God in the Cubicle: Why Aren't Quakers Talking More about Debt?

I REACHED THIS WEEK FOR FAITH AND PRACTICE, the book that Quakers turn to for guidance on how to live their lives in accordance with the testimonies and beliefs of Quakerism, to see what it says about debt. I was surprised to find that it says virtually nothing. At least that’s the case with the version I use most often, from my yearly meeting. 

    That’s a shame. The first generations of Quakers had a lot to say on the subject. With the U.S. struggling to crawl out of a financial collapse and recession brought on by a decade-long debt-fueled spending spree, our society could benefit from a point of view that looks at debt from a spiritual context.

    I’m not an expert on Quaker history; someone may jump in with a more seasoned perspective. But my sense from readings over the years and being part of Friends meetings is that early Quakers would say that the piling-on of debt in contemporary consumer culture through credit cards, mortgages, equity lines, lines of credit, personal loans, business loans, student debt, et al, has exacted spiritual as well as financial costs. It's hard to be spiritually free if you're encumbered with debt.

    “Owe no man anything but love,” in the words of George Fox (pictured), the founder of Quakerism.

    According to Israel Grubb’s history Quakerism and Industry before 1800, Quakers were not opposed per se to debt. Securing financing was a fact of life. Records from the 1600s and 1700s, in fact, show Quaker meetings advanced funds to help members start businesses, buy tools and materials for their businesses, and acquire training. (The generosity wasn't limited to financing; meetings also helped Friends find jobs and provided care for Friends in need.)

    Cork Meeting, for instance, loaned £4 John Hartford to buy materials for his trade. Dublin Meeting advanced £3 to help Richard Lloyd start a business, extended £5 to John Ashton to buy leather for his trade, and bought a loom for J. Baggiley. Meetings also recorded repayments of debt; one meeting said it'd received £20 from a young Friend it’d help relocate to Pennsylvania.

    But Friends also warned followers of the dangers of being over-extended – “trading beyond your ability” and “stretching beyond your compass,” in the language of the day. They offered advice on managing money, and stepped in on occasion to help Friends avoid bankruptcy. Their cautions on debt were often stern. Going into debt to support a lifestyle was especially disdained. George Fox deemed people who lived on credit “wasters of other men’s goods” and “destroyers” of resources that could be put to better use.

    Such words may sound harsh to today’s ears. But how Friends managed their money, as all of life, was seen as an expression of one’s faith. Religion was not separated from daily affairs but “lived out through them,” Grubb writes.

    From my readings, the message I take away from early Friends is that debt, as often as not, gets in the way of faith. It complicates life, posing conflict with the Quaker belief in simplicity. It can lead to turmoil – stress, sleeplessness, tension in relationships, late fees, and, if it progresses, calls from collection agencies, foreclosure, and bankruptcy –  creating conflicting with other Quaker principles including peace and integrity.

    Though modern advertising often presents debt as leading to abundance – enabling us to buy to our hearts’ desires, create “priceless” moments, be “everywhere you want to be,” “tap” our equity, and be members of a special club that “has its privileges” – debt can also cut us off from paths we’re spiritually led to. The more bills we have, the harder it is to pursue a leading. Can we really “let our lives speak” if we’re weighed down by debt?

    To early Friends, it was important to stay flexible. It was not uncommon for Friends to step back from paid work periodically to devote themselves to good works. Thomas Chalkley. for example, noted in his journal that, having “got a little money” from his work, “a little being enough,” he planned to now devote himself to “the work and service of my great master Jesus Christ.”

    Some of what early Friends said and did seems strange from a modern vantage. In addition to proffering advice, meetings sometimes asked to look at members’ finances. Quaker elders in Ireland in 1702 ordered a “strict and diligent inspection into the condition and circumstances of all Friends,” with followers asked to “cast up their accounts, debt, and credit,” to address concerns that people were “falling into debts beyond what they have to pay.” One meeting separately reported that “to our great grief,” members were not paying their debts punctually.

    But in an era when Friends, as an upstart, disapproved sect, were subject to religious persecution, and debtors prison was a threat to all, debt was a big deal.

      A friend notes that there are times when debt makes sense, to pay down in increments something you couldn't cover all at once. That's true. But I wonder if meetings could do more to help people practice spiritual discernment about when those times are. Should we offer clearness or oversight committees on money decisions at different stages of life? Should we be updating Faith and Practice and holding breakfast discussions and conference seminars on debt?

    With millions of people today caught up in the “virtual debtors’ prison” of foreclosure and bankruptcy, Quakers’ timeworn wisdom could have new value.

    Friends’ blend of common sense and Spirit could offer a new voice to other conversations as well -- for instance, the modern application of the biblical “jubilee year” of debt forgiveness.

