Welcome to the homepage for
the Quaker Institute for the Future
We seek to develop an institute that can carry on Friends' experiments with Truth in the context of research work that will provide the foundations for the applications of our testimonies undertaken by AFSC, FCNL and other Quaker bodies and meetings.
In our modern age, the function of research is a basic foundation of the social order. We believe that Friends are called to help generate knowledge, wisdom and systematic insight that can inform public policy in ways that will enable us all to live more fully in virtue of that life and power that leads us to treat all humans and all of the Earth as a manifestation of the Divine.
We believe, further, that Friends are called to do this in institutions that are governed by Quaker practices of communal discernment. And we believe, further, that Friends are called to explore the development of research methods themselves which are spirit-led and that provide a way of living out, in the realm of research, our calling to be Friends of the Truth who are guided in that activity by that power and Presence that, in Fox's words, has come to "teach his people himself".
To further work along these lines we aim at the development of a geographically located community of researchers and staff as well as a network of affiliated research associates. These researchers will write monographs and presentations in other media. They will organize workshops and conferences to synthesize and promulgate research and, when appropriate, undertake original research.
Here are some highlights concernign our work:
NEW POSTING: Laura Ward Holliday's
Keynote Address to the 2006 FGC
One current major initiative is a research/conference project
on theme: "Towards a Moral Economy". This
conference and its associated publications will deal overarching questions like:
What would a moral economy look like? How would it be different from our present
economy? How might we make progress towards it?
It will include areas of focal concern such as: In the light of Quaker testimonies,
what would humane, “good citizen” economic institutions look like?
What needs to change? How might change happen?
A
second major initiative is the annual Summer Research Seminar. In
the summer of 2007 the Quaker Institute for the Future will be once again hosting an
experiment in research guided by communal discernment. This will include week
long focused seminars on topics such as biotechnology, Quaker epistemology,
and creating a more moral economy. There will also be a month long Summer Research
Seminar for people doing research on individual projects who wish to do so in
a Spirit-led way. These activities will be held in Bar Harbor, Maine. For a
report on the 2005 session, see the a summary report is provided at:
Our charter document provides an overview of the organization which grew out of leadings shared in a message from the June, 2003 gathering at Pendle Hill for a Consultation on Economics and Ecology. A brochure overview is available here.
The Quaker Institute for the Future is a non-profit, 501C3 organization incorporated in California whose by-laws were amended and approved at the first meeting of the board members in August, 2004.
We are grateful for receiving the support of a grant from the Shoemaker fund as well as other private generous donationsto proceed with key goals of the institute.mics and ecology culminating in a conference in late 2005 or 2006 on "Towards a Moral Economy" which will deal with the place of corporate structures in our world.
Contributions to The Quaker Institute for the Future may be
mailed to
Tom Head, QIF Treasurer
14409 S.W. Barrows Road
Beaverton, Oregon 97007-6140
QIF is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and contributions are deductible
under section 170 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Code.
Quaker Institute for the Future (Homepage)-- Charter Document -- Institute Brochure --
-- 2005 Summer Institute-- Summer Institute Details -- -- 2003 Gathering Message -- Board Members
-- Amended By-laws --Shoemaker Grant -- Conference: Toward a Moral Economy--
-- Research Papers Archive List --
edited by Gray Cox gray@coa.edu