Journal

work by Fox

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Last updated

June 29, 2026

Quick Summary

The term "journal" can refer to a publication that appears at regular intervals, such as a monthly scientific journal, or a private record of personal experiences and ideas, like a diary.1

George Fox, born in 1624, was an English preacher and missionary who founded the Society of Friends, also known as Quakers. His personal religious experiences led him to reject church conventions and rely on an "inner light" of divine inspiration over scriptural authority. Fox meticulously recorded these experiences and revelations in his Journal, which documented the birth of the Quaker movement. He believed personal experience was the true source of religious authority, stating, "These things I did not see by the help of man, nor by the letter... but I saw them in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ". Fox's Journal provides a detailed account of the rise of Quakerism and his own life.2

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George Fox
Early life and activities
…and later reported in his Journal various personal religious experiences or direct revelations, which he called “openings,” that corrected, in his estimation, the traditional concepts of faith and practice in English religious life.
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…and later reported in his Journal various personal religious experiences or direct revelations, which he called “openings,” that corrected, in his estimation, the traditional concepts of faith and practice in English religious life.
Read More

English literature
The defeated republicans
…Fox, for example, dictating his Journal to various amanuenses, dubiously claimed for himself an attachment to pacifist principles during the 1650s, whereas it was in fact only in 1661, in the aftermath of the revolution’s defeat, that the peace principle became central to Quakerism. The Journal itself reached print in…
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…Fox, for example, dictating his Journal to various amanuenses, dubiously claimed for himself an attachment to pacifist principles during the 1650s, whereas it was in fact only in 1661, in the aftermath of the revolution’s defeat, that the peace principle became central to Quakerism. The Journal itself reached print in…
Read More