Michael J. Sheeran

The author of this book is a Jesuit priest who became interested in the Religious Society of fFiends in 1968 when he was studying religious communities which practice communal discernment, a decision making process which the Jesuit Order also utilized when it was founded in 1540 but lost within a generation. His study a fFiends practice is based on his experience in observing Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

It is hoped that this book will be useful to Catholics and other Christians in tracing how Friends successfully employ a tradition of religious decision making which is deeply embedded in scripture but which other Christians have typically lost. In particular, the way Quakers seem to avoid the problems which face Catholics new method are explored.

Social scientists and political philosophers are invited to discover in Quakers what may be the only modern western community in which decision making achieves the group centered decisions of traditional societies. The conclusion discusses Friends as a possible answer to the contemporary wish for advancement beyond fraf=gmented individuation of “liberal” man.

Finally the author hopes Quakers themselves will find in these pages a helpful mirroring of Friends decision making. Newcomers to Quakerism and those in roles of leadership within the community may seek in this study and outsiders understanding of the possibilities and pitfalls of the Quaker method of going beyond majority rule.… (mer)

2nd ed. This book traces how Friends employ a tradition of religious decision-making that is deeply embedded in Scripture. In particular, the ways Quakers seem to avoid the problem which face Catholics new to the method are explored. Social scientists and political philosophers are invited to discover in Quakers what may be the only modern western community in which decision making achieves the group-centered decisions of traditional societies. The conclusion discusses Friends as a possible answer to the common contemporary wish for advancement beyond the fragmented individualism of "liberal" man. Finally, the author hopes Quakers themselves will find in these pages a helpful mirroring of Friends decision making. Newcomers to Quakerism and those in roles of leadership within the community may see in this study an outsider's understanding of the possibilities and pitfalls of the Quaker method of going beyond majority rule.… (mer)

This book is the result of a two-year observational study by Sheeran undertaken in 1973, into the Quaker decision-making process.

The first third of the study, together with a sizeable appendix, is devoted to an historical review of the first 50 years of Quakerism in Britain and its religious forerunners. He discovers in these early local meetings what he considers is the seed and the genius of authentic Quaker corporate decision-making. It is to this plumb-line that Sheeran returns in the remaining two-thirds of his book devoted to the contemporary scene.… (mer)