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Books

An Apology for the TrueChristian DivinityBy Robert Barclay. Quaker Heritage PressandPeter D. Sippel, 2002. 5 6 pages. $251hardcover.

Since Robert Barclay's Apologywas firstpublished in 1678, it has been a central statement of The Light within as thought about,to use Howard Brinton's famous phrase. t hasbeen the most widely and durab ly used , read,studied, and loan ed exposition of Quaker belief since th e 18th century. If a Quaker homehad any books beyon d George Fox's journaLand the Bible, the third was likely to be Robert Barclay's.

But too often, the Apologyis referred to asthe or the only systema tic Quaker theol

ogy. Though much of its content and arrangement are due to Robert Barclay's r ~ -ing against Calvinist and other theological

opponents in his day, the book remains apowerful resource for Friends of all kinds-aresource and a challenge . In the Apologywefind both close reasoning and Scriptural exegesis on issues like the Universal and SavingLight; th e importance of right belief; the nature of salvation; th e Quak er views of ministry, worship, and the sacraments; and effective di scussion s of social testimonies and therelation of the Quaker to the state. We alsofind informativ e descrip tions of Quaker practice and customs , and we encounter some ofthe key disputed ideas of his time.

Ho w ever, iri additi on to the healthful exercise of the mind with the soul looking overits shoulder th at one gets in reading RobertBarclay, the r eader comes to feel the fervency ,warmth, and jo y that Robert Barclay discovered in coming among Friends. His exposition draws on th e testimony of his personalexperience in passages such as this one, speaking of the pow er felt in the silence:

of which I myself, in a part, am atrue witness, who not by strength ofarguments or by a particular disquisition of each doctrin e and convincementof y un d erstanding th ereby, came toreceive and bear witness of the Truth ,but by being secretly reached by thi sLife: for when I came into the silentassemb lies of Go d's people I felt a secret power among them which touched

y heart , and as I gave away unro i t, Ifound the evil weakening in me and thegood lifted up, and so I became thusknit and united unto them , hungeringmore and more after th e increase of hisPower and Life whereby I might feelmyself perfectly redeemed.

So should we all labor ro feel after the

motions of Go d 's life in us, however small anhumble, and live them experim entally.with all experime nts , part of the pa yoff istime of reflection abo ut what has happenewhat it means for us, and what we can nowand do that we could not before . So the Ligis to be felt, followed, enacted, and thoug

about by each of us - in a dialogue of heasoul, strength, and mind.Unfortunately, the Apologyhas only be

available to most of us in Dean Freidaymodern English version , an annotated parph r ase published in 1967. Now, however ,Quaker Heritag e Press has produced a hansome volume, contain ing the original Englitext of the Apology(Robert Barcla y wrote fiin Latin, and then produced his own Engliedition). The volume includes a brief intrduction, and a long appendix by LaKuenning com parin g this version with DeaFreiday 's m odern E nglish paraphrase. LarKuenning makes a strong case that DeFreiday in his paraphrases made cho ices abowording, or deletions, and even additionwhich in many cases make changes to whRobert Barclay says himself

Perhaps the single mo st jarring pointDean Freiday's edition is that in his transtion, he cho se to cite different tran slationsthe Bib le than the one Robert Barclay quotSince Robert Barclay 's arguments are oftekeyed ro particular wordings in the Scripturacitations, this substitution of wording csometimes in effect prevent him ftom makihis po in t, or even make a point he did nintend. On the basis of his study, La

Kuenning suggests that Dean Freiday' s editiis most valuable for its footnotes and comentary, which ex plain many theological anScriptural points that materiall y help the read

Which version sho uld you read? I ha veconfess th at I have not used Dean F reidaversion much since I found a copy of RobBarclay 's Works in an old barn one Maisummer. However , the Apologyin Modern Eg ishhas enabled g e ~ e r t o n sof Friends tocome acquainted w1th the Apology, to stu.dand share it, and gain some sense of he nchto be found in the book. Yet it must be sathat, since the original is available, anyousing Dean Freiday' s vers ion should.be awathat it is flawed. Meetings s hould definitd y haa copy of he new Quaker Heritage Press vsion in their libraries , so that Friends can refto it if heycannot afford to own two vers ionsth e Apology, and already have purchased acome to know the modern English version

N ow, should I not recommend DeFr eiday because it is easier language, modeEnglish ? No , I should not. As the QuakH eritage Press editor , Licia Kuenning, poinout, Barclay also wrote modern English, lguistically speaking. t is not 20th centu

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langu age, and i ts sty le is no t as clear as that ofJohn Punshon , no r even J oseph John Gur ney.Yet it is not so obscure as many o th er th eo logians, o nce one is used to the length of manyof th e sentences, whic h some tim es requirethoughtful recons id eration. T he Quaker Heritage Pr ess ed ition gives som e help with 17th-century peculiarities (and also cheerfUlly advisesthe reader who finds 17 th- cent u ry English i -ficult to keep reading it until it beco mes easy .

Th i s begs th e que st io n , What are we tothink abo ut m od ern ' versions of early Quakertexts?

Th eApologywas th e first of he great Quakertexts to be crans lated into Late Modern English, but it is not th e last. Rex Am b ler hasproduced an antho logy of quotations fromGeorge Fox with accompanying paraphrases;Ron Selleck moderni zed William Penn 's NoCross No Crown. A modern E ngli sh paraph rase of Robert Barclay 's Catechism and Con-fession ofFaith is just out, an d I have heard that

th ere isto

be a modern versio n of W illiamPenn 's Fruits o f Solitude. Th i s last gives m epau se, because his meditations are notable forth eir wit, compress io n, clarity, and pungency ,so tha t a m ode rn parap hr ase of Fruits seems asjarr ing an idea as a mod ern paraphr ase of heGettys bu rg a dd ress, or of Walden- r f ohnWo o lm an's journal. The vo ice of he original ,th e tang and taste o f it is lost in paraphras e;and there can be o th er losses, so th at on eshould use s uch versions w ith real care.

And bear in mind that paraphrase is a comm entary. No matter how faithful an d carefulthe paraphraser may be he or she is s till makingchoices in order to put things differently fro mthe way the author did; th e reader can profitfrom the paraphrase i his is kept in mind . Paraphrasers may not be under the same concern,no r responsive to th e same issues, as we re theoriginal autho r s, so that threads, nuan ces, andconcepts may be lost , recast, or unintentionally mi sshapen. D espi te such in evitab le losses,a paraphrase may serve as an intr odu ct ion, orperh aps i nvite some peopl e to read an autho rwith a reputation for diffi culty whom theymight n o t dare to appro ach o therw ise.

Yet I would ur ge Friends to remember thatwe a re not separate d from our pred ecessors byso many genera tions, nor are we reall y speak

ing a different tongue. If a paraphrase is allth at you have at hand, then read it and m eetth e a utho r on those te rm s, through anothe r 'sin t erp r etation. I f, however, you take the oppo rtuni ty to read th e o riginal, then yo u canhear the author speak in his or her own voice-and you can make your own interpretations.

-Brian Drayton

Brian Drayton an ecologist working in scienceeducation is a memberof Weare N H Meeting and a recorded minister.

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