With the focus for Quakers being on experience and action rather than theology and creeds, substantially diverse beliefs can underlie a common experience of worship and community life. This can be an enrichment, but it can also prevent communities from exploring their faith at depth. The faith that I brought to Quakers was strongly formed in the Christian Church. My co-author, Alex Wildwood, has a fascinatingly different background with negative experiences of church in childhood preceding transformative experiences in both deep ecology and Twelve Steps fellowships as well as the discovery of Quakers. For several years we travelled to Quaker Meetings in the UK as well as making visits to Germany and Norway. The book we wrote was designed to capture the dialogue form we chose to work in as we encouraged Quaker meetings that there was everything to be gained from honestly exploring difference and much to lose by remaining closed off from each other.

Rooted in Christianity, Open to New Light: Quaker Spiritual Diversity was published in 2009 by Pronoun Press with copies available at £9-00 in the UK and $15.49 in the US. It is also published in German as Verwurzelt im Christentum - Offen für neues licht from pyrmont@quaker.org for 15 euro.