Publications
Beacon Hill Friends House publishes and distributes a variety of publications. Below is a list of publications that you can order by phone (617-227-9118), email (publications@bhfh.org).
Click here to see a list of the publications indexed by author and by title.
Weed Memorial Lecture Series
Why Weed? Ernest and Esther Weed led the House in the 1960’s and ’70’s. Some aspects of the community still bear the stamp of their stewardship. When Ernest left a small bequest to the House it seemed fitting to use it to foster a program in their memory.
Annually since 1993 Beacon Hill Friends House has hosted a lecture by a distinguished Friend speaking on a topic of interest to Friends in New England. The lecturer gets to choose the topic so Weed Memorial lectures have covered a wide range. From 2001 through 2013, the texts of the lectures were printed as pamphlets. Luckily, Hugh Barbour, who delivered the first lecture in the series, kept his text and we were able to publish it as well. As of 2018, we are exploring new ways to make the content of Weed Memorial Lectures travel farther than the walls of our Meeting Room; we plan to livestream and host video recordings of the lectures on our Facebook page.
| # | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| BHFH-13 | GospelEcology: Locating Quakerism throughout the Ecosystem of God… In “Gospel Ecology” Rachel Stacy prompts us to question the images that underlie our concepts of the peaceable kingdom and the kingdom of heaven. She suggests that there may be much to gain by loosing our hold on that comfortable picture of the lion lying down with the lamb. The implications of her more nuanced, more inter-related images of a divine commonwealth are well worth considering. | Rachel Stacy |
| BHFH-12 | The Breaking Light: Cracking the Cosmic Egg… In The Breaking Light, we find a call to action, made personal through Lucy’s formidable story telling skills. She brings together her own story, stories she has brought back from the World Conference of Friends in Kenya, vignettes and concepts from the work of David Abram (author, cultural ecologist and philosopher) and her understanding of our Quaker ethos, to forge a call for hope and active response in the face of the challenges facing us today. | Lucy Duncan |
| BHFH-11 | Freedom Friends Church and the Remixing of Quakerism…“When is a schism not a schism?” “Does, in fact, anything go?” Peggy Senger Parsons and Freedom Friends Church found themselves confronted with these questions almost from the church’s inception. In this free-wheeling talk Peggy shares openings that have arisen from the holy experiment that is Freedom Friends Church. | Peggy Senger Parsons |
| BHFH-10 | We are Loved Let Us Love – Quakers and the Covenant of Cosmopolitanism…Ben Pink Dandelion starts out with “our covenantal call to realizing community and how our understanding of that demands of us a particular way of viewing the world. It is a challenge to us in our personal and Meeting lives and it is challenge to a world which tends to view people in terms of hierarchical varieties of ‘them’ and ‘us.’” The response he offers, using the concept of cosmopolitanism, outlines a clear, and clearly Quaker, way we should live. | Ben Pink Dandelion |
| BHFH-09 | On Stepping Out of the Boat…Walking on water. That’s not an image most of us think about often. Trayce Peterson opens up the challenges and possibilities of responding to the Light’s invitation to walk away from our safe, comfortable boat using art and experience to illustrate her ideas. | Trayce Peterson |
| BHFH-08 | Facing Unbearable Truths…Dealing with race in the United States brings many Friends to a stand-still. We brim with good intentions. But what to do? In this talk, Hal Weaver does more than just lay out the history and current state of this painful issue. He asks us to consider some answers. This pamphlet should stimulate difficult discussions among us. | Dr. Harold Weaver |
| BHFH-07 | ‘You Must Lead a Dying Life’ Reflections on Human Mortality and the Spiritual Life …There is more than just solace for loss in Tom Gates’ message. He goes on to open Quaker understandings of spiritual death, rebirth and regeneration, bringing the subject of death alive. | Thomas Gates |
| BHFH-06 | Being Faithful as Friends: Individually and Corporately…Are we as Friends too bound up in developing our individual spirituality? What qualities should we cultivate in order to nurture our faithfulness as communities? | Deborah Fisch |
| BHFH-05 | Speaking Truth in Public Policy: A Quaker Perspective…Joe Volk, the Executive Secretary of Friends Committee on National Legislation, challenges us as Friends to see the Peace testimony as a viable and valuable way for our nation to live in the world. | Joe Volk |
