Rufus Jones (writer)

Rufus Matthew Jones (January 25, 1863 – June 16,

1948) was an American religious leader, writer, Rufus Matthew Jones
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 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 Born January 25, 1863
Meeting House. In 1885 he graduated from Haverford South China, Maine, United
College in Pennsylvania, and stayed on to earn his States
M.A. there in 1886. From 1893 to 1912 he was the Died June 16, 1948 (aged 85)
editor of the Friends' Review (later called The Haverford, Pennsylvania,
American Friend); from this position he tried Pennsylvania, United States
unsuccessfully to unite the divided body of Quakers. In Alma mater Haverford College, Harvard
1901 Jones received another M. A., from Harvard. He University
also began teaching philosophy and psychology at
Institutions Haverford College, Bryn Mawr
Haverford in 1893 and continued to do so until retiring
College (trustee)
in 1934. From 1898 to 1936 he served on the board of
trustees of Bryn Mawr College. Main Philosophy, Psychology,
interests Theology, Mysticism, Philosophy
of Religion, History of Religion
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. 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 and the
birthplace of the Buddha. 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 to allow AFSC to assist Jewish people there
after the Kristallnacht.[1]

In 1947 Jones traveled to Stockholm to accept the Nobel Peace Prize for Quakers.[2]
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, 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.[3]

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 [mysticism] is 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.[4]

Jones died in 1948 at age 85, in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Bibliography
Books

Eli and Sybil Jones: Their Life and Work (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001593710).

Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1889.
Practical Christianity (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008728453). Philadelphia: John
C. Winston & Co., 1899.
The Society of Friends in Kennebec County, Maine (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/10
0403755). New York: H.W. Blake & Co., 1892.
A Dynamic Faith (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100435683). London: Headley
Brothers, 1901.
Fourth edition (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008731464). London: Headley
Brothers, 1920.
Social Law in the Spiritual World: Studies in Human and Divine Inter-Relationship (https://cat
alog.hathitrust.org/Record/008925800). Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1904.
Practical Christianity (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100438289), new and enlarged
edition. Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1905.
The Double Search: Studies in Atonement and Prayer (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/
009790496). Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1906.
The Abundant Life, 1908.
Studies in Mystical Religion (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001415022). London:
Macmillan and Co., 1909.
 Second edition (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100189642). London: Macmillan
and Co., 1919.
Stories of Hebrew Heroes (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001418408). Illustrated by
George Soper. London: Headley Brothers, 1911.
The Quakers in the American Colonies (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001593624).
London: Macmillan and Co., 1911.
A Boy's Religion from Memory (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100371749).
Philadelphia: Ferris & Leach, 1913.
Spiritual Reformers in the 16th and 17th Centuries (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001
407553). London: Macmillan and Co., 1914.
The Inner Life (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001390725). New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1916.
Second edition (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005775095). New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1917.
St. Paul the Hero (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005765545). New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1917.
The World Within (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005775844). New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1918.
The Story of George Fox (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001960619). New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1919.
A Service of Love in War Time: American Friends Relief Work in Europe, 1917-1919 (https://
catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000487678). New York: The Macmillan Company, 1920.
The Remnant (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007648152). 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 (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001603403). 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 (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005786632). 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" (https://catalog.hat
hitrust.org/Record/102672037), The Friends Review, November 30, 1893.
"The Message of Quakerism: Two Addresses." (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100870
405) London: Headley Brothers, 1901.
"The Atonement." (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100350251) 1905.
"Quakerism: A Religion of Life." (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100375224) The first
Swarthmore Lecture, delivered May 18, 1908. London: Headley Brothers, 1908.
"Quakerism: A Religion of Life." (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100592368) Second
edition. London: Headley Brothers, 1912.
"A More Excellent Way." (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100376354) New York:
Association Press, 1916.
"The Quakers." In The Religious History of New England: King's Chapel Lectures (https://cat
alog.hathitrust.org/Record/006760277). Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917.
"Religion as Reality, Life and Power." (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100335892)
William Penn Lectures. Philadelphia: Walter H. Jenkins, 1919.
"The Nature and Authority of Conscience." (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006525047)
The Swarthmore Lecture, delivered August, 1920. London: The Swarthmore Press, 1920.
"Mystical Experience." In The Atlantic Monthly, May 1942.

