The Rule of Christ: Themes in the Theology of James Nayler - Book Review (Anabaptism Today Journal)
Book review by Peter Baines, published in Anabaptism Today, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2022) Stuart Masters, The Rule of Christ: Themes in the Theology of James Nayler , Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021, 100 + vi pages, Amazon £64.38, Brill website €70.00/US$84.00 I really enjoyed reading this slim volume by Stuart Masters from the Quaker Studies series. In these pages, Masters takes a fresh look at the thinking of James Nayler – one of the most notorious of the early Quaker leaders. Generally, all that is remembered about Nayler is his dramatic entry into Bristol in October 1656. In a symbolic action to warn of the imminent coming of the kingdom of God, Nayler rode into the city on a donkey, while women strewed palms before him. These actions were deemed blasphemous by the parliamentary powers, and disowned by George Fox – who would later be seen as the founder of the Society of Friends and its main speaker during the Restoration period. Found guilty of blasphemy af...
