaces that often feel more like liberal discussion groups than church.” That message struck a chord with readers, becoming the most widely read article published in 2023 in just four short months.
Banner images: Max Carter; Melissa Travis Dunham; David Botwinick
Catch up on past years’ lists!
Top Articles of 2022
- #5. The Art of Quaker Quilts by Vicki Winslow.
- #4. Quakers Must Take a Stand on Abortion by Erick Williams.
- #3. Safe Meetings Don’t Avoid Conflict by Donald W. McCormick.
- #2. The Peace Testimony and Ukraine by Bryan Garman.
- #1. Flawed Quaker Heroes by Kathleen Bell.
Top Articles of 2021
- #5. A Quaker Call to Abolition and Creation by Lucy Duncan.
- #4. Pistachios and Cats by Lynn Gazis.
- #3. When Quakers Were the Karens by Elizabeth Cazden.
- #2. The Mystical Experience by Donald W. McCormick.
- #1. Are There White People in the Bible? by Tim Gee.
Top Articles of 2020
- #5. A Quaker Antiracist Reading List
- #4. Quaker Meetings Respond to Coronavirus by Katie Breslin.
- #3. Recognizing Racism, Seeking Truth by Inga Erickson.
- #2. Careful Discernment or Spiritual Timidity? by Kat Griffith.
- #1. The Middle-Class Capture of Quakerism and Quaker Process by Donald W. McCormick.
Top Articles of 2019
- #5 Selling Out to Niceness by Ann Jerome.
- #4 Building White Racial Stamina by Liz Oppenheimer.
- #3 A Quaker School’s Response to Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Erik Hanson.
- #2 We Are Not John Woolman by Gabbreell James.
- # 1 Slavery in the Quaker World by Katharine Gerbner.
Top Articles of 2018
- #5 Are We Really Christian? by Margaret Namubuya Amudavi.
- #4 What People Really Want from Church and Quaker Meeting by Donald W. McCormick.
- #3 Simple Living Beyond the Thrift Store by Philip Harnden.
- #2 Can Quakerism Survive? by Donald W. McCormick.
- # 1 Civility Can Be Dangerous by Lucy Duncan.
Top Articles of 2017:
- #5 Mystical Experience, the Bedrock of Quaker Faith by Robert Atchley.
- #4 Weeping to Joy by Betsy Blake.
- #3: A Mysticism for Our Time by Roger Owens.
- #2: It Breaks My Heart by Kate Pruitt.
- #1: A Quaker Approach to Living with Dying by Katherine Jaramillo.
Top articles of 2016:
- #5 Framing the Light by Jean Schnell.
- #4 Why Quakers Stopped Voting by Paul Buckley.
- #3 Affirming Ivy by Laura Noel.
- #2 The Third Reconstruction by William J Barber II.
- #1 A Gospel of Quaker Sexuality by Kody Gabriel Hersh.
Top articles of 2015:
- #5 Baltimore, the Time Is Now by Sarah Bur.
- #4 Reflections on Selma by Gail Whiffen.
- #3 What Quakers and Catholics Might Learn from One Another by John Pitts Corry.
- #2 Realizing Wholeness: Reflections from a Gay Palestinian Quaker by Sa’ed Atshan.
- #1 Beyond Goodness Sex by Su Penn.
Top articles of 2014:
- #5 Dear Friend/Good White Person by Regina Renee.
- #4 Sustainable Simplification Shuns “Shoulds” and Sacrifice by Chuck Hosking.
- #3 A Quaker Argument against Gun Control by Matthew Van Meter.
- #2 My Experience as an African American Quaker by Avis Wanda McClinton.
- #1 White Narcissism by Ron McDonald.
Top articles of 2013:
- #5: Bum-Rush the Internet interview with Jon Watts.
- #4: Categorically Not the Testimonies by Eric Moon.
- #3: Are Quakers Christian, Non-Christian, or Both? by Anthony Manousos.
- #2: Quakerism Left Me by Betsy Blake.
- #1: We Think He Might Be a Boy by Su Penn.
Top articles of 2012:
- #5: The Safety of Silence by Lindsey Mead Russell.
- #4: Eight Questions on Convergent Friends, an interview with Robin Mohr.
- #3: Quakers Are Way Cooler Than You Think by Emma Churchman.
- #2: Homosexuality: A Plea to Read the Bible Together by Douglas C Bennett.
- #1: When Quaker Process Fails by John M. Coleman.
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