Date of Award
4-16-1957
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
There a.re various theological positions taken by modern day Friends. Some Friends are evangelical, others are theologically liberal. In analyzing this situation one of the major reasons proposed to explain the tendency toward liberalism is related to the Friends' basic view of objective authority in general and a view of Scripture in particular. The question arises as to whether the view of Scripture held traditionally by Quakers accounts necessarily for the tendency toward religious liberalism and whether the Friends' view is actually at variance with evangelical thought today or through the course of history. The investigation is concerned with determining the answers to these definitive questions: (1) What was the Friends' view of religious authority and Scripture? (2) Did it differ from other Christian views? (3) If so, in what way did early Friends differ from their contemporaries? (4) Was the Friends' view of Scripture unique with them or was there a basis for their position in the continuity of thought in Church History as a whole? (5) Did the seventeenth century Friends contribute a corrective to the prevailing view of Scripture, and in so doing tend to overstate the matter, or was their stated view a well-balanced one and definable on its own merits?
Recommended Citation
Barratt, Dorothy E., "A Historical Study of the Friends Doctrine of Scripture" (1957). Western Evangelical Seminary Theses. 410.
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/wes_theses/410