Wednesday, April 23, 2025

It is the 23rd of April 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

On yesterday’s show I warned you that looking up “John Dickinson” could take you to a number of famous characters in American history- we were discussing the Presbyterian and president of Princeton. Ironically, we have a similar issue today.  

Margaret Fox could be the famous missing child from the 1970s… I’m sure there are plenty of true crime podcasts on her. Secondly, and more interesting (to me) was Margaret Fox, the Canadian Spiritualist who swindled folks in the New York area in the mid to late 1880s, who publicly confessed to creating a hoax (God bless the Northeast and “burned over district” post Civil War). But eagle-eared listeners of the Almanac and church history might remember that “fox” is a famous name in Quaker circles, and this is where we find our Margaret- sometimes nee Askew or Margaret Fell, as that was her maiden name and the surname of her first husband. So, Margaret Askew Fell Fox is the whole big name, and she was born in England in 1614 amidst the religious conflicts that would break out as the English Civil Wars.

She grew up the oldest daughter of the landed gentry and was educated, not terribly common for this age. She was baptized in the local Anglican parish and was married off to Thomas Fell, a barrister and later member of Parliament.

Thomas would resign from Parliament with the ascent of Oliver Cromwell, giving us an idea of his reluctance to countenance radical ideas. But when he returned home, he found that Margaret had been influenced by a different kind of radical. Margaret heard the dissenter George Fox of the Society of Friends preach and recorded: “I saw perfectly Just then that wee were all wrong, and that we were but thieves, that had stollen the scriptures. which caused me to shed many tears. And I sat down in my pew & wept all the while”.

Thomas would not follow his wife down the path of Fox and the Society of Friends but would allow her to use their family estate “Swarthmoor Hall” as a meeting place. Quakers were seen as “levelers”- people who wanted to flatten distinctions among people and this made them highly suspect in a classist England but Thomas’ reputation and work as a magistrate allowed for the Quakers to meet at their home relatively undisturbed.

Thomas would die in 1658, and Margaret would continue to work tirelessly on behalf of the so-called “Quakers”. She personally visited both Kings Charles II and James II to argue on behalf of tolerance. Quakers were known to not swear by oaths in this age of changing political alliances, when oaths were especially useful for the church and state. Margaret would be arrested for refusing to pledge oaths of allegiance, and her time in prison gave her the opportunity to write. In 1666 she published her most famous work “Women’s Speaking Justified” in which, among other things she claims that the prophecy of Joel in Joel 2 then picked up by Peter in Acts 2 of “your sons and daughters will prophecy” not only made women speaking in church appropriate but also was ushering in the last days. Furthermore, the doctrine of the “inner light” so prominent amongst Quakers argued that the light of Christ was in ALL and was not a respecter of class or gender. She has been hailed as a kind of “proto feminist” and just as quickly rejected by some moderns because she was not a radical or feminist by today’s standards. The Society of Friends was and remains a curious church body that has vexed those outside of it, trying to put it into “left” or “right” categories.

She and George Fox would marry in 1669- her second marriage and his first and only (she was ten years older than he and outlived him by over a decade). They ministered together when not separated by either stints in prison or evangelizing away and abroad. They had no children, but two of Margaret’s daughters from her first marriage followed them into the ministry. Her physical and financial support of Swarthmoor Hall, her pamphlet writing, and being imprisoned for her dissent from the established church in England make her one of the major early Quakers, along with her husband George Fox and their friend William Penn. The Matriarch of the movement, Margaret Askew Fell Fox, would live until 1702, dying on this, the 23rd of April- born sometime in 1614, she was around 88 years old.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and an appropriate text for today’s story:

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 23rd of April 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by Christopher Gillespie, a fan of Fantastic Mr. Fox, Br’er Fox (if that’s still okay), and Dora’s Swiper the Fox.

The show is written and read by a man who know you don’t even need to ask.. there is one fox to rule them all…. Oo dee lally, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.