Friends Releases First Faith & Practice

Since the gathering of their first communities in the seventeenth century, members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, have been wary of creeds or other prescribed declarations of faith. However, individual Friends, as well as small groups of Friends and Friends’ Meetings, have issued written statements of their beliefs (testimonies), as well as guidance and advice about ways of being and acting in the world. These expressions of “faith and practice” are living documents, open to revision as Friends engage in the continuing search for truth.

 

The Friends Seminary Faith & Practice began to take shape three years ago with a meeting of faculty and staff, and continued, as many Quaker projects do, with the formation of a committee, consisting of representatives of the faculty, the School Committee, and parents. Using as its core the six testimonies generally accepted by Friends today, the Faith & Practice Committee prepared this booklet with input from the entire school community, including students from Kindergarten through Upper School. In particular, most of the queries were generated in student homerooms and advisories, and in meetings of faculty and staff. Faith & Practice is at once a reflection of our present reality and an expression of our aspirations as an educational community informed by Quaker values.