George Fox rejected literal Proverbs rods in favor of inner-light correction

Evidence

In a 1668 epistle to Quaker meetings, Fox writes: “Concerning the children, let them be brought up in the fear of the Lord, in the inner light, in the gentle care that does not afflict their tender souls. The rod that worldly men use is not the rod the Spirit teaches. The Spirit’s rod is the inner light’s gentle correction, which works through love, not through fear; through nurture, not through affliction.” The passage substantively rejects the literal-rod reading of Proverbs that we covered substantively in earlier episodes (Episodes 3, 31, 34) and substantively articulates the Quaker counter-position. — , The Rod and the Child, 3041

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts directly with the earlier literal-rod readings of Proverbs covered in Episodes 3, 31, and 34. — connects to: Medieval Jewish exegesis read Proverbs’ shevet as speech, not a literal rod — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 2597; Wesley explicitly rejected reasoning with children in favor of swift physical correction — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 3207; A thirteenth-century rabbi read Proverbs’ rod-verses as metaphorical speech — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 11425

Related

• Wesley explicitly rejected reasoning with children in favor of swift physical correction (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval Jewish exegesis read Proverbs’ shevet as speech, not a literal rod (similarity 0.83)
• A thirteenth-century rabbi read Proverbs’ rod-verses as metaphorical speech (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• A thirteenth-century rabbi read Proverbs’ rod-verses as metaphorical speech #corroborates (0.85) — , The Rod and the Child, 11425
• Wesley explicitly rejected reasoning with children in favor of swift physical correction #contradicts (0.80) — , The Rod and the Child, 3207