To sit down in silence could at least pledge me to nothing; it might open me (as it did that morning) the very gate of heaven. And since that day, now more than seventeen years ago, Friends' meetings have indeed been to me the greatest of outward helps to a fuller and fuller entrance into the spirit from which they have sprung; the place of the most soul-subduing, faith-restoring, strengthening, and peaceful communion, in feeding upon the bread of life, that I have ever known. ~ Caroline Stephen
CAROLINE EMELIA STEPHEN (1834-1909) has enjoyed a long-standing reputation among Friends as a Quaker theologian. Quaker Strongholds (1891) is considered a "Quaker classic;" one hundred years after its first publication, Friends General Conference book catalog calls it "one of the clearest visions of our faith." Stephen was also the author of Light Arising: Thoughts on the Central Radiance (1908) and The Vision of Faith (1911).
People who know Caroline Stephen and her writings are often unaware that Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), one of the most innovative forces within the genre of the modern English novel, was her niece. Woolf used concepts of psychology and relativity to produce new ways of expressing consciousness in works such as Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927). In addition to her progressive artistry, she is known for her strong stands on feminism and pacifism. Copies of Light Arising and Quaker Strongholds were in Virginia Woolf's private library to the end of her life.
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