Are Quakers Christians?
This turns out to be a complicated question. There are many possible answers; here is one. After several years of futile searching among the various denominations, George Fox had a pivotal experience of the Inward Christ (“…then, Oh then, I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition”). Fox believed that his discovery represented “primitive Christianity revived,” yet his experience caused him to lead people out of the established churches of the day, into a new fellowship. Those churches in turn viewed Quakerism as a dangerous heresy, and fiercely persecuted Quakers for the first 30 years of their existence. So from our origins, Friends have had an ambivalent relationship to the larger Christian church. Throughout our history, this inherent tension has played out in many ways, and was partly behind the Quaker schisms and separations of the 1800’s. Today, the clear majority of Friends worldwide see themselves as Christians, firmly rooted i
