Swarthmore Lecture is one of a series of lectures, started in 1908, addressed to Britain Yearly Meeting

Britain Yearly Meeting

The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain, also known as Britain Yearly Meeting , is a religious organisation in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, often defined as a denomination of Christianity.It is a part of the international religious...

 of the Religious Society of Friends

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 (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

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

.” The name “Swarthmore

Swarthmoor Hall

Swarthmoor Hall is a mansion in Swarthmoor, in the Furness area of Cumbria in North West England. It was the home of Thomas and Margaret Fell, the latter an important player in the founding of the Religious Society of Friends movement in the 17th century. It remains in use today as a Quaker...

” was chosen in memory of the home of Margaret Fox

Margaret Fell

Margaret Fell or Margaret Fox was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends. Known popularly as the "mother of Quakerism", she is considered one of the Valiant Sixty early Quaker preachers and missionaries.-Life:...

, 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

Haverford College

Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, to give the first lecture on the evening preceding the holding of the Friends’ Yearly Meeting

Britain Yearly Meeting

The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain, also known as Britain Yearly Meeting , is a religious organisation in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, often defined as a denomination of Christianity.It is a part of the international religious...

 of 1908. In accordance with this decision, the lecture was delivered in the Central Hall, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, 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.”

The transcripts of the 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2006 lectures (not necessarily the text printed in the books listed above) are available as free downloads from the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre website. Reviews of some lectures are online on the Nayler blog

List of Swarthmore Lectures

Year	Author	Title	Notes
1908	Rufus M. Jones	Quakerism: a Religion for life
1909	William Charles Braithwaite	Spiritual Guidance in the experience of the Society of Friends
1910	Joan Mary Fry Joan Mary Fry Joan Mary Fry was an English social reformer and a Quaker.-Early life:Joan Fry was born on 27 July 1862 in London, into a wealthy family of Quakers...	The Communion of Life
1911	Thomas Hodgkin Thomas Hodgkin (historian) Thomas Hodgkin , British historian, son of John Hodgkin , barrister and Quaker minister, and Elizabeth Howard ....	Human Progress and the Inward Light
1912	Terrot Reaveley Glover	The Nature and Purpose of a Christian Society	For biographical information on this lecturer, see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article by Sydney C. Roberts, ‘Glover, Terrot Reaveley (1869–1943)’, rev. Herbert H. Huxley
1913	Joshua Rowntree Joshua Rowntree Joshua Rowntree was elected Member of Parliament for Scarborough in 1886 and served, as a Gladstonian Liberal, until 1892, when he was succeeded by the Conservative, Sir George Reresby Sitwell, whom he had defeated in 1886.He was an active Quaker...	Social Service - its place in the Society of Friends Social Service - its place in the Society of Friends Social Service - its place in the Society of Friends was the title of the controversial Swarthmore Lecture given by Joshua Rowntree, a Liberal politician, in 1913. The principal subject was the question of what would be the appropriate Friends' view on industrial schools and other institutions...
1914	Edward Grubb Edward Grubb (Quaker) Edward Grubb was an influential British Quaker who made significant contributions to revitalizing pacifism and a concern for social issues in the Religious Society of Friends in the late 19th century as a leader of the movement known as the "Quaker Renaissance." Like most pacifists of his...	The Historic and Inward Christ: a study in Quaker thought	For biographical information on this lecturer, see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article by Thomas C. Kennedy, ‘Grubb, Edward (1854–1939)’
1915	Silvanus P. Thompson Silvanus P. Thompson Silvanus Phillips Thompson FRS was a professor of physics at the City and Guilds Technical College in Finsbury, England. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1891 and was known for his work as an electrical engineer and as an author...	The Quest For Truth
1916	Henry T. Hodgkin	The Missionary Spirit and the Present Opportunity
1917	William Littleboy	The Day of Our Visitation
1918	Lucy Fryer Morland	New Social Outlook
1919	Lucy Violet Holdsworth	Silent Worship : The way of wonder
1920	Herbert G. Wood	Quakerism and the Future of the Church	For biographical information on this lecturer, see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article by Thomas C. Kennedy, Wood, Herbert George (1879–1963)
1921	T. Edmund Harvey	The Long Pilgrimage : human progress in the light of the Christian hope
1922	Carl Heath	Religion and Public Life
1923	Helen Maria Sturge	Personal Religion and the Service of Humanity
1924	Gerald Kenway Hibbert	The Inner Light and Modern Thought
1925	John William Graham	The Quaker ministry
1926	A. Neave Brayshaw	The Things that Are Before Us
1927	Henry Thomas Silcock	Christ and the World's Unrest
1928	John S. Hoyland	Light of Christ
1929	Arthur Stanley Eddington Arthur Stanley Eddington Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, OM, FRS was a British astrophysicist of the early 20th century. He was also a philosopher of science and a popularizer of science...	Science and the Unseen world	U.S. Macmillan, UK Allen & Unwin. 1980 Reprint Arden Library ISBN 0-8495-1426-6. 2004 U.S. reprint - Whitefish, Montana : Kessinger Publications: ISBN 1-4179-1728-8. 2007 UK reprint by Quaker Books, BYM Britain Yearly Meeting The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain, also known as Britain Yearly Meeting , is a religious organisation in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, often defined as a denomination of Christianity.It is a part of the international religious... , with a new foreword by George Ellis, Allen & Unwin ISBN 978-0-901689-81-8
1930	Gerhart von Schulze-Gaevernitz	Democracy and Religion: a study in Quakerism
1931	Howard Brinton Howard Brinton Howard Haines Brinton was an author, professor and director whose work influenced the Religious Society of Friends movement for much of the 20th century...	Creative Worship
1932	Francis E. Pollard	Education and the Spirit of Man
1933	Shipley N. Brayshaw	Unemployment and Plenty
1934	George Barker Jeffery George Barker Jeffery George Barker Jeffery was a leading mathematical physicist in the early twentieth century. He is probably best known to the scientifically literate public as the translator of papers by Einstein, Lorentz, and other fathers of relativity theory .-Career:Jeffery was born in 1891 and educated at...	Christ, Yesterday And Today
1935	William Ernest Wilson	Our Response To God
1936	Howard E. Collier	Towards a New Manner of Living
1937	Caroline Cassandra Graveson	Religion and Culture
1938	A. Barratt Brown	Democratic Leadership
1939	David Elton Trueblood D. Elton Trueblood David Elton Trueblood , who was usually known as "Elton Trueblood" or "D. Elton Trueblood", was a noted 20th century American Quaker author and theologian, former chaplain both to Harvard and Stanford universities....	The Trustworthiness of Religious Experience
1940	John Armstrong Hughes	The Light of Christ in a Pagan World
1941	Edgar Bradshaw Castle	The Undivided Mind
1942	Margaret M. Harvey	The Law of Liberty
1943	Leyton Richards	Planning for Freedom
1944	W. Russell Brain Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain Walter Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain was a British neurologist. He was principal author of the standard work of neurology, Brain's Diseases of the Nervous System, and longtime editor of the eponymous neurological medical journal titled Brain...	Man, Society and Religion
1945	Wilfrid Allott	Worship And Social Progress
1946	Joseph Edward Hoare	The Warrant For Youth's Search
1947	John W. Harvey	The Salt and the Leaven
1948	There was no lecture this year
1949	Roger C.Wilson	Authority, Leadership and Concern. A study in motive and administration in Quaker relief work	ISBN 0-85245-021-4
1950	Konrad Braun	Justice & the Law of Love
1951	Richard Duncan Fairn	Quakerism — a faith for ordinary men
1952	Thomas Farrimond Green	Preparation for Worship	ISBN 0-85245-046-X
1953	Kathleen Lonsdale Kathleen Lonsdale Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, DBE FRS was a crystallographer, who established the structure of benzene by X-ray diffraction methods in 1929, and hexachlorobenzene by Fourier spectral methods in 1931...	Removing the Causes of War
1954	Wilhelm Aarek Wilhelm Aarek Wilhelm Aarek was a Norwegian philologist and educationalist.He was a cand.philol. by education, and was appointed as a lecturer in the English language at Kristiansand Teacher's College in 1938. He had also applied for a job at Stavanger Cathedral School, but was rejected by the government...	From Loneliness To Fellowship : A study in psychology and Quakerism	Article on Wilhelm Aarek at Norwegian Wikipedia.
1955	Douglas V. Steere Douglas V. Steere Douglas Van Steere was an American Quaker ecumenist.He served as a professor of philosophy at Haverford College from 1928 to 1964 and visiting professor of theology at Union Theological Seminary from 1961 to 1962...	Where Words Come From - an interpretation of the ground & practise of Quaker worship & ministry	ISBN 0-85245-067-2
1956	Edgar Grieve Dunstan	Quakers & the Religious Quest
1957	Henry J. Cadbury Henry Cadbury Henry Joel Cadbury was a biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, and non-profit administrator. A graduate of Haverford College, he was a Quaker throughout his life, though essentially an agnostic...	Quakerism & Early Christianity
1958	Margaret B. Hobling	The Concrete & the Universal
1959	Harold Loukes Harold Loukes Harold Loukes was a British academic in India and at the University of Oxford.-Life:Loukes was educated at the Central Secondary School in Sheffield before studying English at Jesus College, Oxford. He obtained a first-class degree in 1934 and then spent 10 years teaching at the University of...	The Castle & the Field
1960	Kenneth C. Barnes	Creative Imagination
1961	Richard K. Ullmann	Tolerance & the Intolerable
1962	J. Duncan Wood	Building the Institutions of Peace
1963	L. Hugh Doncaster	God in Every Man
1964	Richenda C. Scott	Tradition and Experience
1965	John Macmurray John Macmurray John Macmurray MC was a Scottish philosopher. His thought moved beyond the modern tradition begun by Descartes and continued in Britain by Locke, Berkeley and Hume. He made contributions in the fields of political science, religion, and philosophy of education in a long career of writing,...	Search for Reality in Religion	ISBN 0-85245-001-X
1966	William E. Barton	The Moral Challenge of Communism: Some Ethical aspects of Marxist/Leninist Society
1967	Kathleen M. Slack	Constancy and Change in the Society of Friends
1968	William Homan Thorpe William Homan Thorpe William Homan Thorpe FRS was Professor of Animal Ethology at the University of Cambridge, and a significant British zoologist, ethologist and ornithologist....	Quakers and Humanists
1969	Maurice A. Creasey	Bearings, or, Friends and the new reformation
1970	Kenneth E. Boulding Kenneth E. Boulding Kenneth Ewart Boulding was an economist, educator, peace activist, poet, religious mystic, devoted Quaker, systems scientist, and interdisciplinary philosopher. He was cofounder of General Systems Theory and founder of numerous ongoing intellectual projects in economics and social science. He was...	Prospering of Truth
1971	Charles Frederick Carter Charles Frederick Carter Professor Sir Charles Frederick Carter was an academic known primarily for his role as the founding Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University....	On having a sense of all conditions	For biographical information on this lecturer, see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article by Roger Middleton, Carter, Sir Charles Frederick (1919–2002)
1972	Richard S. Peters	Reason, Morality and Religion	ISBN 0-7100-7651-7
1973	George H. Gorman	Amazing Fact of Quaker Worship	ISBN 0-85245-100-8
1974	Wolf Mendl	Prophets and Reconcilers, Reflections on the Quaker Peace Testimony	ISBN 0-85245-115-6
1975	Ralph Hetherington	The Sense of Glory - A psychological study of peak-experiences	ISBN 0-85245-117-2
1976	W. Grigor McClelland	And a new earth: Making tomorrow's society better than today's	ISBN 0-85245-122-9
1977	Damaris Parker-Rhodes	Truth - a Path & not a Possession: A Quaker woman's journey	ISBN 0-85245-124-5
1978	John Ormerod Greenwood	Signs of Life : Art and Religious Experience	ISBN 0-85245-131-8
1979	John Reader	Of Schools and Schoolmasters. Some thoughts on the Quaker contribution to Education	ISBN 0-85245-140-7
1980	Janet Scott	What Canst Thou Say? Towards a Quaker theology	ISBN 0-85245-151-2
1981	Adam Curle Adam Curle Adam Curle was a British academic and Quaker peace activist. His full name was Charles Thomas William Curle; he was known as "Adam" after the town where he was born, L'Isle-Adam, north of Paris.-Background:...	True Justice, Quaker peace makers and peace making	ISBN 0-85245-156-3
