Pleasant Green Books is excited to announce the publication of three new books this spring:

“What Canst We Say?” The Evolution of the Quaker Book of Discipline, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1715-1755, an edited transcription from the original manuscript with historical analysis of the development of the document.

The First American Quaker Discipline: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Rules of Discipline and Practice from 1704, an edited transcription from the original manuscript.

To Every Season, a novel about the early Quaker settlers in the Piedmont of North Carolina and the woman who led them.

“What Canst We Say?”

The Evolution of the Quaker Book of Discipline,

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1715-1755

Transcribed and edited with additional materials by David Haines

“What Canst We Say?” includes the texts of the various iterations and modifications of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Book of Discipline as it evolved between 1715 and 1755. It also includes an examination of the processes by which these developments occurred, including the texts of some Yearly Meeting minutes and publications produced during this time.

The Yearly Meeting was very conscious that it was seeking a document with which the community could develop a deep unity, but also that the attainment of such unity was a process, rather than a declaration of truth. There was full expectation that the contents of the Book of Discipline would be changed, and that asking questions of the current text was a part of the responsibility of the Yearly Meeting community. The documents issued at the completion of several of the sections of the Discipline included statements on how the text was to be used, as well as explanations of how the principles described in the text could be questioned, challenged, and evolved.

               Life within the Yearly Meeting during these times involved many aspects which were not dealt with extensively in the Book of Discipline, but which were important to the development of the community and to their identity in the world. Three of these issues (the rules on marriage between relatives, the evolution of the Yearly Meeting on the issue of slavery, and the role of women in the development of the Discipline) are discussed in the Appendices.

• Paperback : 176 pages‏
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 978-0-9979848-4-2
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6″ x 9″

 The First American Quaker Discipline

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Rules of Discipline and Practice from 1704

Transcribed and edited by David R. Haines

Books of Discipline have become standard sources of information for present day Quakers, with many Yearly Meetings having their own versions. It was fifty years after the beginning of Quakerism in America that the first collection of guidelines for appropriate behavior and practices was produced by the Quakers of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

The Rules of Discipline and Practice published here served as a resource, and perhaps blueprint, for the development of Quaker communities across the American colonies. The first North Carolina Yearly Meeting Book of Discipline, finished in 1755, cites this 1704 work as its model for Yearly Meeting practices in the early eighteenth-century.

While much of the content would now be considered anachronistic, this effort to define and to construct boundaries around the Philadelphia Quaker community is instructive in the sources of many of the Society of Friends processes and values which are still at the center of our meetings. 

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6″ x 9″

 

 

To Every Season

A Novel About the Eighteenth-Century Quakers in the Piedmont of North Carolina

By Nancy Learned Haines

To Every Season follows a fictionalized Quaker family in its pioneering journey dowTn the “Great Philadelphia Wagon Road” in the mid-1700s from Southeastern Pennsylvania to Piedmont North Carolina. Mary Jackson, a lively young Irish wife and mother, and her husband have a loving, joyful relationship. Life is hard, but also fulfilling as they clear their land, build their home, and raise their growing family. Shortly after they arrive, Mary answers the call to lead the women in her Quaker meeting, a role she struggles to fulfill with sensitive insight and loving care.

Too soon, their peaceful community is shattered when farmers rise in rebellion as Regulators, demanding an end to local government corruption. Some Quakers are disowned by the meeting when they join the uprising and a large group moves to Georgia, leaving Mary as the only strong voice among the remaining members of her Quaker meeting. Despite her efforts, the women of the meeting can only watch as the rebels become increasingly violent. Negotiations for a peaceful resolution are unsuccessful. The rebellion fails in a bloody battle.

            As the drumbeats of the American Revolution reach the Piedmont, the future of the Quaker community rests on Mary’s shoulders. Only the strength of her spiritual reserves will ensure her small Quaker meeting survives.

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 262 pages;
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0997984813
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0997984811
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.66 x 8 inches

Other Books Published by Pleasant Green Books

We Answered With Love: Pacifist Service in World War I :

The Letters of Leslie Hotson and Mary Peabody

By Nancy Learned Haines

In America, 1918 was a time of zealous patriotism. But not everyone believed in the rightness of war. Leslie Hotson’s conscience led him to go to France with the American Friends Service Committee to repair the wounds of war. Mary Peabody worked to change conditions at home as a radical socialist and anti-war activist. Both hoped that their love of mankind would lead them to living out their highest ideals.

          We Answered With Love is based on the letters of these two thoughtful young people, giving a personal perspective on the role of pacifists during the Great War and, at the same time, revealing a delightful, romantic story of friendship turning to love.

• Paperback: 412 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0-9979848-0-4
• LCCN 2016954040
• Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
• Price: $18.00
•  

Approved! A Story About Quaker Meeting for Business

By Nancy L. Haines, illustrated by Anne E. G. Nydam

How can children work cooperatively to make decisions? Approved! A Story About Quaker Meeting for Business tells of a group of children who want to donate the money they earned selling hot dogs at their Quaker meeting. The story uses simple, clear language and charming artwork to introduce Quaker process.

• Paperback: 24 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1532860137
• ISBN-13: 978-1532860133
• Dimensions: 7 x 0.1 x 10 inches
• Price: $12.00

 

Aprobado! Una Historia  Acerca de la Junta de Acuerdos  de los Cuáqueros

Escrito por Nancy L Haines

Ilustrado por Anne E G Nydam

Traducido por Kenya Casanova

          At the request of  Kenya Casanova of Cuba Yearly Meeting and Karen Gregorio of Santidad Yearly Meeting, Guatemala, both members of FWCC Section of the Americas Executive Committee, the book has been translated for  Spanish-speaking Quakers in Latin America and the United States.

• Paperback: 24 pages
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: tbd
• ISBN-13: tbd
• Dimensions: 7 x 0.1 x 10 inches
• Price: $12.00