R Kelly Book:

		List Price: $13.99		Publisher: HarperOne Salesrank: 37218 Released: August 2, 1996
		Our Price: $7.95
		Used Price: $3.96
		Media: Paperback

Editorial Review:
Since its first publication in 1941, A Testament of Devotion, by the renowned Quaker teacher Thomas Kelly, has been universally embraced as a truly enduring spiritual classic. Plainspoken and deeply inspirational, it gathers together five compelling essays that urge us to center our lives on God's presence, to find quiet and stillness within modern life, and to discover the deeply satisfying and lasting peace of the inner spiritual journey. As relevant today as it was a half-century ago, A Testament of Devotion is the ideal companion to that highest of all human arts-the lifelong conversation between God and his creatures.

A Testament of Devotion Reviews:
My Favorite Book on Quaker Spirituality
2009-07-02 - I read this book while I was attending college. I took course on the history of American Theology (as a substitute for the regular US history requirement - more interesting). I decided to study the Quakers as part of a term paper and decided to do this by "immersion" aka become a temporary Quaker and get into their whole way of life as much as possible. This included going to Quaker meetings and doing their practice. I liked Quaker spirituality because it emphasized Christ as "inner light" (related to many verses in the Gospel according to John) and emphasized prayer as receptiveness to this light. Because of this, prayer is less about talking to God and more about deep listening in silent receptiveness. The book TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION captures this feeling perfectly and illuminates some of the distinctively Quaker themes about prayer/meditation/centering-down and how this prayer is not merely individual but collective/communal and even transformational of the larger society. The book has a devotional flavor and a kind of conciseness. The number of pages is only 124 in the Harper and Row edition, but I have yet to find a Quaker theme that is not at least touched upon in these pages. I felt I understood Quaker spirituality in its fullness from this book and later readings in Quaker spirituality only confirmed this. While other Quaker books were interesting and supplemental, and usually much larger in size, I found that the other books usually seemed to exclude some essential Quaker theme and needed other books to round them out. I think the reason why this book succeeds in feeling complete for me is that all of Quaker spirituality starts from "centering down" into the inner light and then being inspired by this light into the world of society and ethical activity. Even the way Quakers arrive at consensus, where all agree about what the guidance of the Spirit is, begins and ends in the inner light. I feel the book was written within this devotional frame of reference and hence can carry the flavor of this practice and way of life. In a sense, this book is inspired by the inner light, rather than merely being about it.

Sage Life Lessons
2009-03-10 - Quaker Thomas Kelly stresses a quiet simplicity in the Christian life away from the mad and hollow materialistic rush of the 20th century.

Deep calls to deep amidst the roaring waterfalls!
2008-07-27 - The Testament of Devotion is a gentle invitation to slip into the divine centre amidst the whirlwinds of competing demands, incessant noise, superficial crowds and breathless hurry. Thomas Kelly, a Quaker writes as one who has stumbled upon the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price for which he would trade everything for - a life that grows out of an inner place of calm, peace, clarity and centredness. This divine centre, this inner peace is available to all who would pause and breathe deep and slip gently into it. It does not require the straining of the intellect, or elaborate rituals but humble obedience - a surrender to the 'Hound of Heaven' that offers us this gift of quiet, trust and rest. This place is where you learn to trust the Creator, the Savior and the world's true Lord and know that all is well, all manner of things is well.

What we have here is a distillation of Quaker spirituality where the doctrine of the Inner Light of Christ can be realized in the lives of ordinary people and not just the super saints in all the routine and vagaries of modern living - a simple, gentle book that has the power to change us from deep inside. Be warned!

The Antidote for Frantic Fidelity
2008-03-26 - "The problem we face today needs very little time for its statement. Our lives ... grow too complex and overcrowded ... in frantic fidelity we try to meet at least the necessary minimum of calls upon us. But we're weary and breathless. And we know and regret that our life is slipping away ... in guilty regret we must postpone till next week that deeper life of unshaken composure in the holy Presence, where we sincerely know our true home is, for this week is much too full" (89-90).

Originally published by Quaker author Thomas Kelly in 1941, these words from A Testament of Devotion have never been more applicable than today. We live in a time of unprecedented complexity and confusion. Our high tech culture is obsessed with novelties, gadgets and an endless variety of "time-saving" electronic devices. The world has never known a society with more leisure time on its hands, and yet, we are among the most chronically exhausted, stressed-out people on the planet. There must be a better way!

"For over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we know we are passing by ... we have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that Center!" (92).

Thankfully, the author offers hope for those of us who continue to struggle against the forces that would keep us from "slipping over into that Center" of Divine Love, out of which we are enabled to love others as we have been loved by God. The hope Kelly offers us can be found not only in the words he writes, but in the life he, and others, lived. Citing the examples of prominent Quakers such as George Fox and John Woolman, Kelly highlights those traits that set these spiritual leaders apart as passionately devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

The greatest insight for me, however, came through my reading of the biographical memoir written by Kelly's close friend and colleague, Doug Steere, which is attached to the end of the book. Here we discover that living out of the Divine Center came late in life for this intellectually restless, professionally ambitious, Harvard-trained, Quaker scholar. According to Steere, the pivotal event took place sometime in the autumn of 1937, during which time "a new life direction took place in Thomas Kelly. No one knows exactly what happened, but ... a fissure in him seemed to close, cliffs caved in and filled up a chasm, and what was divided grew together within him" (118). A year later, following a summer visit among Friends in Germany, Kelly himself testified to Steere, "It is wonderful. I have been literally melted down by the love of God" (120).

Could it be that each of us is not so different from Thomas Kelly, not to mention George Fox, John Woolman and every other prominent spiritual leader who has gone before us? Could it be that the quickest way to the Divine Center is to recognize and renounce our tendency to live on the fringe of God's purpose for our lives? Could it be that the only way for the spiritual fissures in our lives to close is by allowing the retaining walls we have built up around our souls to cave in? Could it be that the best antidote for "frantic fidelity" is a "holy meltdown"?

Thomas Kelly's A Testament of Devotion is a nugget of solid gold, carefully refined in the furnace of God's purifying love. As such, it issues a call for each of us to surrender our own lives to this same holy fire, with deep confidence that the One who melts and molds us is utterly trustworthy and has our best interest in mind. In the process, we are relieved from the burden of "frantic fidelity" and we can find rest for our weary souls as we recognize that it is God's work, not ours, that will stand the test of time:

"Thus we have begun to live in guidance. And [we] find He never guides us into an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness ... for after all God is at work in the world. It is not we alone who are at work in the world, frantically finishing a work to be offered to God ... we need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well" (100).

Pure Essence of Spirituality - Condensed Quaker Belief
2006-08-01 - I read this book 25 years ago and find that it gives me a feeling of the Inner Light and grounds me in what the spiritual life is all about. It is deeply Christian and yet can resonate with anyone who feels God as a living reality in all religions or no religion. It also touches upon what the Quakers call "consensus", how to let the guiding of the Spirit lead people into an understanding filled agreement about how to live, to heal, and to forgive. I have read other Quaker books, but it seems everything is here in this book. It uses less words than all the others and says everything.