The Light Within: Quakerism, Naturalism and the Biblical Corpus

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to engage and critique the manner in which the Christian Naturalist Karl E. Peters engages with the biblical text as seen in his 2022 work Christian Naturalism. This paper will argue that Peters' handling of the biblical text is founding wanting, both on a historical critical and moral level. To remedy this, this paper proposes that Peters' Christian naturalism should integrate the insights of Quakerism in the way in which they relate to the scriptures, specifically, the manner in which Quakers elevate the inner light over and above the Bible. It will then be argued that the Christian Naturalist should align themselves closer to the liberal Quaker tradition given that the tradition has many other features which a Christian Naturalist would find congenial.