Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Articles arrow_drop_down
  • Submissions arrow_drop_down
  • Editorial Policies arrow_drop_down
  • About arrow_drop_down
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Articles arrow_drop_down
  • Submissions arrow_drop_down
  • Editorial Policies arrow_drop_down
  • About arrow_drop_down
  • Login
  • Register
menu
  • Articles
  • Issues
  • Author Guidelines
  • Submit an Article
  • Journal Policies
  • Publisher Policies
  • About
  • Editorial Team
  • Contact
  • Become a Reviewer
  • Articles
  • Issues
  • Author Guidelines
  • Submit an Article
  • Journal Policies
  • Publisher Policies
  • About
  • Editorial Team
  • Contact
  • Become a Reviewer
Quakerism and Approaches to Mental Affliction: A Comparative Study of George Fox and William Tuke
Research Article
Quakerism and Approaches to Mental Affliction: A Comparative Study of George Fox and William Tuke
Research Article
Quakerism and Approaches to Mental Affliction: A Comparative Study of George Fox and William Tuke

Abstract

This study compares the healing ministry of George Fox with the humanitarian reforms of William Tuke. Fox, a radical religious leader, claimed to heal by the power of the Lord working through him. Tuke, a prosperous merchant, managed an innovative asylum. Fox and Tuke lived in different times and occupied different social roles but shared a commitment to Quakerism. Both were laymen, working outside the perimeters of established medical practices and saw insanity as a condition of the soul. Their reflections on their faith in conjunction with accounts of their healing reveal how they perceived madness. Their definitions and treatments of this condition resulted from the interplay between inherent theological dilemmas of the faith and the practicality of living in a predominantly non-Quaker world. Quakerism elevates personal spiritual experience over any other authority, raising the problem of distinguishing illusion from Divine revelation. Fox and Tuke determined similarly between the authentic and non-authentic, using a yardstick of high moral standards and reliance on communal judgment. Internal unease and division, coupled with hostility or mockery from the wider society, resulted in a persistent Quaker ambiguity towards ‘madness’— empathy towards unusual experiences with anxiety to disassociate the group from this mind-set.

Keywords

George Fox, theology, history, William Tuke, madness, spiritual healing

How to Cite

Lawrence, A., (2011) “Quakerism and Approaches to Mental Affliction: A Comparative Study of George Fox and William Tuke”, Quaker Studies 15(2), 152–226. doi: https://doi.org/10.3828/quaker.15.2.152

Downloads

Download XML
Download PDF

89

Views

188

Downloads

Share

𝕏

Authors

Amanda Lawrence (University of Birmingham, England)

Downloads

  • Download XML
  • Download PDF

Issue

  • Volume 15 • Issue 2 • 2011

Publication details

Pages 152–226
Published on 2011-12-01

Licence

Identifiers

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/quaker.15.2.152

Peer Review

This article has been peer reviewed.

File Checksums (MD5)

  • XML: 20190d77ba2c637c685c241a5ac2069b
  • PDF: 69b78fec2c1b605bd85bd8d0061543ab

Table of Contents

Non Specialist Summary

This article has no summary

Close

| ISSN: 2397-1770 | Published by Open Library of Humanities | Privacy Policy |