A tribute to Public Universal Friend

Public Universal Friend was a Quaker preacher in New England and Pennsylvania in the late 19th century, who led a spin-off Quaker community known as the Universal Friends. After a near-death experience following their contracting a deadly communicable disease, they received a divine revelation and a new vocation for life, along with a new name, Public Universal Friend. 

Following their miraculous recovery from the illness, Public Universal Friend preached throughout the Northeast and held large evangelistic meetings that drew a crowd wherever they preached, much to the chagrin of local religious leaders and newspapers. 

Public Universal Friend rejected gender and sexist gender norms, considered themself a genderless being (here I am using the "they" pronoun for the sake of brevity, but PUF actually did not use any pronoun at all). Many of PUF's female followers also broke free from the conventional social expectations placed upon women of their day. In many ways, PUF was far ahead of their time, pioneering in modeling a nonbinary gender, as well as foreshadowing a form of Christian feminism in the church. 

PUF's theology, mostly derived from the traditional Friends faith of George Fox, emphasized the direct access to God's inner light in every person, while rejecting Calvinistic doctrines of predestination. They also spoke out against slavery, while preaching hospitality for all. 

Infinitus Ministries would like to honor Public Universal Friend's legacy and be inspired by their life of service to Christ. This is very close to my heart, as I know that a very large percentage of Autistic people are nonbinary or otherwise gender-expansive (so much so that there is a word, "autigender"). 

Please know that Infinitus Ministries recognizes that our experiences of gender as autistic folks differ significantly from those of neurotypical people, and as a community, we cherish our uniqueness within the great tapestry of God's creation. 

Willow

lead minister/spiritual director, Infinitus Ministries

For more about Public Universal Friend:

• The Museum of the American Revolution

• The New York Public Library

• The book by Paul Benjamin Moyer (WorldCat)

• Stuff You Missed In History podcast

Resources:

• Nonbinary gender and the diverse beauty of creation, by Austen Hartke

• In the Bible, gender is not binary, by Julie Faith Parker (on the biblical Hebrew rhetorical device of merism)

• Queer Grace online encyclopedia