ABSTRACT
The early history of Quakerism had always interested the author, so he put forward the proposal of looking at the similarities and differences between Paul’s church at Corinth and the early Quakers, and maybe comparing both with another charismatic body. Rufus Jones’ theory, linking Quakerism with sixteenth-century spiritual movements on continental Europe, was then in eclipse, but still had to be taken into account. So the author decided to change his subject to ‘The Faith of the First Quakers’, with a view to attempting an objective examination of the leading early Quakers and their ideas. By looking at developments year by year, a three-dimensional model of early Quakerism was built up, showing variations in the important personalities and in matters that were of interest to Quakers. Early Quakers were both politically and spiritually revolutionary. They belonged to Puritan England, but showed the influence of the European radical reformation of the previous century.
