Spiritual Readings
This is an incomplete and continually updated list of recent readings considered, in alphabetical order by author's last name.
If the text or other resource is available online, the link is provided. Otherwise, the text may be available from the Geneva Quaker library. You may also consider purchasing from Quaker book sellers.
- Book of James
- Cloud of Unknowing by Anonymous
- Truth of the Heart, an anthology of George Fox writings from 1624-1691 collated, edited and annotated by Rex Ambler (2001)
- Speak Truth to Power: A Quaker Study of International Conflict by the American Friends Service Committee (1955)
- Pendle Hill Pamphlet 386 "The Mindful Quaker: A Brief Introduction to Buddhist Wisdom for Friends" by Valerie Brown (2006)
- selected readings by Meister Eckhart
- Pendle Hill Pamphlet 420 "Waging Peace: Discipline and Practice" by Pamela Haines (2012)
- Quakers and the Lamb's War: A Hermeneutic for Confronting Evil, Non-Violent Resistance by Gene Hillman (paper presented 2001)
- Quaker Quicks "Practical Mystic: Quaker Faith in Action" by Jennifer Kavanagh (2020)
- Testimony of Devotion by Thomas Kelly (1941)
- God is Silence by Pierre Lacout (1923), translated from the French
- Pendle Hill Pamphlet 247 "The Study of War as a Contribution of Peace" by Wolf Mendl
- a consideration of Sermon on the Mount and Quakerism by Ulrich Middeke (1990)
- Swarthmore Lecture 2022 "Perceiving the Temperature of Water" by Helen Minnis
- "The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver
- "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel
- "A Plea for the Poor" by John Woolman
- Worshipping at the Edge of Words by Ann Wrightson from Quaker World edited by C. Wess Daniels and Rhiannon Grant (2022)
- Pendle Hill Pamphlet 194 "Quakerism of the future: mystical, prophetic, and evangelical" by John R. Youngblut
- Die Aufgabe der Quäker in unserer Welt des Unglaubens - Vortrag von Hélène Monastier am 20.Juli 1942 in Zürich / La mission des quakers dans notre mode d'incrédulité - exposé de Hélène Monastier le 20 juillet 1942 à Zurich
- 2025 Reith lectures
- The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by HH Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler (1998)
Geneva Library Catalog - Catalogue de la bibliothèque des quakers à Genève
It is possible to borrow books from this library - in English, French, and German. The database is available on the Geneva Quaker Meeting website. It is continually updated with the most recent additions.
Texts we may consider
The Return of Fascism / Die Rückkehr des Faschismus by Johannes Czwalina
English translation is being offered
about the author....In his private life, Johannes Czwalina worked for ten years as a pastor in Basel and played a key role in establishing various important social and public institutions. Parallel to the founding of CC Czwalina Consulting AG in 1993, he established the Society for Executive Consulting (GBF), which supports people who cannot afford consulting services due to hardship. In 2009, he initiated the construction of the first and, to date, only memorial for Jewish refugees of the Second World War in Riehen, Switzerland.
Answering that of God - from SYM retreat 2026
readings considered at the SYM retreat of February 2026
Love thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West by Bart Ehrmann (not yet released but available for preorder)
From the author.....My argument in this book will seem obvious to some and implausible to others: the impulse to help strangers in need is part of our modern moral conscience because of the teachings of Jesus. My claim is that as Christianity spread throughout the ancient world after Jesus’ death, it revolutionized the understanding of ethical obligation, leading to a fundamental transformation in the moral conscience of the West.
Living the Quaker Way by Phillip Gulley
Phillip Gulley gave a talk at Quaker Call to Action on January 25, 2026