Eastern Orthodox Studies Unit and Quaker Studies Unit

Title: Spiritual Light in the Orthodox and Quaker Spiritual Traditions (Co-sponsored with the Eastern Orthodox Studies Unit and the Quaker Studies Unit)
The notion of spiritual light occurs in both Orthodox Christianity and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). For George Fox, founder of the Friends, God endows each human being with a measure of his own Divine Spirit. Fox spoke of the Inward Light, coming “from beyond”; the Inner Light is the Divine Light in every person, which guides, teaches, and leads to salvation, and brings those who accept it into unity with God and each other. Many ancient and modern Orthodox spiritual figures report experiences of God or Christ as Light, experiences understood to be Uncreated Divine Light, not created light nor psychological phenomena, and are compared with the light experienced by the Apostles at the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor (Mt. 17:1-8). This co-sponsored session will explore the sense and significance of the notion of spiritual light and the place of spiritual light in the overall theology and spirituality in the Orthodox and Quaker traditions. Emphasis will be given to proposed papers which compare and contrast explanations and descriptions of spiritual light in the two traditions, as well as actual experiences of such light by their adherents, highlighting commonalities and divergences.