Fellowship of Reconciliation

The Fellowship of Reconciliation is described as one of the leading peace organizations in the world. The account presents it through Douglas Steere’s involvement: he was active in the organization and led its American section for twelve years, from 1954 to 1966. Its place in the book’s portrait of religious life is alongside a broader conviction that contemplative faith and public work for peace could belong together.

Nature and Peace Work

The book identifies the Fellowship of Reconciliation as a peace organization but does not detail its formal structure, programs, or particular campaigns. Its significance in this account rests on its role as an organized setting for peace work, rather than on a specific action attributed to it.

The surrounding discussion situates this work in a wider Quaker tradition of conscientious objection to military service, for which many young Quakers suffered. That tradition provides context for Steere’s peace commitments, but the account does not say that the Fellowship itself directed the conscientious objectors’ actions.

Douglas Steere’s Leadership

Steere’s involvement combined organizational service with peace advocacy beyond the organization. He chaired the American section from 1954 through 1966 and was also active in international peace work. During a 1933–34 sabbatical he established relationships in Europe; in 1937, while Adolf Hitler was in power and war threatened, he made a risky visit to Germany to encourage German Quakers. He returned in 1940, after war had begun in Europe. The account does not attribute those visits to the Fellowship, but they show the wider setting of the peace concerns that accompanied his leadership.

Significance in the Account

The Fellowship appears as one institutional expression of a peace commitment that the book associates with religious practice and public responsibility. Steere’s long tenure as chair of its American section gives that commitment an organizational dimension, while his separate work in Europe shows that his peace activity extended beyond his formal role. The evidence establishes the organization’s prominence and Steere’s connection to it, without specifying its internal methods or the results of particular initiatives.