| BHFH-04 | Global Partnerships: A Shift from Traditional Missions …What Retha tells us about how the process Friends United Meeting has gone through to reach a new understanding of “right relationship” among Friends worldwide can provide us with a perspective on how we view Friends we encounter when we look beyond our own Yearly Meetings and culture. | Retha McCutchon |
| BHFH-03 | Peace Through Transformation (no longer in print Available for download here. This is a pdf file. Please retain the format in which it appears here, including the copyright statement, if you print copies of it. Please ask us before posting it on any other web site.) | Vanessa Julye |
| BHFH-02 | Quaker Treasure…Marty Grundy reminds us we are proud inheritors of a remarkable amalgam of faith and practice. Earlier Friends bequeathed us a way of life that joined theology and behavior. Now, we live immersed in a different dominant culture. We need to explore the whole of that earlier vision to see how it speaks to our current condition . | Martha Paxton Grundy |
| BHFH-01 | Opening the Quaker Time Capsule...In this Weed Lecture, Tom Hamm gives us a view of Quaker thought and concerns at the turn of the 20th century. In this work history illuminates current commonalities and differences across the wide spectrum of Friends then and today. (Intro. Hugh Barbour) |
Thomas D. Hamm |
| BHFH-93 | Limits to Leadings of the Light…How do we understand “Leadings?” The idea that we are divinely bidden to action can not be described as “safe”. This analysis weaves together Quaker thought with contemporary understandings of insight, God and free will. | Hugh Barbour |
Quaker Issues
Quaker Issues pamphlets arise from speaker series during the year and from submitted manuscripts which meet our publications criteria.
Kaimosi Friends Press
We are pleased to be able to distribute titles from Kaimosi Friends Press. Kaimosi Friends Press is a ministry of Friends Theological College (FTC), publishing pamphlets, tracts, and other materials on topics of particular interest to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) especially Friends in East Africa. It borrows its name from the historic printing operation in Kaimosi in the mid-1900s, noted for the production of the first hymnals in Kiswahili and Kiluhya.
Beacon Hill Friends House is distributing these publications in the belief that Friends need to read each other’s writings. It is one way to understand each other’s experience of lived Faith. The price we charge for each pamphlet we sell goes to benefit Friends Theological College. A small portion of the postage and handling fee contributes to covering our expenses.
Publications in Spanish
In collaboration with the Mosher Book & Tract Fund of New England Yearly Meeting, the House is publishing Spanish versions of basic Quaker texts translated by Susan Furry and Benigno Sanchez-Eppler. Spanish language publications provide a bridge between Friends in New England and Friends throughout the Americas. These publications may be purchased, bound, or are free for download in pdf format.
| # | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| ISBN 978-0-9818760-1-6 book, perfect bound 79pp. $8.50 each plus postage. Order by email or Download the pdf. |
Fragmentos de los escritos de James Nayler …..Based on Selections from the writings of James Nayler edited by Brian Drayton (NEYM, 2001) with additional material, this slim volume introduces the writings of an early Friend who, in his day, rivaled George Fox in his influence on the shaping of Quaker thought and understanding of life lived in the Divine Light. | selected and translated by Susan Furry and Benigno Sanchez-Eppler |
| ISBN 978-0-9818760-0-9 pamphlet, 41pp. $5 each plus postage. Order by email or Download the pdf. |
Poesia de John Greenleaf Whittier/Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier…..Whittier used his poetic gift to express his understanding of worship and Friends understanding of the Divine .This dual language edition, richly annotated with explanatory notes and Bible references, opens these nine selections from his poetry to Friends throughout the Americas. | selected and translated by Susan Furry and Benigno Sanchez-Eppler |
Books from Beacon Hill Friends House
A collection of four talks on the experience and the spiritual basis of Quaker witness, by Friends who exemplify it in the present day.John Humphries:Light Arises Out of Darkness: Prophetic Witness as Spiritual and Political Practice Gina & Heidi Nortonsmith:
Our Faith Journey to Becoming a Family- Radical Witness for Equal Marriage Katherine Fisher:
Witnessing from the Root
On the Ministry of Presence and ‘Getting in the Way
edited by Sarah Spencer.
paperback, 139 pages
$10 plus postage and handling
Celebrating 50 Years at Beacon Hill Friends House A reprinting of The Story of Beacon Hill Friends House – A personal Account by Ernest H. Weed with additional interviews with many of the Directors and Assistant Directors who have led the House program and community over the years.
edited by Clifford Putney and Sarah Spencer
paperback, 136 pages.$10.00 plus postage & handling
