Rufus Matthew Jones (January 25, 1863 – June 16, 1948) was an American religious leader, writer, magazine editor, philosopher, and college professor. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Haverford Emergency Unit (a precursor to the American Friends Service Committee). One of the most influential Quakers of the 20th century, he was a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

historian and theologian as well as a philosopher. He is the only person to have delivered two Swarthmore Lectures.

Early life and education

Jones was born into an old Quaker family in South China, Maine where he attended services at the Pond Meeting House and then the newer South China Meeting House. In 1885 he graduated from

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, and stayed on to earn his M.A. there in 1886. From 1893 to 1912 he was the editor of the ''Friends' Review'' (later called ''The American Friend''); from this position he tried unsuccessfully to unite the divided body of Quakers. In 1901 Jones received another M. A., from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

. He also began teaching philosophy and psychology at Haverford in 1893 and continued to do so until retiring in 1934. From 1898 to 1936 he served on the board of trustees of

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

Career

In 1917 he helped found the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). In 1927 Jones took a trip to Asia at the invitation of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. His main purpose was to address missionaries in China, but he made stops in Japan, India, and Palestine as well. While in India, Jones visited

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

and the birthplace of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

. This trip helped Jones formulate a new approach to mission – that of giving humanitarian aid to people while respecting other religions and not aggressively converting people to one's own religion. In 1938, Jones traveled with fellow Quakers George Walton and D. Robert Yarnall on a mission to Nazi Germany to try to persuade the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

to allow AFSC to assist Jewish people there after the ''

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

''. In 1947 Jones traveled to Stockholm to accept the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

for Quakers. Jones worked hard at soothing some of the hurt from the 19th century split among Friends and had some success. Jones wrote extensively on the topic of

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...

, which is one of the chief aspects of the Quaker faith. In 1948, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (Litt.D.) degree from Whittier College. He distinguished between negating or negative mysticism (making contact with an impersonal force) and affirming or affirmative mysticism (making contact with a personal being). He upheld that God is a personal being with whom human beings could interact. He wrote in ''The Trail of Life in the Middle Years'', "The essential characteristic of ysticismis the attainment of a personal conviction by an individual that the human spirit and the divine Spirit have met, have found each other, and are in mutual and reciprocal correspondence as spirit with Spirit." At the same time that he distinguished between negative and affirmative mysticism, he asserted that all negative mystics occasionally take the affirmative approach and that all affirmative mystics tread the negative path from time to time. He exerted a major influence on the life and work of theologian Howard Thurman, who studied with him from 1929 to 1930. Jones was a member of the Laymen's Commission that toured mission fields in Asia and produced '' Re-Thinking Missions: A Laymen's Inquiry after One Hundred Years'' (1932). The conclusions of this inquiry reflect his views as outlined above. Jones was a guest preacher at Central Congregational Church in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. Jones died in 1948 at age 85, in

Haverford, Pennsylvania Haverford is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community located in both Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, and Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, Lower Merio ...