1982	Gerald Priestland Gerald Priestland Gerald Francis Priestland was a news correspondent and newsreader for the BBC.-Early life and work:Gerald Priestland was educated at Charterhouse and New College, Oxford. He began his work at the BBC with a six-month spell writing obituary pieces for broadcast news...	Reasonable Uncertainty: a Quaker approach to doctrine	ISBN 0-85245-161-X
1983	Michael Rutter Michael Rutter For the motorcycle racer, see Michael Rutter Sir Michael L. Rutter is the first consultant of child psychiatry in the United Kingdom. He has been described as the "father of child psychology"...	A Measure of Our Values: goals & dilemmas in the upbringing of children	ISBN 0-85245-170-9
1984	Laurence Lerner Laurence Lerner Laurence Lerner is a South African born British literary critic and poet and novelist. He was born in Cape Town to parents of Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry, and educated at the University of Cape Town and Pembroke College, Cambridge....	Two Cinnas: Quakerism, Revolution and Poetry. A dialogue	ISBN 0-85245-182-2
1985	Christopher Holdsworth	Steps in a Large Room: a Quaker explores the monastic tradition	ISBN 0-85245-188-1
1986	Quaker Women's Group	Bringing the Invisible into the Light. Some Quaker Feminists speak of their experience	ISBN 0-85245-199-7 (Lecture performed at the University of Exeter)
1987	John Lampen John Lampen John Lampen is a Quaker Peace educator and writer. He was born in 1938. He is married to Diana Lampen. In 1987, he gave the Swarthmore Lecture, entitled Mending Hurts....	Mending the Hurts	ISBN 0-85245-206-3
1988	Harvey Gillman	A Minority of One	ISBN 0-85245-207-1
1989	S. Jocelyn Burnell Jocelyn Bell Burnell Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell, DBE, FRS, FRAS , is a British astrophysicist. As a postgraduate student she discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish. She was president of the Institute of Physics from October 2008 until October 2010, and was interim president...	Broken for Life	ISBN 0-85245-222-5, given at the University of Aberdeen 2010/2011 reprint is planned by Quaker Books, BYM Britain Yearly Meeting The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain, also known as Britain Yearly Meeting , is a religious organisation in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, often defined as a denomination of Christianity.It is a part of the international religious... .
1990	John Punshon	Testimony and Tradition: some aspects of Quaker spirituality	ISBN 0-85245-231-4
1991	Geoffrey Hubbard Geoffrey Hubbard Geoffrey Hubbard was director of the National Council for Educational Technology and Chair of the National Extension College's trustees from 1989 to his death in June 1998.He was also a well-known, active Quaker...	Patterns and Examples. Quaker Attitudes and European Opportunities	ISBN 0-85245-236-5
1992	Brenda Clifft Heales & Chris Cook	Images and Silence: Future of Quaker Ministry	ISBN 0-85245-242-X
1993	Sydney D. Bailey	Peace is a Process	ISBN 0-85245-249-7
1994	Margaret Heathfield	Being together : our corporate life in the Religious Society of Friends	ISBN 0-85245-254-3
1995	Anne Thomas	Only Fellow-Voyagers. Creation stories as guides for the journey	ISBN 0-85245-272-1
1996	Jonathan Dale	Beyond the Spirit of the Age	ISBN 0-85245-282-9
1997	Christine Trevett	Previous Convictions and end of the millennium Quakerism	ISBN 0-85245-290-X
1998	Young Friends General Meeting Young Friends General Meeting Young Friends General Meeting is the national organisation for young Quakers in the United Kingdom. The General Meetings alluded to in the title are held in February, May and October each year, in various places in the country.-History:...	Who do we think we are? Young Friends' Commitment and Belonging	ISBN 0-85245-299-3
1999	Alex Wildwood	A faith to call our own. Quaker tradition in the light of contemporary movements of the Spirit	ISBN 0-85245-312-4
2000	Tim Newell	Forgiving Justice. A Quaker vision for criminal justice	Original: ISBN 0-85245-321-3 2007 reprint: ISBN 978-0-901689-51-1
2001	Tony Stoller	Wrestling with the Angel	ISBN 0-85245-326-4
2002	Jackie Leach Scully	Playing in the Presence: genetics, ethics and spirituality	ISBN 0-85245-337-X
2003	Eleanor Nesbitt	Interfaith Pilgrims: living truths and truthful living	ISBN 0-85245-347-7
2004	Simon Fisher	Spirited living : waging conflict, building peace	ISBN 0-85245-357-4
2005	Helen Steven	No Extraordinary Power: Prayer, Stillness and Activism	ISBN 0-85245-379-5
2006	Roger and Susan Sawtell	Reflections from a Long Marriage	ISBN 0-85245-394-9
2007	Beth Allen	Ground and Spring: the foundation of Quaker Discipleship	ISBN 978-0-901689-67-2, BYM Press Release
2008	Christine A. M. Davis	Minding the Future	ISBN 0-901689-88-2 ISBN 978-0-901689-88-7
2009	Peter Eccles	The presence in the midst: reflections on discernment	ISBN 9781907123030, the 2009 Swarthmore Lecture was given during Yearly Meeting Gathering at University of York on Tuesday 28 July .
2010	Paul Lacey	The unequal world we inhabit	ISBN 978-1-907123-12-2, the 2010 Swarthmore Lecture was given during Yearly Meeting in London on Saturday 29 May 2010.
2011	Pam Lunn	Costing not less than everything: Sustainability and spirituality in challenging times	The 2011 Swarthmore Lecture was given at Yearly Meeting Gathering in Canterbury on Monday 1 August 2011. ISBN 9781907123214
2012	To be announced	To be announced	The 2012 Swarthmore Lecture will be given at Yearly Meeting in London, 25 - 28 May 2012.