In this short volume in the 'Quaker Quicks' series, Eleanor Nesbitt offers a meticulously researched historical account of interactions between Quakers and both the adherents and the teachings of numerous religious traditions around the world over the last three and half centuries. In accessible fashion, it lays out areas of common ground between traditions and identifies issues of common cause across them. Nesbitt couples vivid representation of key historical moments of encounter with the kind of theological and philosophical reflection germane to interfaith dialogue, as one might expect in such a volume. However, these discussions are interleaved with elements of more personal reflections drawn from Nesbitt's own unique personal experience, and with grounded accounts of human lives, religious or otherwise, historical and contemporary, that draw together the threads of experiential connection between human communities making a conscious commitment to truth, integrity, justice, simplicity, community and peace. There is no-one better qualified or better positioned than Eleanor Nesbitt to produce a work that is at once so productively disciplinarily layered and yet also so readable and accessible. Nesbitt is not confined in her analysis by the category 'religion'. She discusses shared ground among liberal Quakers and Humanists for example. Nesbitt shines her analytical light also on the fascinating history of the relationships between Quakers and Baha'is and on the Spirit and earth-centred values of Quakers and of Maori, Aboriginal and Native American peoples. She explains not only the precarity of Quaker-Jewish relations in the context of Quaker support for Palestinian refugees and the blacklisting of Quakers by the Israeli government, but the harrowing nature of that state of affairs for Jewish Quakers. Nesbitt's realism, her grounded, historical and ethnographic approach, and the writing style of someone so well known for her accessible volume on the Sikh tradition in Oxford University Press's 'A Very Short Introduction' series, combine to make this an invaluable volume, both for the project of Quaker interreligious relations, and as an exemplar of what a multidisciplinary approach can bring to the usually theological enterprise of interfaith dialogue. ~ Wendy Dossett, Emeritus Professor, University of Chester, Interreligious Insight

Eleanor Nesbitt writes as an accessible academic whose Quaker convictions make reading this book exploring her faith’s encounter with other faith and beliefs an absolute delight. The reader is taken, in short chapters, to the key points of encounter which not only nourish appreciation and understanding of other faiths but enrich one’s own. I quickly realised, for example, how my own Anglican background can blind me to important insights, like missing seeing the divine in the other. Eleanor’s gentle and respectful approach is one that carries the reader on her own exploratory journey, that is in part a Quaker history of inter-faith engagement with all its challenges and rewards. Quakerism does seem to offer a much needed spiritual space for searching people as her many anecdotal stories testify. Her deep knowledge of other faiths reveals itself time and again, as for example on page 27 when she writes, ‘Because of the inseparability of religious identity from some national politics and inter-communal conflict, Quaker challenges to perceived injustices can make relations with some faith communities more precarious.’ In this short book the reader takes away a strong sense that today’s Quakers are passionate about peace, hold respect for all, and are ready to see the divine in the other. In today’s world of conflict and strife it is good to have such virtues attested to with such clarity. ~ John Hall, former Interfaith Advisor Diocese of Exeter and currently member of Devon Faiths and Beliefs Forum, personal communication

It's very readable! Accessible! ~ Stephen Petter, attender at Bull Street Meeting, Birmingham, personal communication

Open to New Light... gives me a new insight in the history and spirit of the Quakers, and how we all are linked together. ~ Professor Sissel Oestberg, former Rektor of Oslo University College, personal communication

Marvellous and inspiring. ~ Ian Florance, poet, novelist, journalist and coach, n/a

Accessible, informative and concise. ~ Sandra B., volunteer chaplain, personal communication

An excellent and stimulating read ~ Rev Gareth Jones, Interfaith Officer, The Methodist Church in Scotland, personal communication

Very fascinating and very useful. ~ Dr Carol Boulter, Reading Interfaih Group, personal communication

'Reading this book gave me a fascinating insight into what world faiths can have in common and how Quaker values have often been a fruitful meeting point for those faiths. I recommend it wholeheartedly.' ~ James Stacey, Quaker, teacher and poet, n/a

I think that Open to New Light is amazing, excellent, exactly what I wanted to know about, in the most effective, concise form possible. I love it. Without even a word of exaggeration! ~ Lee Gunn, Researcher, writer and Coventry Friend, n/a

Open to New Light covers a huge amount of ground in an accessible way, in a short space, without making the material seem in any way simplistic or superficial. I am sure the book will be received as a very valuable introduction to the topic. ~ Stuart Masters, Programme Coordinator (History and Theology), Woodbrooke, Birmingham, UK