    While the Old Testament talks about debt forgiveness (e.g. Deuteronomy 15:1 “Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts”) and counsels against charging interest (e.g.  Exodus 22:25’s advice not to “exact interest” from "the poor among you"), I struggle to find Biblical advice on taking on debt. The closest I come is Deuteronomy 15:6 “you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow,” but that’s a prescription to nations.

    A good starting point for conversation could be this sentence from Christian Faith and Practice, from London Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends (which has a bit more to say on the subject of debt): “From its earliest days our Society has laid great stress on honesty in business and the payment in full of debts justly incurred.” I particularly like the emphasis on “debts justly incurred” in context of consumers and Third World countries who have been inveigled into debts they couldn’t afford.

    Or there's advice 15 from "Advices from the Elders at Balby," from 1656, the one mention of debt in my Faith and Practice, tucked back in the section on the history of Quakerism: "Friends in callings and trades are to be faithful and upright, and keep to yea and nay. Debts to be punctually paid, that nothing they may owe to any man but love to one another."

**

Israel Grubb's Quakerism and Industry before 1800, the primary source for the Quaker anecdotes in this essay, appears regrettably to be out of print. I was fortunate to be able to read a copy earlier this year while in Richmond, IN, for a class at Earlham School of Religion. 

Comments

[Roger D-W]

Thanks for this blessing on the day.

[Jon]

Thank you, Roger. I am continuously impressed at how early Friends infused their beliefs into all of their lives. I have been considering a leading to try to turn this essay on Friends' practices regarding debt into a Pendle Hill pamphlet or Friends Journal article, and to develop a program and queries for adult religious education. Do Friends/friends think this would be useful?

[Steven Davison]

Thank you for this posting, John. I also feel that we Friends need to pay more attention, not just to debt but to economics in general. Many yearly meetings do not mention economics at all in their sections on the testimonies in their books of discipline.

This is especially true for Christ-centered Friends, I feel, since debt relief was at the very center of Jesus' gospel message. He proclaimed a Jubilee with the very first words of his public ministry in the gospel of Luke (Luke 4:16-30) and used debt as the central metaphor for sin in the Lord's prayer (forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors). All the Beatitudes are about bankruptcy via inheritance law. 'Redemption' itself is an economic term, reflecting the tradition of his people as having been ransomed by their God from debt slavery in the Exodus, the foundational event that created Israel as his people. Debt and debt redemption could not be more important to the original gospel of Jesus, though, of course, the Christian tradition has pretty much abandoned Jesus on this point. We have Paul to thank for that, I think.

Anyway, while researching my own book on Quakers and Capitalism, I've found some resources you might be interested in, listed below. Also, check out Google Books for finding books like these in local libraries. There's a link on the right side of the Google Books page for doing library searches by zip code. It's not completely reliable—it gives six results for Quakers and Industry before 1800 within 60 miles of my zip code, but doesn't list the library where I got the book, the Princeton Theological Seminary. Seminary libraries may not be on their radar, so you might check to see if there's a seminary near you with a decent Quaker section.

Here are those other books:

Meeting House and Counting House: The Quaker Merchants in Colonial Philadelphia: 11682–1783. Frederick B. Tolles; Chapel Hill, NC; 1948.

The Philadelphia Quakers in the Industrial Age: 1865¬–1920. Philip S. Benjamin; Temple University Press, Phil.; 1976.

Quakerism and Industry Before 1800. Isabel Grubb, M.A.; Williams & Norgate, Ltd., London; 1930.

Quakers In Science and Industry; being an account of the Quaker contribution to science and industry during the 17th and 18th centuries. Arthur Raistrick; The Bannisdale Press, London; 1950.

Quakers in Commerce: A Record of Business Achievement. Paul H. Emden; Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., London; 1939.

The Quakers: Money & Morals. James Walvin; John Murray, London; 1997.

The Covenant Crucified: Quakers and the Rise of Capitalism. Douglas Qwyn; Pendle Hill Publications, Wallingford, PA; 1995.

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Max Weber; Charles Scribner’s Sons, NY; 1905.

[bible audio]

The stuff was really perfect and the pics were superb really nice blog and i really liked it thanku very much for the blog...:)

[Jon]

Thank you, Steven and Bible Audio, for your comments. Steven, thanks especially for your additional Biblical insight -- so true. Great bibliography, too. Some of the books are familiar -- Tolles, Grubb, Raistrick, and Walvin. "Covenant Crucified" has been on my to-read list for some time -- this may nudge me to actually do it. I discovered some postings from your book -- look forward to reading more and, perhaps, getting together sometime. We're both in the NY metro area.