Early Quakers and their Theological Thought fills a significant gap in the existing secondary source literature on the topic of early Quaker theology. The book fleshes out the main theological ideas and debates of this period by exploring sixteen key Quaker writers and their views across a longer time frame than most other books on the subject. Responding to the amazing growth in primary sources available to scholars studying early Quakers, the editors have included a number of lesser-known writers and ministers from the Religious Society of Friends, in addition to better-known figures such as George Fox, William Penn, Margaret Fell, Robert Barclay, and James Naylor. This collection is notable for its comparative treatment of the ideas of the key spokespeople for the Quaker church from the mid-1600s to the early 1700s and represents an invaluable compendium of several differing but complementary scholarly perspectives on early Quakerism.

Starting with two chapters that set the context for the era (Douglas Gwyn on the pre-history of Quakerism and Betty Haaglund on the transmission of Quaker ideas in print), the book proceeds with fourteen chapters that follow a chronological account focused on individual Quakers. These various articles include those by Sally Bruyneel on Margaret Fell and by Melvin Endy on William Penn which look at Quaker leaders in light of the social, political, and cultural context of the era. Many other articles, on the other hand, examine Quaker biographies with a focus on the internal logic of these individuals’ theological contribution to the early movement. Hilary Hinds explores the life and preaching of George Fox, with particular emphasis on the role the movement played in Fox's personal and authentic message that arose during a time of enormous religious and social change. Carol Spencer analyzes the eccentric behavior of James Naylor as an allegory for the immanence of Christ and discusses the influence of German mystic Jacob Boehme on Naylor. Another controversial early Quaker, John Perrot, is examined by Carla Pestana, with a focus on the transnational dimensions of Quaker divisions over the extent of their protest against authority. The apocalyptic strains within early Quakerism are also dealt with by Pink Dandelion and Frederick Martin in their article on Edward Burrough and Francis Howgill.

Other biographical treatments of lesser-known Quakers, such as Dorothy White (the focus of Michele Tarter's article) and Elizabeth Bathurst (the subject of Mary Garman's piece), remind scholars of the role numerous previously overlooked women played in the growth of Quakerism as well as in the creation of a systematic Quaker theology. A case can be made that female preaching drew many to the movement. Another lesser-studied early leader has been Samuel Fisher, who helped to bring respectability to the Quaker movement, as we are reminded by Stephen W. Angell in his article on this “renegade Oxonian” (137). Elsewhere in the volume, more famous early Friends who have been long studied are re-examined in fresh ways by scholars, such as in Michael Birkel's discussion of the influence of kabbalah and magic on George Keith and in Hugh Pyper's review of the life and times of Robert Barclay. Richard Farnworth's life (examined by Michael Birkel and Stephen W. Angell) is recounted with a focus on this minister's search for a balance between freedom and order. R. Melvin Keiser describes the transition from Puritanism to Quakerism experienced by so many in the early Quaker movement through the lives of Mary and Isaac Pennington. The volume ends with Robynne Rogers Healey's treatment of George Whitehead, who lived the longest of any of the subjects of this study and who worked to navigate the transition as Quakers became, at least officially, tolerated by the state.

While Early Quakers and Their Theological Thought is structured around spirituality, given the radical social valence of Quaker religious teaching, I felt more could have been said about Quaker theological views on government, gender, and race, as well as their ideas about other marginalized religious groups. However, the writers and editors of this volume should be commended for bringing together much new scholarship and diverse viewpoints under one roof. This is an important book for students of the Quaker movement, as well as for those who study seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British and American Protestantism.