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), or mail. Click here for more information on ordering.

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. Since 2001, the texts of the lectures have been printed as pamphlets. Luckily, Hugh Barbour, who delivered the first lecture in the series, kept his text and we were able to publish it a few years ago.

# Title Author
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.

Number Title Author
BHFH-1012 Revolutionary Quaker Witness: Learning from the Lamb’s War of the 1650’s What were they thinking? What were the spiritual and social roots of the activism our Quaker forbearers were known for? Doug Gwyn provides a short guide to the history of Quaker beginnings, focussing on the aspects that enabled the first Friends to truly ‘tear down the pillars of the world’ as one version of the George Fox song has it. Gwyn applies his understanding of this dynamic to our current sense of impasse in the face of the world’s ills, and comes up with some challenging answers! Doug Gwyn
BHFH-1011 Early Friends & Ministry What did the first Friends actually have to say about ministry? Marty Grudy provides a short but thorough guide to this aspect of early Quaker thought. In addition, she gives us her incisive analysis, examining today’s thought and practice concerning ministry in the light of early Friends’ intentions. An exciting read! Martha Paxon Grundy
BHFH-1010 A Road Less Traveled:  Living Pastoral Ministry among Friends in New England Maggie’s exploration of the call to ministry takes the form of a journal of a week in the life of a modern Friend with a pastoral call. Like the journals of Friends travelling in the ministry centuries ago, this has much to teach us about being Quaker. Maggie Edmondson
BHFH-1008 On Being Grafted Into the Root Debbie’s talk initiated a series, with the theme “the call to ministry”, and the express purpose of hearing from New England Friends. In this text explores images of grafting in the Bible and in the Mormon texts she grew up with to illuminate her experience of the call to ministry. Debbie Humphries
BHFH-1007 Unity, Disunity, Diversity ~ or ~
Some mysteries of the holy Spirit’s LIFE
at work in its body’s members hinted at.
A letter to New England Friends 

“…(U)nity is not a product but a process and ‘living in unity’ is another way to describe the watchful life that is the heart of Friends response to the presence of the inward Teacher.” Using historic examples, Brian Drayton develops this theme and examines how well we are currently living this process. Surely Friends beyond New England will find this slim pamphlet as useful as his fellow New Englanders.
Brian Drayton
BHFH-1006 A Challenge to All Friends:
Listen to the Light of Christ, and then Act
Part of the New Voices series of talks by Young Adult (18-35) Friends, this essay by Cherice Bock tells us where Quaker spirituality is centered in her life and what actiion that calls for and identifies ways in which each branch of Friends could be better centered and empowered to do God’s work in the world. Cherice participated in the 2005 World Gathering of Young Friends, representing Northwest Yearly Meeting (EFI).
Cherice Bock
BHFH-1005

Called Into Being

One of the New Voices series of talks by Young Adult (18-35) Friends: A young member of FGC’s Youth Ministries Committee, Kody gives an intense, personal, joyous report on being called into a life lived authentically in response to The Call to Ministry. and challenges us to explore what living into authenticity is for the Society of Friends.
Kody Hersh
BHFH-1002 Report from the Middle: Reflections on Divisions Among Friends Today
These two essays challenge Friends of all affiliations to examine the question, “In what ways may I be limiting God’s freedom to work through whomever God may choose?”
Doug Gwyn
BHFH-1001 Fellowships, Conferences, and Associations: The Limits of the Liberal Quaker Reinvention of Meeting Polity 
Friends today seem no closer to grappling with the issues Ms. Cazden identified over 10 years ago:  How have liberal Friends arrived at our current concept of  Quakerism?  Of the many models of “church” structure, which will serve us best as we go forward?  Where should decision making power lie?  What is required of us?    This thoughtful analysis provides a basis for a discussion Friends need to pursue to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Elizabeth Cazden

 

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.

# Title Author
BHFH-3001  Stars in Africa  … a reflection on the culture and environment surrounding the ministry of Mary Kay Rehard and Patrick Nugent at Friends Theological College where they served jointly as Principal. Mary Kay Rehard
BHFH-3002 Acacia Reflections: The First Year in Africa   …  an account of the initial growth of a ministry in Africa Mary Kay Rehard
BHFH-3003  Quaker Leaders for the 21st Century… An address, offered to the graduating class of Friends Theological College which speaks eloquently of the heart and soul of Quaker ministry. Robert A. Carter,  MD, MPH
BHFH-3004 Quaker Origins, Worship & Identity: Reflections from Kenya  …  An extremely accessible introduction to unprogrammed worship and  Quakerism. Donald B. Thomas
BHFH-3005 Simple Gifts: Household Ecology in Africa  … Keeping house in Africa gives new meaning to Simplicity as well as to “green”. Mary Kay Rehard
BHFH-3006 Signs of a Healthy Church: Pathway to the Future for Friends     … This pamphlet describes spiritual disciplines that in strengthening our inward lives also strengthen our outward meetings and churches.

Mary Kay Rehard
BHFH-3007 Widows and Orphans: “True Religion” for Friends 
“Widows and orphans pose one of the greatest challenges facing the church in the 21st century.” This pamphlet lets us share this deep concern with our brothers and sisters in Africa.

Simon Bulimoh & Patrick J. Nugent 

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

While most of our publications are pamphlets, the House has published a limited selection of books.
Radical Witness: Radical WitnessA 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
Sadie Forsythe:
On the Ministry of Presence and ‘Getting in the Way
edited by Sarah Spencer.
paperback, 139 pages
$10 plus postage and handling

Beacon Hill Friends House historyCelebrating 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

 

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