Professor ‘Ben’ Pink Dandelion is a Quaker historian, academic and writer. He has worked for Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre since 1992 and founded the Centre for Postgraduate Quaker Studies in 1999, now the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies. He directs its work with the University of Birmingham and Lancaster University. Ben has published extensively on the sociology, history and theology of British Quakerism, also on the spirituality of travel. The Cultivation of Conformity Towards a General Theory of Internal Secularisation, was published in 2019.

Interview timestamps

0:00 Strict and particular atheists, Carlisle and a Premature Death 13:24 Quaker school, Manchester Polytechnic and hotel management 24:40 Life at the anarchist peace camp, and name change to Pink Dandelion 31:02 From revolution to chauffer, miner’s strikes, and discovering Quakerism 44:37 The Pink Dandelions band 45:53 Slow and silent quaker discernment 56:24 Post Christian and Evangelical Quakers 1:09:28 St Louis and an encounter with God on a Greyhound Bus 1:15:31 Christ and the Quakers 1:20:19 Brighton Polytechnic, a doctoral thesis, and death of his mother 1:26:28 Post-graduate Quaker studies at Woodbrooke, and University of Birmingham 1:29:55 The Red Book aka You don’t join the hiking club to go swimming: Swarthmore Lecture, 2014 1:40:20 Differing values of the World and the Spirit 1:42:36 Kettledrums: The essence of Quakerism 1:45:52 Ear rings, sexuality and motorbike: From bi-sexuality and polyamory into heterosexuality, monogamy and becoming a parent -- For all things ExtraECC, go to: https://ExtraECC.com Audio versions of these interviews are at: https://soundcloud.com/extraecc Follow us on FB https://www.facebook.com/ExtraECC, and Twitter @ecc_extra