Bibliography

;Books
''Eli and Sybil Jones: Their Life and Work''
Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1889.
''Practical Christianity''
Philadelphia: John C. Winston & Co., 1899.
''The Society of Friends in Kennebec County, Maine''
New York: H.W. Blake & Co., 1892.
''A Dynamic Faith''
London: Headley Brothers, 1901.
Fourth edition
London: Headley Brothers, 1920.
''Social Law in the Spiritual World: Studies in Human and Divine Inter-Relationship''
Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1904.
''Practical Christianity''
new and enlarged edition. Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1905.
''The Double Search: Studies in Atonement and Prayer''
Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1906. *''The Abundant Life'', 1908.
''Studies in Mystical Religion''
London: Macmillan and Co., 1909.
Second edition
London: Macmillan and Co., 1919.
''Stories of Hebrew Heroes''
Illustrated by George Soper. London: Headley Brothers, 1911.
''The Quakers in the American Colonies''
London: Macmillan and Co., 1911.
''A Boy's Religion from Memory''
Philadelphia: Ferris & Leach, 1913.
''Spiritual Reformers in the 16th and 17th Centuries''
London: Macmillan and Co., 1914.
''The Inner Life''
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916.
Second edition
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1917.
''St. Paul the Hero''
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1917.
''The World Within''
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1918.
''The Story of George Fox''
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1919.
''A Service of Love in War Time: American Friends Relief Work in Europe, 1917-1919''
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1920.
''The Remnant''
London: The Swarthmore Press, 1920. *''The Later Periods of Quakerism'', 1921 *''Spiritual Energies in Daily Life'', 1922. *''The Church's Debt to Heretics'', 1924?. *''Finding the Trail of Life''. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926. *''The Faith and Practice of the Quakers'', 1927.
''The Trail of Life in College''
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1929. *''Some Exponents of Mystical Religion'', 1930. *''Pathways to the Reality of God'', 1931. *''A Preface to Christian Faith In a New Age'', 1932.
''The Trail of Life in the Middle Years''
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1934. *''The Testimony of the Soul'', 1936. *''The Eternal Gospel'', 1938. *''The Flowering of Mysticism'', 1939. *''Spirit in Man'', 1941. *''A Small-Town Boy'', 1941. *''The Radiant Life'', 1944. *''The Luminous Trail'', 1947. *''A Call to what is Vital'', 1948. *''The Luminous Trail'' *''New Eyes for Invisibles'' ;Articles, Lectures and Pamphlets
"Historical Sketches of Yearly Meetings, No. 1: Baltimore Yearly Meeting"
''The Friends Review'', November 30, 1893.
"The Message of Quakerism: Two Addresses."
London: Headley Brothers, 1901.
"The Atonement."
1905.
"Quakerism: A Religion of Life."
The first Swarthmore Lecture, delivered May 18, 1908. London: Headley Brothers, 1908.
"Quakerism: A Religion of Life."
Second edition. London: Headley Brothers, 1912.
"A More Excellent Way."
New York: Association Press, 1916. *"The Quakers." I
''The Religious History of New England: King's Chapel Lectures''
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917.
"Religion as Reality, Life and Power."
William Penn Lectures. Philadelphia: Walter H. Jenkins, 1919.
"The Nature and Authority of Conscience."
The Swarthmore Lecture, delivered August, 1920. London: The Swarthmore Press, 1920. *"Mystical Experience." In ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'', May 1942. ;As Editor
''George Fox, an autobiography; edited with an introduction and notes by Rufus M. Jones.''
Philadelphia: Ferris & Leach, 1903.
Second edition
Philadelphia: Ferris & Leach, 1919.
''The Beginnings of Quakerism, by William C. Braithwaite; with an introduction by Rufus M. Jones.''
London: Macmillan and Co., 1912.
''Selections from the Writings of Clement of Alexandria''
London: Headley Brothers, 1914.
''Present Day Papers: A Monthly Journal for the Presentation of Vital and Spiritual Christianity''
Volume 1. Haverford, PA, 1914.
''The Record of a Quaker Conscience: Cyrus Pringle's Diary; with an introduction by Rufus M. Jones''
New York: Macmillan, 1918.

References

External links

* * * *
Profile at ''Quakers in the World''"The Trail of Life in the Middle Years," 1934
a
Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
*Rufus Matthew Jones material i
Jones-Cadbury family papers
a
Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Rufus 1863 births 1948 deaths 19th-century Christian mystics 20th-century Christian mystics American Quakers 20th-century American philosophers 19th-century American philosophers American historians American male non-fiction writers Bryn Mawr College people Protestant mystics Haverford College alumni Harvard University alumni Psychology educators People from China, Maine Historians of Quakerism Quaker theologians Quaker writers American magazine editors

Early life and education

Career

Bibliography

See also

Further reading

References

External links