The Willson Lectureship was established at Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion in 1967
by Dr. and Mrs. J.M. Willson of Floydada, Texas.

FEATURING

Margery Post Abbott

Language, belief, doctrine, and actions are all affected and shaped by an individual's experience of God. Variety in spiritual experiences give rise to multiple ways of expressing that which has been experienced. Consequently, people of faith sometimes find themselves at great distances from one another without so much as a common language to discuss how God has been present and perceived among them. The Religious Society of Friends has been no exception to that tendency over the course of its history. This year's Willson Lectures will address issues pertinent to moving toward a common language in describing our experiences of the Divine.

Margery Post Abbott is currently writing and traveling in the ministry as a “released Friend” with the support of Multnomah Monthly Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The author of A Certain Kind of Perfection: An Anthology of Evangelical and Liberal Quaker Writers as well as numerous pamphlets and articles, she has taught at Woodbrooke, in Birmingham, England, and at Pendle Hill. In 1995 she traveled as the Brinton Visitor among Friends in Intermountain Yearly Meeting. She has served as Clerk of North Pacific Yearly Meeting and was co-clerk of the first Pacific Northwest Quaker Women's Theology Conference.

Schedule

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2001

7:00 p.m. Towards a Common Language for Spiritual Experience
Stout Meetinghouse
Earlham College

Reception immediately following in the Wymondham Room

TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2001

10:00 a.m. Are We as Different as We Think? Sorting Through Our Prejudices About “Those Other” Friends
Quigg Worship Room
Earlham School of Religion Center

11:20 a.m. Common Meal
12:00 p.m. Unity, Peaceful Coexistence, or Uneasy Truce: Future Relations Among Friends
ESR Dining Room
Earlham School of Religion Center