| Ref No | MS 466/1/1/17/10/2 |
| Finding Number | MS 466/353/3 |
| Title | Letter from Rufus Jones to George Cadbury and Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury |
| Level | Item |
| Date | 24 March 1903 |
| Description | In this letter Rufus Jones comments on his concern over illness in the Cadbury family's household during the past year. He writes that he was looking forward to visits by Joshua and John Wilhelm Rowntree and coming to England to see Woodbrooke. Jones suggests that Woodbrooke would be 'a great force for spiritualizing English Quakerism'.
Memoirs of Rufus Jones described his Quaker faith as based on 'conception and experience of a vital, inner religion of the spirit' which expressed itself 'transformingly in the active affairs of men'. Jones' interpretation of Quaker faithfulness is reflected in his remarks about Woodbrooke in this letter. Jones suggests that 'it must not be a place for speculation and theorizing but for discovery and practicing the Divine Life'. Remarking on the present 'crisis in the Christian Church', Jones states 'we must manifest a Christianity of convincing power'. He refers briefly to the forthcoming Summer School being held to open Woodbrooke in July 1903 before concluding his letter with remarks about the death of the America Quaker philanthropist Harriet Green.
It is significant that passages of this letter have been highlighted with pencil annotations, suggesting that Jones's remarks were examined retrospectively, possibly by Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury, for use in a public address about Woodbrooke. |
| Extent | 1 |
| Format | Item |
| Related Material | Biographical information about Rufus Jones taken from the 'text of the Minute adoped by the Board of Managers of Haverford College, October 19th 1948' printed in 'Rufus M. Jones: In Memoriam', published by Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, 1950, p. 5. |
| Access Status | Open |
| Language | English |