Synopsis
Many remarkable gifts have come out of the Pendle Hill experience, but few are more remarkable than the series of Pendle Hill Pamphlets, ongoing now for some 85 years. Conceived as the published equivalent of messages spoken in a Friends’ meeting for worship, these brief essays reflect the range and vision of unprogrammed Quaker religious thought and practice. Among the authors represented here are a handful of famous names, such as Toynbee, Weil, and Buber. But for the most part the pamphlets are the works of a “cloud of witnesses” distinguished primarily for their spirit and expressiveness. And while there are recurring themes among them (peace, worship, spirituality, art and the changing world, Quaker faith and practice, etc.), the 450+ titles cover almost as many topics.
Over the years, many readers have commented on the richness of spiritual resources and information represented in these essays. Many have also asked for help in using them in study, reflection, and research. This index is designed to answer that need.
Distinguished by its bright, neon yellow cover, the 2019 pamphlet index includes four sections. Section I is an annotated list of the pamphlets in numerical order (from the first, Vincent Nicholson’s Cooperation and Coercion as Methods of Social Change in 1934, through PHP #454, Michael Bischoff’s The Healing Power of Stories in December 2018); the pamphlet number serves as a cross-reference tool throughout the index. Each listing includes title, author, date of publication (in parentheses), a brief summary of the essay, and its subject(s). Section II groups the pamphlets alphabetically by author. Section III lists the pamphlets alphabetically by title. Finally, section IV offers an invaluable subject index for the hundreds of pamphlets produced to date (see below).
NB: The 18-page subject index can be viewed by clicking here. In addition, Monthly Meeting librarians can download a copy of the full index (in Microsoft Excel CSV format) here.