The economic theology of Quakerism

This chapter focuses on the practices of the liberal branch of Quakerism in England, Wales and Ireland from around 1650 to around 1930. Its aim to understand both the connections and the disconnections between theological values, business practice and economic thinking that created the possibilities and growth for Quaker businesspeople and which led to the eventual decline of what might be called the “Holy Experiment” of Quaker business. Quakerism was one outgrowth of the Protestant Reformation’s long wave begun by Martin Luther in 1517. Quakers have always emphasized the integration of inward reflection and outward action, and have ceased to wait “upon a miraculous event and turned to the present miracle that Christ was waiting to perform daily in their hearts”. Quakers’ success in business has to be understood in relation to the beliefs and practices that have been persistently reproduced since the Quakers emerged in the mid-seventeenth century.