The seed and the day of small things: Finding power and powerlessness in Quaker theology

This paper explores early Quaker uses of ‘the Seed’ and of ‘the day of small things’, and the theology of power and powerlessness that emerges from a consideration of these key images. I argue for a theological account of power that begins from the experience of ‘being empowered’ through the active presence of the Holy Spirit – an experience which I take to be central for, although far from unique or or even distinctive to, early Quakerism. I argue that divine empowerment, expressed and explored in reflections on the seed and on the day of small things, sets up an economy of power that avoids the ‘power struggle’ that often characterises representations of power and its distribution, within and beyond theology.