As Editor

George Fox, an autobiography; edited with an introduction and notes by Rufus M. Jones. (ht
tps://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003340866) Philadelphia: Ferris & Leach, 1903.
Second edition (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008410571). Philadelphia: Ferris &
Leach, 1919.
The Beginnings of Quakerism, by William C. Braithwaite; with an introduction by Rufus M.
Jones. (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008733048) London: Macmillan and Co., 1912.
Selections from the Writings of Clement of Alexandria (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/
012446830). London: Headley Brothers, 1914.
Present Day Papers: A Monthly Journal for the Presentation of Vital and Spiritual Christianity
(https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100432376). Volume 1. Haverford, PA, 1914.
The Record of a Quaker Conscience: Cyrus Pringle's Diary; with an introduction by Rufus
M. Jones (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007702299). New York: Macmillan, 1918.

See also
American philosophy
List of American philosophers
Rufus M. Jones also authored "SOME PROBLEMS OF LIFE" Copyright MCMXXXVII. Set up,
Electrotyped, Printed, and Bound By The Parthenon Press at Nashville Tennessee, U. S. A. Later
reprinted by Cokesbury. Thank You Don J. Hewett, Pastor ret.
Online Books Page: Jones, Rufus Matthew (1863-1948).[5]

Further reading
Bernet, Claus: "Rufus Jones (1863-1948). Life and Bibliography of an American Scholar,
Writer, and Social Activist. With a Foreword by Douglas Gwyn", New York 2009, ISBN 978-
3-631-58930-4
Endy, Melvin B.: "The Interpretation of Quakerism. Rufus Jones and His Critics", in: Quaker
History. The Bulletin of Friends’ Historical Association, 62, 1, 1981, 3-21
Hedstrom, Matthews: "Rufus Jones and Mysticism for the Masses", in: Cross Currents,
Summer 2004.
Kent, Stephen: Psychological and Mystical Interpretations of Early Quakerism. William
James and Rufus Jones. In: Religion. A Journal of Religion and Religions, 17, 1987, 251–
274.
Vining, Elizabeth Gray: Friend of Life. Philadelphia 1958. London 1959.

References
1. Jones, Rufus (1947). "Our Day in the German Gestapo" (https://afsc.org/archive/our-day-ger
man-gestapo-rufus-jones). Quaker Action for a Just World. American Friends Service
Committee. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
2. "Rufus Jones (1863-1948)" (https://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/230/Rufus
-Jones). Quakers in the World. QITW Charitable Trust. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
3. "Honorary Degrees | Whittier College" (https://www.whittier.edu/alumni/poetnation/honorary).
www.whittier.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
4. A Paper Presented at the Celebration of the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Central
Congregational Church. Central Congregational Church. March 10, 1927.
5. Online Books Page. "Jones, Rufus Matthew" (https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/
book/lookupname?key=Jones%2C%20Rufus%20Matthew%2C%201863%2D1948).

External links
Works by Rufus Jones (https://librivox.org/author/15856) at LibriVox (public domain
audiobooks)

Works by Rufus Matthew Jones (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/6478) at Project

Gutenberg
Works by or about Rufus Jones (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3
A%22Jones%2C%20Rufus%20Matthew%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Jones%2C%20Ru
fus%20M%2E%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Jones%2C%20R%2E%20M%2E%22%20O
R%20subject%3A%22Rufus%20Matthew%20Jones%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Rufu
s%20M%2E%20Jones%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22R%2E%20M%2E%20Jones%22%2
0OR%20subject%3A%22Jones%2C%20Rufus%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Rufus%20J
ones%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rufus%20Matthew%20Jones%22%20OR%20creato
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ones%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Rufus%20M%2E%20Jones%22%20OR%20descr
iption%3A%22R%2E%20M%2E%20Jones%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Jones%2
C%20Rufus%20Matthew%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Jones%2C%20Rufus%20M%
2E%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Rufus%20Jones%22%20OR%20description%3A%
22Jones%2C%20Rufus%22%29%20OR%20%28%221863-1948%22%20AND%20Jones%
29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the Internet Archive
Rufus Jones : A Luminous Life (2001) Documentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu6
KI_rZSMg) on YouTube
Profile at Quakers in the World (http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/230)
Profile at Christian Mystics (http://christianmystics.com/traditional/quakers/Rufus_Jones.htm
l)
"The Trail of Life in the Middle Years," 1934 (http://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/resources/
hcmc-975-07-054) at Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections (https://www.haverfor
d.edu/library/quaker-special-collections)
Rufus Matthew Jones material in Jones-Cadbury family papers (http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/
1017/d/pacscl/HAVERFORD_1172JonesCadburyFamilyPapersca17701994USPHC) at
Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections (https://www.haverford.edu/library/quaker-s
pecial-collections).

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