Open to New Light is not only for readers interested in exploring Quaker history and principles, but also for anyone interested in different faiths and the relationships between them. The topics covered include Quakers’ historic interfaith encounters, as well as more recent engagements with Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Jains, Sikhs, Baha’is, followers of Indigenous religions and Humanists. Taking it from the top, Quakers have acknowledged the existence and significance of other faiths from the start. George Fox quoted from the Qur’an in writing to the King of Algiers about slavery. William Penn in 1682 spoke to the Native Americans, as an equal in their own language, of ‘the Great Spirit who made me and you’. John Woolman a hundred years later, with the support of his Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, engaged with them in the same way, asking “…if haply I might receive some instruction from them….” (Quaker faith & practice 27.02) The Friends Foreign Mission Association (founded in 1868) reflected nineteenth century concerns to convert the ‘heathen’. By 1928 the Association had become part of the new Friends Service Council which recognized how its witness had gradually evolved. Its former secretary Henry Hodgkin wrote in 1933, ‘I really find myself wanting to learn from people from whom I would previously have regarded as fit objects for my missionary zeal’ (Quaker faith & practice 27.07). As so-called unprogrammed or silent tradition Friends, BYM should be aware that programmed Evangelical Friends in the USA actively continue to evangelize at home and abroad mainly in East Africa and Latin America. As we are all well aware, Britain is now a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. Quakers are conscious of issues of faith and concerned for good relations within our communities. For some Friends the differences of belief, worship and culture between religions will be of a quite different order from ecumenical or inter-Church denominational differences in the UK. Some Quakers have come to the Religious Society of Friends with an interest or connection to another faith, from their upbringing, family relationships, or personal searches for spiritual sustenance. Thus they be informed if they are to avoid naïvité, and engage respectfully with unfamiliar people’s lives. Even at the level of neighbourliness each of us needs a basic grasp of etiquette – what behavior is likely to give offense and if possible a knowledge of the day by day and year round pattern of observances likely to be found. What author Eleanor Nesbitt does here in Quaker Quicks: Open to New Light - Quakers and Other Faiths is reveal how the worlds faiths can, and have come together, have been able to already show what they have in common, and all in a mighty fine and highly accessible way. All told in a readily consumable way, Nesbitt also brings forth personal revelations from her Friends on how they, in some small ways, have themselves been viewed by members of other various religions as having acclimatized to other religiously-driven ways re: merged identities. ~ Anne Carlini - Exclusive Magazine, https://annecarlini.com/ex_books.php?id=570

A Quaker by convincement who has herself been involved in interfaith explorations, Eleanor Nesbitt has given us a well-researched and highly accessible account of liberal Quaker (Society of Friends) encounters with other faith traditions over the past 350 years. As a follow up to her Interfaith Pilgrims (2003), Nesbitt explores how liberal Friends from Britain and North America, pursuing a Quaker approach of “discerning openness,” have interacted with peoples of non-Christian religions (Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Pagan, and humanist) -- in their travels, commonly exhibiting a readiness “to learn from others” and “to work with other communities of faith” and, at home, following “an imperative of being a good neighbour to newcomers from different faith backgrounds.” Nesbitt also provides us with accounts of how Friends have themselves come to be viewed by members of these other religious traditions, discusses cases of individuals who have taken on merged identities (as, for example, “Muslim Quaker” or “Buddhist Quaker” or “Hindu Quaker”), and explores various Quaker interfaith initiatives. Open to a New Light exhibits Nesbitt’s personal and scholarly familiarity with Quakerism as well as her personal and scholarly familiarity with other religious traditions. (She is married to a Hindu man and is herself a leading Sikh studies scholar.) This background makes for a book both heartfelt and knowledgeable and one that should be of interest to Quakers and non-Quakers alike. ~ Professor Verne A. Dusenbery, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Hamline University, St Paul, Minnesota, USA, n/a

Nesbitt provides an accessible and deeply informed account of Quakers engaged in interfaith activity over the last three and a half centuries. This is not purely a historian's view, but that of a practitioner, who lives out her own interfaith quest. Nesbitt's spirit is gentle and open, her writing incisive, always aware of complexities and questions, always searching for a deeper truth to find equality, justice, community, simplicity and peace. I am not a Quaker. I found so much to learn from this book and commend it to all engaged reflectively with interfaith matters. ~ Professor Gavin D'Costa, Emeritus Professor of Catholic Theology, University of Bristol; Professor of Interreligious Dialogue, Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, Rome

Eleanor Nesbitt offers a compelling, meticulous and insightful historical account of Quakers' interfaith journey focusing on the 17th and 18th centuries as well as later and contemporary developments in Quaker thought and interreligious engagement. It encompasses a wide range of religious faiths and indigenous traditions that Quakers of varying theological orientations, have interacted with over the last 350 years and how both Quakers and adherents of diverse faiths have been deeply enriched by their interfaith encounters in different contexts. What comes across clearly in Quakers' interfaith engagement is their commitment to 'values of truth and integrity equality and justice, community, simplicity and peace’ and their openness and willingness to see ‘God in everyone’ and ‘God in everything'. This book should be of enormous interest not only to Quakers but also to those of other faiths or none. ~ Dr Sharada Sugirtharajah, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham