Theosis

THEOSIS: PARTAKERS OF DIVINITY WITH GOD
PROF. M. M. NINAN
Though these are crucial issues and needed to be addressed, from an eastern perspective, we have too
often lost sight of the forest through the trees.”
("Anglo-Orthodoxy": Why some Episcopalians are turning to Eastern Orthodoxy for spiritual enlightenment by William DiPuccio,
Ph.D
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/DiPuccioAngOrthodox.php)
Quakers are members of a group with Christian roots that began in England in the 1650s. The formal title of
the movement is the Society of Friends or the Religious Society of Friends. The Quaker movement
was founded in the 17th century by George Fox. Fox was a reluctant starter of a new sect, his idea was
to try and transform the existing structures to a more accurate following of Christ. For this he, and his
followers, were persecuted by Cromwell's Puritan government and then the "restored" Charles II
Catholics. Fox argued, based on the teachings of Peter (Acts 2 & 3), for an egalitarian, spirit-filled
Christianity that would not be oppressive of people on account of race, sex, or class. The Religious Society
of Friends (Quakers) was the first corporate body in Britain and North America to fully condemn slavery as
both ethically and religiously wrong in all circumstances.
In 1988 the society had 200,260 members, with heavy concentrations in the United States (109,000), East
Africa (45,000) and Great Britain (18,000). Quakers unite in affirming the immediacy of Christ's teaching;
they hold that believers receive divine guidance from an inward light, without the aid of intermediaries or
external rites. Meetings for worship can be silent, without ritual or professional clergy, or programmed, in
which a minister officiates.
Although their antecedents lie in English PURITANISM and in the ANABAPTIST movement, the Society of
Friends was formed during the English Civil War. Around 1652, George Fox began preaching that since
there was "that of God in every man," a formal church structure and educated ministry were unnecessary.
His first converts spread their faith throughout England, denouncing what they saw as social and spiritual
compromises and calling individuals to an inward experience of God. In spite of schism and persecution, the
new movement expanded during the Puritan Commonwealth (1649-60) and after the restoration of the
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